In the collective imagination, the legacy of a brand fuels consistently high expectations in any field, and Formula 1 is no exception. There isn’t a season when Scuderia Ferrari, on the eve of the world championship, isn’t accredited as a team aspiring to final success, despite technical projects that have turned out to be completely wrong.
This year, too, the expectations of the Prancing Horse fans have been betrayed, beyond the exciting stage victory in Singapore. Systematically, for 15 long seasons, after the first few Grands Prix, the year of redemption has been deferred to the next. Yet, economic resources have never been a problem for the team in Maranello, especially in the new era governed by the budget cap. So, what’s the dark force that hasn’t allowed them to build winning cars for three decades? There are various hypotheses, but some aspects are evident.
The ban on on-track testing starting in 2009 required a complete shift in the way cars were designed and developed, relying entirely on virtual means. Ferrari, with two proprietary tracks (Fiorano and Mugello), for years made profitable use of these assets through a dedicated area of the Ferrari Racing Division (Test team), responsible for verifying on the track what was designed on the computer. The competition, not having the same possibilities as Ferrari, invested heavily in digital simulation technology well in advance, giving themselves a competitive advantage when the ban on track testing became effective. It’s no coincidence that in the last 15 years, the Ferrari car with the best development process was the F2012. It was precisely in the 2012 season that a 3-day test session was held at Mugello just before the European leg of the championship, which allowed Maranello’s technicians to test a new version of the blown exhausts designed by the usual Adrian Newey.
Investments to compensate for technological delays have been made, like the new simulator. Over the years, the Maranello factory has seen the passage of highly valuable technicians who were inexplicably let go, only to receive well-deserved recognition after being recruited by competitors. The horizontal and self-reliant organization launched by Sergio Marchionne was starting to bear excellent fruit, but the premature death of the Italian-Canadian manager abruptly interrupted the team’s growth.
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The talent and ingenuity of Maranello’s technicians are beyond question; however, the lack of high-profile in-house insourcing from the competition has facilitated the internal resource transfer from the production of road cars to the racing department. Ferrari is unique among Formula 1 teams because it’s the only entity that produces both fantastic road cars and F1 cars in the same factory. For many years, moving to the racing department was the logical consequence of excellent work in the company’s core business. However, a technical project for a Formula 1 car, given its short lifecycle, requires competencies and internal processes that are completely different from those needed for the production of even exclusive road cars. The chronic difficulties in troubleshooting the car’s problems and the premature freezing of developments that have characterized the past seasons of the Italian team could be the result of a professional culture that isn’t suited to the requirements of modern Formula 1.
In this regard, Fred Vasseur’s management has been appreciated for the speed with which it introduced significant update packages in Spain and Canada, well ahead of schedule. This demonstrates that competitiveness cannot exist without compressed execution times through the optimization of internal processes. The French executive immediately understood the need to close the gap with the competition through massive insourcing, which is still ongoing, putting an end to illusory technical self-reliance. The real first season of Fred Vasseur’s mandate is the next one, and in a few months, we will see if Scuderia Ferrari manages to catch up with the competition. There’s no obligation to win the championship, but a change of pace is a “must.”
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