The moment of crisis that Ferrari has been experiencing since the beginning of the 2023 Formula 1 world championship has already created some tensions around the Maranello team, with the constant and repeated questions from the Ferrari fans about the reasons why the historic Italian team is unable to reassert itself in Formula 1. In fact, if you look at the results, the last success in the drivers’ championship dates back to sixteen years ago, with Kimi Raikkonen as world champion in 2007 and fifteen if you want to focus exclusively on success in the Constructors’ championship.
The world championship lost by Felipe Massa
In reality, precisely in the 2008 Formula 1 campaign, Scuderia Ferrari was also close to winning both titles, with Felipe Massa who was world champion for a few moments in front of his home fans in Brazil before Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock at the last corner of the Interlagos race, securing fifth place place which was enough for the British driver to take his first Formula 1 title. The Brazilian had Rob Smedley as his Ferrari track engineer, with the British automotive engineer also experiencing moments of crisis in terms of results with Ferrari, similar to the current ones.
The pressure in Ferrari
Speaking for Sky Sports F1, the Briton explained the importance of Ferrari in Italy, to such an extent that the lack of success pushes the fans to generate very strong pressure around the team, which is very difficult to manage:
“I think [for] all the senior guys there, especially the ones that are rolled out in front of the media, it’s a massive responsibility,” Rob Smedley told the Sky Sports F1 podcast – “There’s no doubt about it. I’ve said this myself in the past – you can describe Ferrari in Italy as a religion. Definitely. It’s the national team, and therefore, you are representing the nation, not just a brand. So it is tough, and you don’t need thick skin, you need rubber skin because I think the reality of the situation is it goes through cycles. And I can remember this myself, personally, you know, you’d be held up on a pedestal, and you’d be thought about as being the best thing since sliced bread, and four, six weeks, two months later, you know, people are literally spitting at you in the street. So, it’s a tough dichotomy, to be honest, and you just have to ride it out. You kind of have to blend the highs into the lows, so that you just get a single emotional viewpoint on it all to give yourself that equilibrium that you need to be able to keep delivering day in, day out, because that’s the important bit, right?”
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Advice to Fred Vasseur
Rob Smedley also commented on the pressure new team principal Frédéric Vasseur is experiencing right now, advising the French manager to keep working hard:
“When people are telling you how great you are, it’s important not to listen to it, and it’s equally important when people are telling you how rubbish you are – and that happens,” he said. – “So I think that Fred is going to go through all of that. He’s a good guy, he’s been in motorsport for a long time in senior positions, ART Grand Prix [and Renault] before he came into Alfa Romeo. He’s been there, he knows what it’s like. It’s a different intensity, a different pressure in Ferrari. But he just has to get on with it, you know, it’s part of his job.” – the former Ferrari engineer concluded.
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