Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 season has been a slow dance on the edge of mediocrity. This week, Jenson Button made a rather damning observation: Maranello is not being ruled by strategy, but by fear. According to the former world champion, the Scuderia has developed a ‘culture of fear’, with employees glancing nervously over their shoulders as though a Ferrari-branded guillotine had been installed near the HR office.
With six Grands Prix remaining and the team still awaiting its first victory of the year, Button’s words sound less like criticism and more like a diagnosis.
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The house of red anxiety
Ferrari’s 2025 campaign began with optimism and orchestrated press conferences. The arrival of Lewis Hamilton, seven world titles and an impressive wardrobe, was expected to bring gravitas and glory. Yet nine months later, the SF-25 has proven as temperamental as a Roman espresso machine. There have been moments of brilliance, yes, but it has mostly been a season of small fires and big sighs. Hamilton’s recent eighth-place finish in Singapore, after describing the team’s performance as ‘suboptimal’, was a polite way of saying ‘this car handles like a shopping trolley’.
According to Button, the issue runs deeper than strategic errors or brake failures. ‘You can’t be afraid to fail — and that seems to be the problem at Ferrari,’ he told Sky Sports, looking weary as though he had seen too many pit walls collapse under pressure. ‘It feels like everyone there thinks they can get sacked at any moment. That’s not a good feeling. You need stability and trust within the whole team, and that also rubs off on the drivers.’
Button might be onto something. Ferrari has long been known for its short tempers and even shorter job tenures. The Maranello turnstile spins so fast that it could probably generate its own downforce. From strategists to aerodynamicists, few people seem to stay long enough to find out which corridor leads to the simulator. The result? A team that plays it safe, terrified of making bold calls or, heaven forbid, trying something that might actually work.
Hope and high-stakes 2026
Despite this year’s chaos, Button insists that Ferrari still has time to rediscover its soul before the new 2026 regulations shake everything up again. “I hope this won’t be the case next year,” he said. ‘It’s important that they get through the whole year as a unified team because so much will change in that first race, and that will continue until the last.’ Ferrari is a great team with strong leaders. And, let’s be honest, you couldn’t ask for a better line-up than Hamilton and Leclerc.’
Indeed, on paper, Ferrari’s driver pairing looks like a dream team. One is a global superstar with the calm of a monk; the other is a local hero with enough raw pace to make the tifosi believe again. Yet both seem trapped in a car that oscillates between brilliance and bafflement. Each race weekend follows the same tragic pattern: an overture of promise, a crescendo of confusion, and quiet applause for eighth place.
Rumours, red tape and recurring inspections
As if internal paranoia were not enough, Ferrari now faces a fresh subplot, courtesy of Corriere della Sera. The Italian daily reports that tensions between Ferrari and the FIA have led to an unusually high number of technical inspections. Apparently, the governing body has taken such a keen interest in the SF-25 that one might wonder if it is applying for Italian citizenship.
Journalist Daniele Sparisci claimed that there are rumours in the paddock of uneasy relations with the FIA, which has implemented frequent checks on the Scuderia, consequently pushing them towards ultra-conservative approaches in all areas. Translation: Ferrari is so afraid of being penalised that it’s designing its cars like IKEA furniture: simple, compliant and assembled under supervision.
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The checklist from hell
Corriere della Sera’s in-depth investigation paints a picture of a team overwhelmed by inspections. In China, Ferrari was disqualified twice: Leclerc’s car was underweight and Hamilton’s had excessive plank wear — an ironic twist for a car that can’t seem to stay on top of the podium. In Japan, their pit stop equipment was scrutinised. In Canada, Leclerc’s fuel pump was examined. In Hungary, it was his tyre pressure monitoring system that came under the microscope. And in Barcelona, the stewards reportedly spent forty minutes studying the front wing, presumably searching for the ghost of Michael Schumacher.
By now, Ferrari mechanics probably jump every time they see a clipboard. These endless checks, whether fair or not, seem to have turned the engineering department into a collective of nervous librarians. Every adjustment, every bolt tightened and every aerodynamic tweak is accompanied by the same whispered question: ‘Will this get us disqualified?’
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MORE F1 NEWS – Haas reports €7 million profit
Haas F1, the little team that could – For years, Haas F1 has been the quiet accountant of the Formula 1 paddock, the one team more interested in spreadsheets than speed traps. While others splash cash on wind tunnels and shiny carbon fibre, Gene Haas and his team have achieved the impossible: five consecutive years of profit.
Haas closed its 2024 financial year with a profit of £6.5 million (€7 million), its biggest since 2019. This brings the total earnings since 2020 to an impressive £26.2 million. For a team that is still performing at the lower end of the constructors’ table, this feels like the financial equivalent of winning Monaco.
In a sport where teams claim to be struggling financially while their drivers crash million-pound cars for fun, Haas has somehow become the Warren Buffett of Formula 1.
The numbers make for oddly satisfying reading: Revenue of £119.4 million, administrative costs of £111.3 million, and yet they still made a profit. It’s the kind of thing that would make even Red Bull’s accountants do a double-take. While Williams and Aston Martin blew their budgets on shiny new factories and hospitality palaces, Haas quietly counted their coins, chuckled, and banked another year in the black…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
Clara Marlowe is a Formula 1 writer at TJ13 with over 15 years of experience in motorsport journalism, having contributed features to established sports magazines such as Evo, MCN, Wisden Cricket Monthly and other digital outlets.
Clara specialises in human-interest storytelling, focusing on the individuals behind the sport, including drivers, engineers, and team personnel whose roles are often overlooked in mainstream coverage.
At TJ13, Clara contributes long-form features and narrative-driven pieces that explore the personal and professional journeys within Formula 1. This includes coverage of career-defining moments, internal team dynamics, and the human impact of high-pressure competition.
Clara’s work brings depth and perspective to the sport, complementing news and analysis with stories that highlight the people behind the machinery.
Clara has a particular interest in how personal narratives intersect with performance, and how individual experiences shape outcomes across a Formula 1 season.
