Ferrari gives Verstappen a gift: 'The pressure will only increase'

Norbert Haug is not surprised by Ferrari' s blunders in Monaco. The former boss of Mercedes' motorsport department argues that these kinds of scenes suit the Italian team and therefore kill brilliant results.

Blunder in Monaco

If you can start from P1 and P2 in Monaco then almost nothing can go wrong. Yet during the 2022 edition Ferrari managed to have Charles Leclerc finish off the podium. When the team was briefly pressured by Red Bull Racing numerous wrong decisions were made.

''From the outside, it always seems like there's a lot of pressure internally on Ferrari to make decisions right, where a 'normal decision' is a much better choice. Ferrari made things unnecessarily difficult for themselves in Monaco, turning a simple win into a fourth place finish for title contender Leclerc,'' Haug said in conversation with Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland.

Pressure on Ferrari

According to the man who left Mercedes at the end of 2012, this often helps the Italians kill their own chances. ''They gave Verstappen an unnecessary and potentially world championship-deciding gift here. Unfortunately, this kind of blunder belongs in the history of Ferrari, who from time to time kill brilliant results themselves. During the next race, the pressure will not be less because of this,'' Haug concluded.

Ferrari has seen a comfortable lead over Red Bull Racing go up in smoke in the last two races. Charles Leclerc's retirement in Barcelona at the head of the race was the most painful, but the disappointment in Monaco has helped to ensure that Ferrari is already 36 points behind its Austrian rival.