Tifosi are warned! Expectations are super-low for the Prancing Horse as they head into another season of below-par-results for the sport’s greatest team.
The ‘invisible’ Ferrari president John Elkann has finally spoken ahead of the new season, and the battle cry is sadly timid if somewhat defeatist. Prospects are bleak for a revival in the wake of a woeful season for the Scuderia.
Castrated by the FIA at the end of 2019 and handbraked by an awful chassis, 2020 will long be a scar on their racing legacy, almost destroying Sebastian Vettel’s career and forcing their young prince Charles Leclerc to overdrive too often for meagre rewards.
This week, during an earnings call with investors, Elkann said, “Two-thousand-twenty was also a year of celebration. Our 1,000 Grand Prix, the highest number in Formula 1 ever reached; our victories in the GT racing season and we reached over 2.5 million visitors in our eSports series.
“But our 2020 Formula 1 results reminded us that a great past doesn’t equate to a great present or future. This painful reality, both for ourselves and our fans, is that we must restart with humility, focusing on what will make us competitive and ultimately lead to winning.”
The situation at Maranello is decidedly shaky with Mattia Binotto doing an ineffectual job at the helm of the F1 team, Louis Camilleri retiring leaving Agnelli-scion, Elkann at the helm.
He was at Fironao last week to witness Charles Leclerc and newcomer Carlos Sainz, as well as a host of FDA drivers in action at the team’s private test track.
Of Camilleri’s sudden departure and yet to be announced replacement, Elkann reported, “We have established as a board, a search committee which is responsible for a process to identify the right successor Louis Camilleri.
“We want to take the necessary time to find the best possible CEO for our company. On this note, I would like to express my most sincere thank you to Louis, who is listening on our call today, for his personal commitment, as our CEO since 2018 and as a member of our board since 2015.
“His passion for Ferrari is and has been limitless. Under his leadership, the company has further firmed its position as one of the world’s greatest companies.
“Louis built a leadership team that is continuing to propel our company forward as our results demonstrate, and for which I am personally grateful to him, and to all of my colleagues at Ferrari,” concluded Elkann.
After a miserable year in 2020, the only hope is that the team find that elusive ‘magic-button’ for their young guns to take the fight to Mercedes and Red Bull.
However, if the head of the team has doubts, it would be safe to warn our Tifosi friends to expect more miserable Sundays as Ferrari go through what is becoming the most forgettable era of their illustrious history