Formula One without Ferrari is unthinkable. But with the team in a real form slump and economic realities hitting home, could we see the great manufacturer lost to grand prix racing?
A retirement due to mechanical failure for Fernando Alonso and ninth-placed finish for teammate Kimi Raikkonen on home soil at the Italian Grand Prix typified the struggles of the team.
Long-time chairman Luca di Montezemolo is moving on, as the pressure mounts on parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to justify its spend.
Alonso and Raikkonen are the two highest paid Formula One drivers, with $30 million-plus retainers. The payment is partly offset by sponsors but nevertheless a huge expenditure.
The potential loss of Alonso and poor form for Raikkonen is forcing the team to look at the cost/benefit of their huge salaries.
Yet Ferrari has been left behind in the new engine technology formula for 2014, facing its first winless season since 1993.
And there was an ominous message from Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne this week: “One thing is to sell cars and get results, quite another is that the essential part of what we do – not the markets – is to represent a winning Ferrari in Formula 1.
“This point is non-negotiable and it remains a totally clear objective.
“We can’t accept a situation any different from this. I don’t want to see people in seventh position or in 12th: I’m not interested in this and nor is Fiat.”
But this pressure to win is debilitating Ferrari, in an era when it can no longer use what was once a unique advantage it had over the competition – the unlimited use of its test track at Fiorano, down the road from its Maranello factory.
Testing restrictions have put pay to that developmental asset, leaving Ferrari to try and find technological gains against manufacturers and teams that have mastered the new rulebook.
The days of domination under team principal Jean Todt, technical director Ross Brawn, chief designer Rory Byrne and lead driver Michael Schumacher are long gone.
Ferrari will need to assemble another dream team like that in order to get back to winning ways, though the policy of promoting from within the road car division is unlikely to succeed with new team boss Marco Mattiacci, former CEO of Ferrari North America, yet to convince at the race team.
Recruiting gun personnel won’t be easy at a time when there is so much uncertainty around the future of the team.
Di Montezemolo has been involved in Ferrari’s Formula One team since the 1970s; a staunch supporter of the grand prix program, despite the huge commitment relative to the size of the road car division.
Without him at the helm, it remains to be seen whether there is the same willingness to overspend on the race team in order to restore it to the top of Formula One.
The aforementioned Brawn is seen as a potential saviour, though he remains uncommitted with other teams also chasing his services following his departure from Mercedes.
Formula One organisers are well aware of the importance of Ferrari to the series and have often made concessions to keep the team happy.
But the pressure to perform from within could be the undoing of Ferrari.
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