Ferrari 'inability' pinpointed as inconsistent F1 weekends trouble team

Ferrari's ongoing struggle to string consistent F1 weekends together has been highlighted by Marcin Budkowski, whilst appearing on a recent episode of the RacingNews365.com podcast.

The former Alpine executive director spoke exclusively on a range of topics following the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

Whilst the pair stormed through the field on race day at Imola, a poor qualifying session left them out in Q2 and subsequently unable to get the maximum out of the weekend, as has so often been the case for the Italian team this year.

Budkowski pointed to the SF-25's strong pace during the grand prix, when asked what he has made of the Maranello-based squad this season.

"It's this kind of irregular... an inability to deliver consistently week in, week out, qualifying and race and delivery and strategy etc.," Budkowski said.

"It just doesn't look that well-together, both the car and sometimes as a team.

"I think it's probably a bit better than on a series of occasions over the past few years, but still.

"This weekend [at Imola], clearly, the race pace was there, it was pretty good, but they just didn't manage to get the qualifying right."

Misery loves company

Both Leclerc and Hamilton have lacked outright performance over one lap. It has led to the belief the Scuderia is struggling to get the soft, red-walled Pirelli tyres into the correct operating window during qualifying.

However, Budkowski underlined how difficult various teams and drivers found the new C6 compound at Imola, despite sharing a playful and light-hearted conversation he shared with Pirelli's head of motorsport.

"I was sitting watching the race with Mario Isola in the Pirelli hospitality, and see I was laughing to him, I said: 'They're really good in the race and they're really bad in qualifying. Really, it's the fault of the tyres. It's your fault, Mario'...," he said.

"The reality is these tyres were difficult. We've seen all weekend drivers struggling to put a good lap together on C6 compound, and that combined to the Imola circuit, with the lack of run-offs to trick the grass, the ground etc. made for a pretty exciting qualifying."