What Is Happening To Ferrari This Season

Ferrari, the most successful team in Formula One history has simply lacked speed this year and is currently sitting sixth in the constructor's championship at a time when they would regularly expect be in the top two. Their drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel haven't been able to scrap a top-six finish in the past four races and could only manage to finish eighth and tenth respectively in their home Grand Prix. 

In spite of all this, their team principal, Mattia Binotto says that it is not a crisis for the team which has won more races and championships than any other team in Formula One. Many say that this is due to a bad and unreliable engine which may be true as Alfa Romeo who were firm midfield runners last year and use the same engines as Ferrari have also witnessed a drop in performance.

 But even if this is true, Alfa Romeo's Kimi Räikkonën has managed to outperform at least one of the two Ferraris in the last three races. This proves that their car is only as fast as an Alfa Romeo which is clearly slower than theirs last year. In fact, their car was the only one which didn't improve at Monza. At Spa this year, Leclerc qualified thirteenth while he secured pole last year and his fastest lap this year was more than half a second slower than that of last year. 

Ferrari are still chasing the driver's world championship which they last won in 2007 with Kimi Räikkönen. They have come close in 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2018 but have been thwarted by a dominant Mercedes in the latter years and only lost by a point in 2008. This season, it looks like Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton is on course to equal Michael Schumacher's remarkable record of seven championships and there is nothing that Ferrari can do about it. 

However, it's not all over for Ferrari as the last three races were held at tracks with plenty of high-speed turns particularly at their home race at Mugello. These kinds of tracks give teams a headache in terms of setup and have only been intensifying Ferrari's problems. And let us not forget that their car has achieved two podiums in the early stages of this campaign with Charles Leclerc. 

But while Charles Leclerc has managed to at least have a half-decent season, the same can't be said for his teammate Sebastian Vettel who's highest finish this year is sixth at Hungary. Vettel has not been given the better strategy over Charles Leclerc ever since it was announced before the season began that he would part with them and be replaced by McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr at the end of this year. He has been given a contract by Aston Martin for next year but has expressed his anger on his current team's mechanics during a series of frustrating races.

All-round, this season has been an irritating one for Ferrari but all they can do is keep their heads down and do as well as they can in the midfield as, after all, anything can happen in Formula One. Can Ferrari make up for their slump in the last three races, or will they end the season on a low note. Follow all the action of the next race this weekend at Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix.

Photo Credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office