‘They’ve been imploding for years,’ Jacques Villeneuve doesn’t see Ferrari challenging Red Bull anytime soon

Ferrari are the most successful Formula 1 team of all time. But since 2008, they have not won a single world championship, which is very much cause for concern. With every race that they do not win, the pressure continues to mount. It’s been almost 10 months since they last won a race. That came from Charles Leclerc at the Austrian GP, but since last year’s summer break, it’s been a constant struggle for them.

Currently, Ferrari are fourth in the championship. But their stated goal for 2023 is to win the world championship! On their current form, that is very unlikely. They were hoping to compete with Red Bull – but that hasn’t been the case during the races, at all. While Leclerc snatched both pole positions in Baku, he could scarcely keep up with Red Bull during the races. He even barely held off Fernando Alonso. The race pace has been a problem for them for a while.

Then there’s also internal chaos. Many senior figures have recently left the F1 team, such as David Sanchez, and Gino Rosato. Laurent Mekies, currently the team’s racing director, will also leave in the future, to join AlphaTauri as their team principal. Mattia Binotto, after working for 28 years. All this means Jacques Villeneuve does not rate their chances of winning the championship anytime soon particularly highly.

Speaking to RacingNews365.com, the 1997 F1 world champion said: “People go [and] leave, it’s chaos as always. They’ve been imploding for years. It seems to be a never-ending story. Normally, when you implode, there’s a moment when you stop imploding. But it seems to keep going on.” Indeed, last year, too, everything was going well for them at the start. Then in a series of reliability failures, driver and strategic errors, their championship challenge faded away.

Read More: Charles Leclerc reveals Ferrari’s Miami GP upgrades not enough to catch the dominant Red Bulls

Charles Leclerc doesn’t think Ferrari can catch Red Bull in Miami

Ferrari, and particularly, Charles Leclerc, made a step forward in Baku. In two of the first three races, the Monegasque had retired, and in the one he finished, he was only seventh. This time around though, he took two pole positions, and finished P2 in the sprint, and P3 in the feature race. It was glaringly obvious that they were nowhere near Red Bull, but it was still a step. And it came mostly from Ferrari better understanding the SF-23 – there were no major upgrades brought in.

The Miami Grand Prix marks the start of the Maranello team’s major upgrade cycle. When asked how the Miami upgrade might affect their current situation, Leclerc said: “It should go in the right direction. I don’t think it will be enough to fight with them, but it will go in the right direction, I’m sure.” It will be interesting to see the situation at the top after Ferrari’s upgrades in Imola and Barcelona arrive. But, from what has been seen this year, it looks unlikely they can match Red Bull with them.

If Ferrari are able to give a good package to their drivers this year, both of them are capable of competing for race wins. It seems that race wins will be their goal for the rest of the year – the championship seems a little bit out of sight. But it’s easy to forget that we’re only four races into the season. If the cost cap penalty hits Red Bull hard enough, and their rivals capitalize, then the championship battle will be broken wide open.

In case you missed it:

• ‘Ferrari then collapsed’: Jacques Villeneuve questions if Charles Leclerc would have made errors if not for Ferrari’s own problems
• Great news for Tifosi: Frederic Vasseur reckons Ferrari have cut down ’50 percent’ of the gap to Red Bull

Stay Updated!

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW