Why has Ferrari been unable to return to the top of Formula 1 and win another World Championship? Former Scuderia engineer Luigi Mazzola believes the answer goes far beyond the performance of the car or the mistakes made during an individual season. In his critical assessment of the Maranello team, he has questioned its organisational structure, internal culture and ability to build a sustainable championship-winning project.
For Luigi Mazzola, Ferrari’s difficulties cannot be resolved simply by recruiting another leading driver or introducing a faster car. The underlying challenge is to establish an organisation capable of making effective decisions, maintaining a clear direction and developing the people needed to compete consistently for world titles.
Luigi Mazzola explains why Ferrari has struggled since its golden era
The former Ferrari engineer points towards the period between 2000 and 2008, one of the most successful chapters in the Scuderia’s history. During those years, the Italian team built an exceptionally effective technical and organisational structure that enabled it to achieve sustained success in the Formula 1 World Championship.
However, following that period of dominance, several important figures responsible for those achievements departed Maranello. In Luigi Mazzola’s assessment, Ferrari has never consistently recovered the same ability to challenge for championships.
The problem, therefore, is not simply whether the team can produce a competitive Formula 1 car. Winning a World Championship requires an organisation with a coherent technical direction, effective decision-making processes and a stable working group capable of maintaining its competitiveness over time.
It is an argument closely connected to Luigi Mazzola’s previous criticism of Ferrari’s winning mentality, in which the former engineer also examined the differences between the team’s most successful period and its more recent difficulties.
Ferrari’s management culture could be the real problem
A central part of Luigi Mazzola’s assessment concerns Ferrari’s internal culture and the way the Scuderia is managed. Despite continuing to invest substantial resources and attract experienced drivers and technical specialists, Maranello has been unable to recreate a period of success comparable to the early 2000s.
That raises a fundamental question about whether the team possesses an organisational model capable of supporting a winning project over several seasons, rather than simply reacting to individual setbacks.
Changing drivers, engineers or senior managers may sometimes be necessary, but Luigi Mazzola believes such decisions are insufficient unless the underlying problems are addressed. A team pursuing the World Championship needs clearly defined responsibilities, a shared technical vision and a structure capable of maintaining continuity.
These concerns also connect with the broader questions surrounding Ferrari’s current leadership and driver management, particularly the responsibilities of those making decisions at the highest levels of the organisation.
From this perspective, the Scuderia’s difficulties are not necessarily the consequence of one unsuccessful season or a single technical mistake. They may instead reflect deeper weaknesses in how the team plans, manages and develops its sporting project.
Luigi Mazzola questions Ferrari’s approach to young Italian drivers
Another important aspect of Luigi Mazzola’s criticism concerns Ferrari’s driver recruitment and development strategy.
According to the former engineer, Maranello has frequently preferred to recruit established champions with experience and proven winning ability rather than investing directly in the development of young Italian drivers.
Although that approach can offer greater certainty in the short term, it raises a wider question about the importance of developing future talent within a team’s own long-term sporting project.
The example of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who joined Mercedes under the guidance of team principal Toto Wolff, provides an interesting comparison.
Luigi Mazzola has expressed considerable admiration for the young Italian driver, while emphasising the importance of the environment in which he was supported throughout his development.
In the former Ferrari engineer’s opinion, Andrea Kimi Antonelli would have been unlikely to achieve the same results within Ferrari’s current organisation. His assessment highlights the importance of providing young drivers with the right guidance, management structure and conditions in which to develop their abilities.
The comparison reflects a wider concern about Ferrari’s approach to nurturing talent. Similar questions have emerged in Luigi Mazzola’s criticism of how Ferrari managed Charles Leclerc’s development, where the distinction between a driver’s natural ability and the support provided by the organisation was particularly important.
Why Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc alone cannot solve Ferrari’s problems
Ferrari’s recent history demonstrates how difficult it can be to turn exceptional driving talent into a Formula 1 World Championship. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are both drivers with considerable ability and ambition, but individual quality cannot guarantee success without the support of an effective organisation.
That is the central message behind Luigi Mazzola’s assessment. Rather than focusing exclusively on the drivers or the performance of the car, Ferrari must examine its management model, the continuity of its technical projects and its ability to recreate the sporting and organisational culture that defined its most successful years.
The challenge is to establish conditions in which talented individuals can contribute to a coherent collective project, with clear responsibilities and a shared objective. Without that foundation, changing the people involved may not be enough to produce lasting improvement.
Ferrari’s continued difficulties in returning to the summit of Formula 1 therefore leave one fundamental question unanswered. Has Maranello truly identified the reasons behind its prolonged struggle to win another World Championship, or is the team still addressing individual symptoms without resolving the structural problems at their root?
Leave a Reply