Ferrari urged to “wake up” as alarming reality of struggles laid bare
Ferrari have been told they "need a wake up call" if they are going to finish second in F1 2025.
Ferrari need to “wake up” if they want to finish second in the F1 constructors’ championship, according to Guenther Steiner.
Ferrari lost their grip on second place in the constructors’ standings after an underwhelming Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton taking a lowly eighth ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes have leapfrogged Ferrari into P2 after George Russell claimed second with Kimi Antonelli fourth.
The Silver Arrows leave Azerbaijan four points clear of Ferrari, while fourth-placed Red Bull are only 14 points behind following their recent resurgence, with Max Verstappen winning the last two races.
“I think we have to give the w***** [loser award] this time to Ferrari, because eighth and ninth, beaten by Racing Bulls, beaten by Williams,” Steiner told The Red Flags podcast.
“The mess not to let Charles by at the end, Lewis falling asleep to let him by because he was focused on something else…
“They need to wake up, because if they want to finish second in a championship, like this it’s not going to happen. So at the moment, they’re not second anymore.”
Are Ferrari in danger of slipping to fourth?
Steiner added: “They need a wake up call if they want to finish second, which will be very difficult because Mercedes won races, Red Bull won races, Ferrari haven’t won a race yet.
“Any of the three, they are so close together, it’s too early to call it. If Mercedes has a good race and they win a race, and Kimi can score some points, they can be in front.”
Steiner traced Ferrari’s disappointing performance in Baku back to qualifying, where Leclerc crashed out and Hamilton suffered a shock Q2 elimination, leaving the pair only 10th and 12th on the grid respectively.
“There is not one solution. They messed up a Saturday up and then the result on Sunday is difficult to achieve,” Steiner said.
“We expect a little bit more out of them but they clearly messed Saturday up. Then you are on the back foot and it’s very difficult to recover because a lot of cars are so close to you.
“They are only a few tenths out and then you cannot overtake because the delta is not big enough and you end up where you start. I’m not too surprised about that one.
“But the mistakes were made on Saturday, not on Sunday. On Sunday it was too late.”
Ferrari have just seven races left to avoid a winless 2025 campaign.
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