The Ferrari Formula One team are fighting an internal civil war. According to the Italian media the blame game is in full swing in Maranello as to who is responsible for the team’s miserable season.
Having slipped from second to fourth after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s double DNF in Brazil, the Scuderia risk finishing the season behind their rivals Mercedes and Red Bull Racing. If so this would be only the fourth time since 1993 the Italian squad has finished the constructors’ title race in fourth place.
Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton described his first season with the iconic F1 team as having been a “nightmare” in Sao Paulo and the seven times champion now has the unwanted record of being the Ferrari driver who has gone the longest without a podium since joining the team.
Three calls for Ferrari unity
When asked ahead of the Sau Paulo Grand Prix whether Ferrari being runners up was a good enough effort, Leclerc was adamant: “It’s not good enough, no. I think when you drive for such a team, the only thing that is good enough is to win.”
The cracks appearing in the operations of the Scuderia have been confirmed by the group chairman John Elkann. He has now called for unity within the team on no less than three occasions since the summer.
As the team fitted is desperately needed suspension upgrade at the Belgian Grand Prix, the Ferrari chairman issued a rallying call on F1TV. “Ferrari wants to win, has won, will win, when it’s able to get everyone together. What’s important in Ferrari is not the individual, but it’s the individuals. Those individuals, when they work together, they can do incredible things,” he said in an interview with Lawrence Baretto.
Elkann’s second call for unity came during the weekend of the US Grand Prix in Austin. Speaking at the National Italian American Foundation’s 50th anniversary bash in Washington, Elkann again addressed the mounting criticism of the Ferrari F1 team together with the pressure mounting due to Christian Horner having been persistently linked with a move to take over from Vasseur.
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“I want to affirm our full confidence in Team Principal Fred Vasseur and in the work he is carrying out together with all his colleagues at Scuderia Ferrari – mechanics, engineers and drivers who are working this weekend in Austin,” La Republic reported Elkann as saying.
“I also want to reiterate the importance of teamwork from everyone to maintain high concentration on the only objective that matters – always giving our all on the track.”
Elkann’s third plea for the team to come together was greeted in Italy with shock after the Sau Paulo GP. He praised the engineer’s and mechanics claiming the car had “improved” but was scathing when it came to the efforts of the team’s drivers.
“We certainly have drivers, for whom it’s important that they focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and it’s not impossible to get second place,” Elkann concluded.
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Italian media slam Ellkann
The response in the Italian media was mixed. Some continued to grumble about Hamilton’s lack of contribution to the team when compared to his team mate, whilst others launched an attack on the Ferrari president himself.
Fabled oracle for the tifosi and Ferrari insider journalist, Leo Turini wrote this in his column. “If the grandson of Gianni Agnelli really thinks Ferrari’s problem is talkative drivers, then, at the very least, he needs to change his advisers, his consultants, his managers. Because believe me – if since Schumacher and Räikkönen Ferrari hasn’t seen glory, it’s not Alonso’s fault, not Vettel’s, not Leclerc’s, and not Hamilton’s. And if that isn’t understood, then truly, we’ll never win again.”
Lewis Hamilton is the easy target for the unrest in Maranello following comments he had sent in multiple documents on how the team could “structurally adjust.” In simple English the seven times world champion has criticised the various work silos at Ferrari, something which would put people’s backs up.
Problems bring in 2024
Yet it appears the Ferrari engineers are rallying around another scape goat in common. Him being Eric Cardile, the former technical director who joined Aston Martin at the beginning of August this year. Due to his twelve month gardening leave, Cardile handed his notice in the previous August when the concept for the Ferrari SF-25 was well advanced.
Yet following his departure a Monza upgrade turned the fortunes of the Scuderia on their collective head. Leclerc won at the Italian Grand Prix, before a 1-2 in Austin was followed by Carlos Sainz win in Mexico. All this meant Ferrari closed down a 79 point gap to the championship leaders to just 14 across the 2024 season run in.
Hopes were high for 2025, but a strange announcement at the festive bash in Maranello set minds racing. Fred Vasseur declared the team would build a “completely new car” for 2025. In the final year of a set of technical regulations this seemed a highly unusual thing to do, given most of the ‘learning’ for that era will have been done.
Ferrari engineers new scapegoat
But the die was set before Cardile left, before the Monza upgrade and the Stella run in for the drivers. With no technical director for w while, Fred Vasseur stood into the role, but it was said he couldn’t dedicate sufficient time to its demands.
A report in Motorsport Italia now claims, Ferrari engineers are absolving themselves of all responsibility for the failings of the SF-25. They are describing it as “Cardile’s Creation.” However, the author does also question those in the roles of aerodynamics chief Diego Tondi and head of chassis performance, Fabio Montecchi.
This is classic Ferrari mentality, when the blame game is being played, “my enemies enemy is now my friend.” In a bizarre fashion this may unite the team as Elkann has called for although the lack of corporate responsibility will mean mistakes to learn from have been lost.
The real reason for Perez testing a Ferrari for Cadillac
Today, Sergio Perez returned behind the wheel of a Formula One car since he was dropped by Red Bull at the end of 2024. The Mexican will drive for new team Cadillac in 2026, alongside Valterri Bottas as the America outfit choose drivers’ with F1 experience to front their first season.
Bottas meanwhile is under contract to Mercedes and will only be released come the season finale in Abu Dhabi. The car Perez is testing is a two year old Ferrari which is allowed under the FIA ‘test of previous cars’ regulations.
The test is not to get Perez back up to speed, although it won’t do him any harm to get a refresher day after almost twelve months of not driving at the ingest level…. READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
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