Ferrari has recorded 13 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship podium finishes across the 16 completed seasons from 2010 to 2025, including seven runner-up results, yet the biggest prize has continued to elude Maranello. Among F1’s four leading teams of recent years – Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren – the Scuderia is the only one not to have won a constructors’ title during that period.
The statistic paints a frustrating picture. Ferrari has frequently remained near the front and has accumulated more second and third-place championship finishes than its main rivals, but has repeatedly fallen short when it comes to converting competitiveness into a world title. Ferrari’s last Constructors’ Championship remains the one secured in 2008, making the current drought especially significant for the most successful team in Formula 1 history.
Ferrari keeps getting close without winning the F1 title
Despite Ferrari often being portrayed as a team in perpetual difficulty – whether because of disappointing strategies or upgrades that fail to deliver enough performance – its overall championship record tells a more nuanced story. Across the 16 seasons from 2010 through 2025, Ferrari finished inside the top three of the Constructors’ Championship 13 times.
That is an impressive level of consistency. Even Mercedes did not manage as many top-three championship finishes over the same period, while only Red Bull surpassed Ferrari for the number of constructors’ podium appearances.
The problem, however, is obvious: second and third places do not carry anything like the same weight as championships. Mercedes won eight consecutive constructors’ titles between 2014 and 2021, Red Bull dominated two separate periods, and McLaren returned to the summit in 2024 before retaining the crown in 2025. Ferrari, meanwhile, accumulated seven runner-up finishes without ever taking the final step.
The pattern has continued to shape expectations around the current Ferrari project. The Scuderia has maintained an aggressive development programme with the SF-26, including a major aerodynamic update introduced around Zandvoort and further development planned for Monza, but history shows that remaining competitive throughout a season is very different from building a championship-winning package.
Ferrari’s biggest problem: a car that has never been quite complete enough
In a category where the performance of the car ultimately outweighs every other variable combined, Ferrari has not produced a truly dominant and complete package during this period in the way its principal rivals have at their peaks.
Mercedes had the W05 Hybrid, the car that launched its extraordinary turbo-hybrid era of dominance. Red Bull produced the RB19, which became one of the most successful Formula 1 cars ever built, while McLaren’s recent MCL39 established itself as the benchmark during its championship-winning campaign.
Ferrari, by contrast, has repeatedly produced cars with the potential to challenge at the front without quite completing the final step required to dominate a season. One of the clearest recent examples was the Ferrari F1-75 of 2022.
The F1-75 gave Ferrari supporters a spectacular start to that campaign. Charles Leclerc immediately emerged as a genuine championship contender, while the car itself combined strong aerodynamic performance with excellent mechanical grip and impressive qualifying speed. Ferrari appeared to have the foundations required to fight Red Bull and Max Verstappen for both world championships.
The car’s development across the opening half of the season was extensive, with Ferrari introducing targeted changes to the floor, diffuser, rear wings and other aerodynamic components as it attempted to maintain its early advantage. A detailed look at the Ferrari F1-75’s technical evolution through the first half of 2022 illustrates just how competitive the original concept had been.
How Technical Directive 39 affected the Ferrari F1-75 debate
One major turning point during that season was the introduction of Technical Directive 39, designed primarily to address porpoising and floor behaviour. The directive imposed stricter controls surrounding plank wear and floor flexibility, requiring teams to operate within tighter parameters.
Ferrari’s competitiveness declined substantially during the second half of the campaign, and TD39 became one of the most discussed possible factors behind the change. The F1-75 lost some of the balance and tyre-management qualities that had made it such a formidable car earlier in the year, while Red Bull progressively established a decisive advantage.
Whatever combination of technical factors ultimately caused Ferrari’s decline, 2022 remains a perfect example of the wider problem: Maranello produced a car capable of winning races and challenging for championships, but could not sustain that level across an entire season.
Ferrari’s current strategy remains far removed from the Schumacher era
Car performance is not the only difference between modern Ferrari and the team’s golden era between 2000 and 2004. Without an engineering package clearly superior to the competition – and without the same combination of personnel and leadership that surrounded Michael Schumacher – the environment and management philosophy are also very different.
When Jean Todt led Ferrari, one of his defining qualities was his ability to shield the team from external criticism. Engineers, mechanics and drivers were given room to work without every setback developing into a public crisis.
That may appear less important than aerodynamic performance, power unit development or strategic execution, but insulating a Formula 1 organisation from constant external pressure can have a significant effect on the stability of a long-term project.
Fred Vasseur deserves credit for restoring a degree of pragmatism to Ferrari, something that had often been missing in previous years. However, the Scuderia still struggles to protect itself completely from the relentless scrutiny surrounding the team. From Ferrari’s leadership to its drivers, virtually every area becomes a target when results fall short of expectations.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc tension shows Ferrari’s latest challenge
The most recent example arrived after the Dutch Grand Prix, when tension emerged over the position swap involving Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, followed by Hamilton’s complaints at the end of the race. Fred Vasseur subsequently called for a review after Ferrari’s race execution contributed to another missed opportunity, with the Ferrari team principal examining the mistakes made at Zandvoort.
Anything involving Ferrari inevitably generates attention, particularly when two high-profile drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are involved. That makes it even more important for the team to present a united front when disagreements arise and prevent external criticism from damaging the internal balance of the organisation.
The challenge therefore extends beyond designing a fast Formula 1 car. Ferrari must combine technical excellence with consistent execution, stable leadership and an environment capable of absorbing the extraordinary pressure that surrounds the team. The numbers demonstrate that Maranello has rarely been far from the top over the past 16 completed seasons. The missing ingredient has been turning all those second and third places into the championship that matters most.
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