“How the mighty have fallen“- this seems to be Ferrari’s situation right now. The start of 2024 was a massive success for the Scuderia as Charles Leclerc grabbed a podium finish at the season starter in Bahrain. Then came the Saudi Arabian GP where the Monegasque once again came in the top 3. In Australia, the Ferrari duo improved their pace as Carlos Sainz won the race with Leclerc right behind him. But those results seem to be a thing of the past now.

The current F1 season seems to be heading towards the list of all those seasons where Ferrari showed off a powerful form in the beginning only to lose the lead towards the end. The Maranello outfit might have quickly built a spot for itself in P2 on the Constructors’ Championship standings, but McLaren is now breathing down their neck with a gap of only 7 points. And as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have locked out the front row in the starting grid of the Hungarian GP, it can be said that Ferrari have all but lost their second place in the 2024 team rankings already.

As true-blue followers of Ferrari, the Tifosi have waited since 2007 to see one of the team’s racers get the Drivers’ Championship. According to many F1 pundits, Charles Leclerc is supposed to be the force that finally wins the title for the Scuderia but his recent targets show how the Monegasque is not even ambitious enough. Ahead of the race at the Hungaroring, Leclerc admitted, “P4 and P5 are what we should target as a team,” during the Drivers’ Parade.

Now, Leclerc saying that his team needs to aim for positions below the podium places shows how Ferrari is not in the form to fight for the top 3 spots anymore. While this might be heartbreaking for the Italian outfit, Charles’ prediction seems correct when we look at the records of the team from the recent races. In the last 4 races, Ferrari has only fetched 50 points as both their recruits succumbed to early retirements on multiple occasions. But why, as per Leclerc, is the team failing to perform at the level of its rivals?

Charles Leclerc confesses to Ferrari’s lack of pace

As the oldest and most powerful team in F1, Ferrari needs to show to the world their worth after failing to lift the Championship trophy for 16 long years since 2008. The team has a brilliant duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, both of whom have won races in the current season, and yet they are currently struggling to hold on to the second place on the Championship table. This raises questions as to why the Scuderia is not being able to compete with the likes of the other teams vying for the top spots in the rankings.

Charles Leclerc answered this question quite bluntly. The Monegasque said, “It’s clear that we are lacking some pace against McLaren and the Red Bull. And we are pretty similar to Mercedes.” The 26-year-old seems to have already written off Ferrari’s possibilities of grabbing the topmost spot in the 2024 challenge against its rivals.

Given the struggles Ferrari is facing currently, they need a huge change. The Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has already made sure that changes are starting to happen as he has got 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton to join the Scuderia next year. Given the Briton’s talent and enormous experience of winning 104 Grands Prix, do you think Lewis can bring Ferrari’s best shot at winning the Constructors’ Cup? Share your comments below.