"A very black weekend for Ferrari": Italian media lambasts Prancing Horse's poor showing at the 2023 F1 Dutch GP

Italian media did not hold back on Ferrari's criticism after a poor showing at the recently concluded 2023 Dutch F1 GP on Sunday, August 27.

It was yet another messy and disappointing result for the Italian team as they could only manage P5 courtesy of Carlos Sainz with Charles Leclerc retiring from the race due to floor damage. Their execution in the changeable weather conditions also left the Tifosis miffed with poor strategy and slow pitstops.

Sky F1 pundit and former F1 world champion Damon Hill had predicted that the Italian media would blast Ferrari, saying:

“I dare to think they’ve got Monza next week so they’re going to get pasted by the press in Italy. Their performance this weekend has been all over the place. The guys couldn’t stop the car going into the first corner, drivers complained of inconsistent handling, and Charles crashed, but nothing really much happened in the race. That’s not good before you’re home grand prix.”

Hill was proved right as Gazzetta dello Sport called it an “embarrassment” and an “endless pit stop”, while Corriere dello Sport termed it a “very black weekend for Ferrari”.

La Repubblica gave the team a four out of 10 for the race weekend and called Leclerc’s outing one to “forget” while La Stampa’s headline read “Ferrari at the bottom”.

Ferrari team boss analyzes the Dutch GP weekend for the team

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur stated that it was a very 'busy' weekend for the team given the mixed conditions throughout the three days.

As per F1.com, he accepted that the team made mistakes and chose to shift his focus to their home race this weekend. He said:

"It was definitely a busy weekend, run in very difficult conditions. Carlos drove a great race, managing to match the pace of those ahead up until the rain returned. Charles’ race was compromised on the opening lap, when there was the collision with Oscar Piastri, which caused damage on his SF-23. We felt it would be enough to change the front wing but unfortunately, the floor was also damaged and that got worse with every passing lap, to the point that we decided to retire him.

"Now we focus on Monza, our home race, where we want to execute the weekend perfectly from every point of view so that the drivers can get everything there is to be had out of our package."

Hopefully, it will be an improved weekend for the Italian team at Monza or there is a possibility that they might face even harsher criticism than they did in Zandvoort.