Ferrari’s extended System 1 struggles have as soon as once more come below intense scrutiny, this time from one of the vital influential figures within the Scuderia’s fashionable historical past. Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo has issued a pointy evaluation of the group’s present situation, suggesting that the Maranello outfit has misplaced a few of the defining qualities that when made it the dominant power in System 1.
Few voices carry better historic weight with regards to Ferrari. Luca di Montezemolo’s relationship with the Prancing Horse stretches again to the Seventies, when he labored intently alongside founder Enzo Ferrari earlier than moving into the position of sporting director. Throughout that interval, Ferrari captured two world championships with Niki Lauda, serving to to cement its repute because the benchmark operation in System 1.
After later transferring into senior management inside Fiat, Luca di Montezemolo returned to Ferrari as chairman in 1991, inheriting a group that had not gained a System 1 title since 1979. What adopted was one of the vital outstanding rebuilds in motorsport historical past, culminating within the constructors’ championship triumph of 1999 and the legendary period of Michael Schumacher dominance.
Ferrari’s golden period versus at present’s System 1 actuality
With Michael Schumacher main the cost, Ferrari established one of the vital dominant intervals the game has ever witnessed. Michael Schumacher secured 5 consecutive System 1 world championships between 2000 and 2004, whereas Ferrari grew to become the usual each rival tried to match.
Even after Michael Schumacher’s departure on the finish of 2006, the Italian facet remained aggressive sufficient for Kimi Raikkonen to safe the group’s most up-to-date drivers’ championship in 2007. Since then, nonetheless, the Scuderia’s wait for one more crown has stretched into one of many longest barren spells in its System 1 historical past.
Talking about Ferrari’s present trajectory, Luca di Montezemolo instructed the group’s points transcend technical shortcomings or operational errors, pointing as an alternative towards a deeper cultural downside throughout the organisation.
The previous Ferrari chairman argued that the group seems to have misplaced its soul, implying that the aggressive starvation and relentless preventing mentality as soon as synonymous with Ferrari are now not as seen on the high of the organisation. In his view, that absence of management depth has contributed considerably to the failure to ship the anticipated championship outcomes.
Ferrari’s management questions proceed to develop
Ferrari’s decline has, after all, unfolded throughout a number of System 1 eras. Crimson Bull established dominance within the early 2010s, with Fernando Alonso repeatedly pushing Sebastian Vettel in title fights that finally slipped away. Then got here Mercedes’ turbo-hybrid supremacy, which reshaped the aggressive panorama for almost a decade.
When Mercedes lastly misplaced its grip, the Maranello group once more didn’t capitalise, as Crimson Bull and later McLaren emerged in stronger positions to grab the momentum.
This isn’t the primary time Luca di Montezemolo has publicly questioned Ferrari’s management construction. In earlier remarks, he hinted that the group lacked a real commanding determine, feedback broadly interpreted as criticism of present group principal Frederic Vasseur and the broader administration method at Maranello.
The strain is barely intensifying in 2026. Regardless of the arrival of Lewis Hamilton in one of the vital talked-about driver transfers in System 1 historical past, Ferrari has but to ascertain itself as a real championship benchmark. Charles Leclerc continues to hold a lot of the group’s aggressive burden, however the hole to the entrance stays vital.
For Ferrari supporters, the frustration lies not merely within the lack of trophies, however within the sense that the identification which as soon as outlined the Scuderia’s biggest years could also be more durable to recognise. And when criticism of that magnitude comes from Luca di Montezemolo, it inevitably resonates far past the paddock.
Could 22, 2026
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