Charles Leclerc & Co. Reminded of Their Glaring Shortcomings With a Struggling Lewis Hamilton Comparison

Earlier it was Lapo Elkann who slandered Ferrari for operating the way they do and not getting the results. This time around it’s a former F1 race winner’s turn to take a jab at Ferrari. However, it was very brutal as the struggling Lewis Hamilton was compared to one of the Scuderia drivers to highlight the weaknesses of the SF23. Who is this former driver and what did he say?

Ferrari has been under scrutiny since the start of the season as they were expected to challenge for the title. While the Ferrari is able to match the Red Bull’s pace on one lap run sometimes, the long runs are beyond terrible. The Scuderia is probably the 3rd or 4th fastest team in the long run. Tire wear is terrible and there is just not enough lap time left in the tires after a couple of laps. The SF23 falls down the grid-like flies on race day. 

This was noticed in Miami as well when Carlos Sainz started P3 and finished P5 almost 10 seconds behind George Russell, who started outside the top 10. Juan Pablo Montoya further rubbed salt into Ferrari’s wound by explaining the lack of pace and comparing Leclerc to the ailing Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes themselves have not built a competitive car but one that looks faster in race trim than Ferrari. The Colombian explained how Hamilton struggled but came back stronger to finish ahead of Charles Leclerc who failed to improve pace.

According to Corrieredellosport.it, Juan Pablo Montoya while talking about the Miami GP, said, “Lewis struggled a little at the beginning but then he came back quite strong, even compared to the Ferrari drivers, who instead failed to improve the pace. Everyone is starting to bring updates but the question is how big the updates are, and whether they will be important enough to really make a difference.”

Read More: “Doesn’t Look Good”: Charles Leclerc Snapped Back to “Melancholic” Reality as Ferrari’s Expectations Get Thwarted After Embarrassing Duel

Montoya talked about how important the upgrade is going to be. Many teams are bringing a huge upgrade package to the first race in the European continent. Ferrari is no different as Carlos Sainz talks about the future upgrades including Imola.

Carlos Sainz on the upcoming upgrades for Ferrari

Post Miami, Sainz explained how Ferrari still struggles with tire wear and that the week before the Imola GP will be used to understand that problem. Nevertheless, upgrades will still flow in at Imola, but Barcelona would be the place where the team will introduce a different direction of upgrades to see how the car reacts to it. The aim still is to improve the race pace and the tire wear. 

According to Formu1a.uno, Carlos Sainz said, “Right now we are in a position where we have to try a lot, to be able to understand why we struggle so much in the race. Other updates are also arriving at Imola which should help, and we will try some more set-up things, but in Barcelona, we will also try to change the car a little and go in another direction [of development] to try and improve the race pace as well.”

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What do you make of Juan Pablo Montoya’s comments?