Ferrari’s ‘Rubik’s Cube’ Might Not Be With the Car
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw what can only be described as a dull race compared to that of the 2018 race, however, it did leave some interesting comments from Ferrari. Vettel in the pen post-race told reporters the team Ferrari's issues is just like a 'rubik’s cube' commenting that he believes the team has 'a lot of people that can do a rubik’s cube in a couple of minutes'. However, I think the team need to focus on what the rubik’s cube issue is in order to fix the issue. In order to complete a rubik’s cube, all 6 sides must have all of one colour and if the pre-season and early weekend results show, the cube has at least 4 out of the 6 issues fixed. So what are the other two issues? It depends on who you ask, Jacques Vilneueve will tell you the main issue is with the drivers while others will tell you its to do with strategy with Ferrari throwing away points in China and putting LeClerc on a duff strategy in Azerbaijan. However, it's not what the issues are but how integral they are to the team and in winning championships. An F1 team can only win when all parts run in synconisation. In other words, with no whites in the red face. Ferrari was believed to rid the whites out of the reds last when Arrivabene was replaced and the young Monégasqued driver, Charles LeClerc joined. However LeClerc has brought the team future woes along with future wins.
LeClerc is a passionate driver no doubt; his response to his failures this season already have been full of heart on Twitter and Instagram with the young driver saying after his Azerbaijan qualifying crash: "no excuses. I've been useless". LeClerc's fiery passion is something of a weapon to Ferrari, he shows determination to always do his best and 9/10 that's exactly what he does. But when the car in front is of the same flag, issues arise. The season has seen 4 races so far and in at least 2 of those races, Ferrari has had an issue with team mates. Australia saw LeClerc quickly catching Vettel to be told to stay behind and in China, a similar issue occured but switched with Vettel following LeClerc. The difference was Vettel was allowed to go through. This ultimately crushed LeClerc's race with the team leaving him out longer in order to avoid further conflict on track and therefore LeClerc lost a place not only to Vettel but also Verstappen. Vettel has been Ferrari's number one driver since he joined the team in 2015; he has seen many victories under the red flag and two missed chances at being a world champion. To further this, in 2019, he has been nowhere near winning a race. LeClerc has. Bahrain was almost guranteed to be LeClerc's first win for the team after dominating the whole weekend. Engine issues caused his win to be agonisingly lost and ended up third. Although, it is fair to say the win had a toll on the confidence of LeClerc, he did handle the situation with grace and also showed something that Ferrari desperately need if they plan to win their first championship since 2007. Potential.
Vettel over the last two seasons has been heavily critisised and, although Ferrari still show a strong faith in him as a driver, Charles' brought excitement to fans and team alike when the team announced he was to join them. Unfortunately for him, this means he has a lot to live up to; Bahrain was a first example of his potential to live up to Ferrari's dream, while Vettel has scored more podiums than him, many would argue one of them should have been Leclerc's. The issue of 1st driver is a big one, deciding who to priotise in a team is not always an easy decision, as shown by Mercedes not even a year ago at the Russian Grand Prix. Jacques Vilneuve holds an interesting view upon the matter commenting that Charles is having a "negative effect on the team". The 1997 wolrd champion argues that they should have given him a contract for 2020 and 2021 and kept Kimi as this was "the year to fight". Vilneueve went on to comment: "the way Ferrari operates, the way Seb is, he needs this kind of love around him, and it was just not the right move." LeClerc's move has arguably unsettled the team; 2018 saw a definite first driver and it caused balance, enabling the team to focus on one driver. LeClerc's arrival has caused an uneeded battle to be the number one driver and it has put Ferrari on the back step. Red Bull have been lucky in a similar situation due to Gasly's arguably poor start to the season causing Verstappen to be the clear number driver, however I'm not sure if that was ever going to be different. While Ferrari have two very talented drivers, one arguably at the peak of his career and the other having the fiery heart of a rookie. it reminds me 2007 McLaren in certain ways with Lewis and Fernando having their issues; let's hope for Ferrari's sake, it doesn't get to the same level. However, strong parallels can be made, Vettel, like Alonso, is an experienced driver with world championships on his belt. While LeClerc, like Hamilton, is a young driver, desperate to prove himself and his right to be in such a prestigious seat. The most interesting comparrison for me however is that Alonso left McLaren that year, moving to Renault once again. Vettel's contract with Ferrari runs out next year and so we could see Vettel leave for another team if the inner team battles continue. I'm not so sure due to Vettel's choices being limited but a possible return to Red Bull may not be too far out of question due to the legacy he left the team; I'm sure they would gratefully have him back.
