Ferrari under scrutiny: urgent explanations needed after 2025 struggles
Next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, everything will be decided, but today we already have three certainties. First: McLaren is doing its best to ensure the championship goes to Max Verstappen. Second: the Woking-based team has already secured the Constructors’ title. Third: Ferrari has claimed fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, and no miracle at Yas Marina will be enough to challenge that position.
The long 2025 season can be summarized in these three points, which deserve closer analysis by looking at what happened on track in Qatar. Let’s start with the twisted decline of a team that seems committed to helping its rival win—namely, McLaren acting as an ally to Max Verstappen in his pursuit of a fifth consecutive title. Something about that obviously feels off. Red Bull worked miracles to bounce back and suddenly become the center of attention with Verstappen performing at his absolute best. But then there’s McLaren, whose series of strategic mistakes are throwing away a brilliant season in which they had the best car.
And the drivers? Too inexperienced to aim high: Oscar Piastri appears and disappears without realizing that he is not on stage with the likes of Houdini; Lando Norris, under pressure, makes the usual latent concentration errors. For speed enthusiasts like us, that’s actually better, because without these final twists we might have been left watching some old movies on TV.
Max Verstappen is now the Maradona of F1, capable of frustrating us on Fridays when the Red Bull struggles, and then thrilling us on Sundays in Qatar with a phenomenal strategy, aided by the pit wall. Granted, McLaren chose not to show favoritism toward Oscar Piastri, who was leading, or Norris, who was third, when it came to the Safety Car pit stops. Both Oscar and Lando obeyed and stayed out on track. This act of weakness and lack of character left me stunned. True champions make their own decisions in the face of absurdity: why didn’t Norris, competing for the title, take the pit lane and announce it over the radio? Imagine how Senna, Lauda, Prost, Schumacher, or even Verstappen would have acted. Now Max can play his big card in Abu Dhabi and potentially outsmart his two “orange” rivals—he would deserve it.
Then there’s Ferrari, which managed to secure fourth in the Constructors’ standings, a year after finishing second, just 14 points behind McLaren. A shocking step backward that recalls old nightmares and demands a discussion at the highest level to draw conclusions. The season began with grand announcements, promising both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles. Why the miracle didn’t happen must be explained by Frederic Vasseur and the top executives who had distributed overblown optimism while the cars were still on the stands.
Now, it is crucial to prevent this disaster from affecting the 2026 season, planned by the same team. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton find themselves in the middle, both protagonists and witnesses to a collapse that was never remotely expected. On one side, there is Charles Leclerc’s limitless courage, determination, and commitment. On the other, there is Lewis’ seven-world-championship experience and the disbelief of a failed adventure. Will someone be able to explain, at least to them, what really happened?
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