When it comes to Scuderia Ferrari, it seems like everyone has a magic recipe or a particular alchemical concoction to administer in order to get it out of the very difficult moment in terms of results and performance that has been going on for too long. It is often difficult to sort out those who express constructive advice from those who open their mouths to issue destructive judgments.
Sympathies, antipathies, more or less noble interests that mix together, creating an inextricable mass that doesn’t help understand who are the friends and who are the enemies of the glorious Italian team. In these weeks, we have read a lot of pro and against opinions, some even suggesting that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are the real reason behind the difficulties of the Maranello team. It’s an absurd and uncommentable claim, a provocation that deserves no further attention.
Ferrari: budget cap, a key problem against Ferrari’s ambitions for victory
There are those who need no introduction and are fully entitled to discuss the “red matters.” One such person who has Ferrari in his blood, not only because the company’s name is part of his own, is Piero Ferrari, son and heir of part of the empire created by his father Enzo. He spoke to Autosprint about the moment of the Prancing Horse, providing some interesting food for thought on the direction the team has embarked on.
The Drake’s son did not expect such a complicated start to the championship after a 2022 season that didn’t end well but still showed improvement compared to the dismal previous years when the Italian team was losing the taste for victories.
Ferrari, acknowledging the deficit that the team faces compared to Red Bull, paints a harsh but realistic picture of the reality that aligns with what we have repeatedly explained by the Formula One Technical Analysis website: this regulatory context does not help those who need to catch up but benefits the team which is in the lead. Restrictions on wind tunnel hours, CFD tokens, and the budget cap almost fatally limit the momentum of those who are chasing.
Even those who have more development time often fail to fully exploit it due to lack of funds. This conceptual conundrum has become evident in the past two years since the new technical regulations came into effect.
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“Today, we have to race with the materials we have,” said Piero Ferrari when asked about the chances of the Red Team’s recovery. “Fixing things in this F1 is complicated. There are limitations due to the budget cap; you can do some things but not everything you would like. The problem is that with spending limits, you have to decide how much to invest in improving the current situation without compromising the work for the 2024 car. Patience is required.”
The regulatory context risks limiting the repair work undertaken by Frédéric Vasseur, the man tasked with restructuring the Racing Department after the ineffective years under Mattia Binotto’s leadership. Patience is also the watchword in this case: “We need to give him time to address the issues. He is someone who knows racing well, has been in the environment for years, and deserves trust,” explained the manager.
Ferrari needs to strengthen the team with people who have accumulated different experiences. This is Piero’s opinion, as he believes that history tells us how certain matters should be approached. In the past, the inclusion of personnel from other teams has led to excellent results. “We are good at certain things, but for others, we need specialists who should be recruited externally.” This summarizes the Ferrari mindset, as explained by Diego Catalano for FUnoanalisitecnica .
Ferrari: “Copying” Red Bull to return to winning
According to the Italian executive, Ferrari should learn to mature the virtues shown by other teams. Specifically, the reference is to Red Bull, a team that has managed to transcend technical eras and establish itself thanks to its ability to reinvent itself, revolving around the stability represented by the presence of Adrian Newey, an engineer whom Maranello vainly courted during the Montezemolo-Todt era.
Milton Keynes has been able to lead operations both in the era of naturally aspirated engines, in collaboration with Renault, and in the years of turbo-hybrid power units with the support of Honda, which, after the McLaren experience, seemed like an option to be discarded. However, Chris Horner, Helmut Marko, and Newey himself saw it as an opportunity, demonstrating great foresight and the ability to turn weaknesses into strengths.
This is something that does not often happen in Maranello, as it prefers to let heads roll rather than build barriers capable of containing the floodwaters. The question that everyone, including Piero Ferrari, is asking is whether Frederic Vasseur will be given the necessary time to impose his strategic model.
In Formula 1, you can’t have everything immediately. Perseverance, trust in the executives, and patience are required. If Benedetto Vigna and John Elkann have them, then the Prancing Horse can once again impose its own law. Otherwise, the drought could be long-lasting.
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