No one doubts the courage of Formula 1 drivers, even if there are moments when one wonders whether they are the most intrepid in the world. paddockespecially when you listen to which sentences. There is one, very fashionable at the time when Fernando Alonso wore the Ferrari suit, recovered by some recently and which revolves around the commercial strength of Stable. “Ferrari is one of the greatest maneuvers in the history of marketing, because it attracted a brutal legion of followers around the world thanks to the success story it created, but which is no longer sustained,” is heard again in circles. As bold as it may seem, it is difficult to refute this point of view if you take into account that the team’s last title dates back to 2007 and that it was the one won by Kimi Raikkonen thanks to the fratricidal fight between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, in their first year at McLaren. Since then all the structures that can currently be classified as large (McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes) have won and also some that appeared as strangerlike Brown GP (2009). Ferrari had him at hand in 2010 and 2012, in both cases with Alonso, only to then fall into the void, in a fall that not even Hamilton’s arrival was able to stop.
It was John Elkann himself, the president of the most universal car manufacturer that exists, who took command this Monday, after the double abandonment of the Briton and Charles Leclerc at Interlagos last Sunday. The Maranello team arrived in Brazil with the intention of consolidating second position in the constructors’ ranking, and came out fourth, after overtaking Mercedes and Red Bull. The pull of the trigger exhausted the patience of Elkann, the main architect of Hamilton’s incorporation, who also received a spanking. To finish awakening the beast, even the multiple champion couldn’t think of anything other than defining his first season on the reds as “a nightmare”. “I’ve been living all this for a while. The contrast between the dream of driving for this incredible team and the nightmare of the results I’ve achieved,” lamented the one from Stevenage, after retiring in Brazil, following a crash at the start.
“We have a car that has improved, engineers who work tirelessly and mechanics who could win the championship for their performances. But the rest is not up to the level. Our drivers need to talk less and concentrate on driving,” Elkann said in Sky Italywithout anesthesia. The executive usually does not appear much in the circuits or make statements, but when he does it is to mark his territory. And this time he aimed directly at Leclerc, the golden boy of the house, and Hamilton, the galactic hired with the mission of refloating the empire. None of them have achieved a victory so far this season, but the seven podiums of the Monegasque, fifth in the standings and author of the pole In Hungary they contrast with their neighbor’s Rosco, who is sixth. The manager also emerged just when Ferrari had just won the two titles, the constructors’ and the drivers’, in the endurance competition (WEC).
It is not common for Ferrari to openly criticize its most recognizable employees. The liturgy commands us to protect them, to envelop them in that almost mystical aura that has always surrounded them The Horse. But times have changed. Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli and representative of a colder and less romantic generation, opts for entrepreneurial sincerity rather than the rhetoric of Enzo Ferrari, the founder. His words can be interpreted as a mixture of disappointment and warning. “He talks less,” he noted. The executive’s manifesto is a double-edged sword. It could awaken a reaction of pride or permanently break the emotional bond between the runners and the team. At Ferrari the boundary between one thing and another is always very thin. If its history teaches anything, it is that its best resurrections arise from crises. Elkann lit a fuse. Now it remains to be seen whether it will light up the street or set fire to the house.
