Ferrari bounced back in 2022 from 2 consecutive winless seasons, to find themselves with a total of 4 wins, 12 Poles and 20 podium finishes. Topped off by 2nd in both the Drivers and Constructors Championships. But to call this A successful season would be naïve. Ferrari came out of the gates with the fastest car in Pre Season Testing which lead to 2 victories in the first 3 races. Leading many to speculate that maybe this would finally be the year to put the Maranello outfit back on top. But in typical Ferrari fashion, reliability, bad strategy and inter-team drama cost them a chance at the title. By season’s end they were struggling to keep up with the resurgent Mercedes W13 and only just pipped them to 2nd in the Constructors Championship.
With the announcement that Mattia Binotto has left his position as team boss, Ferrari heads into the unknown in 2023. Binotto built the team back up from the disastrous consequences of the Technical Directive it faced at the end of 2019. Binotto has long said to judge the team on the 2023 season, likely in a plea to the Ferrari higher ups. But now with the Ferrari stalwart out at Maranello and the addition of Fred Vasseur as his successor, the team has an uphill battle in 2023.
Vasseur has kept the Sauber outfit afloat through uncertain times and the team has been able to put together a competitive midfield package in 2022. But can Vasseur step to the next level to fight the internal politics notorious at Ferrari and to put together a title challenge in his first year in charge? Personally I find this extremely unlikely. Due to the challenges Vasseur will face in getting to grips with the unique considerations at Ferrari, along with the threat that Mercedes will become in 2023. Therefore I believe that Ferrari will be a distant 3rd at best in the Constructors Championship and struggle to challenge Red Bull or Mercedes for the top step on a weekly basis.
