After the disastrous debut at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Scuderia Ferrari once again came out with a despairing result and performance in the second round of the season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The sixth and seventh places scored by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc provided an unpleasant confirmation: the Maranello team, at the moment, represents the fourth force in the World Championship behind Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes.
Italian journalist and well-known Ferrari insider Leo Turrini spoke about this unfortunate situation in the usual post-race analysis for the quotidiano.net website. Below is an excerpt of his comments.
Leo Turrini’s view
“It’s the darkest moment for Ferrari. And for Ferrari fans like me. Obviously, I rule out that it is reasonable to indulge in insults. It’s useless. Let’s talk about concrete things,” Leo Turrini begins his article. He continues: “After the poor performance in Bahrain, we were told that we would see another film in Jeddah. Not an Oscar-worthy one, for heaven’s sake. But it was even worse. In Saudi Arabia the Red Army was the fourth force”.
If Red Bull’s superiority is an “acceptable setback” and a predicted one, it’s hard to believe that Ferrari is behind Aston Martin and Mercedes. “How is this possible? Why don’t the updates work? How long has it been since Ferrari solved the problem with hard tires?” asked the journalist.
“And it’s useless to regret the times when you could test on the track all the time. It was another world. Obstinately looking back means resigning yourself to a permanent crisis”. For what it’s worth, that’s how I see it. The horizontal model has failed”, Leo Turrini pointed out. “In Maranello we need technical leaders. A technical director. A designer. Not to resort to the temptation of just one man in command. A Formula One team is a group. But strong personalities are indispensable,” he explains.
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Regarding Frederic Vasseur, the Italian journalist added: “Due to the power dynamics already discussed here in the past, he arrived on a ready-made menu. So I won’t put the blame on him. It wouldn’t be fair. But Vasseur has a duty to tell the truth. Tell us if this is the standard Ferrari. Tell us what we can aspire to. A few poles? Not even those? And then take the decisions that are necessary. That’s your role. If you don’t trust the staff, intervene. In transparency. With intellectual honesty”.
The final comment: “What is unacceptable is this dripping. I had signaled it (in February) that I didn’t share the pre-season enthusiasm. I was hoping to be wrong. And then enough with the bass drum, enough with “we’re coming” and similar statements. The truth sets free and it’s not a sentence of mine, God forbid. Unfortunately, we’ve already understood it anyway”. – Leo Turrini concluded at the end of the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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