Ferrari are, if anything, consistent.
Time and time again, for decades it seems, the Maranello-based team makes strategy calls that leave not only their fans, but also their own drivers, completely baffled. These changes, like we saw in China just a couple of days ago, often lead to disastrous results, like the double disqualification of both their drivers.
The weekend started out on the right foot for one of their drivers. Having won the sprint race in commanding fashion, Hamilton was grinning from ear to ear, smiling for the first time in two weeks. The Ferrari driver channelled all his 18 years of Grand Prix racing experience to bring the prancing horse their first victory in the sprint race format, leading all 29 laps from pole position. Touching on his peerless victory, Hamilton said taking top honours in a Ferrari was “next level.”
Heading into the Grand Prix weekend on Thursday, the seven time champ was noticeably reserved, tentatively answering any questions about his and Ferrari’s chances this time out. A shocking debut race for the team last time out in Melbourne, Hamilton was looking to make amends in China, hopefully doing better than his single points paying finish of 10th. Hamilton said that there was just so much to get used to for his first race with the team. The switches and the balance of their car were completely new to the record-breaking phenomenon.
The set up gremlins that hampered his debut race for Ferrari in Melbourne had, from what we could tell, been ironed out, promising bigger things as the grand prix weekend rolled on. Hamilton said he was “a bit gobsmacked” and a bit “taken aback” after sprint qualifying on Friday, saying that he had finally gotten to grips with his SF-25 in his interview with Liberty Media. And, for the briefest of periods, he looked like he had too, taking his maiden win for the team in commanding fashion. As Max Verstappen and Aussie young gun Oscar Piastri battled for second place, Hamilton drove off into the distance, eking out a considerable gap over the squabbling Red Bull and Mclaren.
But things would only take a turn for the worse later on in qualifying, with Ferrari doing what Ferrari does best and ruining whatever chance their drivers have at repeating their success. Rather than stick with the same setup that brought him his first sprint race pole and win for the team, Ferrari decided to play a little jazz with Lewis’ car. These impromptu changes, according to its dejected pilot, threw off the car’s balance, with Hamilton putting in a lap time that was slower than his pole for the sprint. With his fastest trip around the Shanghai International Circuit only good enough for 5th, dashing any hopes of repeating his success. The car was “on a knife edge,” said Hamilton after a confidence sapping qualifying session, with it handling differently from one corner to the next. From then on, Hamilton no longer had any feel for the car, going so far as to say it was “terrible.”
The two Ferrari cars had a coming together at turn one of the first lap, with Leclerc slamming into the side of Hamilton’s car after jumping off the kerb. Despite damaging his front wing’s life end plate, Leclerc was magically faster than Hamilton. This wasn’t a big vote of confidence for the team or the sport’s most successful driver. Driving like a man possessed, Leclerc was steadily catching Hamilton, who was struggling with his car’s new setup. Having fallen further and further behind the race leaders, Hamilton was told to let his rabid teammate through. The demoralised champion would finish the race in 6th, one place down from where he started. Despite outperforming his teammate earlier on in the weekend, Hamilton would finish behind Leclerc’s damaged car in the big race.
Both Ferrari drivers would fail their post-race inspections by the FIA, adding even more insult to injury, with Leclerc’s car coming in 1 kg underweight and Hamilton’s having its rearward skid board below the minimum thickness. 0.5 mm standing between disqualification and 8 championship points. Hamilton’s fairy tale dream of driving for Ferrari is quickly turning into a nightmare, one that the champion will want to wake up from soon. With two weeks between the next race in Japan, Ferrari need to regroup and iron out whatever misgivings are plaguing their performance.
