Spanish former Formula One driver Pedro de la Rosa, who also spent two years as test driver for Scuderia Ferrari, has highlighted the pressures of working for the most important Formula 1 team, under the glare of the Italian media spotlight.
Scuderia Ferrari drivers and team members are many times elevated to almost God-like status in Italy – but this also comes with a major drawback, as it turns into harsh scrutiny and criticism when Ferrari does not perform according to the high expectations of the Tifosi and the Italian media.
Given the fact that headlines linked to Ferrari are often on the front pages of the Italian newspapers and websites, Pedro de la Rosa, who in 2023 signed in a developmental role for the Maranello team, aiding with its simulator resources, pointed out that Ferrari team members clearly felt considerable pressure having to work under such close examination.
“When I was at Ferrari, I remember the Monday morning after a bad result, I went to the factory and into [then-Ferrari Team Principal] Stefano [Domenicali]’s office and there was the Gazzetta dello Sport opened, his mail [on] his office desk, and I realised that we were in trouble. You know, that’s a bit [of] radiography of what Ferrari is like,” Pedro De la Rosa explained in a recent discussion for the F1 Nation podcast – “It’s a difficult team. There’s a lot of huge pressure from the press mounting up and the moment that you haven’t had a good result that specific weekend, already on Sunday, at 4pm, you already know what kind of week you’re going to have the next week.” – he added.
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Scuderia Ferrari’s most recent successful period dates back to two decades ago, when the Italian side won all but one available Formula 1 championship from 1999 to 2004.
The positive years for Ferrari were marked by several of the team’s key top engineers and leaders not being Italian nationals, with Germany’s Michael Schumacher and Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello securing the race wins and titles in cars designed by legendary South African designer Rory Byrne, under the leadership of Ross Brawn and Frenchman Jean Todt running the entire operation of the Ferrari Racing Division back them.
As a Spaniard, Pedro de la Rosa believes that non-Italians could feel less pressure than local employees, as they would not take criticism from the fans and media to heart to the same extent: “I think that’s one of the reasons why the foreigners do so well at Ferrari, because they are not affected as much by the press, mainly because you don’t understand the press, or the Italian press. It’s good for the foreigners, but the Italian engineers, mechanics, the people that work there on a day to day [basis], they feel the pressure. It’s also not about the language itself, but it’s also about the education, what Ferrari really means and how much pressure they manage to handle.” – the former Ferrari reserve driver concluded.
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