The way in which Red Bull recovered from a slow start to dominate the 2022 Formula 1 season was reminiscent of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, according to one Ferrari chief.
Considering how far ahead Red Bull and Max Verstappen were compared to their rivals by the end of the campaign, it's easy to forget that things were much tighter at the start of the year. Ferrari were very much on par with them in terms of performance – perhaps even ahead.
But what really put Red Bull on the back foot were the early-season reliability gremlins which reared their ugly heads. Verstappen was forced to retire from two of the first three races and Sergio Perez was also affected, allowing Charles Leclerc to take an early lead in the title race.
But it wasn't long until Red Bull got to grips with their problems and kicked into a higher gear. Meanwhile, Ferrari began to suffer their own reliability woes, which were compounded by some high-profile strategy blunders which saw them drop behind their rivals and out of the title race.
Regarding Red Bull recovery and subsequent improvements, Jock Clear made the rather bold comparison to Ali. Ferrari's senior performance engineer told Autosport : "I think that's probably Red Bull's strength this year, as they look to have been flexible.
"There were times when it was a bit of a Muhammad Ali approach – it looked like you've got them on the ropes and they just squirm a bit and come out and 'bang'. And you are like: 'Oh my God, where did they find that?'
"I think that's just the experience they've had as world champions. And that's what we have to get used to doing. This year has been a great help – we've been at the front, we've been fighting at the front. We've learned a huge amount this year and we're on a steep learning curve, as are all the teams."
Looking back at what Ferrari did wrong, Clear suggested his team can learn from Red Bull's consistent development throughout the season. He added: "The difficulty is to know where you're going to be spending your money most efficiently and most effectively – and that has to take a little bit of planning.
"Of course, as that planning plays out, you learn that maybe you took some wrong decisions earlier on for a path you're now on. Red Bull have obviously done a very good job of reacting to where they've seen the pressure, but not losing sight of the fact that they have to focus on just bringing performance to the car. And I think from our point of view, we've done everything we planned to do this year. But it's a relative sport.
"So yeah, we have underperformed compared to Red Bull in the second half of the year, but you would say that Mercedes have left it all too late, if you see what I mean. Between the three teams, you've got us maybe pushing a bit too early on, Mercedes pushing a bit late, and Red Bull striking the right balance. And we have to learn from that."
