Ferrari’s Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza exposed another series of problems for the Maranello team, but searching for a new individual to blame risks overlooking the wider issue. With questions once again surrounding Fred Vasseur, growing attention on Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc and further concerns over the SF-26, Ferrari appears to need something broader than another change of personnel: a common direction and an intervention across the entire team.
Noise is a word that can almost always be associated with Ferrari, whether the team wins or loses. When Ferrari reaches the top step of the podium, everyone celebrates and suddenly everyone is either behind Lewis Hamilton or behind Charles Leclerc. When Ferrari loses, the same dynamic emerges in reverse. It takes very little time for the discussion to move from deciding which driver is the supposed saviour to identifying who should be blamed for what went wrong.
Ferrari’s Monza problems go beyond the SF-26
The Italian Grand Prix was supposed to represent yet another opportunity for Ferrari to deliver a strong result. That message has been repeated since the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, while Fred Vasseur continues to insist that further opportunities will come during the remaining rounds of the season.
By now, however, that narrative is beginning to lose its meaning. There is little value in constantly searching for circuits that should or should not suit the characteristics of the SF-26 if, as has already been highlighted several times, other essential elements are missing. Ferrari needs decisive and confident management, while the balance between its two drivers also appears to be becoming less stable. At least, that is the impression being created.
Monza therefore did not simply reopen the debate over the car. It also intensified the discussion surrounding the relationship and management of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, an increasingly important issue when Ferrari is already trying to overcome its performance limitations.
Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari future comes under scrutiny again
The noise has been amplified further by the latest rumours surrounding Ferrari. Once again, speculation has emerged over whether Fred Vasseur’s position as team principal could be in danger. As has happened before, attention has quickly turned towards finding the perfect replacement, with several names already entering the discussion.
Yet blaming one person is an easy solution, which raises an obvious question: why does the team principal repeatedly become the principal scapegoat? Recent scrutiny surrounding Fred Vasseur and Ferrari’s internal structure only reinforces how quickly attention turns towards the Frenchman whenever results or relationships become difficult.
Why not also question those higher up within Ferrari? If one area deserves greater scrutiny, it is the leadership above the race team. It is rarely visible in the paddock, while responsibility appears to fall elsewhere whenever Ferrari becomes trapped in another negative cycle or when its drivers are dealing with more than simply driving the car.
The precise role of Ferrari’s senior management inside the garage is difficult to judge from the outside, but the image being projected is one of considerable distance from what is happening. Would some of these situations occur less frequently with greater involvement? And why is there so rarely a public voice defending those who spend every race weekend in the paddock and consequently receive both the credit and the criticism?
Something inside Ferrari no longer seems completely aligned
During the first part of the 2026 Formula 1 season, Ferrari appeared to be moving in the right direction. There was a sense of cohesion and greater continuity compared with the previous year. The car has progressed and Lewis Hamilton has improved, yet there are still elements that do not seem to fit together.
Even when those problems are not clearly visible, or perhaps are deliberately kept out of sight, their presence can still be felt. It is a familiar perception, linked to an operating culture that has almost become a Ferrari trademark over the years and which inevitably has consequences on track.
That does not mean it would be correct to describe Ferrari’s entire 2026 season as a failure. There are positives, but there is also one major limitation that appears difficult to overcome. Unless Mercedes suffers an unlikely regression, making significant further progress will be extremely difficult, particularly when Ferrari is competing against a driver who is dominating, looks capable of continuing to dominate and is producing performances that are setting the standard even for considerably more experienced Formula 1 drivers.
The broader concern is therefore not purely technical. Ferrari’s SF-26 struggles and driver-management questions have increasingly become connected, because weaknesses in one area place even greater pressure on the others.
Ferrari needs a complete intervention, not another scapegoat
What Ferrari now requires is an intervention, but not necessarily in the form of replacing someone, establishing a rigid driver hierarchy or automatically imposing team orders. What is needed is a comprehensive reset, almost as though the rules of the game need to be explained again to everyone involved.
Leaving the technical questions to those better qualified to analyse them, Monza made it increasingly difficult to ignore the impression that there is some form of crisis or conflict developing within the Ferrari garage. If that interpretation is correct, it is a situation that Fred Vasseur and the rest of the team appear to be finding difficult to manage.
Much of the attention naturally falls on the drivers. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc each have their own strengths, abilities and ways of approaching their work and race weekends. One adapted immediately to certain challenges, another needed more time, while both have experienced the feeling of winning again during the season.
There have been several positive aspects to Ferrari’s 2026 campaign, yet at precisely the most important stage of the year, some of them now seem — and the conditional remains important — to be fading. The picture being created is one of a team without a sufficiently clear collective vision, which encourages almost everything except genuine collaboration.
Should only one individual pay the price for that? Fred Vasseur has made mistakes, and not insignificant ones, but replacing the team principal cannot always be treated as the only possible solution to every Ferrari problem.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc also need clear rules
Ferrari needs greater firmness. As Fred Vasseur has repeatedly suggested, the team sometimes needs to be less “Latin” in its approach. When necessary, that also means being prepared to intervene over the radio and immediately restore what had previously been agreed on track.
At the same time, responsibility cannot fall entirely on those managing the drivers. Teamwork also has to come from inside the cockpit. Ferrari needs greater clarity throughout its race weekends and an understanding that the primary objective should be to protect what the team has already earned rather than allow unnecessary situations to compromise it.
The debate surrounding Ferrari’s team orders and Fred Vasseur’s management of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc has consequently become about more than simply deciding which driver should be given priority. Clear rules only work if everybody understands and respects them.
Where does Ferrari go from here?
Ferrari has now reached a stage of the season in which almost anything can still happen. The future may appear increasingly predictable, but Formula 1 has repeatedly demonstrated that it can be an unpredictable sport.
The objective is clearly to keep pressure on Mercedes, but Ferrari must also avoid being overtaken by Red Bull and McLaren. And, although Monza may eventually prove to have been an isolated case, Alpine cannot simply be dismissed either.
What Ferrari needs above all is a plan that everyone follows. That requires a carefully targeted approach towards the drivers as well. There is little value in allowing emotions to take over on track and then appearing in front of the microphones afterwards to express regret about having compromised the work completed by hundreds of people at the factory.
At this stage, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc need to continue growing together with Ferrari. Charles Leclerc does not deserve to win simply because he has spent a decade within the Ferrari environment, just as Lewis Hamilton does not deserve to win simply because he is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion.
Victory comes when driver and team become part of the same structure, understand how to manage difficult situations and recognise that everything cannot be demanded immediately. What happened at Monza represented exactly the kind of situation that can compromise what Ferrari has built so far.
That is why the answer cannot simply be to find the next person to blame. If Ferrari wants to move forward, the difference will have to come from the whole organisation rather than one individual.
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