Riccardo Patrese: “Ferrari absolutely must do this with Lewis Hamilton now”

Can Ferrari still win the Formula 1 World Championship this year? For the drivers’ championship, it would be their first title since Kimi Räikkönen’s victory in 2008; for the constructors’ championship, it would be their first title since 2009.

On the Vision4Sport website, Riccardo Patrese – who has competed in 256 Grand Prix races – has now spoken about what Ferrari needs to do to finally make the seemingly impossible a reality.

The Italian, who finished runner-up in the 1992 World Championship, says: “Ferrari are performing very well this year. But at Zandvoort, they threw away at least one podium finish because of hesitant decision-making regarding team orders. That was very poor of Ferrari.”

Riccardo Patrese

Foto: XPB

“Lewis Hamilton was closing in on Charles Leclerc from behind, but had to wait two laps before Leclerc let him past. Lewis may have lost two or three seconds as a result, and that was precisely what made the difference between him reaching the podium or not.”

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“The car isn’t quite at the same level as Mercedes’ yet. McLaren is probably even a bit better than Ferrari. But as we all know: if you want to beat Mercedes, you can’t afford to make mistakes like that and you have to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way.”

“They need to decide now who the number one driver is. You can’t say in the middle of a race: ‘We’ll think about it for a while and then get back to you.’ If that happens, you lose races, points and chances. You have to decide straight away who’s going to let whom past.”

“Ferrari absolutely must now choose Lewis Hamilton as their number one if they want to stay in the fight for the championship. I can relate to Hamilton’s frustration and understand why he was critical after the race. It’s usually the older drivers anyway who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.”

“In my day, everyone used to complain, shout and argue. In today’s world of Formula 1, everything’s a bit more bland. So when Lewis says what he’s said, it makes things interesting. I agree with him when he says that Ferrari needs to be like Mercedes.”

“If Ferrari is to have a chance of competing for the championship, the team must choose one driver. It can’t be done the way McLaren did last year, when their ‘papaya’ rules left the door open for both Lando and Oscar and team orders were rejected.”

“In 1983, my Brabham team had to choose between me and Nelson Piquet, who was battling Alain Prost for the world title at Renault. So I was sacrificed to give Piquet maximum support, and we managed to win the championship.”

“What happened at Zandvoort shows that Ferrari still doesn’t have a clear strategy. If you want to fight for the Drivers’ Championship, you have to choose one of the two drivers. And Lewis must be the number one. He’s doing a fantastic job and is currently driving more consistently than Charles Leclerc.”