Ferrari is sadly failing in Formula 1, and certainly not because it does not have a base in the United Kingdom. The reasons are well known. From time to time, when there is nothing else to say, the old tale about Italy gets pulled out, as if it were the curse preventing the Maranello team from winning. Yet, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary: 16 Constructors’ titles and 15 Drivers’ titles. Has it been an eternity since they last won? All true, but the location of the factory is the least of their problems.
According to many, over the years Ferrari has always had to deal with a nearly insurmountable obstacle: the reluctance of Anglo-Saxon technical staff to relocate permanently to Maranello. The result would be a chronic difficulty in attracting and retaining top-level personnel. In this context, the idea of creating a technical base in the UK resurfaces, an idea that has been revived in the Canadian paddock last weekend.
To be intellectually honest, it must be said that the Italian team did experiment with something similar in the 1980s, when John Barnard, the father of the semi-automatic gearbox, was allowed to operate from Guildford in Surrey, southeast England. Through a dedicated facility, he could work without being physically in Italy. A move that split the team in two and led to nothing good. Most Formula 1 teams are based in the United Kingdom. This is where most of the motorsport engineering is concentrated. Why should Ferrari establish a technical outpost in this area? Would it mean inserting itself into this highly competitive ecosystem? Is it about a methodological gap compared to teams like Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull, and Aston Martin?
Are these teams united by faster decision-making processes, leaner hierarchies, and a technical culture that rewards pragmatism? Perhaps. But who says all of this can’t be done in Italy? Who made that up? For example, if the best pizza maker in the world moves from Naples to the United States, does he become a loser? Does he lose the ability to make the dough properly?
The real problem for the Italian team isn’t where things are done, but how they are done. Not to mention that Italy’s Motor Valley has nothing to envy of Britain’s. Until proven otherwise, Italy’s excellence in engines, chassis, and aerodynamics is among the best in the world. Nico Rosberg mentioned all this during Sky UK’s F1 Show. It’s his opinion, but we don’t share it at all.
In Formula 1, without proper guarantees, no one plays at this level. To make a difference at the highest level of motorsport, you need substance. The facilities in Italy are definitely there. What Ferrari may lack are a few top-level engineers, although they have always come to the Modena area. If Adrian Newey chose Aston Martin, it certainly was not because he didn’t find the area around Maranello appealing, which, for the record, has nothing to envy from the English equivalent.
On the contrary, Adrian Newey is a regular visitor to Italy. The real reasons why the aerodynamics genius did not join Ferrari are quite simple. Narrowing it down, there are two: the fact that the team didn’t want to give him control of sporting operations and the excessive pressure within the team. After achieving everything and more in his career, he walked away because the necessary conditions weren’t met.
The 2016 Formula 1 world champion may be right when talking about decision-making structure. But changing that policy does not require relocating to Northamptonshire. If the Maranello team still hasn’t updated the SF-25 single-seater, it’s not because the factory is near Modena. The reasons are different, linked to a precise technical approach aimed at avoiding further mistakes in a season where design errors are already weighing like a boulder.
If there is one area where the Italian team has clearly underperformed, it’s communication. And not just the kind directed at the media, where it is truly terrible, but also internally. That’s precisely why the idea of building a base in the United Kingdom does not seem smart at all, it would only further complicate a system that’s already quite deficient. The example of John Barnard is instructive: “The factory of excuses.”
If the Italian team is truly serious about returning to the top of the sport, it must first rethink itself. The organizational model, work culture, interdepartmental communication: everything must be updated to match the category’s standards. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is working on this, and some progress has been made in that direction. Leave the UK to the Brits. Everyone has their own clock.
— see video above —
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