Former F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle didn’t mince his words when talking about Ferrari’s current struggle. In an official column on Sky F1, Brundle revealed that he didn’t sympathize with Ferrari and hinted at their problems being self-inflicted.
Considering how badly the Styrian Grand Prix went for the Scuderia, last Sunday’s race in Hungary was a resounding success. Both cars managed to finish the race and didn’t self-destruct when they were in close proximity.
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Ferrari have given up a lot of power: Brundle
Gone are the days of challenging Mercedes for wins, podiums, and even Championships. A good day for Ferrari now entails a mediocre points finish in the midfield. Even Formula 1 now no longer considers Ferrari as a top tier team in the sport.
So why is Ferrari struggling to such a degree? In a nutshell, the team lost all its speed once the FIA concluded its investigation last year.
Once it was out in the open that the SF90 engine wasn’t exactly legal, the prancing horses were forced to adjust to technical directives which the team wasn’t fully up to speed with.
“Ferrari have given up a lot of power and straight-line speed due to tightening of the regulations, and Red Bull appear to have stepped on their own tail with aero set-up, hopefully temporarily.
“Observing Ferrari sitting fifth in the Constructors’ Championship is just painful. I don’t have a great deal of sympathy for them as I feel mislead by their performances last year.
“When they were clearly pushing the regulations way too hard. At the same time as we cheered hard and celebrated to finally have a serious challenger for Mercedes,” wrote Brundle.
Ferrari was struck with the biggest blow during the Hungarian Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton passed Sebastian Vettel. Not for position, but by the virtue of blue flags. A scene that certainly must have caused a fair amount of heartache at Maranello.
“It was still a powerful image when Seb Vettel had to move his Ferrari to one side heading up to turn 4 in order to be lapped by Hamilton.”
With the homologation rules in effect, Ferrari can only rely on major aero upgrades and car updates to fix some issues in the SF1000.
