Despite being considered as one of the best drivers in F1, Charles Leclerc has failed to reach his potential with Ferrari. The Maranello-based outfit has failed to provide the Monegasque with a car capable of challenging for wins in the four years that he has been with the team so far. Now, Mario Andretti has offered a radical opinion on what can solve the issues for Ferrari.
Ferrari managed to get everyone excited at the start of the 2022 season after the new regulations kicked in. The car was finally able to fight at the top, but the joy was short-lived. A series of strategy and driver errors saw the team fail to capitalize on their fast car and by the start of the second half of the season, Red Bull had pulled away in terms of development.
🚨 ÚLTIMA HORA: Charles Leclerc habría firmado con Ferrari un nuevo contrato de 185 millones de euros.
👉 El contrato vencería en 2026, con opción de extenderlo hasta 2029. Leclerc recibiría una compensación que podría alcanzar los 50 millones de euros.
👉 Según se informa,… pic.twitter.com/UrKjL1eOjN
— Fórmula Directa (@FormulaDirecta) August 5, 2023
2023 has seen further downfall and neither Leclerc nor Sainz have been able to challenge for a race win in the first half of the season. This has only led to more frustration within the team. However, Andretti believes that Ferrari needs to take a page out of the history books and enforce a radical change in the management of the team can help them get back on track.
Only a radical change can rescue Ferrari
Mario Andretti recently spoke to PlanetF1 about the current condition of Ferrari and provided his opinion about what should be changed in the team. According to him, the Scuderia should bring back Luca di Montezemolo – the former chairman of Ferrari and Fiat.
The Italian businessman was the force behind the re-emergence of Ferrari from their slump back in the early 90s. Andretti was very straightforward and said, “Ferrari need to bring Montezemolo back.”
luca di montezemolo, legendary ferrari ex chairman, about 🆑: “charles, i would certainly reconfirm him. he’s good and i don’t think there are better driver than him who are free.
but in the present, anyone who drives la rossa is the least of the problems.” pic.twitter.com/LdOXxxP6hB
— leclerc data (@leclercdata) August 10, 2023
The 1978 F1 world champion also expressed his empathy for Leclerc, who is reportedly en route to signing a $198,500,000 contract renewal with the team. Andretti said, “He’s frustrated with what’s going on there at Ferrari” and explained that from the outside it looks like the drivers are not getting their say in the team.
Despite the Ferrari drivers often being on the end of strong criticism due to their underperformance, according to Andretti, the drivers are not at fault. He said, “It’s not the drivers. They’re not providing the drivers with a winning situation at the moment.”
Ferrari’s chances of winning a race this season are thin
Ferrari are currently P4 in the constructors championship, five points behind Aston Martin in P3. With Red Bull being unstoppable this season, Ferrari are currently in the fight for P2 in the championship, which is held by Mercedes as of now.
The Scuderia last won a race more than a year ago, in Austria and it has been 23 races since then. With how the team has been performing this season, catching up with Red Bull and then winning a race seems like a dream too big to achieve at this moment.
