Latest Episode | Cut To The Race Podcast
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have both been heavily impacted by Ferrari’s poor strategic calls this season. (Photo by Peter J Fox/Getty Images)Former Toro-Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari has labelled Scuderia Ferrari’s season “terrible” and a “disaster” after the Prancing Horses let Max Verstappen’s lead grow ever bigger at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Ferrari have pretty much thrown themselves out of contention for the Formula 1 Constructors Championship after displaying another tactical horror show at Zandvoort. With a car well and truly worthy of competing for wins and titles, the Scuderia Ferrari personnel have been the ones to blame for the glaring 135-point gap to the top F1 standings.
Ferrari dropping the ball has led Mercedes’ consistency to score points despite having an unfavourable car pay off. The Silver Arrows are now only 30 points adrift from the team in red and will look to overtake Mattia Binotto’s team.
Speaking on Sky Sports F1’s ‘Any Driven Monday‘, Alguersuari opened up on Ferrari’s up and down season.
“It’s been terrible. It’s been frustrating,” said the Spanish driver.
“They’ve built a really amazing car, right from the testing you could see in Barcelona, they were the quickest.
“They went to Australia, they were on pole, and for some reason, they just couldn’t really make it with the engine failures and not reliable at all.
“And at the end of the day, Formula One is not just being the quickest out there, you have to finish the race.
“For the drivers, I think it was also very difficult psychologically, especially because you’re the quickest out there, you can win races, you can still be a title contender, and then for some reason or the other, they just mess up.
“They messed strategies with the tyres, then problems with the engine. So, of course, psychologically there is a problem, it affects you somehow, and then you make mistakes.
“So I think all in all, they just didn’t find a way, and that’s frustrating. And still, a long way to go, so let’s see how they come out after that.”
Carlos Sainz’s pit stop was hampered by an extraordinarily slow pit stop due to Ferrari only have three tyres ready (Photo by CHRISTIAN BRUNA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Sainz’s slow stop
Alguersuari also admitted that it was difficult to watch his fellow countryman go through that embarrassing pit stop in the Netherlands which not only was incredibly slow, but resulted in a five-second penalty due to an unsafe release.
“Yeah, and it’s not the first time we’ve seen it,” he said.
“So it’s frustrating as I said before, because you really expect the best from your team, every race, especially when now it’s not just about having the best car and doing amazing laps. You can’t really fail anywhere on the pit stops, on the strategy, if you want to go for the title, you have to finish the race, you have to finish in the top three. This is something Carlos is really aware of.
“If you look at his performances and his average scores, he’s always in the top five, top six. When it rains, he deals with the situation in a really perfect condition. He’s managed to always survive, which is super important for a top team.
“So, if you want to go for the title, you cannot really make mistakes and the team should really be aware that they are not performing well for the drivers at all. It’s been a disaster. It is being a disaster.”
Ferrari will be looking to turn around their bad fortune at their home race in Monza, Italy where they will be wearing yellow racing suits and boast a new look Ferrari F1-75.
