Ferrari, Ferrari, Ferrari: Three times is not a rule -- it's a curse

If it could go wrong, it sure seemed to do so for the Scuderia team in France -- and a potentially good finish ultimately went in the wrong direction yet again this season

If you’re unfamiliar with the Rule of Three, it states that in any narrative, events happening in threes give more of a feeling of satisfaction than in any other number.

For Scuderia Ferrari, its own particular group of three -- which includes lack of reliability, bad strategy, and driver error -- is anything but satisfying for a team with perhaps the fastest car currently in Formula One.

This past Sunday's French Grand Prix gave Ferrari a chance to experience the full set of issues and finds the team now having to worry more about fending off third-place Mercedes than threatening series leader Red Bull.

The reliability issue was a carryover from the previous race in Austria, when Carlos Sainz’s engine suddenly decided to BBQ itself -- and a large portion of the car as well. As racing without an engine didn’t seem a viable option, Sainz was required this past week to go over the annual limit for replacement units and landed himself at the back of the grid for the start of the race.

While Sainz spent most of the race charging his way towards the front, the Ferrari strategy think-tank managed to limit his progress to fifth place, a decent result but perhaps one or even two spots lower than would have been possible with better guidance.

Sainz was one of the few hard-tire runners at the start, which slowed his progress through the field, and an early safety car took away whatever advantage that strategy gave him by making staying out while his competitors pitted impractical. Things went from bad to worse as Sainz seemed to lose his patience over the utter chaos coming over the radio regarding whether he should make a second stop to remove the medium tires which were questionable to reach the finish.

Adding to his frustration, when Sainz eventually did come into the pits he was required to serve a five-second penalty, which was incurred during the first stop when the team released him into the path of an oncoming car, narrowly avoiding a collision.

As a final insult the team told him on the radio he had a five-second “stop and go” penalty rather than just a time loss, an error that at least Sainz caught this time.

But worst of all for Ferrari was a shocking driving mistake by Charles Leclerc, which once again saw a likely win for the team turned into a DNF. Leclerc’s guttural scream which was broadcast over the team radio while his car lay motionless in the tire barriers said it better than any words, as he handed series leader Max Verstappen a relatively easy victory and left himself with a 63-point deficit in the standings.

As the team looks at what could have been a magical year slowly get derailed by incident after incident, one wonders how long team principal Mattia Binotto can maintain his calm demeanor. In the post-race interview, Binotto said “there is nothing much to say about (the accident), these are mistakes, and they happen."

But Binotto's body language appeared to show a different sentiment as the frustration continues to build.

As for Red Bull, Verstappen’s victory was perhaps slightly tempered by teammate Sergio Perez being beaten to the podium by both Mercedes cars, which had its best team race of the year so far.

George Russell showed why he’s earned his place on this team with a terrific restart pass of Perez following a safety car, which appeared to catch the Red Bull driver completely off-guard.

Lewis Hamilton, racing in his 300th F1 race, had his most Lewis Hamilton-like performance of the year, finishing 10 seconds behind Verstappen, but clearly pleased with the improvement of his car’s performance.

Through the Field

* After updating the car and having a strong qualifying on Saturday, McLaren looked like it might be in a position to challenge Mercedes in Sunday’s race. Instead, McLaren seemed even farther off the pace of the Silver Arrows, while Alpine passed the British team both on the track and in the standings.

Using identical tire strategies, each McLaren was passed by one of the Alpine cars, and Daniel Riccardo had to fight off the invigorated Aston Martin duo to hold onto ninth place. Norris said after the race, “I just expected a little bit more from us,” while stating the Alpines were simply faster.

* Speculation continues that this will be the last race at Circuit Paul Ricard, and perhaps in France altogether. Ideas for possible other French hosts, which include even Le Mans, have been put forward to keep the sport alive in a country with some of the longest history of motorsport.

If this past weekend turns out to be the last race in France for the foreseeable future, the country’s two drivers will have gone out with mixed results. Esteban Ocon recovered from an early tangle with Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (which would end Tsunda’s day) to finish in a very satisfying eighth-place, while Pierre Gasly in the other Alpha Tauri came to his home track with what he hoped would be an improved car, only to finished a non-competitive day in twelfth.

* While the Haas cars looked fast all weekend, they were unable to follow up on their strong results in the previous two races. An early tire change hurt the team when a subsequent safety car gave their competitors a quicker stop, and both drivers would be involved in contact.

Kevin Magnussen had his race ended by a crash with Nicholas Latifi, while Mick Schumacher limped home last among the running cars after being spun from contact with Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, who received a five-second penalty and later retired with problems with his (Ferrari-supplied) engine.

In the other Alfa, Valtteri Bottas was unable to overcome a weak start, which he put down to a issue with the car, but did come away from the weekend with an awesome hat.

Up Next

The summer break looms, but not until after next weekend’s trip to Hungary, which last year featured a thrill-packed race, including a massive first-lap crash, Lewis Hamilton making a solo standing start following a red flag, and Esteban Ocon’s first series victory.