Formula 1: Former F1 driver Mika Hakkinen has come out in support of Ferrari and praised them for beating Red Bull in their own backyard at the Red Bull Ring. The Prancing Horse showed great ‘straight line’ speed and ‘confidence’ with their strategies at the Austrian Grand Prix. Follow Formula 1 and French GP LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
Writing in his latest blog for Unibet, Hakkinen said, “Ferrari beat Red Bull in a straight fight and that will give them a lot of confidence at this mid-point of the season.”
“Ferrari have worked hard to find the straight-line speed they need to compete against Red Bull, but at the weekend we also saw that they had better tyre performance on a circuit which normally suits the Red Bulls,” Hakkinen added.
It was Red Bull who had the upper hand in qualifying and the Sprint. But Ferrari held the advantage in the race with more tyre management across the two compounds utilized. Ferrari was set for a comfortable 1-2 completion until Carlos Sainz endured a late engine failure.
A tough break for Carlos Sainz #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cEV04FoRzY
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 10, 2022
However, Leclerc’s triumph actually denoted a forward leap as they continued looking for the two titles. Leclerc also had a problem with his throttle in the dying stages of the race but kept Verstappen at bay for his first victory since the Australian GP.
Moreover, Ferrari have been criticised for their way to deal with race strategy in ongoing seasons, with the 2022 season highlighting a few additional episodes. It included Leclerc who lost potential wins in Monaco (where he pitted in the midst of blended messages from his engineer) and Great Britain (where he was left on old Hard tyres during a late Safety Car period).
Hakkinen took note of the decisive nature of Ferrari’s strategic calls at the Red Bull Ring and focused on that this should proceed to assume they are to stay in the battle.
“Ferrari’s race strategies have caused some problems this year, but not on Sunday. When they saw Max switch to a two-stop strategy they followed, but by making their pit stops significantly later they always retained a strong tyre advantage. This is the kind of confident strategy Ferrari will need to maintain if they are to consistently challenge Red Bull,” Hakkinen further added.
But, Hakkinen feels Ferrari needs to work on their reliability as it could play an important role in this year’s title. “Carlos’ engine failure shows that Ferrari still have work to do on reliability and I am sure they must know where the problems lie.”
“Charles cannot afford to have those kinds of failures if he is to close the gap to Max. In fact, he needs Max to have a non-finish if the points gap in the World Championship is to really close down,” Hakkinen concluded.
Meanwhile, Leclerc is second in the drivers’ standings with 170 points and 38 shy of the leader Max Verstappen who is the first driver to cross the 200 mark with 208 points. Furthermore, Red Bull enjoys a comfortable 56 points lead in the constructors’ standings over Ferrari.
Exactly halfway through the season, here’s how things stand#F1 pic.twitter.com/C3aWax29NE
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 11, 2022
