Never get carried away by first impressions, least of all inside Formula 1. Just what happened in the preseason and the first his grand prize East 2022 no one would have bet against him ferrari he would be the drivers’ and manufacturers’ champion.

The supremacy of these Maranello it was offensive. Fastest on the straight, fast curve, grip, slow curve… Moreover, their most immediate pursuers, Red Bull, they seemed to reliably suffer again. Everything was going in favor of the Italians and it seemed that only they could throw the championship into the sea.

And indeed, this has happened.

🤦 Another Sunday to forget Ferrari

✅ 2nd and 3rd came out
✅ They had the double within their reach
❌ And a lousy strategy defined them

Even Joel Embiid thinks he would do better pic.twitter.com/jU0aSR6SXe

— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 Spain 🇪 (@sportingnewses) July 31, 2022

Another race proved Ferrari’s disastrous management on Sundays. After winning second and third place in his ranking Large Hungary Prize 2022 and with plenty of options to add a double, reality has hit the Maranello team again. They couldn’t get past George Russell in the first touch, They missed Carlos Sainz’s two stops and completely messed up the strategy with Charles Leclerc going hard.

They went from having, at worst, a double podium, to fourth and sixth in a race in which Max Verstappen won again. A result that is beginning to be decisive and, most worryingly, an insurmountable trend.

The Italians have proven to be intractable in qualifying, but whether due to external conditions or mistakes or failures from the wall, the reality is that they are 103 points from Red Bull and with Mercedes closing in.

The 2022 Formula 1 season is far from over 9 Grand Prix and one Sprint event in Brazilso it would take a miracle or a massive meltdown from Red Bull to change everything.

So far it has given the impression that the Ferrari is the fastest car, but for one reason or another it has not been confirmed in the results. That leaves those led by Mattia Binotto in an unpleasant situation, therefore, it is time to review other cases in which something similar happened.

Renault 1982, the example of reliability

The 1982 season Renault managed to hit the key with his own turbo engine, perfecting the previous model in the hands of Alain Prost and René Arnaux. A performance that materialized in the qualifiers where the French took 10 out of 16 pole position of the year, i.e. 62.5%.

However, only Prost added a win over the course of the year and that is Renault’s Achilles heel was reliability. Between the two drivers they abandoned 22 of the 32 Grands Prix. Still, it was his best year yet.

Mercedes 2013, the counterexample

The final year of the hybrid era, the first to see Lewis Hamilton wear silver, marked a huge step forward for the fledgling team. Just like Ferrari in 2022 they were very fast on Saturdays, with 8 out of 19 many, i.e. 42.1%. A more than remarkable result if you take into account the dominance of Red Bull at the time, who won both titles with ease.

That 2013 left very good feelings for Mercedes because it finally managed to be competitive and fight for victories, managing to prevail in Monaco, Silverstone and Hungaroring, provisions where the car is of great importance. Additionally, they led 15% of laps throughout the year, the second-best percentage in that regard.

All this earned them second place in the constructors’ championship over Ferrari and fourth and sixth place in the drivers’ championship. Next year they will consolidate unprecedented dominance in F1.

Back to 2019?

One of the problems that will always be connected ferrari is that they will always be under enormous pressure to deliver. They are the most recognizable and famous team, also the ones that dominated at the beginning of the century and their brand is synonymous with Formula 1. Therefore, just when they have the least chance of winning, they run with a conditioning factor that the rest do not know.

Therefore, this 2022 has so many similarities with what happened in 2019. Again, a very fast car on Saturdays, even more so from Mercedes, powered by a superior power unit. This translated to 9 out of 21 poles (42.8%) but only 14.3% of the winsthe same percentage of a Red Bull where “only” Max Verstappen raced.

Along the way, strategy errors all over the place, internally, reliability and pace issues eliminated the Italians from the equation. They led by a third of the total laps, but fell 235 behind Mercedes.