F1 season pause: +80 for Verstappen, Ferrari crisis, Mercedes progress

The first part of the current Formula 1 season has come to an end. This is the first championship after a major technical adjustment and we can say that everything has been going well so far. It is worth remembering that the regulation changes in 2010 led to the dominance of Red Bull and from 2014 the new rules established the dominance of Mercedes.

Fortunately, there is no talk of superiority despite Max Verstappen’s overall standing advantage.

Ferrari and Red Bull

Yes, Verstappen has an incredible 80-point lead against Leclerc and it’s hard to remember when someone gained such an advantage during Mercedes’ summer break dominance. But even Verstappen recently admitted that such a gap does not reflect the strength of the cars. Ferrari and Red Bull have the same fast cars with pros and cons on certain tracks. What is the reason for this situation in the overall standings and the Constructors’ Championship?

The problem is the reliability of Scuderia cars. If the Bulls have technical problems in the first place, then Ferraris always have these problems. First of all, with the engine. Ferrari has the most powerful engine among its competitors, but it often breaks down. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said I prefer a fast and unreliable car over the opposite. The team will work with confidence. We saw Leclerc’s departure in Baku and Sainz’s failure in Austria, which are the last examples of “credibility”. Also, Ferrari engines regularly fail in Haas and Alfa Romeo cars. This leads not only to loss of points, but also to fines for replacing engine elements. There is no doubt that Ferrari drivers will be forced to at least once again be penalized in qualifying for a power plant replacement. Red Bull’s situation isn’t all that bad, but only three engines per season for the driver are of course limiting the Bulls.

Ferrari’s next problem is the errors of its drivers. As we saw at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen also allows for crashes and turns, but such mistakes from Leclerc cost him much more. Charles calculated that he had lost at least 32 points because of his eliminations. It’s good that the pilot just blames himself and always admits his problems. Besides engines and errors, Ferrari’s position is getting worse due to strategy. Again, one need not look far: the Scuderia strategists’ decision to give Leclerc hard tires at the Hungarian Grand Prix. None of the leaders acted harshly, but it was given to Charles, which led to a failure at the track and another pit stop. At the same time, Alpine riders bought hard tires before, which allowed them to lose speed and pass everyone. He had an example before him, but Ferrari decided otherwise. A similar situation occurred in France, where Carlos Sainz openly took the podium at the end of the race, but Ferrari decided to make an additional pit stop and the Spaniard finished 5th.

It’s paradoxical that Verstappen is 80 points ahead with more or less equal cars and Red Bull is almost 100 points ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors from such major and minor mistakes of the drivers and the Ferrari team. Championship.

What’s wrong with Mercedes?

Both Lewis Hamilton and team management acknowledged that the transition to the new technical regulation was not as successful as that of the competitors. Mercedes finished third fastest and was significantly behind Red Bull and Ferrari at the start of the season. However, the team shows its champion character. Mercedes didn’t panic, got to work. As a result, the team managed to close the gap with the leaders and the same Hamilton has scored more points than Leclerc and Sainz in the last 5 races. The Briton finished 3rd three times and 2nd twice during this stretch. Of course, this won’t get Hamilton back into the title race, but the team’s progress is evident.

There are no victories yet, but the drivers are constantly on the podium, and George Russell in Hungary recorded the first pole of the season. While Ferrari says they still believe in their chance to win the title, Mercedes is only 30 points behind Scuderia in the Constructors’ Championship. Given Mercedes’ ability to work with the car, Ferrari may have a lot more work to do after the summer break.

Other commands

The transition to new regulations has yet to allow McLaren to make a breakthrough. In recent seasons, the team has even approached a third power status, but now Alpine is losing and not far ahead of Alfa Romeo. The positive moment remains Lando Norris. Despite the problems with the car, the young Briton puts McLaren ahead and ranks 7th overall. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo is of course disappointing as he is only 12th.

Alpin is performing well, but the team is unable to fight for the podium. Alfa Romeo and Haas have made significant progress with the new rules, but Alfa Tauri and Aston Martin lost their place last season.