Ferrari filleted by Italian media: 'The euphoria is completely gone'

The title seems to be slowly slipping out of Ferrari's hands. At the beginning of the 2022 F1 season, things looked so good, but the team that last won a world drivers' title in 2007 is now really starting to lose it. In Italy, people are therefore extremely critical of the team from Maranello.

Ferrari falls away

The 2022 Formula One season is somewhat reminiscent of 2017 and 2018. In those two seasons, too, Ferrari came out particularly strong and Mercedes seemed to have a real rival in the battle for the world title. Mistakes by the team and by Sebastian Vettel, however, meant that the title was out of sight.

In 2022, things looked even better. Charles Leclerc finished first twice and second once in the first three races while main rival Verstappen crashed out twice, but then things took a turn for the worse. First, Leclerc made a mistake himself in Imola, but then Ferrari went down the drain with dropouts in Barcelona and Azerbaijan and a strategic blunder in Monaco.

With Sainz and Leclerc's dropouts in Baku, the fiasco is now complete. Red Bull Racing is smiling in Milton Keynes, because after minor reliability problems at the beginning of the season, the Austrians now have everything in order. The constructors' lead is now eighty points and Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are P1 and P2 among the drivers. Leclerc is already 34 points behind Verstappen.

Italy critical after Azerbaijan

At La Gazzetta dello Sport, the performance of the drivers is being criticized. Leclerc would have been surprised at the start by Perez, where Sainz is blamed for not having the pace of the top three. Ferrari, however, gets the brunt of the blame from the Italian sports newspaper.

''The Azerbaijan Grand Prix shows that something is going wrong and solutions have to be found very quickly. That won't be easy, because you can't let engines be tested endlessly anymore. Simple solutions won't present themselves overnight and in the meantime Red Bull is running further and further away.''

Corriere della Sera is also critical and gives Ferrari a '0' rating. ''The euphoria of the start of the season is completely gone. After a fun childhood, Ferrari is now failing the exam of maturity,'' the Italian newspaper said on Monday morning. Ferrari is mainly blamed for having so many (recurring) reliability problems. Not only at Ferrari itself, but also at the customer teams Haas and Alfa Romeo.

La Stampa writes about a 'black Sunday' for Ferrari in Baku. ''The reliability problems persist for Ferrari, which after a super start to the season is now experiencing a lot of bad luck. It is the fourth pole position in a row that is not converted into a victory and the second time in three races that Leclerc has dropped out.''