Ferrari, Schumacher and Monza
The big appointment with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza is getting closer, eagerly awaited by Circus fans and, of course, by enthusiasts from our country. In his F1 career, the event must have made Riccardo Patrese’s heart beat faster as well, winner of six races from 1977 to 1993. This year’s GP will see Ferrari go back in time with a special livery dedicated to Michael Schumacher, as well as the laps that Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel will do behind the wheel of the F2002 before the start, but the Maranello team will still have to focus on the present.
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The mistake at Zandvoort
Patrese himself talked about this in an interview with the sports betting site Vision4Sport, acknowledging Ferrari’s good form, which however was the protagonist of a serious strategic error in the last Dutch GP: “Ferrari is doing very well this year, but at Zandvoort it lost at least a podium due to slowness in making decisions on team orders. It was a terrible performance by Ferrari. Lewis was tailing Leclerc, but had to wait two laps before Leclerc let him pass. He lost maybe two or three seconds, and that made all the difference between reaching the podium and winning. The car is not yet at the same level as Mercedes. Probably McLaren is slightly better than Ferrari. But you know, if you want to beat Mercedes you cannot afford mistakes like that and you have to take advantage of every opportunity that arises. They have to decide immediately who is the number one driver. They cannot say halfway through the race: ‘We’ll think about it a bit and then let you know’. In these cases you lose races, points and opportunities. You have to make an immediate decision on who must let whom pass”.
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The decision to make
So who is, then, the number one driver Ferrari can rely on? According to Patrese, who also recalled his own experience in F1, there is no doubt: “Yes, I understand. I can understand Hamilton’s frustration and why he made those comments. Usually the more experienced drivers are not afraid to express their opinion. In my time, everyone complained, shouted and argued. In today’s Formula 1, everything is a bit flat. So when Lewis says what he said, things get interesting. I agree with him when he says Ferrari has to be like Mercedes. If there is a chance that Ferrari can compete for the championship, it must choose the driver. They cannot do what McLaren did last year, when their Papaya rules left the door open to both Lando and Oscar and refused team orders. In 1983, my team, Brabham, had to choose between me and Nelson Piquet, who had to fight for the championship against Alain Prost at Renault. So, I was sacrificed to give full support to Piquet, and we managed to win the championship. What happened at Zandvoort shows that Ferrari still doesn’t have clear ideas. If you want to compete for the drivers’ championship, you have to choose one of the two, and Lewis must be number one. He is doing a fantastic job, and he is more consistent than Charles at the moment.”
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