Ferrari are a skeleton of what they used to be. The team that all its competitors once feared is now just a top-of-the-midfield side trying to sneak into the podium places. However, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali believes that Ferrari is an integral part of F1 and that the team should also believe in its F1 project.
Domenicali served as the Team Principal of the Scuderia from 2008 to 2014. Before that, he was part of the management since 1996, even serving as their Sporting Director at a point in time. During his tenure with Ferrari, the Italian won 8 constructor’s championships with them, six being accompanied by the respective driver’s championship.
Domenicali has seen both the highs and the lows of the Maranello outfit. He was part of the team that won six consecutive championships from 1999 to 2004 and then again in 2007. After taking over the role of Team Principal from Jean Todt, he led Ferrari to a Constructor’s trophy in 2008, but since then went trophyless till he resigned in 2014. Therefore, he is quite familiar with how things work at Ferrari during both their highs and lows.
Domenicali believes that Ferrari can come back to the top
In the latest episode of the F1 podcast Beyond The Grid, Domenicali was asked by Tom Clarkson about the importance of Ferrari in Formula 1. Domenicali replied almost immediately that Ferrari is very important for the sport.
He explained, “[Ferrari] are part of the legacy of our sport, and as you can see when you go around the world that there is still a lot of Tifosi that are pushing for the team.” He went on and said, “What is important is that Ferrari keeps believing in Formula 1 as a future and investing as much as they can.”
Tom Clarkson asks Domenicali: How important is Ferrari really to Formula 1?
Domenicali: “Certainly Ferrari is very important for Formula 1 because they are part of the history of our sport. If you travel around the world you still see a lot of tifosi cheering for the team.”
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Domenicali warned that there are also other teams who have built their own legacies in F1. He also commented that he wants to tell his friends at Ferrari that only looking behind to create a proper foundation for the future is wrong. According to Domenicali, Ferrari must always consider Formula 1 as part of its bigger project, which is how the team can bounce back from its slump.
Fred Vasseur’s role at Ferrari
2022 was a very disappointing year for Ferrari. The Scuderia had a very competitive car towards the start of the season, but a series of strategy errors and driver errors completely took them out of the championship battle. Mattia Binotto, who was the Ferrari team principal back then, resigned from the team after the season.
Fred Vasseur stepped into the role of team principal from the start of 2023. A lot of expectation rests upon him as Ferrari has failed to win a single championship since 2008. However, it won’t be easy for Vasseur to recreate the glory days of Ferrari under Todt.
One of the major differentiating factors is that Todt had a free flow of cash coming in from Multinational giants like Phillip Morris, Shell, and Bridgestone. This allowed him to hire whoever he wanted to and develop his team. Under the budget cap, that is not an option for Vasseur.
However, many believe that Vasseur is the right man for the job, given his past experience in handling small-budget teams. He also has a long-standing relationship with Leclerc from his Alfa Romeo Sauber days. Therefore, it might be Vasseur who can finally bring back lost glory to the town of Maranello.
