Jolyon Palmer: “Ferrari are feeling the pressure.”
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Jolyon Palmer thinks that Ferrari need to strike back hard in Canada.
Ferrari started the year in dreamland. Charles Leclerc won the Bahrain Grand Prix, and Carlos Sainz come home to take second. The Red Bulls, their main competitors, meanwhile, both retired from mechanical issues. The year could not have started off better. They were at the top of the world.
Ferrari looked very competitive in Jeddah as well, finishing a 2-3 on a track where Red Bull may have had the advantage on paper. Then, Charles Leclerc won once again in Australia, even though Carlos Sainz suffered an early retirement, but Max Verstappen fell prey to another mechanical retirement.
Not much has gone well for Ferrari since. In Imola, the Red Bulls completed a 1-2 while Ferrari’s only points came from Charles Leclerc on 6th place – where he was due to a mistake. Carlos Sainz had retired early after a first-lap crash with Daniel Ricciardo. The next race in Miami was more conventional, even though they could not take the victory.
In Spain – Carlos Sainz caught a gust of wind, into a spin, which derailed his race to an extent, eventually finishing 4th. Charles Leclerc, having comfortably led for 28 laps, retired from the lead of the race after a power unit issue. Monaco was little better as Charles Leclerc lost out on an easy victory due to a strategic error by Ferrari. In Azerbaijan, it was a disaster. Both retired from separate mechanical issues.
All of this has led to a situation where Charles Leclerc has gone from 1st in the standings to 3rd, and Max Verstappen now has a 34-point lead on top. Moreover, Red Bull are now 80 points in front, and Ferrari are closer to Mercedes than they are to Red Bull. It is increasingly becoming a desperate situation.
Red Bull is a serious force to reckon with in 2022
According to Jolyon Palmer, Red Bull’s recent experience of a title fight is helping them in this situation. This is especially true for the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, who has seemed to be more mature in his driving this season, more willing to bide his time. The ‘jitters’ are gone. Ferrari have not been in a serious title fight – or won one – in quite some time. This only serves to increase the pressure on Ferrari.
While Red Bull seem to have gotten on top of their reliability woes for the most part, this is not true for Ferrari. Their issues have only emerged recently, and Mattia Binotto has admitted that they are not aware of the full extent of the issues with their power unit. Just last race, 4 out of the 6 drivers with a Ferrari engine retired from the race, all due to mechanical issues. Ferrari have 0 wins in the last 5 races, despite Charles Leclerc starting on pole in 4 out of those 5.
Writing on Formula 1’s official website, Palmer said:
“To add salt to the wounds, Red Bull are ticking all of the boxes right now and are heaping the pressure on Ferrari, with five wins on the bounce in races that have seen them deliver decent all-round performances.”
“All in all, it’s making Red Bull a serious force in the championship, and Ferrari I’m sure are feeling the pressure having not won a drivers’ championship since 2007, despite coming close many times since.”
Indeed, the last time Ferrari had won the Constructors’ Championship was in 2008, and the last time their driver won the WDC was in 2007. If they want to get back on track and cut the gap to Red Bull, Canada will be an integral weekend for them to perform well at.
Also Read: Carlos Sainz is disappointed with Ferrari: “I am not comfortable enough”
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)