Despite high expectations for the 2023 F1 season, Scuderia Ferrari failed to live up to them massively. In the current scenario, they are even in a worse position than their last year’s standings. Amid all this, team principal Frederic Vasseur has made a ‘stupid Ferrari’ admission that they are “miles away” from their desirable target.
Vasseur arrived on the team at the beginning of the 2023 season following the exit of Mattia Binotto. Ferrari’s hierarchy showed Binotto the exit door after underwhelming performances in 2022. However, things look even more deplorable this season for the Prancing Horse.
Feeling motivated going into the summer break 💪 pic.twitter.com/ZmiKIlkfVH
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 4, 2023
With no significant performances to show except the Azerbaijan qualification, the Maranello-based team has been relatively weak in going neck and neck against competitors. And now Vasseur’s latest admission surely does not make things any better for the fans.
Ferrari are miles away from their target, remarked Vasseur
Seven months into his first stint with Ferrari, Vasseur admitted that the Prancing Horse is nowhere near its targeted position. With McLaren and Mercedes making progress, they “were stupid.”
Speaking about this, the Frenchman revealed in a report published by PlanetF1, “We are miles away because when you are doing my job, you don’t have to imagine that there is a perfect structure.”
A shame to have a solid race weekend end in a DNF, but we’ll take the positives for the second half of the season 💪 #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/CMc1uMZxUM
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 30, 2023
“You always need to improve and always need to change things. If you stay with the same structure two years in a row, you are dead because all the others will improve,” added the Ferrari honcho.
Even Helmut Marko, the taskmaster at Red Bull, was surprised to see how the most successful team in F1 failed to use their 2022 challenger and improve from there on. But in the end, Vasseur emphasized that they must stay calm and analyze the situation to make progress.
Where does Ferrari stand this season?
The ongoing season has been far off from their last season. Ferrari managed to grab four wins last season; at one point, they were the championship favorites. But coming into 2023, that looks like a distant dream.
While Red Bull looks miles away regarding the Championship, the red team is even behind the likes of Mercedes and Aston Martin in the Constructors’ championship. As things stand, McLaren is the next team trying to jockey for Ferrari’s position in the standings.
The Maranello-based team is in P4 with 191 points. So far, they have picked up only two pole positions and three podiums and, unfortunately, no wins. As for the driver, Charles Leclerc, in P5 with 99 points, leads his teammate Carlos Sainz in P7 with 92.
