Worst Ferrari start since 2009
It is clear that Scuderia Ferrari did not start off on the right foot in the 2023 Formula 1 championship. No podiums in the first three grands prix of the season and only 26 points collected ahead of the Azerbaijan GP, with a fourth position in the Constructors’ championship which is the clear proof of the current competitiveness of the cars entrusted to Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz this year.
To find a more difficult start, you have to go back to the beginning of 2009, when the duo formed by Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa was still without any points scored after three world championship races, when the scoring system rewarded only the top eight finishers.
Calm and updates
Frederic Vasseur, who has been at the top of Ferrari’s Gestione Sportiva for almost four months, is continuing to preach calm, trusting that the innovations which the engineers are preparing in the factory can straighten out the Prancing Horse’s championship. Aerodynamic updates (on the floor and sidepods) and mechanical updates (rear suspension) are in the works for the Spanish Grand Prix on 4 June, as reported by today’s edition of the Corriere dello Sport. The minimum goal is to overtake Mercedes and Aston Martin, with second place in the Constructors’ championship that seems to be the most realistic target this season after the poor start.
“Why doesn’t Ferrari win?” – Luca di Montezemolo explains.
A guest in the studios of the television program Piazzapulita on the Italian free-to-air television channel La7, the conductor Corrado Formigli could not avoid asking Luca Cordero di Montezemolo the same question that all Ferrari fans have been themselves no later than a few days ago, namely: “Why doesn’t Ferrari win?”.
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The answer was based on the vein of melancholy that always shines through when the former President is called to express himself on the difficulties of the Maranello team: “It puts a knife in my wound. Ferrari together with my family is the most important thing in my life. I have been with Ferrari 25 years in two periods. It is a long and painful topic for me, I’m sorry to see the team like this” – the Italian businessman explained.
Long crisis and necessary reconstruction
For Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, currently Scuderia Ferrari is in a situation that is anything but rosy or with a simple solution for the future: “I don’t think it’s a short-term crisis, it’s a question of rebuilding and we need to bring together the best technicians”.
Many times the Maranello team building put together by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is often taken as an example, which required time and energy. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo returned to Maranello in 1991, but also needed 8 years to bring the first constructors title back to Italy: “I took Jean Todt, Stefano Domenicali, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, Michael Schumacher came later. The crisis was very deep, but a team was built. Even going to recover some technicians of different nationalities on the market, it would be necessary to bring culture into the company in the sectors where there is a need” – he pointed out.
In the end, the former Ferrari president was asked about the too high expectations placed on 2023: “I found the triumphalistic comments during the official car presentation wrong. Based on that I was expecting a car that evolved from last year”.
