They have a stellar driver line-up of seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton and the grid’s best qualifier Charles Leclerc, but Ferrari’s operations remain fragile
Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of stopping fellow Brit Lando Norris’ title charge rest on whether Ferrari can get their act together. Their dramatic double disqualification in Shanghai last Sunday was not only a low point in the Scuderia’s rich history but also took the gloss off Hamilton’s first win in red a day earlier in the sprint race.
And former McLaren Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya can’t see Ferrari catching his old team if they don’t make vast and swift improvements. He told Mirror Sport: “You can’t count Lewis out of anything this year yet, but the question is how well does Ferrari react?
“You can tell they’re not far off but they’re not where McLaren is. They’re like two upgrades away from being good, two steps behind.”
The disqualifications left Hamilton, 40, and team-mate Charles Leclerc ninth and 10th in the drivers’ standings, neither having yet amassed a double-figure points total. In the race for the teams’ title, Ferrari already have a 61-point deficit to leaders and defending champions McLaren after only the first two rounds of the year.
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Other than Hamilton’s surprise success in the Shanghai sprint, it has been all-McLaren at the sharp end of the grid so far. Norris, 25, won the first race in Melbourne to underline his status as the favourite for the drivers’ title. Team-mate Oscar Piastri, 23, reminded everyone of his talents by beating the Brit to the win in China – a victory that looked assured even before Norris suffered brake problems in the final stages.
It may well be a straight fight between the two McLaren drivers for individual honours this year. That’s a fight Montoya believes Norris is best equipped to win – if he can keep Piastri at arm’s length in the early rounds of the season and stop the Aussie’s title bid from gaining momentum.
The seven-time F1 race winner from Colombia said: “The only chance that Oscar has is to really start out-qualifying Lando. Because if he can out-qualify Lando enough, I think it will destroy Lando mentally. But if Lando can survive this, for like the next three or four races, Lando can beat him. I think then Lando will have him all year long.”
Red Bull’s hopes of winning back their crown from McLaren already look to have faded. Max Verstappen is still scoring regular points despite a difficult car but hasn’t been in contention for wins, while he already has a new team-mate after Liam Lawson failed to score a single point. Yuki Tsunoda will debut for the team at his home race, the Japanese Grand Prix, next Sunday.
Lawson’s signing was the latest failed attempt to find an ideal team-mate for Verstappen and, for that, Montoya puts the blame not at Christian Horner’s feet but at those of long-serving super adviser Helmut Marko.
He said: “Helmut is the one that decides who drives the car. Christian Horner runs the operational side of the team, the day to day. I think they respect each other enough that they don’t step on each other’s toes. I’m sure he has an opinion, but the final decision probably comes more from Helmut.”
Juan Pablo Montoya spoke to the Sunday Mirror via Vision4Sport, where you can enquire about exclusive packages to the world’s best sporting events.
