Ferrari disappoints again in F1, a recurring theme for years now. I admit it: whether as a spectator on-site or watching Formula 1 weekends from my couch in Italy, I’ve never seen a display like the one Ferrari delivered yesterday. Even in the darkest years, the races at Imola and Monza were honoured with dignified performances, even if the car wasn’t a frontrunner.
SF-25: The failure to understand the Soft tyres
We can’t chalk this up to an unfortunate blip, because by the seventh race of the season, Frederic Vasseur’s team has already compiled a catalogue of major blunders—including the baffling double disqualification in Shanghai. I had hoped that racing on home soil, with greater attention to detail, might give us a more rewarding Saturday.
Instead, a deadly variable compounded the SF-25’s chronic issues: the new Pirelli C6 compound. A necessary premise: the “supersoft” compound that debuted at Imola demanded extra effort from all teams to find the correct operating window. Mercedes even avoided it in Q3, preferring the Mediums with which Russell finished ahead of a McLaren.
The C6 tyre showed inversely proportional performance to degradation over a single lap, as clearly demonstrated by Max Verstappen, who posted a monstrous first sector but then paid the price with excessive tyre wear in sectors two and three. Three drivers in the top ten set their best lap on the Mediums: Russell, Alonso, and Stroll.
Ferrari hits rock bottom
That the SF-25 is uncompetitive is an objective fact, further confirmed by the bizarre behaviour of a car that performs better on used tyres than brand-new ones. Working with such a platform makes every setup attempt an empirical shot in the dark, with no guarantee of success. At this point, talk of “unrealised potential” is completely misplaced.
And it had to be Charles Leclerc to speak out—the one who’s clearly had enough of repeating the same lines Ferrari has fed us so far. In post-qualifying interviews, he bluntly said they could even mount the tyres backwards on this car and it wouldn’t make a difference, because the potential simply isn’t there. Hallelujah—was it so hard to admit?
All this while Fred Vasseur pointed fingers at the erratic tyre behaviour. A factor, yes—but one that every team had to manage. Ferrari is now behind McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Williams, Racing Bulls, and Alpine. Essentially, they only managed to beat Haas and Sauber. An unacceptable result that angered the fans, many of whom left the track early.
Charles, the only class act in Imola’s farce
Leclerc took responsibility, even when he had none. He apologised to the many fans who still believed in what, at the moment, is a disorganised mess. Fred Vasseur followed suit after hearing his driver—the only figure with class in a farce that crushed the hopes of a fanbase who had been promised a thrilling season.
In one of the iconic scenes from Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino’s character says, “When the shit hits the fan, some people run and others stand firm.” If Vasseur was truly chosen for his merit and not as a stopgap, those who hired him must have the courage to show their faces.
John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna should be standing by the team in this most delicate moment. Even if comparing current leadership with past managers is a futile exercise, today’s executives should show up at Imola—the Grand Prix celebrating the “Made in Italy” brand they are so proud of, backed by revenue figures that confirm the excellence of Ferrari’s road cars. It’s time Ferrari returned to being excellent in Formula 1 too.
The boos from the Rivazza and fans walking out after Q2 should be a wake-up call. Senior management now has the opportunity to show solidarity with the team by visiting a circuit just a stone’s throw from Maranello—even at the risk of facing insults. It might rain shit (to quote), and lightning rod Vasseur—left alone—will likely tell us the same story about unrealised potential.
