The 2022 Formula 1 season has seen Ferrari make countless unforced errors, errors which cost them any chance they once had to challenge Red Bull for the world championship.
While the 2022 Formula 1 season will ultimately go down as one of Ferrari’s best seasons in the last decade and a half on the stat sheet, it will be remembered by their fans as a season chock-full of “what could have been”.
The Maranello-based team have cost themselves a boatload of points, including several victories, with countless unforced errors through the season’s first 20 races, to the point where you have to wonder how they can consistently get it wrong with a F1-75 that, at least for the first half of the season, was the car to beat.
Lead challenger Charles Leclerc was eliminated from world championship contention when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinched his second straight title following the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, the 18th of 22 races on the schedule.
Ferrari themselves were eliminated from constructor title contention when Red Bull clinched their first since 2013 following the next race, the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
But things just keep getting more miserable for the Italian team, to the point where they brought to reality what was once nothing more than an embarrassing joke.
Since the midpoint of the season, there has been somewhat of a running joke that Ferrari will eventually send out one of their cars on wet tires during a bright and sunny day.
While it wasn’t exactly bright and sunny at Interlagos Circuit on Friday for qualifying ahead of Saturday afternoon’s sprint qualifying race for Sunday afternoon’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, they effectively turned this joke into a reality.
In the third and final round of qualifying, Ferrari sent out Leclerc on intermediate tires when the track conditions warranted slick tires. All nine of the other drivers in the round — including, ironically, teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. — went out on slick tires.
A few minutes into the session, Mercedes’ George Russell ran into trouble and caused a red flag, and during the stoppage, the rain began to fall.
Unsurprisingly, having not had the chance to do a legitimate qualifying lap on slick tires like the other nine drivers — including surprise polesitter Kevin Magnussen of Haas — Leclerc qualified in 10th place for the 24-lap sprint race at the 15-turn, 2.677-mile (4.308-kilometer) Sao Paulo, Brazil road course.
Add another one to the list of many head-scratchers at the Prancing Horse in 2022.
The sprint qualifying race is set to be broadcast live on ESPN News from Interlagos Circuit beginning at 2:25 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon, and the 71-lap Sao Paulo Grand Prix itself is set to be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 12:55 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss either race!