Formula 1: 5 worst moments of Ferrari’s lost season

Ferrari’s worst moments of 2022: No. 2 – A flop in France

The French Grand Prix was promising for Ferrari, even after the mistakes earlier in the season. Charles Leclerc secured pole position with the fastest overall time, and despite Carlos Sainz Jr. starting 19th as the result of a penalty, he put up strong lap times in Q1 and Q2.

Leclerc held off Max Verstappen for 17 laps before the latter pitted for new tires. However, Leclerc spun out on the next lap and was forced to retire early, marking the third time he had retired while leading in 2022.

Meanwhile, Sainz pushed his way up to third place with 11 laps to go, but he received a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release from the pits during the safety car caused by Leclerc’s crash.

While Sainz was executing his overtake of Sergio Perez, the pit wall instructed him to box in order to serve his penalty, which prompted an emphatic response of, “NOT NOW, NOT NOW, NOT NOW!” from Sainz.

No one will ever know how far Sainz could have pushed ahead of Perez and George Russell, because Ferrari instructed Sainz to box to receive new tires and serve the penalty, which cost him roughly 27 seconds. He was able to finish fifth, but the Formula 1 world was left scratching their heads at the strategic move made by Ferrari.

On a day when the headline should have been about Sainz potentially making up 16 places, it instead became about yet another blunder by Ferrari’s pit wall.