Ferrari got off to a great start with two wins in the first three races of the 2022 F1 season and appeared to be in a strong position to contend with both championships, but only achieved two wins in the next 13 races.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull are on track to win the title, with Ferrari under pressure from Mercedes for second place in the constructors’ standings.
In an interview ahead of last weekend’s F1 Italian Grand Prix, the Ferrari president said too many mistakes were made by the Maranello team.
Mika Hakkinen, who has driven for McLaren for most of his F1 career, believes that being part of Ferrari brings more pressure than other F1 teams.
“There is always a lot of pressure on Ferrari,” Mika Hakkinen wrote in his Unibet column.
“And it’s peculiar to them. Obviously at McLaren you felt the pressure to compete to win and to do your best. You felt the pressure not to be happy if you didn’t win, but Ferrari has always been a kind of national team. There is additional pressure from Do
“There’s always more pressure. It’s not easy for the management and for the riders who have to keep working hard, pushing together and not blaming each other when things go wrong.”
“It is interesting to see the comments of the Ferrari president, especially in public, because it increases the pressure on the team.”
“I think this season has been difficult because they started with a fast car, they won races and they had a lot of confidence. But Red Bull worked very efficiently, they made few mistakes and they improved the car.
With Max Verstappen now leading by 116 points in the drivers’ championship, Mika Hakkinen expects Verstappen to celebrate his second F1 title in the coming weeks.
“What I really want as a driver is not a one-lap car, but a fast racing car,” said Mika Hakkinen.
“I think Ferrari did a great job[in Italia]with Charles. They tried a different pit stop strategy than Red Bull, but Max kept chasing. “
“This is his fifth consecutive victory in a race. He has won every Grand Prix since France and Red Bull have really led.”
“Reliability issues aside, he will celebrate his second world championship in Singapore or Japan in early October.”
