Australian Grand Prix 2023: Follow the latest news ahead of the Melbourne race

Twelve months can be a long time in motorsport but it will feel like an eternity for Ferrari given where the team was positioned this time last year. How did it get this bad?

Charles Leclerc in action for Ferrari. Picture: Getty Images

Twelve months can be a long time in motorsport but it will feel like an eternity for Ferrari given where the team was positioned this time last year.

Charles Leclerc achieved one of the rarest feats in Formula One when he pulled off a Grand Chelem (pole position, winning after leading every lap and taking fastest lap) at Albert Park in 2022.

It was just the 10th time since 2011 that a driver had achieved such a feat, and the result – coupled with Max Verstappen’s DNF – pushed Leclerc out to a 34-point lead in the championship.

Charles Leclerc celebrates his win at Albert Park. Picture: AFP Images

But the Monegasque man would go on to become the first driver since Fernando Alonso in 2010 to secure a Grand Chelem and not finish the season as world champion, with Ferrari falling off the horse as Max Verstappen and Red Bull roared home to win the double at a canter.

Red Bull caught and flew past a flailing Ferrari, which often handicapped itself with repeat poor strategy calls that ruined any chance at making the championship race competitive.

The team jettisoned Mattia Binotto in the off-season but the change at the top has not helped.

Reliability concerns and severe tyre degradation have hampered Ferrari’s early season and the Scuderia returns to Albert Park under genuine threat of not even featuring on the podium, only a year after Leclerc met the chequered flag 20 seconds clear of Sergio Perez in second.

Ferrari currently sits fourth in the constructors’ standings and Leclerc languishes in eighth among drivers – 38 points back from leader Verstappen.

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc (left) already have significant ground to make up on rivals. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

“What worried me coming back from Saudi was that you thought, ‘Well were Ferrari tuning their engines down for reliability again? Was that the issue why they were so far off the pace in the last stint?’” Sky Sports F1 Commentator David Croft told News Corp Australia.

“But that doesn’t seem to have been the case, so tyre degradation once again might be their Achilles wheel – which isn’t going to be as prevalent around Albert Park, but certainly I think racing wise they’re not on par with Red Bull, not on par with Aston Martin (and) they might only be ahead of Mercedes at (a select few) times.

“(In) qualifying I still think Leclerc can drag a brilliant lap out of it as he did in Saudi, but there’s no magic bullet for Ferrari. They’ve got to find a way to be easier on their tyres and keep that speed.

“There’s straight line speed there … but I don’t see Ferrari being on a par with Red Bull this weekend, I think that’s asking too much.”

Ferrari’s struggles have also caught the eye of former F1 world champions and Channel 10 commentators, Damon Hill and Alan Jones, who share varying degrees of optimism for the famous brand.

Hill, the 1996 F1 champion, wants to see more from Red Bull’s two prospective title challengers.

“Yes, definitely very disappointed with Ferrari and Mercedes,” Hill said.

“I think they looked like they were struggling last year, Mercedes, but Ferrari last year you could argue they lost the championship in the way they went about things.

“Now, they seem to have as many problems as before. They have got a new boss and it may be that the tough guy Fred Vasseur, he is not going to tolerate … any self-delusion.

“I think that can be a problem with Ferrari quite often – some people are too self-critical and the others are too optimistic. So I think someone like Fred Vasseur can kind of bring them down to earth, which is probably sometimes what they need.”

Jones, who was the last Australian to win the AGP way back in 1980 – before it was part of the Formula One Championship – was less enthusiastic.

Can Fred Vasseur steer Ferrari back to the top of Formula One? (Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP)

“Good old Ferrari and Italians, they have always managed to be able to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory,” the 1980 champion said.

“I think that they are their own worst enemy in a lot of ways. They are on their 100th team manager now and all that sort of stuff.

“What do you say about them? I love them. Formula One without Ferrari would be horrible, I think they bring a lot of colour and have probably got the most amount of followers for any Formula One team in the world.

“But they just can’t get their act together.

“They have got two good drivers, (Carlos) Sainz is no slouch either. A team that has got two strong drivers, a bit like Red Bull, if one falters a bit or gets a penalty … the other one can take up the baton.

“They should be the strongest team in Formula One, but they have just got to start getting their act together.”

Originally published as Australian Grand Prix 2023: Follow the latest news ahead of the Melbourne race