On Sunday, Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won his third race of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix — one week after teammate Carlos Sainz won his first career contest at the British Grand Prix.
These are positive signs for the all-time winningest F1 team — which hasn’t won a Constructors’ Championship since 2008.
But if Ferrari is going to complete its comeback to the apex of motorsport, it will need to get a handle on the glaring mechanical and strategic issues that have plagued it.
- Leclerc led the Spanish GP by a large margin until a power-unit failure retired his car.
- A week later at Monaco, the team made a series of pit-stop mistakes that likely cost the Monegasque driver a podium or win at his home grand prix.
- During the last quarter of Sunday’s race, Sainz was P3 and had more pace than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, but Ferrari had to retire the car when his power unit caught fire, losing another podium.
Despite the struggles, both drivers are both locked in to drive for the Prancing Horse through 2024 — Leclerc on a reported $12 million salary, and Sainz for $10 million.
After that, at least one could be on the move. Mick Schumacher — a Ferrari Academy driver — continues to get encouraging results in the Haas car, finishing a career-best P6 in Austria.
Ferrari trail Red Bull Racing by 56 points in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of the July 24 French Grand Prix, while Leclerc (2nd, 170 PTS) and Sainz (4th, 133 PTS) are chasing Verstappen (208 PTS) for the Drivers’ Championship.
