Ferrari’s Qatar Grand Prix weekend was nothing short of a disaster. The SF-25 looked utterly lost from the first lap of practice, and the final result – eighth place for Charles Leclerc (the team’s only points of the entire weekend despite the Sprint format) and twelfth for Lewis Hamilton – was one of the most embarrassing displays in years.
Hamilton failed to reach Q2 in either the Sprint qualifying or the main Sunday session, while Charles Leclerc’s four points felt like a miracle rather than a consolation. For the first time since 2020, a Ferrari was virtually invisible on television for an entire race weekend.
Fred Vasseur pointed to specific technical reasons, but when you carry the Prancing Horse on the nose of the car, performances like this are simply unacceptable. Thankfully only Abu Dhabi remains before the curtain finally falls on what has been one of the most painful seasons in the last fifteen years – especially given the title-challenging hopes everyone had back in pre-season.
Turrini’s heartfelt open letter to John Elkann
Respected Italian journalist and lifelong Ferrari supporter Leo Turrini did not mince his words on his blog Profondo Rosso:
“About Ferrari, silence has never been an option. The Qatar weekend was embarrassing. The seal on an inconceivable season. What I want to stress – and I’ll accept the accusation of being sick with nostalgia in advance – is that there are millions of people who love the Prancing Horse. Ordinary people who see Maranello as a shared treasure, a collective feeling, a national heritage. Well, to the Ferrari fans who carry the team in their hearts and souls, you cannot inflict humiliations like the one we have just witnessed. I humbly hope John Elkann realises this. I have nothing more to add.”
Leo Turrini’s words ring painfully true. The Tifosi have suffered all season, and what started as heartbreak has, for many, turned into indifference – the most dangerous emotion of all for a team that lives on passion. Charles Leclerc’s small salvage job on Sunday was the only glimmer of light, but even he needs saving now.
2026 cannot be another false dawn. Ferrari must deliver a genuinely winning car next year, or the consequences – for the team, for the drivers, and for the relationship with the fans – could be irreversible. Fred Vasseur knows it. The question is whether chairman John Elkann truly understands the depth of the damage 2025 has caused to the most loyal fanbase in world sport.
One race left. Then the real work begins.
