Spainful Weekend for Ferrari at Spain GP

The Spanish Grand Prix weekend ended on a bitter and painful note for Ferrari.

No doubt Leclerc was bound to take the third victory of the season, with 28 laps and already pitted, the #16 had a safe lead over Russell, Verstappen and Perez. Engine failures are one of those variables you cannot control, painful when it happens, especially for Ferrari, which would be one of the machines that would rarely fail. Spain GP is painful, a whole perfect race ruined, leaving only regrets, because we can only applaud the work of Leclerc and the team.

Engine and Ego Betrayal

Everything was running way too perfect, great practice on Friday, amazing pole position, and perfect start, perfect race management, perfect pit-stop (2.2 seconds, record of this season). Sainz once again is betrayed by his eagerness to show that he is a WDC worthy driver, and this is costing a lot in terms of constructor championship.

It isn’t the first time we mentioned it, past articles continued to raise the warning that Sainz and team need to sort out the #1 driver and #2. This weekend, Ferrari suffered a huge damage in terms of championships, where Red Bull stepped on first position in both Driver and Constructor championship.

Mind that if Leclerc is battling with the immense talent of Max Verstappen —one that is this race demonstrated again to be the absolute number 1 driver in the circus — yet again the favorite for this years’ championship, it is Ferrari the best constructed car, and should be the favorite for the Constructor championship.

Ferrari needs Sainz’s points, this weekend was an example, where Ferrari could have been sweeter with a potential podium and not losing the constructor lead. There is a lot of Ego in Sainz performance, and the hope is having the Spaniard accepting his role of second in the Scuderia.

The Race showed how entertaining a Circuit can be

Barcelona was again proof of one of the other theories discussed previously. If one point criticism is for Ferrari not rankings its drivers, with possible repercussion over the constructor championship, the other note of criticism discussed over this page is the different in race quality a circuit brings over a city track.

This weekend is proving we need less city tracks. Jeddah, Miami, Azerbaijan, in the future Las Vegas. We used to have only Monaco, and that was good enough. Jeddah and Miami, already proved a point. Drivers are limited, by the narrow track, with super close walls, few turns, lots of long straights.

If Formula 1 was a car parade, great. But is not, and we lose quality. Barcelona, showed how a race can be extremely entertaining and of high quality. No flags, no accidents, just superior quality driving.

The example of Leclerc, that until the engine failure dominated the race with impeccable driving, the battling of Russell with Max Verstappen first and then Checo Perez, the return of Mercedes and Hamilton, that after the initial contact with Magnussen, was able to produce an incredible performance returning from bottom of the race to P5.

Another entertaining performance was Alonso, which substitute the power unit and started from P20, finishing at points. Last, the Alfa Romeo and Bottas, that looks like one of these incredible love stories, the two are perfect for each other, and soon we will see the Finnish bringing Alfa Romeo to podium. The Spanish Grand Prix was of the best race of the year, in terms of overall quality, so far. The appeal is to bring more circuits, like Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Suzuka, SPA, Barcelona, Silverstone, Monza, Albert Park layouts…and less city ones.

Positive Notes from the Spain GP

It is mentioned that it was a perfect weekend until lap 28. If Leclerc did not bring any points from this weekend, there is a sweet note left from Ferrari’s updates and upgrades of the car. The transformation the 2022 single seater undergo, brought in two main factors with negative incidence in the performance of the car: weight, tire consumption.

The effects the car have in terms of weight, impacts the tire consumption, which diminishes performance and overall competitiveness of a car. Ferrari in particular looked to suffer heavy blistering of the tires in the last races. One example is that Sprint Race in Imola, in which Leclerc lost the lead with two laps left, and showed the impact tire management have on a race.

Despite Barcelona have a very abrasive asphalt, Ferrari looked very much improved from how bad the car was “eating” tires. This can be the result of the upgrades in the car, which could provide better weight and its distribution, easing car maneuverability and car management. Definitely a plus to consider for the following races. Speaking of which, next race is coming up this weekend in Monaco, the hometown of our prodigy. Fingers Crossed.