Ferrari accepts 'reliability will play a part in this championship' after spate of DNFs in 2022 F1 season

Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear has conceded that reliability will play a major role in the 2022 F1 World Championship. This comes in light of how the team has suffered a number of DNFs in the last few races. Clear believes that reliability will continue to have an impact on the Scuderia as well as its championship rival, Red Bull. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, he said:

“We’ve seen, not wishing bad luck on Max, or not wishing to sort of win it by virtue of DNFs and that sort of thing, but reliability will play a part in this championship later on in the year as well, for everyone. So, you know, there’s more dice to roll.”

Since the start of the season, both Ferrari and Red Bull have suffered numerous mechanical failures that have cost them dearly. After the first nine rounds, neither team has managed to fully dial out their issues.

Red Bull’s latest failure came at the Canadian GP when Sergio Perez retired with hydraulic issues. Meanwhile, successive power unit failures for Charles Leclerc forced Ferrari to change his power unit at the same race, compromising his competativeness.

And since Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes that they might not be able to find quick fixes to their issues, future failures are inevitable. Hence, Jock Clear believes that they will need to ensure they optimise the car at every race going forward to improve their championship winning chances. He said:

“What we need to do is make sure that we go to every race, and we do the best job we can in terms of performance. We make sure we get on the front row and put it on pole and keep the pressure on Max and keep driving as Charles has and as we’ve seen Charles drive all season very, very well.”

Charles Leclerc “desperate to keep in touch” with Verstappen, says senior Ferrari engineer

Jock Clear feels that Charles Leclerc is “desperate to keep in touch” with Max Verstappen after losing his lead in the championship. Clear said the Monegasque has been pushing harder than ever this season, knowing that he can win at every race. He said:

“Impressed with all of his work. It’s not just that he’s very good over one lap - his races have been good this year. That just shows the level he’s pushing and he’s just desperate to keep in touch with Verstappen, and Silverstone obviously offers another opportunity to put it on pole and win a race.”

He added:

“And that’s the great thing, he’s going to every race knowing he can put it on pole and therefore knowing he can win. And that’s a huge, huge fillip to anybody’s morale and confidence when you’re sitting in a driving seat.”

Charles Leclerc currently sits in P3 in the drivers standings behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, after having led in the early part of the season.