Is Ferrari genuinely improving, or are its Formula 1 rivals simply progressing even faster? It is one of the hardest questions to answer when assessing a team’s performance, and it forms the basis of one of Luigi Mazzola’s most interesting observations about the current situation at Maranello.
The former Ferrari engineer, speaking in an interview with NewsF1.it, does not question the team’s ability to build a competitive car. In his assessment, the concern lies elsewhere: something within Ferrari’s development process does not appear to be working as effectively as it should.
Luigi Mazzola questions Ferrari’s relative development
Luigi Mazzola begins with an apparently simple point. Ferrari may have improved its car during the season, but Formula 1 performance cannot be judged by looking only at a team’s own progress.
The comparison must always be made against the opposition.
“Maybe you have improved, but the others have improved more,” Luigi Mazzola explained.
This is the concept of relative performance. What matters is not simply how much faster your own car becomes, but how much progress you make compared with those ahead of you. That comparison can also be explored through the Ferrari vs F1 Rivals statistics, which tracks Ferrari directly against Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull and the rest of the grid.
According to Luigi Mazzola, this is precisely where Ferrari’s problem begins to emerge.
“Clearly there is something getting stuck in all of this,” he said.
The Ferrari problem may not simply be the car
The most interesting part of Luigi Mazzola’s analysis is that he does not identify a single cause. It could be the amount of work being done. It could be the effort being made by the people involved. It could be motivation, the ability to feel part of a wider project or, alternatively, competence.
All of those elements must function simultaneously inside a leading Formula 1 team. For Luigi Mazzola, the question therefore goes beyond whether Ferrari has produced a good car. The real issue is whether the entire organisation can develop that car more quickly than its rivals.
That distinction has become particularly important during the current season, as Ferrari attempts to understand how effectively its technical package is evolving relative to the opposition. The wider challenge of Ferrari’s development battle with its Formula 1 rivals is therefore about much more than the performance of one individual upgrade.
Ferrari can have a balanced car and still lose ground
Luigi Mazzola then moves into the technical side of the discussion. In his view, Ferrari began with specific design characteristics and may have prioritised certain areas of the car, from aerodynamics to mechanical performance.
The result can be a car that is highly competitive, well balanced and enjoyable to drive. In Formula 1, however, that alone is not enough.
If rival teams continue making larger steps forward, any advantage established initially can quickly disappear.
“If you then don’t keep up, the others move ahead,” Luigi Mazzola observed.
That sentence arguably summarises the central issue. The problem may not be that Ferrari is incapable of improving at all. Instead, the rate at which the team improves could simply be insufficient compared with its competitors.
Why Ferrari’s development rate matters more than isolated upgrades
The difference is fundamental. A team can introduce upgrades, improve the behaviour of its car and extract more performance than at the previous race, yet still lose ground if Mercedes, McLaren or another leading rival makes an even larger step.
Formula 1 development is a continuous race. Luigi Mazzola emphasises how much work sits behind that process, involving not only routine engineering but also vision, creativity and the ability to identify possibilities that do not yet exist.
Ferrari’s difficulty extracting the full potential of the SF-26 has already made the interaction between its different technical limitations an important subject, with the wider SF-26 performance picture illustrating why development cannot be judged through one area of the car alone.
Luigi Mazzola questions work, motivation and competence
The most significant part of Luigi Mazzola’s comments comes when he tries to identify what might be slowing the process. He does not point to one individual or department, which is precisely what makes his analysis broader than a criticism of a single technical decision.
“Is it the amount of work, is it the effort people put in, is it people’s motivation, is it being happy, being part of something… I don’t know, or is it competence,” Luigi Mazzola explained.
Those questions extend far beyond one aerodynamic or mechanical choice. A winning Formula 1 team does not merely need to design a fast car; it must also create the conditions that allow every department to continue pushing in the same direction.
Ferrari’s power unit also enters the equation
Luigi Mazzola then broadens the discussion to the power unit. In his assessment, Ferrari may have given particular priority to aerodynamics and the mechanical side of the car, producing a very well-balanced package.
However, if the engine cannot progress at the same rate, the advantage created elsewhere on the car risks being cancelled out. The relationship between chassis performance and the Ferrari power unit challenge therefore becomes another important part of evaluating the overall package.
The budget cap also enters the equation. Luigi Mazzola plays down the idea that enormous power gains can simply be found through power-unit changes during the season. Under the current restrictions, he explains, radical transformations cannot realistically be expected during the course of a year.
The bigger question Ferrari must answer
Ultimately, Luigi Mazzola’s argument leads to a much broader question than whether Ferrari is competitive at one particular Grand Prix: is the Scuderia developing its car quickly enough compared with its rivals?
If the answer is no, the problem would not necessarily lie with one component. It could be something deeper involving processes, development, expertise or organisation that prevents Ferrari from turning a strong technical foundation into a car capable of remaining ahead until the end.
That is the central doubt raised by Luigi Mazzola’s assessment. Ferrari may not simply need a better car. It may need a system capable of developing that car faster than everyone else.
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