Scuderia Ferrari: What's Going Wrong With The Prancing Horse?

Rich history, iconic red car, unmatched success and suffering? In this article, we'll have a closer look at Ferrari's almost two decades of struggles and the reasons behind them.

(Image credits to motorsports.com)

"Ask a child to draw a car and certainly he will draw it red." That quote alone by Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) is enough to sum up the legacy he created in the automobile and racing industries. In the 75-year history of Formula 1, no team has achieved more than Scuderia Ferrari has with 16 Constructors’ and 15 Drivers’ Championships to their name. During this time, the team have been called home by some legendary figures of the sport like Alberto Ascari, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher along with some modern icons like Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, most recently, another seven-time world champion, Sir Lewis Hamilton. Despite their successful history and long expanse of knowledge, Ferrari has been struggling to return to their glory days for a while, with their last victorious Constructors’ Championship campaign in 2008 to be exact and here’s why:

Questionable Strategies and Miscommunications with the Pit Wall

Let’s start with the obvious part, Ferrari is fast on track on most occasions, but they don’t have the brightest ideas when it comes to the strategy. Previously, they have lost driver championships such as Alonso’s in the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP by trying to cover Webber, only to remain stuck behind Petrov and out of the track position Alonso needed to become the World Champion. Yet this was just the beginning of many eventful strategic mistakes Ferrari has made in the last 17 years. Especially after the arrival of Mattia Binotto as team principal in 2019, Ferrari’s strategy mistakes started looking so absurd that it became a meme on its own. Double-stacking Leclerc at Monaco, not calling him in for fresh tyres through the end of the British GP and putting him into an unwanted tyre strategy at Budapest are moments to forget from 2022. At some point, drivers transformed into their own strategists, deciding their knowledge was better than what the team could decide. So far in 2025, Ferrari seems to have lessened strategy mistakes, but this season, miscommunication seems to be one of their issues, as “Must be water” was added to the words of wisdom by Leclerc and a “tea break” took place in the garage while they were considering the strategy for Hamilton at Miami. In a sport where strategy and communication are essential, Ferrari has failed this class so far.

(Image credits to motorsports.com)

Dying In “Do-or-Die” Situations

The 17-year streak without a championship title was not always full of sadness and despair for Ferrari. There were times that they came so close to clinching a title, especially last season, missing out on the Constructors’ Championship by only 14 points. Despite their strong campaigns over the last decade, they always struggled to step up when it mattered the most. For example, during Sebastian Vettel’s title charges in 2017 and 2018, they started both seasons well, going toe-to-toe against the reigning champions Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. However, in both seasons, the team seemed to lose momentum after the Singapore GP in 2017 and the Hockenheim GP in 2018. As a result of this, the championships were clinched by their rivals.

(Image credits to formula1.com)

Struggles With Technical Regulations

Cards are reshuffled in the grid every time a regulation era ends, with new specifications and rules creating a clean slate for all teams. Ferrari has been known to take risks during this time in hopes of benefiting, such as their use of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) when it was introduced in 2009 or their uniquely designed engine cover at the beginning of the “Ground Effect Era.” But so far, these bold technical choices have turned out fruitless, with challenges in other parts of their car taking away from its overall performance. In 2009, the car wasn’t fast enough to go up against Brawn and Red Bull; in 2014, the car was so unbalanced that it could understeer and oversteer at the same time and in 2022, despite being competitive this time, the car didn't appear to be reliable on several occasions. This season, surprisingly before the major regulation changes planned for 2026 season, Ferrari once again decided to roll the dice and made a completely different car compared to their 2024 challenger, especially switching to the pull-rod configuration on front suspensions taking the spotlight. Once again though, Ferrari’s efforts have been challenged as overheating plagues most races forcing unhappy drivers to manage through LICO (Lift and Coast). Most recently, at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Ferrari took a large hit in the standings with a double DNF, causing them to be overtaken by Mercedes and Red Bull.

(Image credits to racingnews365.com)

Tense Team Dynamics

Speaking of drivers being unhappy with their cars, an interesting rumour spread around regarding the team environment in Ferrari. According to Corriere dello Sport, tensions rose at Ferrari after the Singapore GP because of Leclerc’s comments about the car and the upgrades. It’s said that there are engineers in Maranello who hold grudges against the Monegasque driver for his criticism. Hamilton is also trying his best to give feedback for car development, sharing some details about the documents he has been working on throughout the season and meetings he's been involved in back in Maranello. However, there are also some rumours that the team hasn’t been taking his work seriously enough. This indicates that there may be a problematic environment at the Prancing Horse. For some, the reason Lauda and Schumacher became successful at Ferrari was due to the connection they built with their engineers and their blunt honesty about what they wanted to have in their cars. But it looks like this dynamic they created has disappeared over the years, as the drivers and engineers at Ferrari don’t seem to be working together as seamlessly nowadays.

(Image credits to telegraph.co.uk)

In conclusion, there are many factors that affected Ferrari’s long search for glory, ranging from technical aspects to team environment. Ferrari is the symbol of success in motorsports and are hopeful that their wait for championship titles will come to an end soon. While the curtain is slowly falling on the 2025 season, Ferrari is still a contender for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, but the real question is: Do they have what it takes to end their championship drought when regulations change in 2026?

Article written by Emre Albas © Emre Albas 2025