“We are disappointed and angry, as indeed are our fans and with good reason,” admits Binotto after 13th and 14th placed finishes; Ferrari won at Spa last year but ahead of only Haas and Williams on Sunday

4:15

Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel talk about a difficult Spa race as the Ferrari drivers fought for position out of the points

Ferrari finished a race with both its cars outside the points for the first time in 10 years, as F1’s biggest team’s alarming and wretched Belgian GP was compounded by Sunday’s race.

Having missed out on Q3 in qualifying with both cars for the first time in six years on Saturday, Ferrari’s drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finished 13th and 14th respectively on Sunday – directly behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, whose car runs the same engine.

“On a track that requires aerodynamic efficiency and power, we were severely lacking in both,” admitted team boss Mattia Binotto. “Charles and Sebastian did their very best, both yesterday in qualifying and today in the race, but we couldn’t even get into the points.

“We are disappointed and angry, as indeed are our fans and with good reason.”

Ferrari have slipped backwards this year, seemingly as a direct consequence of the technical directives issued by the FIA over their engine at the end of 2019, and their power problems were brutally exposed around the 7km Spa-Francorchamps lap.

Discounting race retirements, the previous time that Ferrari failed to score points when both their cars saw the chequered flag was at the 2010 British GP.

However, on that occasion, Fernando Alonso dropped down the field from a front-running position after serving a drive-through penalty.

The last time, therefore, that Ferrari missed out on points altogether on pure performance before Sunday was the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP, when Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella were 12th and 16th respectively.

They finished fourth in the standings that year – their worst finish at the time for 16 years – and after seven races in 2020 are currently one place worse off in fifth, and now only two points ahead of Renault after a strong weekend for the Enstone team.

Ferrari have not finished outside the top four in the Constructors’ Championship since 1981.

0:34

Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel come close to connecting as they fight for 13th and 14th position in Spa

Vettel, who stayed in front of Leclerc after a mid-race battle with his team-mate that saw the two cars touch wheels at Les Combes, said the Scuderia had to remain calm.

“The package is what it is. We need to stay optimistic and see the good things, even if there are not many,” the four-time champion, who is leaving the team at the end of the year, told Sky F1.

“I tried a lot of things to drive around these problems, but we were not quick enough. We cannot pull out miracles.

“We need to stay calm, not get frustrated as being frustrated doesn’t take you anywhere.”

Sky F1 pundits’ verdict on underpowered Ferrari

Paul Di Resta
“You don’t have to ignite the flames here: Ferrari will be looking at themselves in the mirror.

“They will be sitting in that office on Monday in Maranello thinking ‘what can we do in the short term, what can we do in the long term, and where does the mid-term leave us?’. They are very much stuck with what they have got going into next year. You cant do much with the engine, you can’t do much with the chassis because the regulations have been frozen going into the next generation of Formula 1 in 2022.

“They know what that engine is capable of doing now, they’ll be pushing it to the very limit like every engine manufacturer does, but it’s a complete thing about looking at how they do it.”

Karun Chandhok
“The problem is there is no real compensation for power. If you are struggling fundamentally with power you can try whatever you want with the set-up of the car, with downforce, with this, with that, you’re not going to make up for that.”

What will the Italian double-header hold?

The relentless nature of the condensed F1 season means Ferrari now head into two races which should be cause for celebration – their home Italian GP at Monza next week followed by the debut of Tuscany’s Mugello circuit, which they own, where they reach 1,000 Grands Prix.

But Monza, the fastest circuit in F1 with its straights and chicanes, could pose an even greater challenge for the SF1000 than Spa.

“The package is what it is,” added Vettel. “We need to stay optimistic and see the good things, even if there are not many.”

Urging that the team stuck together, Binotto said: “It’s a difficult moment in a season that we knew from the start would be a tough one, but it’s at times like this that we need to stand firm and look ahead in order to get over this difficult period. It’s the only way we will get out of this situation.”