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The Commedia dell & # 39; arte is a form of popular theater born in Italy in the sixteenth century and which has generated particular pantomime. For the moment, Ferrari gives the impression of wanting to revive it in Formula 1 this year.
The incredible mistake of the team was not knowing that Charles Leclerc was likely to be eliminated in the first qualifying match at the Monaco Grand Prix, realizing that Sebastian Vettel was, and then to watch the German eliminate his teammate standing, not believing in the pits, belonged to the realm of farce.
But it's too real for Ferrari at the moment.
The team manager, Mattia Binotto, then raised his hand and admitted that the team had made "a mistake, a wrong judgment".
They had miscalculated the time needed to move on to the second qualification. They did not take into account the improvement of the track nor the gains resulting from the increasing confidence of other drivers. They wanted to leave two new pairs of tires at Leclerc for each of the next two sessions. And they had not canceled the decision when they should have.
This kind of thing happens in F1. Decisions are made in a split second and errors in judgment can be very costly. The problem for Ferrari is that it happens too often.
Over the past two years, Ferrari has committed a series of operational management errors that have cost it dearly, race after race.
In 2018, in addition to the series of misbehavior committed by Vettel, these torpedoed their title chances. This year, the car is not fast enough to compete in the championship, but the mistakes are repeated and cause considerable damage to the image of Ferrari.
The latter follows Azerbaijan two races earlier, when Ferrari sent its two drivers in the middle of the three tire mixes in the second qualification. As they adapted to reduced adhesion, they made mistakes and hit the wall. Leclerc's mistake was final and cost what previously seemed like a good shot for pole position.
And then there are the races, when in a certain way Ferrari was found to impose orders of the team that forced the pilots to stay in position or to let their teammate pbad by each of them. Them up to now.
The drivers are not immune either, it must be said.
In Monaco, Leclerc was the fastest in the final training, but his first heat in qualifying was not excellent. He was sixth fastest, but 0.3 seconds slower than Kevin Magnussen's Haas. Then he missed the weighbridge when he came in and had to be pushed back, which added an extra layer of complication.
Vettel, who had repeated his last practice session with a near-miss at the same bend on Thursday, hit the wall with two separate shots in qualifying – once at Swimming Pool and once at Tobacco – but moved away.
Similarly, bad mix of tires or not, Leclerc crashed in Baku while he could have had pole, and he made small mistakes during his qualifying practice in Australia, China and Japan. Spain. Vettel spun as Lewis Hamilton competed in Bahrain and finished fifth in a race in which he should have at least been on the podium.
The impression, rightly or wrongly, is that of a top-down team in which a kind of desperation has set in and a cold and rational thought – so critical in the pressured environment of Formula 1 – is far too rare
This is ironic, as one would have expected the replacement of the sharp and aggressive man Maurizio Arrivabene by the apparently quieter and more academic figure of Mattia Binotto to give the team greater rationality.
Maybe they are all trying to compensate for a lack of unexpected performance this season. Binotto alluded to this when he said: "As a Ferrari, we are facing a situation in which we have to catch up in the championship, we have to catch up with our competitors – and when you have to catch up your delay, you must take a few points. " the risks too.
"For us, today, it was essential to take risks to perform as well as we could in Q3 and Q3 by defying in one way or another our competitors in T3 with Charles and Seb. But, without a doubt, not doing Q2 is even bigger than trying to challenge them in the last part of qualifying. "
As for Leclerc, in spite of his minor role in this great debacle, he must ask himself what he must do.
He has already won his first victory this year as his engine had developed a problem in the last stages of Bahrain, a race that he had dominated until then.
He lost another potential victory – or at least a podium – in Baku. And now, during his home race, when he seemed ready to qualify at least in third place.
The pain will be all the greater as he knows very well that in Monaco, where overtaking is virtually impossible, his race will be long and frustrating.
Leclerc has time, however. He is young and fast. His day will come.
For Ferrari, the problems are of a much greater magnitude. When you start thinking about it, strategic and other misconceptions go back many years, until the decision that cost them Fernando Alonso the world title in Abu Dhabi in 2010.
Since then, many errors have occurred. Some were large, others small, but all add to the impression of a team that is far from the operational excellence of Mercedes, to whom it tries to prove itself.
Catharsis from Hamilton
For a while, Lewis Hamilton did not feel like he was in pole position for this race. His teammate Valtteri Bottas was right with him all weekend and had been faster in the final tests, in the second qualifying and in the first rounds in the top 10 shots on goal.
As Bottas said, "I thought I had it." But he ran into traffic on his last lap on his last lap and his tires were too cold at the start of the lap. Meanwhile, Hamilton was getting ready for something special.
His last lap was right on the edge, and an improvement of 0.317secs. While he was shouting for joy on the radio, he was clear what that meant to him.
Hamilton, who was upset by the death of Niki Lauda, non-executive chairman of Mercedes on Monday, was excused from the press on Wednesday after his team asked him to remove him from the official press conference.
When this was announced in the media center, a person booed. Whoever was supposed to believe that, regardless of Hamilton's feelings, he had the duty and the responsibility to appear in the circumstances.
Everyone will have their own opinion on this, but on Saturday, Hamilton gave his point of view.
"The other day, I did not really feel ready," he said. "I think Toto [Wolff, Mercedes’ team boss] also felt quite similar. We had time to really dive into our feelings, because we were still remembering our many experiences.
"I have been in touch with Niki for the past eight months, we were going to send videos, it was always difficult because some days he looked good and was really great and "I'm coming back, I'm coming hard and I will be participating in this race, and then there are other days when he immediately lost a lot of weight."
According to Hamilton, Lauda played a crucial role in the process that led to her joining Mercedes in 2013.
"I remember getting a call from Niki in 2012 and we never really talked about it," said the 34-year-old Briton.
"So he's on the phone and he says," No, you should come to Mercedes. That's where you have to be. "
"I've always talked about how Ross [Brawn, former team boss] It was the convincing element of my coming on the team, because when I went to sit down with him, he explained what the team was doing, where they were going, their plans. Mercedes and I really believed in this vision.
"But Niki is the one who brought all this to me and who took it all in. And for all those years, he was sort of my partner in crime.
"In the end, it was part of the process of changing my life, if I had not received this call so long ago, I would be a world champion now and I would probably have won 22 victories, no matter what period I was at McLaren, I sit here five times world champion and I really feel like I owe him a lot.
"So it was very, very difficult at the beginning of the week, everyone is posting pictures and … I do not feel obligated to conform to the way everyone works." took my time and again, coming here Wednesday, I do not have it I do not think it was time to do it But we all love it and we miss it and it's hard to imagine that when someone leaves, you will never see him again, talk to him, or have a conversation.
"I have the best memories with him, so he will live in all our memories."
Hamilton, despite his talent, his love for Monaco, has won here only twice – just like Lauda.
It will be as determined as ever to convert this pole position into a header at the first corner which, being Monaco being Monaco, will also be close to the guarantee of a third win that you will be able to obtain.
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