Ferrari’s eternal struggle: Fred Vasseur understands, but won’t reveal the truth. Ferrari’s ongoing struggles in F1 are highlighted by a series of technical and strategic failures.

A tragic Ferrari in this start of the 2025 Formula 1 championship. But also a comical one. An absurd spectacle took place last weekend at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, with a nightmare weekend culminating in the Red-White-and-Blue-HP team members jabbing at each other over the radio for a miserable seventh place, passing and re-passing each other with team orders that were as late as they were ineffective. And here we are again. Yes, we are back to the usual nightmare.

This is what Ferrari has gotten us used to at least since 2009. The script is always the same: make a decent car, sometimes really good, then lose the development race. If that doesn’t happen, the following year they exaggerate some concept and lose their way. Or they create an undriveable car. Or one year the red car excels in one area, then it is an incomplete car with obvious limitations and some race wins.

Then they work to eliminate those limitations and create a car with the opposite flaws. And so it goes. Remember? It overheats the tires, then it doesn’t heat them at all, it is slow in the straights, fast in the straights, and so on. In the meantime, they crush drivers, moods, loves, and the passion of millions of fans. It’s a cycle, a negative spiral that twists upon itself and has no end in sight.

A black hole of embarrassments that devours all hope. Let’s do the math: Ferrari has not won a driver’s title since 2007, and a constructor’s title since 2008. These are geological eras in Formula 1. The record for the longest drought in the constructor’s championship was broken in 2024 and will be extended this year. The previous record was from 1983 to 1999, 15 years. From 2008 to today, we are at 17 years.

There is no expectation it will end this season, so next year will definitely be 18 years. As for the driver’s title drought, we still have some faint hope of not matching it or surpassing it. The record in question is from 1979 to 2000: 21 years. As it stands, the last world title was in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen.

Considering that this year, unless there is a true miracle that we are not counting on, we will stay dry, from 2026 we’ll be at 19 years. At that point, there will only be two more years to match the worst record. But let’s not limit Providence. Ferrari is preparing to write new records and new red pages. Red… but not of triumphs. Meanwhile, after long analyses, some keyboard sages have finally discovered why Ferrari doesn’t win. Did you think it was because of a technical department with great ambitions but not up to the task, whether in working methods or quality, and unable to produce a winning car in Formula 1? Or a team not on par with the best in strategic planning and driver management? Foolish!

It’s the fans’ fault that Ferrari doesn’t win. Did you think, or perhaps, it was because of a management that seems to know little about Formula 1, which is more interested in the balance sheet and the rosy earnings, complete with a little extra pocket money from F1? Superficial!

Or did you think, maybe as a result of the above, that there’s a lack of charismatic figures and, as a consequence, a ridiculous political weight? Come on!

The real reason was identified by some enlightened sages and explained by them! The fault, hold on… is the fans who always criticize Ferrari. They shouldn’t do it so often… they should let them work in peace, they need time and understanding… damn, it’s true they told us they could do wonders without Adrian Newey now at Aston Martin and thank goodness the green team also took the remarkable Enrico Cardile, but these are details, trifles.

The problem is that if they criticize so much, they destabilize Ferrari. And we know that in Maranello they are fragile, sensitive. They want to be loved uncritically! The mood of the fans makes them insecure… and so they proceed making blunders and here we are. It’s an influence, a negative aura that emanates from the fans and strikes like a dangerous plague the top brass of Ferrari.

Someone tried weakly to argue that the fan has some good reason to be resentful… because the numbers are stubborn, and words are carried away by the wind. But what do you want it to be… they’re a young team, they need peace and tranquility, let the chef cook, don’t create disharmony. The Maranello team is a faith. You love it and never discuss it. And if you do… may anathema strike you! In the meantime, they keep losing.

What happened to the team principal who, in the early months of his appointment, seemed to have revolutionized Ferrari’s communication system, for the better, mind you, and now seems to have been swallowed up by Mattia Binotto’s ghost? It’s also a curious mystery. With the added burden that now the team is completely shaped by his choices. From one point of view, it was entertaining, but from another, it was dramatic to witness the little show on the radio last weekend in the Miami Grand Prix. The Ferrari management, with undeniable sadism, may have wanted to inflict more pain. After all, the Red team attracts viewers both when it does well and when it does terribly. The only constant in Ferrari is the drivers. The rest is boring. On one thing, we can all agree. A rare case, it is practically the first time a livery has united the world: no one defended it because it was so ugly! The Italian team must have realized they made a huge mistake, as shortly after, they either locked or limited comments on social media. All messages were negative, some even offensive. The problem isn’t that there are sponsors, nor that they need to be honored with the livery. It is about how it’s done. And how the Italian team should do it. That makes all the difference in the world.