From the High of Barcelona to the Reality of Austria
This is the view of Bernie Ecclestone on why Formula One’s most iconic team, Ferrari, who possess a fanatical fanbase, continually fail to deliver since their glory years around the turn of the millennium.
Having won by a country mile with Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona, the Scuderia returned to racing last weekend in Austria. Yet the hope kindled by the seven-time world champion’s dominant performance in Catalunya was immediately wiped away, as both drivers were miles off the pace in the Styrian hills, finishing fifth (Hamilton) and eighth (Leclerc).
To compound their woes, the team had brought the first of its engine upgrades allowed under the FIA’s ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) programme, as rumours swirled around the paddock that their combustion engine suffered a power deficit of more than 8% compared to that of Red Bull Powertrains.
Bernie Ecclestone Weighs In On the DNA Deficit
Bernie Ecclestone has weighed in again on why he believes Ferrari have failed to recapture their glory years, more than twenty years on from their final double-championship-winning season with Michael Schumacher.
“Trouble with Ferrari, I think there’s too many Italians that’s involved explaining what to do and what not to do,” he said. “You just need really one person to say, ‘Do this’ or ‘Do that.’ Whether they’re right or wrong, only time will tell.”
The former F1 supremo is echoing comments he made following the closest the team and Sebastian Vettel came to winning a title back in 2017. He blamed the team for failing their German quadruple world champion driver by being “too Italian,” claiming leadership was just not part of their DNA. He likened the running of the team to the days before Jean Todt (French), Ross Brawn (English), and Michael Schumacher (German) took over the reins in the mid-1990s to break Ferrari’s longest run without a championship win.
How Niki Lauda Bought His Way to Maranello
Ecclestone echoes the thoughts of one of Formula One’s greatest drivers, Niki Lauda, who shocked the Maranello engineers when he told Il Commendatore in front of the team that the car was “shit.”
Lauda, who came from Austrian wealth, failed to receive backing from his family for what they perceived as a juvenile decision to try his hand at a career in motorsport. He borrowed a huge amount of money to fund his F1 career, but the uncompetitive March F1 cars left him broke by 1972.
Desperate to continue his career, Lauda approached Louis Stanley, the chief of the BRM team, and spun a web of lies. He promised he had major sponsorship money coming from Austria if they gave him a seat for 1973. Stanley took the gamble. Once in the car, Lauda’s immense technical feedback and speed shone through. Realising Lauda was the real deal, BRM actually tore up the “pay driver” contract and started paying him a salary, and the fake sponsors were never required.
Confronting Enzo Ferrari and Making the Car Faster
The pivotal moment for Lauda came at the end of 1973. Ferrari was in absolute shambles; they had just endured a miserable, winless season and were desperate to completely rebuild. Enzo Ferrari hired back Clay Regazzoni—Lauda’s BRM teammate—to lead the team for 1974.
When Enzo asked Regazzoni who they should sign for the second seat, Regazzoni didn’t suggest a big-name superstar. He told Il Commendatore that there was a clinical, hyper-analytical young Austrian at BRM who was blisteringly fast and knew exactly how to set up a chassis.
Enzo took Regazzoni’s advice and summoned Lauda to Maranello. Lauda, still drowning in bank debt, was offered a contract that paid enough to completely clear his financial liabilities and finally establish him as a top-tier professional.
True to form, Lauda didn’t show typical reverence to Enzo Ferrari during his initial test at Fiorano. When asked what he thought of the new car, Lauda bluntly told the Old Man through an interpreter: “The car is a piece of shit. It understeers terribly.”
While the engineers gasped in horror, Enzo told Lauda that if he could modify the car to be a second faster, he would be satisfied. If he couldn’t, he’d be fired. Lauda and legendary engineer Mauro Forghieri reworked the suspension, went out, and went a second faster.
The “National Monument” and the Blame-Game Culture
The partnership was sealed, and by 1975, Lauda brought Ferrari its first World Championship in 11 years. Niki Lauda was famously blunt—he absolutely loathed corporate “bullshit” and PR filters, of which there were many in Maranello under the dictatorship of Enzo Ferrari.
After a close call with death at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 1976, Niki Lauda miraculously returned to his race seat, going on to claim his second championship with Ferrari. Yet the internal politics became too much for the straight-talking Austrian, and he walked out on the team before the season was finished. In his autobiography, the man who brought Ferrari back from the wilderness in the 1970s revealed the tortuous politics and national emotions which ran deep in Maranello:
“The problem with Ferrari is that it’s not just a race team—it is a national monument. When you win in Italy, you are a pope. When you lose, you are crucified by the press, the public, and the board. Under that kind of emotional pressure, people stop making logical decisions because they are terrified of keeping their jobs,” Lauda explained.
He compared the Ferrari decades of failure to their most glorious years between 1999 and 2004, where they won six constructors’ championships and Schumacher clinched five drivers’ titles.
“In those days, Ross, because he is English, was the ideal bridge between the Italians, with their spaghetti culture, and Schumacher, with his German efficiency. Now the Italians are running it all. Does it work? It could be chaos. That’s the problem.”
Ferrari Return to the Old Ways
As the dream team of Brawn, Todt and Schumacher all drifted away from Maranello, so did the wins and titles. On the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification, Ferrari launched their 2011 F1 car. President Luca de Montezemolo stated the Ferrari F1 racing team should become “more Italian.”
Culturally, the period from 2008 had marked a deliberate pivot by Montezemolo. Following the departure of the multinational “Dream Team” Montezemolo actively sought to give the Scuderia a dominant, homegrown “Italian face.” This led to the promotion of Italian executives like Stefano Domenicali to team principal and Aldo Costa to technical director.
Can Vasseur Face Down the Internal Squabbles at Silverstone?
And so Ecclestone’s comments this week reflect the history of the iconic red F1 team. Whilst the dictatorship of Enzo is gone, today paddock whispers suggest there remains a blame-game culture and individual power bases within the team—something both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel experienced.
Even Lewis Hamilton came to a breaking point when his initial requests to change his race engineering team were met with resistance during his inaugural season with the Italian squad. Having won in Barcelona this year with his newly overhauled garage structure, the British driver was ecstatic, explaining that this change had been the key to unlocking his performance for Ferrari.
Many question whether Fred Vasseur is the man to face down the internal squabbles and power bases which remain in Maranello. The mild-mannered Frenchman appears to enjoy a laugh and a joke more than a serious thumping of the table.
Ferrari may endure another difficult weekend at the upcoming British Grand Prix, where power units will play a huge part in determining which team and driver comes out on top. But already it appears as though 2026 will be another year of disappointment and failure, for the most historic of Formula One teams.
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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.
Andrew’s work focuses particularly on the intersection of Formula 1 politics, regulation, and team strategy. Andrew closely follows developments involving the FIA, team leadership, and driver market dynamics, helping to provide context behind the sport’s biggest stories.
With experience covering multiple seasons of Formula 1’s modern hybrid era, Andrew has developed a detailed understanding of how regulatory changes and competitive shifts influence the grid. Andrew’s editorial approach prioritises clarity and context, aiming to help readers navigate complex developments within the sport.
In addition to editorial duties, Andrew is particularly interested in how media narratives shape fan perception of Formula 1, and how reporting can balance speed with accuracy in an increasingly digital news environment.
