David Coulthard believes that Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are losing confidence going ahead in the Championship.
Charles Leclerc again found himself losing a comfortable podium and even a win after yet another strategic blunder by the Scuderia.
At the Hungarian GP, Leclerc again lost the race thanks to a troubling decision by Ferrari strategists.
Now, Leclerc has lost more than 100 points due to reliability issues, strategic blunders, and Leclerc’s own errors.
Just like everyone else, David Coulthard was also perplexed by the situation of Ferrari and Leclerc in the race:
“They could have gone soft and accepted that was a short tyre, but at that time we were all wondering is the weather going to break?”
“Then it would have left them options thereafter, but in going on the same tyre again. We know they then have to go one direction or the other, and because of the length of the final stint. They’ve obviously thought the hard tyre is the way to go.”
“But it wasn’t the way to go on Friday with higher track temperatures, 26c today [Sunday], as you get cooler conditions, that brings you out of the window of the hard tyre even more. So it’s almost like the strategy side of their team, has gone ‘well all the information we have tells us don’t do this, but actually we’re going to do this,”
added Coulthard.
“They must be losing confidence”
Now, after another strategic blunder, David Coulthard believes both the Ferrari drivers might be losing faith.
“That’s the thing which is so unbelievable about it,” he added. “and that’s where they may not have lost the driving ability of their drivers, but they must be losing the confidence.”
Ferrari’s mistakes have almost wrapped up the Championship. It’s now almost certain that Max Verstappen will win his second consecutive title. The Dutch lead the Championship by 80 points now.
David Coulthard said:
“They [Mercedes] got the result on merit,” he said. “They were quick in these cooler conditions. I think if we take ourselves back a week to warm conditions, they weren’t really there challenging hard.
“I don’t think they are there putting pressure on Ferrari, Ferrari have got a quick race car, they’ve done the hard work, I think the spotlight is very much on the strategy decisions that are made.”
This season Ferrari definitely have a car that if not faster is surely on the same level as Red Bull. However, the strategic blunders have made this Championship look more one-sided than it should have been.
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