Is a bright Ferrari future being hampered by the past?

Glistening in yellow overalls throughout a poignant 75th anniversary weekend, as the razor-sharp glare of the red-clad tifosi supporters honed in on every microscopic move and misstep, it is perhaps no wonder that Ferrari faltered under the basking sunshine at Monza on Sunday.

After all there is an exorbitant expectation, a supposition rather, among fans of the Scuderia; a sort-of divine belief that anything other than perfection is an unfathomable failure. We are told, without debate, that Ferrari is passion. Ferrari is history. Ferrari is everything.

The reality is starker: Ferrari have not won the drivers’ championship in 15 years. An era of being out-powered and out-thought by energy drink companies and German manufacturers has seen the “Prancing Horse” mocked for their mistakes, chastised for their clangers, savaged for their sins.

Ferrari’s status, prestige and heritage in motorsport is still unmatched – but what effect does this actually have in the modern day? Are the devoted fanbase and legends of the past – Ascari, Lauda, Schumacher – actually a hindrance to the team and their route back to the Formula One summit?

A 2022 season where their ascent to championship challengers after years in the wilderness has been overshadowed by chronic miscalculations. So, with Charles Leclerc’s title pursuit all but over amid the boisterous boos and jeers from the Monza grandstands, is it time Ferrari’s mythical-like bubble burst as focus now shifts to 2023?

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“Death will destroy my body, but my creatures will keep on living ever after in the years to come”

Enzo Ferrari was all too aware of the beast and legacy he created as he approached his death in 1988. At the time, only Pope John Paul II had more notoriety in Italian life than “Il Commendatore”, a nod to the car executive’s dictatorial regime amidst a blend of mechanical genius and madness.

A fulcrum of the company that became known as Scuderia Ferrari is, and always has been, the Autodrome Nazionale Monza situated in the city’s glorious royal park. While Imola is situated closer to Ferrari’s famed Maranello base, Monza has always been the cynosure for the tifosi; it has hosted every Italian Grand Prix bar one.

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“Monza is not the link for my time in Formula One. It is the link for my passion for motorsport,” ex-Ferrari driver and fan favourite Jean Alesi tells The Independent.

“This place feels part of me. Nothing has changed, you see kids walking alongside their families in Ferrari outfits and that’s the tradition. That’s what we talk about with the pressure to drive for Ferrari. It’s not only a team, it’s a family.”

It was appropriate that this year was a double-celebration then, for both team and circuit. While Ferrari – Italy’s team – was celebrating 75 years since opening their factory in Maranello, it is also Monza’s centenary year. Established as only the third permanent track in the world after Brooklands and Indianapolis in 1922, it was constructed at a rate of knots. Rome wasn’t built in a day but Monza was built in 110.

“The layout of the circuit is the fastest in the championship – and the tifosi are very close to the track,” Alesi describes.

“When you go out of Ascari corner up to Parabolica [corner], you can see the people clearly. I once got pole for Ferrari at Monza and I could see I was doing well after each sector via the fans.”

When walking around these picturesque parklands on a stifling September weekend, Ferrari’s grandiose appears in all forms. From gargantuan Prancing Horse banners caressing the terraces to fans enthusiastically waiting for the stars to appear from the Hotel de la Ville over the road.

Even taxi drivers at the wheel vocalise, with unblemished passion and completely unprompted, their exaggerated and steely thoughts on Ferrari’s fortunes.

On track, though, the circuit’s simplicity of long straights and twisty chicanes are still one of Formula One’s ultimate tests.

“The race here used to be called the ‘lotteria’ [lottery],” Alesi summarises. “It’s really like that, you cannot gamble.”

So to Sunday’s race – and Ferrari’s roll of the dice. An early virtual safety car saw Mattia Binotto’s team pit Leclerc early, while Red Bull remained calm and composed in sticking to a one-stop strategy for Max Verstappen.

The punt did not pay off. It was not a blunder but a miscalculation and, whatever your thoughts on the safety car regulations which saw the race end frustratingly in yellow flag conditions, it was another instance of the Scuderia’s decision-making coming unstuck in the heat of battle.

This year, we’ve had Leclerc’s screams down the radio in Monaco. And Carlos Sainz’s rebuttal in Silverstone. Even last week in Zandvoort saw a pit stop called so early that the mechanics were not ready to fit a wheel. Reliability issues have triggered season-changing retirements too in Barcelona, Baku and Spielberg.

Felipe Massa, who has come closest to winning a world championship since their last victory but missed out excruciatingly by one point to Lewis Hamilton in 2008, says the number of mistakes totted up by Ferrari race-by-race has been their undoing, as opposed to Red Bull stealing the show of their own accord.

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“We know for a team to win the championship, everything needs to be perfect,” he says. “So many things have taken away Ferrari’s chances of fighting for the title.

“When one element doesn’t work, your chances are over.”

Alesi agrees – but has a reason for Ferrari’s failures: “It’s a young team coming back from years of struggling with Mercedes’ and Red Bull’s dominance.

“The mistakes of this year will be good experience for the future. And I don’t believe they will make them again. The fans are very similar to football fans – they get really upset but they still respect you for life.”

With six races to go, Verstappen’s led to Leclerc is 116 points and he could wrap up the title in Singapore in three weeks’ time. Constructors-wise, the deficit to Red Bull is a mammoth 139 points and they only lead 2022 strugglers Mercedes by 35 points.

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As attention swings to next year, armed with a rapid car and the drivers to match, what needs to change at Maranello then?

Team principal Binotto, an engineer by trade, has dismissed statements that the personnel on the pit wall needs to change.

“We will not change the people,” he stated recently. “What is more important is simply the stability and making sure you’re improving race by race.

There’s only so long though that the same old words run hollow. Confusion reigns over team radio, with Leclerc and Sainz asked to decide on “Plan C” whilst driving at over 200mph. Look along the pit lane and no such contemplation exists; the decision making process is clear.

“Mattia has grown up a lot,” Massa says. “He is not the sole person to blame – but he is the one who needs to respond. He needs to try and fix it and then maybe you can take action.”

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But delve deeper, as Ferrari enter a new era post-75 years with two drivers of the same ilk at peak-performance age, and perhaps the ethos of the motorsport hegemon could be tinkered with. It’s time to change tack.

Founder Enzo once said: “If I am unable to see the defects in the machine I create myself, how can I see properly into myself?”

In this case, the machine is the Ferrari beast itself. Self-evaluation over the coming months, modifying dizzying expectations for the fans in a direction more realistic and attainable, could set the Scuderia back on the championship-winning train. Binotto should not be afraid to tinker with his team; the route to success is often driven by cut-throat decisions.

The past is the past. Ferrari remain the most successful team in F1’s 72-year history with 15 drivers’ championships and 238 race wins but their competitors have advanced their methodologies. Galloping into next year, the Prancing Horse must now follow suit.