The races this season where Ferrari foolishly let the points slip away

511 against 376. 310 and 201 against 201 and 175. These are the gaps that separate Red Bull from Ferrari and their respective drivers. While the Austrian team dominates the competition and debates mathematically, it is not truly the case at a purely technical level, as was evident in Saturday’s qualifying session with the smallest gap between two opposing team drivers this season: 21 milliseconds. Therefore, their main rival, Ferrari, has lost many points.

Since the beginning of the season, the Scuderia has been making mistakes in the pits and is not spared from mechanical issues. While Red Bull was hit at the start, their reliability has improved and seems to be on their side. In Spain, Ferrari lost a potential first place (25 points) due to an engine failure. In Azerbaijan, both cars were forced to retire. With Charles Leclerc in the lead and Carlos Sainz in fourth, 37 points may have slipped away in Baku.

Strategies and Mistakes on the Track

But reliability is not the only downside. The drivers have also made mistakes. Charles Leclerc loses his battle against Sergio Perez for second place and finishes sixth (losing 10 points). Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, made a mistake at the start of the race due to Daniel Ricciardo and could have finished in the top 5 (potentially gaining 10 more points). In Australia, the Spaniard went off track alone this time after a difficult first lap with his tires. Starting in ninth place, he loses valuable points. In France, the Monegasque, a strong leader with the support of the fans, loses control of his car and crashes into the tire wall, having to retire.

The team is not without blame either. Solid performance in the pit stops, but the strategists and mechanics made several mistakes. In Monaco already, Charles Leclerc lost a potential victory due to a questionable strategy (he finished fourth, potentially missing out on 13 points). In Great Britain, the Scuderia brought Carlos Sainz in for fresh tires towards the end of the race, but not Leclerc. With worn-out tires, he couldn’t do anything and missed out on a possible second place (6 points).

151 points

In Hungary, the choice of hard tires is not a success. Result: a sixth place instead of a victory, 17 points less. At Spa, Ferrari brings in Leclerc to make the fastest lap in the race but drives too fast in the pits and loses a position to Fernando Alonso. Two more points lost. Lastly, in Zandvoort, Ferrari misses both pit stops for Carlos Sainz and loses valuable time. If we subtract the 10 seconds lost in the first pit stop and only consider the 5-second penalty, that’s 6 points left behind.

If we add up all these points left behind, Ferrari theoretically left 151 points. Of course, this calculation is purely hypothetical and does not take into account race incidents that could have occurred if both cars were still in the race during retirements.

In the rankings, these points are also taken from the opponent. So it’s a close battle that we could witness without these errors made by either the human or the machine. Less suspense for the fans and more frustration, later on, reality is quite different.