Ferrari have been backed to challenge for the title again in 2023 by former Formula 1 racer Romain Grosjean.
But before giving his vote of confidence to the Italian team, he expressed his disbelief over how the Ferrari title challenge fell apart so dramatically this year after a strong start to the season.
Charles Leclerc won two of the first three races as Ferrari took an early but strong lead in the championship. But as Red Bull got on top of the reliability issues which were plaguing them in the early weeks of the campaign, the Scuderia began to suffer problems of its own.
Several engine blowouts cost Ferrari a lot of points, but it was the combination of poor power unit reliability and a swathe of strategy blunders which derailed their challenge. Leclerc also played his part, crashing out of the French Grand Prix when leading to hand the win to Max Verstappen on a platter.
"After the first three races you’d be crazy not to think that Ferrari is going to be world champion with Charles Leclerc," Grosjean told the Motor Sport Magazine podcast when reflecting on the 2022 season. "And here we go, they almost didn't finish second.
"So I guess that's where the disappointment comes from for Charles. If George [Russell] finished second in the championship, it would have meant something but when you actually lead the championship by, what was it? 45 or 65 points over Max and you finish behind – it hurts."
There has been change at Maranello this month as a result. Mattia Binotto resigned as team principal, feeling he no longer had the complete confidence of the Ferrari top brass. His replacement, Frederic Vasseur, officially starts his new job from January 9.
While there is plenty of uncertainty around Ferrari's chances, given that major change and the way in which their challenge this year crumbled, Grosjean has backed the Scuderia to get back to winning ways next year and to put together a more sturdy title challenge.
"I think Ferrari is going to be strong next year," the former Haas racer added. "Charles has been doing a great job – he made a few mistakes, but it's always when you try to catch up that you make mistakes... I'm very impressed with Charles and I think Ferrari is going to learn from this year and I think they will be in the mix next year."