The other issue Ferrari face is strategy. The issue is nowehere near new with 2018 seeing the team putting their drivers on a backfoot to Mercedes due to a duff stratefy in comparrison. However, I wouldn't say their strategies are always bad and they have won them races, but they're not as good as Mercedes. Take China this year as an example. Mercedes are the team that could lose everything this year and therefore many would argue a safe strategy would be best but their double pitstop in China proved that the team is always trying to new things, pushing the boundaries and therefore are benefitting from doing so. Ferrari barely push the boundaries in such a manner and suffer due to it. Ferrari's strategy in China meant they lost any chance to gain second and not only that but also lost 4th to Verstappen. Third and fourth were almost looking guaranteed to be theirs but Leclerc's long run sentenced him to a mediocre finish. A line I thought I wouldn't say about Leclerc and Ferrari for a while into this season. Sticking with China, I wonder if the strategy could have been resolved if they hadn't underestimated Red Bull; the team has shown miraculous pace under the Honda engine with good strategy. Although China is a track with high speeds and fast corners, Red Bull were to able to outwit Ferrari in planning and therefore finished in a very respectaful fourth. Ferrari show little aggression in their strategies and therefore lose out; Azerbaijan saw them waiting for a safety car with LeClerc, which in Baku many would see as inevitable, but it never came. Will Buxton commented in an article later that Ferrari 'seemed to have no agression in the strategy' with Ferrari having dominated the weekend, it can only be seen as frustrating the team didn't use this package to its full advantage. Buxton later commented the team looked to base their strategy off 'hope, indecision or a staggering conflation of the two'. Ferrari showed a car that could dominate; it wasn't helped by LeClerc's crash which set him for an 8th start but a podium could have been capable from this position. Starting both Ferraris on mediums could be seen as where Ferrari's strategy began to fail as it was the slower tyre. Ferrari saw issues heating up their tyres all weekend and putting both cars on a tyre that is harder to heat up seems like a questionable move. Even if they put one car on mediums, a wiser strategy may have been putting another on softs to meet Mercedes as the mediums left Vettel a streniuous task of meeting the same pace, which it was clear he struggled to do.
It is hard to watch such a prestigious team lose grip of another title they are very capable to win; Ferrari have the best car, Mercedes know this, the fans know this and Ferrari clearly agree. However, their issues with drivers and strategy see themselves sinking their own ship. Ferrari through both these faults have let Mercedes escape with four 1-2 wins which shouldn't be happening. If you had asked anyone after pre-season who would be leading by the 4th race, Ferrari would have been the most common answer. They are wasting not only the team's work but also their drivers talents with Vettel and LeClerc being two sensational drivers at two different points of their career. But they need to either decide a first driver or figure a way to allow them to fight like Mercedes as right now they seem terrified for them to be even near each other on track. However, what's stuck out to me most about this season so far is the team still sees similar issues as last year without Arrivabene and, although Binotto hasn't had enough time to sort every issue, the team needs to look much further beyond the team principle if it hopes to sort their issue. F1 is an ever evolving sport and Ferrari need to keep up if they want to win; the sport acts with little mercy as we have seen with McLaren and Williams. Ferrari have everything to lose, possibly even more so than Mercedes, due to their history and the expectation for the team. Buxton sees their issue as much deeper saying they are 'so frightened of losing, they can't win'. If so, they need to get over this fear before it's too late because while Ferrari sink, Mercedes are sailing away.
