Just how bad can it get for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel? Well, it has gotten bad enough, to a point where a 4-times world champion finished P19 during the first practice session ahead of this Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
However, to rub salt (and vinegar) into Vettel’s wounds, he finished behind Formula 2 racer Roy Nissany, who was testing the Williams car during FP1. Now bear in mind that Nissany is not even the best driver on the F2 grid. Far from it, the Israeli driver sits 17th from a list of 23 racers on F2’s Driver Championship standings.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
To make matters even more embarrassing, Vettel was on the medium compound tires whereas Nissany was on the hard compound tires.
The question as to why Nissany is testing an F1 car ahead of much better F2 drivers is a story for another day. But the focus is squarely on Vettel and Ferrari. Just how bad is the SF1000? Well, we knew it was deplorable, but this is an altogether new low for both the team Vettel.
Nevertheless, from Nissany’s perspective, he isn’t going to forget about this very soon. Irrespective of how his racing career pans out, he can proudly say that he finished ahead of a 4-times world champion. We don’t think he’d be mentioning the FP1 bit though.
Moreover, Nissany will now have greater bragging rights at the dinner table. Reason? His father Chanoch finished 6.8 seconds slower than Christijan Albers in what was his one and only F1 testing.
As you’d imagine, the result set the Twitter world alight. A variety of tweets poured in, ranging from abuses at Ferrari to sympathy for Vettel. Down below we have picked some of the best reactions.
Twitter reacts to Sebastian Vettel finishing behind Roy Nissany
— Mayof Elkezza (@ElkezzaMayof) September 4, 2020
Nissany ahead of a four-time world champion in an F1 session. 2020 is wild.
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) September 4, 2020
ridicoli ovunque pic.twitter.com/RPeIJUWOnk
— #DaysGone (@Fra_Lu77) September 4, 2020
for roy to frame it and hang in his living room
— bia (@delonge) September 4, 2020
— Ⓡⓔⓘⓝⓔⓡ🇲🇱 (@doumams_snk) September 4, 2020
Your first lap in the SF1000 at Monza must had been like this: pic.twitter.com/Y3KWhP50ST
— kawakami (@20WSS1) September 4, 2020
How did Vettel’s teammate Charles Leclerc fare in FP1?
The Monegasque managed to outperform Vettel by quite a margin, finishing one whole second faster than the German. However, that showing was still not enough to get him into the top 10 as he ended FP1 in P11.
Unlike Vettel though (5 stints all on the medium compound tires), Leclerc did 6 stints, the first two of which he ran on the hards before switching to the mediums thereafter.
It looks like Ferrari and their drivers have to brace themselves for another excruciatingly painful race in Monza.
