According to Gerhard Berger, a Formula 1 legend and someone who knows Scuderia Ferrari very well, having raced for the Italian side for six years during two separate stints, the current issues faced by the Maranello team cannot be attributed to its drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Having had two separate periods with the Maranello team in the 80s and 90s, the 63-year-old Austrian believes that Scuderia Ferrari’s underperformance is primarily due to a deficiency in top-notch personnel rather than Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc themselves.
“You have to convince people to move to Maranello and that’s not easy,” Gerhard Berger explained in a recent interview for the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, with just a few days ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix – “They are concerned that they cannot win there. There are also other big teams now, such as Mercedes, Aston Martin and even the up-and-coming Audi, who are also trying to attract engineers from Red Bull.” – he pointed out.
The Austrian admitted that he in fact believes the recent speculation regarding Lewis Hamilton possibly leaving Mercedes to join Scuderia Ferrari from next season could even have been triggered by Ferrari itself, with a clear strategic goal in terms of staff:
“Sometimes certain strategic moves can be used to attract engineers, in this case from Mercedes,” he said – “I don’t believe the drivers are Ferrari’s real problem, just as they weren’t in 2022 either. It’s not about their driving skills. (Charles) Leclerc and (Carlos) Sainz are exceptionally strong.” – Gerhard Berger continued.
1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, whose late father Gilles remains one of the most important drivers in the history of Scuderia Ferrari drivers, also pointed out that the difficulties Ferrari is currently going through in Formula One are nothing new
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“Don’t just look at this year,” the former Formula 1 driver said in an interview for Le Journal de Montreal before the race weekend in Canada, scheduled to take place in a just a few days’ time at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“When you keep changing direction as they do, you never have a base to work from. And we see that everyone passes the buck. It’s never anyone’s fault. There is no decision making and this instability is costing Ferrari dearly. Over the last ten years they chose to go back to their roots and be an Italian team but it doesn’t seem to work, especially in Formula 1. In the process, the team has lost good people and rebuilding all this takes a lot of time.” – the former Formula 1 world champion concluded.
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