During the last seasons before the regulatory change of 2022, there had been many occasions in which Ferrari had shown itself as one of the strongest teams after the preseason, but until now they had not managed to continue with those sensations.
After the first three races of this season have been played, there is no doubt that the Maranello team has managed to make one of the biggest leaps in terms of performance on the entire grid, placing itself as the great favorite to win the two titles , that of pilots and that of constructors, with Red Bull as the main rival.
With two wins and two pole positions, Charles Leclerc is spearheading Ferrari at the start of 2022. While Carlos Sainz achieved two podium finishes in the first two races, but left in Australia after his own mistake that could cost him dearly in a future.
To date, the Ferrari F1-75 has been the most complete car on the grid, with an almost perfect balance between performance and reliability, something that has surprised even the heads of the historic Italian structure.
These were the words of Mattia Binotto , director of Ferrari, in this regard: “Yes, we are certainly surprised. I think we have worked very hard and the truth is that we gave 2022 a lot of priority from the beginning.”
“I knew we had a great team. And, in a way, we ourselves have also improved compared to the past seasons.”
“I was hoping to have a competitive car for the start of the season, but I really didn’t expect to get off to such a good start.”
At the moment, Leclerc leads the drivers’ standings with 71 points and has managed to open a fairly large gap with respect to his current pursuers; George Russell is second with 37 points and his teammate, Sainz , third with 33.
Regarding the constructors’ classification, Ferrari leads the table with 104 points, while Mercedes, which surprisingly is in second position, has only managed to add 65 units, 10 more than Red Bull , in third place.
Despite these differences, Mattia Binotto assured that everything is still open and that nothing has been decided, since there are still 20 Grands Prix to be played and due to the nature of this new technical regulation, the different developments of the teams could change everything during the course of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
“But I still think that the difference between us and the other teams on the grid may be very small, I think the last few races have shown that, so we will see a great battle in the next few weeks, without a doubt.”
