For Ferrari, the current Formula 1 season is not going according to plan at all: instead of fighting for the world title, the Scuderia finds itself far behind in fourth place in the team classification. While the new team boss Frédéric Vasseur continues to look positively to the future despite all the setbacks, former Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo paints a bleak picture. According to the ex-boss, it’s more than just a brief hiccup.
Last year, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen fought an exciting race for the title at least for around two thirds of the season. Verstappen pulled away towards the end of the season, but that was not only due to the superiority of his car, but also to the fact that Ferrari with poor strategic decisions, breakdowns during pit stops or driving errors took themselves out of the race.
So there was great hope that 2023 could be a restart that would bring the Scuderia closer to possibly finally winning a world title again after the last driver triumph in 2007 and the constructors’ championship win in 2008. But after three races, disillusionment reigns. Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have only collected a meager 26 points, both the (actually also weakening) Mercedes team (56 points) and Aston Martin (65) have rushed, not to speak of leaders Red Bull (123).
Although the new team boss Frédéric Vasseur is trying to keep his men happy, recently he even spoke of “tremendous progress”, but the latest statements by ex-Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo should not necessarily please the Frenchman.
Di Montezemolo described the fact that Ferrari did not score any points at the last Grand Prix in Australia as a “knife in his wound” on the Italian TV station “La7”. Ferrari is, “together with my family, the most important thing in my life,” emphasized the 75-year-old, adding: “It’s painful for me, I’m sorry to see her like that.”
Ex-Ferrari boss: “A question of reconstruction”
The team must now make serious changes, emphasized the Italian, under whose aegis the most successful years of the Scuderia fell between 1991 and 2014, during which Michael Schumacher became the record world champion.
“I don’t think it’s a short-term crisis. It’s a matter of rebuilding and we need to bring together the best coaches, like I did in the early ’90s,” said the 75-year-old, adding: ” I brought in Jean Todt, Stefano Domenicali, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, Michael Schumacher came later. The crisis was very deep, but a team was built.”
In the end, Schumacher was the decisive factor for success. “It was a dream team,” di Montezemolo looked back.
The ex-boss did not want to say whether Leclerc could eventually follow in his footsteps. Just this much: “Leclerc is very brave, very fast, especially a lap on dry asphalt,” emphasized di Montezemolo and at the same time warned the Monegasque: “He is currently experiencing a very delicate moment in his career, in which the years pass and he must win.”