Opinion: The Ferrari problem comes from up top

15 Drivers Champions. 16 Constructors Champions.

In 2007, with Kimi Raikkonen’s title and in 2008 with their WCC title, Ferrari added to their massive lead in F1 history in both categories.

Since then, those counts have not moved.

They came within a lap of both titles a few times, but have been unable to finish the job.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were supposed to be the lineup that changed that, but the Scuderia will come up short for the eighteenth straight year.

Hamilton still hasn’t stood on a podium in a grand prix, and all seven of Leclerc’s podiums have felt like miracles.

Neither of them has been in serious contention for a win once, and the only time a Ferrari driver has finished within even 10 seconds of the leader is Leclerc’s performances at Saudi Arabia and Monaco.

With how this regulation cycle began, with Leclerc outdueling Verstappen for a win in Bahrain, accompanied by Carlos Sainz in second after the Red Bull’s engine failed, another double podium the next race in Saudi Arabia, with Leclerc coming less than six tenths away from Verstappen in front.

Then, a Leclerc grand slam in Australia, where he won by over 20 seconds, it is almost inconceivable that they’re going to walk away from this regulation cycle with no championships, and Leclerc only having won four more races since then.

Change needs to happen in Maranello.

There has been an ever-rotating door of world-class drivers coming into Ferrari from other operations where they are capable of winning, and then not being able to achieve that same greatness once they step into the red racing suit.

It would seem clear that when you go through four world champion drivers and none of them can win for 18 years straight, that it isn’t a driver issue, but that is apparently not clear to the top members.

After the Brazilian Grand Prix, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann came out with a statement that, translated from Italian, said that the drivers should “talk less” and “focus on the driving”.

He also compares the lack of success in F1 to the WEC team’s success, which is comparing apples to oranges due to most of the Ferrari Hypercar’s success coming from benefits in the early-season BoP, but that is a discussion for another time.

This statement feels incredibly out of touch and shifts the blame away from where it should be.

Leclerc has been one of the top drivers on the grid for his entire career at Ferrari, and Hamilton left Mercedes (and a 2026 project that is supposed to lap Ferrari’s nonetheless) to join Ferrari with a promise of a contending car, and that promise has completely failed.

Since the disqualification in the second race of the season due to plank wear, it was abundantly clear the SF-25 would never come close to competing with the likes of McLaren.

There has been a trend of Ferrari using its history to justify its poor process at times.

When you dig deep, that history is really not all that they want you to believe it is.

Two stretches from 1975-1982 and 1999-2008 encapsulate all but two of their championships.

If you remove the wins from the two greatest drivers in Ferrari history, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, then do the same for Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren, the British team has a higher win rate than Ferrari does.

Sure, it is impressive, but it isn’t like there has been such a consistent trend of winning that they deserve the unwavering trust of the fans.

Ferrari’s refusal to change its ways has cost it so much.

A recent example is Adrian Newey.

The genius behind Red Bull’s domination was willing to sign with Ferrari, but Elkann refused to compromise in negotiations and it led to Newey inking a deal with Aston Martin.

Funnily enough, Aston Martin has been rumored to be in talks with Leclerc about a potential seat in 2027 if he chooses to exercise the performance-based release clause in his Ferrari contract.

If there is anything that can make a seismic impact in Maranello big enough for Ferrari to change their ways, it might just be Leclerc's departure.

He has dreamed of winning for Ferrari for his entire life and turned down offers to join what turned out to be better projects multiple times because of how much he loves driving for Ferrari.

However, if things go so haywire in the new regulations that even he would leave, I don’t know how Ferrari is able to justify moving forward without significant changes.

Edison Pellumbi is a first-year student studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at ejp5889@psu.edu.