Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer believes Ferrari is not being let down by a lack of pace with its 2025 F1 car, but rather its “execution” during race weekends.
Ferrari has failed to take a grand prix win this year and sits as the only team inside the top four that has not done so.
The Italian squad entered the year after narrowly missing out on a constructors' championship in 2024, which provided hope it could be in contention for both championships this year following the arrival of Lewis Hamilton.
However, Hamilton is yet to score his first podium for Ferrari, while team-mate Charles Leclerc has bagged five this year - albeit not on the top step.
Ferrari now sits behind Mercedes in the fight for second in the constructors' standings, but Palmer is confident the Maranello-based squad has the stronger car.
“For a few weeks now, I've been going big on Ferrari and now I'm going to scope a bit smaller on Ferrari after a couple of false dawns,” he told the F1 Nation podcast.
“I still think they have the better car than Mercedes, but their execution is not there.
“Monza was roughly okay, they probably finished where they roughly deserved, just outside of the podium.
“But Baku, you've got Hamilton on a used soft tyre trying to get around in Q2 and he goes out, then Leclerc hits the barriers in Q3 and they end up 10th and 12th on the grid.
“That’s so far away from what that car should have been capable of. That seems to be a little bit the story of Ferrari’s season.”
Ferrari has a chance to reclaim second place in the standings this weekend in Singapore, a venue it last claimed victory at in 2023.
Palmer is confident the track will suit the Ferrari car, but called on the team to ensure its operations are up to scratch to bring home a strong result.
“Before Singapore, I think they should beat Mercedes, but I went back and looked at the results from last year and I looked at qualifying, Ferrari were 10th and ninth on the grid,” he said.
“Carlos Sainz had a crash and Charles Leclerc didn’t get a lap time in for going over track limits at Turn 2. That just feels like the most Ferrari thing possible on a circuit where they should be quick.
“The amount of times they have these catastrophic no points out of a race weekend that you've got to be at least getting a top five.
“Logic would say they're going to be good again, low speed, better than Mercedes, but they've got to put it on the board.”
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look ahead to this weekend's Singapore GP! The trio start with a discussion about Max Verstappen's Nordschleife heroics, before turning their attention to the make-or-break Marina Bay Circuit.
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