At the Australian GP, Ferrari has suffered a totally unexpected setback, with only five points between its two drivers, four for Charles Leclerc‘s eighth place and one for Lewis Hamilton’s tenth place, the last driver on the grid in the points zone. Ferrari started the world championship as the big favourite to take the victory from McLaren. The expectations with the arrival of Lewis Hamilton, the aspirations of Charles Leclerc to fight for the drivers’ title, and the grand finale of the 2024 season, augured a great World Championship for Ferrari, but the start has been a hard blow for the Italian team.
Ferrari’s debacle
There are many reasons to explain Ferrari’s debacle. The first of these is the qualifying on Saturday, where Charles Leclerc could only set the seventh fastest time and Lewis Hamilton was one place further back than the Monegasque driver. Both drivers were unable to put their cars in the expected positions, thus hampering the race.
The arrival of rain on Sunday sentenced the team. The track conditions prevented us from seeing any evolution or overtaking of the cars. The drivers were unable to gain positions, which is normal, especially when a dry lane formed, preventing them from leaving the track to overtake.
The pace of the Ferrari was similar to that of Yuki Tsunoda or Lance Stroll, but as we have said, conditioned by the rain. This equality of time could also be seen at the head of the race, to the benefit of Ferrari, when Max Verstappen was able to keep up with the pace of the McLarens when the track was at its worst, but was unable to do so as the track dried out.
Heads or tails in the strategy
The decisive moment of the race came when, once the track was almost dry and the drivers had opted for dry tyres, it started to rain very hard, but it seemed like a rain that would last a short time. While most of the drivers chose to pit to change tyres, Ferrari decided to stay on the track. It could be because from the pit lane they thought the rain would not be so excessive, or because they hoped for the red flag to be shown, which would have catapulted them to the top positions.
Whatever the reason, they made a mistake, had to pit and came out further back, in eighth and ninth places. In the end, Hamilton lost a place to finish the race in tenth, and Leclerc could not improve. Ferrari chose to take a risk and went out on the wrong tyres. If they had been right, they would have saved the race, but if they had been wrong, they would have lost some important points, but not enough to make a difference.
Ferrari needs to focus
With this start to the season, Ferrari is showing that there have been too many distractions. The arrival of Hamilton threatens the leadership of Leclerc at Ferrari, as could only be expected. All that has surrounded Ferrari in the pre-season is which of the two drivers would fight to be number one, before prioritising the objectives of the team itself. This lack of perspective has meant that the blow has been a hard one.
However, Ferrari should not be written off: this first race has been marked by several factors that have led to an atypical weekend. The Italian team is still a clear contender, but they will have to focus on configuring a car that can fight for the top positions, and they have a lot of work to do if they want to beat McLaren (now it seems complicated). Once they achieve that, they can decide who will be the driver to lead the project. With no room for regrets, it only remains to see how Ferrari (and its drivers) perform in China.