This weekend in Italy once again shows why Ferrari is unique amongst all the Formula One teams. Firstly they are the only competitor remaining since the inception of the sport back in 1950, but more importantly in their home country they are treated like a national team. If Ferrari wins people go to work on Monday with a smile on their faces, but when they lose the staff canteen becomes a sombre place.
Ferrari is also the most successful team in the history of the sport. With sixteen constructor championships they dominate the field with Williams behind on nine and Mercedes together with McLaren have eight each. Even the currently uber dominant Red Bull Racing has scored just six in the nineteen years since they were revived from the ashes of the Jaguar F1 team.
Ferrari ditch their tradition
The Scuderia has more race wins, more pole positions, more 1-2 finishes along with a host of other records yet inn the modern era, the team had lost its way. Kimi Raikkonen was their last world champion back in 2007 yet this title was somewhat handed to Ferrari by McLaren due to the in team squabbling that year between factions supporting Fernando Alonso and those behind the rookie Lewis Hamilton.
In 2008, Lewis claimed his first world title, but a strong challenge from Ferrari saw them become the F1 constructor champions, yet now in their sixteenth year without a championship, the yearning for Ferrari success is greater than ever amongst their fans. The secret to their last era of consistent success (1999-2004) was the appointment of a relatively unknown Frenchman as team principal.
Jean Todt joined the Scuderia in 1994 and set about radicalising the way the Italian team went about their recruitment. The Italian only criteria for their engineers and designers was dropped and Todt brought in those key to the Benetton teams recent titles. Englishman Ross Brawn was recruited along with South African Rory borne – who replaced John Barnard as their aerodynamics specialist.
The sea change in mentality was monumental in fact Todt himself was the first non-ItalianFerrari principal since the appointment in 1974 of Marco Piccinini. Michael Schumacher who had won titles at Benetton was the final piece of the jigsaw and the Scuderia came close in 1997 and 1998 to claiming then drivers’ title, missing out by a few points.
The number one driver role
The Italians finally celebrated their first constructors’ championship in 1999, the first since 1983, although Michael Schumacher missed out on the drivers’ title due to breaking his leg at Silverstone and was forced to missing seven of the sixteen rounds during the middle of the season.
Todt’s modus operandi was to make Schumacher the team’s undisputed number one driver which resulted over the years in a number of disappointing calls from the pit wall, telling Schumacher’s team mate to move aside because ‘Micheal is faster than you.’
Even when their success dried up, Ferrari retained the number one driver way of going racing, with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel both stepping into the Michael Schumacher role. However the sixteen trophy less intervening years now make it clear, it was not this part of the Todt revolution which in fact had brought the Scuderia success.
The latest casualty in the long list of unsuccessful Ferrari bosses was Matteo Binotto. The Italian represented everything Ferrari hoped for in a leader, he was Ferrari through and through having joined the team in 1995 in the engine department.
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Another Frenchman appointed
Yet Binotto’s people skills were somewhat lacking and the final nail in his coffin may well have been his public admonishment of Charles Leclerc following a strategic blunder at the 2022 British Grand Prix. The appointment of his successor raised eyebrows in the paddock as Fred Vasseur of the Sauber team was given the biggest pressure job in F1.
Immediately the Italian press suggested due to Charles Leclerc’s rookie season with Sauber, that Vasseur having worked with the Monegasque previously would appoint him the number one driver in the team. Yet this French Ferrari boss was determined to do things differently.
Speaking at his first media briefing since being appointed as the leader of the Scuderia, Vasseur was adamant they would not start the season with. A designated number one driver.
“We have two very good drivers, both of them are able to do the job,” said Vasseur. “We will have the capacity to provide them exactly the same car and the same structure and the same support. What is clear that the target is to win with Ferrari and for Ferrari.
“There will be no number one or number two,” Fred concluded.
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Vasseur refutes No.1 driver calls
The clamour over Ferrari favouritism died down during last year and it was Carlos Sainz who was the driver to bring the team’s single Grand Prix victory of the season. Yet with the announcement the Spaniard would be replaced by Lewis Hamilton next year, once again the media stories emerged that Vasseur would make the Mongasque the lead driver on track.
In the lead into this weekend’s Grand Prix in Imola, Vasseur was again questioned about the relationship between his two drivers. In qualifying Leclerc out qualified his team mate and the three place grid drop awarded to Oscar Piastri, sees and all red second row as the cars will line up for lights out.
Once again Vasseur has been forced to clarify the relationship between his two drivers telling the assembled media both Sainz and Leclerc bring an equal contribution to the progress of the team.
“Last year, Carlos did a fantastic job in September. He got the podium in Monza, he won in Singapore. This pushed Charles to be back in the last part of the season.
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“We need to keep this. It is part of the result. Look at McLaren, they have the same kind of positive imulation and internal competition between Oscar and Lando.
“I think it’s part of the game.”
Lewis Hamilton enjoyed number one status at Mercedes for much of his year’s of dominance, particularly during the time his team mate was Valtteri Bottas. Yet since the promotion of George Russell alongside the seven times world champion, Hamilton has regularly been outclassed by the young Englishman.
With details of Hamilton’s agreement with Ferrari confidential, we cannot know whether he attempted to negotiate the number one role at Ferrari. Yet it would be remarkable if Vasseur were to change his position and appoint Lewis as the leader of Lelcerc given his repeated mantra of equality for his drivers.
Fred Vasseur has fundamentally changed the Ferrari philosophy of a lead driver and Lewis Hamilton will have to earn the right to be ahead of Charles Leclrec on track.
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Antonelli impressed Mercedes during F1 test. Mercedes Technical Director James Allison said young Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed “metronomic pace” during his test with Mercedes in Austria in April. The youngster also garnered praise from Lewis Hamilton who believes the young Italian could succeed him despite Wolff’s pursuit of Verstappen.
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With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Pathetic article with a lot of minor and major biases. The author is an absolute dumbhead.