Former F1 driver reflecs on unique “weight” that Ferrari team carries on its shoulders

25/09/2022 22:10

Former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill feels that the level of importance which Scuderia Ferrari holds to the entire Italian country brings with it a kind of pressure that only the Maranello team has to face.

Ferrari raced in front of the thousands of Tifosi last time out at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, a weekend in which Charles Leclerc started from pole position, but once again had no way to defend against the impressive race pace of Max Verstappen: the Monegasque driver had to settle for second place at Monza, while his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz had to start from the back of the grid and was able to make a solid comeback to finish in fourth place, missing out on a podium finish due to the late Safety Car.

Since the Hungarian Grand Prix, the second part of the 2022 Formula 1 championship has been difficult for Scuderia Ferrari, after a positive first half of the season, at least in terms of race pace. Former F1 driver Damon Hill pointed out that the Italian outfit’s huge expectations ahead of their home race is always an extra pressure that they face.

“They’ve got the weight of the entire nation,” – the 1996 Formula 1 world champion said, in an interview for the latest F1 Nation podcast episode – “I saw some banner or something [at Monza] that basically [said], ‘Ferrari and Italy are the same thing’. When you go to Monza and you see these Ferrari fans turn up… Italy and Ferrari, it means the same thing. It’s almost as big as Italy, Ferrari. It’s not looking at [it] the other way around, so that’s the kind of level of importance Ferrari is to Italy. It’s a defining characteristic of the country, so that’s the pressure that doesn’t apply to any other team.” – he explained.

Scuderia Ferrari has been highly criticized for several errors made during the 2022 Formula 1 season, like the strategic mistakes which affected the Charles Leclerc’s final position in the Monaco Grand Prix and at the Hungaroring. Team Principal Mattia Binotto has recently confirmed that his team need to “change some things” in the near future to be able to make a step forward and fight for the titles, but at the same time he does not believe this should necessarily take the form of staff changes.

Damon Hill wanted to point out that the current Ferrari boss is doing everything he can to protect his staff from the huge pressures they are facing following the missed opportunities this season, which have prevented them from challenging Red Bull for the world titles:

“I think one of the problems is, when you’ve got an organisation [where somebody is] trying to protect the organisation, it’s no good if the outside world is saying all these things, because they can patently see that those things are going on. And the guy who’s the head of the organisation is going, ‘No, there’s nothing going on.’ Mattia Binotto is obviously trying to protect the team from pressure, but it takes the guy at the top to say, ‘Listen, we can all see what’s really going on. This is not good enough. It’s got to be better.’ – Damon Hill continued for the F1 Nation podcast.

When asked the Maranello team’s line-up, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who will race for Ferrari at least in the next two seasons, Damon Hill explained that the Monegasque should become the team’s main driver, with Carlos Sainz helping him, as Ferrrai hope to defeat Red Bull and Max Verstappen in 2023:

“The fact of the matter is [that] Charles Leclerc, in sheer pace, is the lead guy. Carlos has done a great job, but he still hasn’t dominated Charles. It’s a bit like Sergio [Perez, at Red Bull] – they’re [a] very good team, the pair of them. Carlos was actually pretty quick at Monza, but he’s going to have to go up another level to put Charles in the shade. So that’s a fair point. If you’re going up into battle against Max Verstappen and Red Bull, you’ve got to put your best guys forward. You’re not going to not hurt people’s feelings, because there isn’t time for that in Formula 1. It’s tough but fair.” – the former Williams driver concluded.

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