For the first time since 2021, Ferrari is ending a year without a Grand Prix victory in Formula 1. So there isn’t much reason to celebrate in Maranello, especially since they finished fourth in the constructors’ world championship and even missed the top 3 for the first time since 2020.
Even before the season finale in Abu Dhabi, ex-Ferrari driver Jean Alesi was extremely critical of the current situation at Scuderia in a column for the “Corriere della Sera”. He reveals there that he deliberately did not talk about Ferrari in the previous weeks.
But after the disastrous race in Qatar, where Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton only finished in P8 and P12, he let his disappointment get the best of him. Among other things, Alesi took up Ferrari President John Elkann’s criticism of the two drivers again.
“I thought that the president’s criticism of the drivers would motivate the team to move and change something to provide Leclerc and Hamilton with a more competitive car,” said the Frenchman.
But instead Qatar experienced “the worst Grand Prix in living memory”. “A total disappointment for us fans, both in terms of Ferrari’s performance at the start of the season and its performance afterwards,” Alesi said angrily.
“Lewis may also bear some of the blame, but he won seven world championships while Ferrari won nothing,” he reminds. The Scuderia’s last world title in the 2008 season was 17 years ago.
Alesi apologized to Vasseur
“I am seriously worried about the future,” Alesi continues, explaining: “To say that all developments have been stopped in order to prepare the car for next year seems to me to be a very weak excuse.”
Team boss Frederic Vasseur had previously stated that Ferrari had stopped development of the SF-25 early this year in order to be able to fully concentrate on the new car for 2026. But Alesi reminds us that other teams have also made similar decisions.
“All the teams did double work in 2025 by improving on the racetrack and developing the car for 2026. Ferrari’s attitude makes me think of an embarrassing attempt to cover up this failure,” he criticizes.
According to FormulaPassion, Alesi has now personally apologized to Vasseur for his harsh choice of words. Alesi told Canal+ at the finale in Abu Dhabi that his criticism was not directed at the people at Ferrari.
Rather, he wanted to express that he and all fans would finally like to see the Scuderia at the forefront again. Alesi competed in Formula 1 for Ferrari between 1991 and 1995 and won one Grand Prix in these five years.