Ferrari looks to 2019: many uncertainties and dangerous expectations on Charles Leclerc

At sunset on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari retired the SF71H and archived (finally) this indecipherable and illusory 2018. A season that can already be conjugated to the past, relegating it to the dusty shelves of F1 history.

It was the year of great dashed expectations, of the inexplicable collapse, of Vettel's multiple errors at the wheel and of the wrong developments. The lost world championship is already a sword of Damocles on what is to come, it is a permanent stab in the side, a pang that does not go away, the bitter taste of the dust eaten at the finish line after a long race, when you had started with the best hopes for then fall halfway.

There is one aspect, mental, that worries more than the others. How much resilience will the Red team have to demonstrate to get back up after this umpteenth defeat, the heaviest in recent years, almost fatal? The fatal Monza and the subsequent races left a mark on the faces of the Cavallino men, which however is not the kind of smile in De Andrè's famous song. It seemed more like a grimace of disappointment, tiredness, heaviness. It is the eyes of the first of the losers – Vettel – that have stopped shining. It's the dull and dragged gaze that is more frightening than the technical scenario.

Because, after all, the SF71H proved to be a great car, bordering on a winner, not fully exploited in too many circumstances nor developed to its fullest: a deadly mix that would have condemned anyone. In any case, it represents a valid base from which to start again, with a great engine. However, we will need to work on the aerodynamics, because Ferrari must return to being competitive in traction when exiting slow corners. The guided sections were often an undeserved suffering for the drivers.

Working in the factory and doing it in complete harmony. Doubts about the relationship between Arrivabene and Binotto need to be swept away with a clean sweep. We don't know them, we can't know, but we read and inform ourselves. For the good of Ferrari there should be no disagreements between two such top figures. The facade is of little use, otherwise Ferrari will end up like those construction buildings with mega panels covering the scaffolding. We need total cohesion, unity of purpose and a sense of belonging. There are? There will be?

We need, and here we touch the most painful point, the best Sebastian Vettel. Targeted by some of the fans and the press. The scapegoat for all Ferrari's sins, the German will live a winter in the eye of the storm, with the added objective difficulty of having to find serenity and return to a performance more suited to his fame. Seb shouldn't be crucified, but there's no doubt that the second half of 2018 version isn't exactly the best one, go ahead.

Meanwhile, at his debut as a starter, twenty-four hours after Vettel's test, Charles Leclerc already seemed perfectly at ease behind the wheel of the Cavallino car. The three tenths given by the Monegasque to his next team mate have no meaning (same hypersoft compound but 2019 specific for Charles). Still worrying (if not disturbing), however, is the media coverage of the debut of the former Sauber pilot. Headlines, wishes, hopes. It's the wait for the messiah to lift the Rossa from limbo and mud, it's the hope on the shoulders (damn it!) of an all too young and inexperienced talent. The same hopes that four years ago weighed on the shoulders of Vettel, who today has become the sad one four-time champion to be taken and scrapped. On to the next one, it's a world that doesn't give discounts and doesn't know how to wait.

Antonino Rendina

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