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Just last season, Ferrari looked like it had figured it all out. After spending 17 years without a championship, they were finally winning races and finishing on the podium consistently enough to be taken as serious title contenders, and ended the campaign just 14 points short of the champions McLaren. The Italian squad didn’t quite get over the line, but it sparked excitement heading into 2025.
The Maranello-based outfit was expected to compete for the crown from the very get-go. They had even roped in Lewis Hamilton, F1’s most successful driver of all time, which amplified the expectations. But five rounds into the campaign, they sit P4 in the standings, 11o points behind the defending champs. So, what’s going wrong?
Well, for any team to achieve something, there’s a plan needed. And according to former Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo, his ex-team doesn’t have one at the moment.
“The team has lacked a leadership for years,” he said during the Bahrain GP weekend, as reported by Speedweek.
Di Montezemolo, who was in charge of Ferrari between 1991 and 2014, recalled the environment being passionate, and the workforce being more motivated to chase success. That’s something, he feels, has been missing since he left.
“Yes, the soul is missing,” he continued. “In the past, work was done day and night, in the past the company stood for passion. And now you are almost haphazard after success.”
“It is unbelievable that they still make the same mistakes!”
Could Ferrari’s in-race strategy decisions lose them the Championship? pic.twitter.com/sXQQpAzM8B
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 4, 2022
Ferrari last won the championship with Di Montezemolo was at the team, and there’s indeed been an operational downfall since then. Mattia Binotto, the long-term powertrains guru who became team principal in 2019, was arguably more criticized than anyone else.
Under his leadership, Ferrari suffered its worst season in decades by finishing P6 in 2020 and squandered a championship-winning season in 2022 by making numerous mistakes with strategy, pit stops, and car development. So after that year, Binotto got sacked and in came Frederic Vasseur with a breath of fresh air.
The number of mistakes Ferrari made reduced drastically under the Frenchman, who even took them within touching distance of tasting glory last year. But as Montezemolo suggested, Ferrari’s recent trend of being ‘haphazard’ after success is clearly evident this year.
He even stated that Hamilton, who left Mercedes to win with Ferrari, will end his career disappointed.
“His dream of a World Championship title at Ferrari will not be fulfilled!” the 77-year-old declared.
That said, after Montezemolo’s interview, Ferrari did make a comeback of sorts by having a car finish on the podium the very next weekend in Saudi Arabia. It wasn’t Hamilton, but Charles Leclerc who finished P3 on the day.
With upgrades set to come in on the SF-25 in the coming weeks, Ferrari will be hoping for a turnaround before it’s too late to make a difference.
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