Red Mist: Perché la Ferrari non può vincere senza grandi soldi?*

Look, winless seasons are nothing new at Maranello. We achieved that many times before champion Scheckter and Villeneuve emerged without a win in 1980. They’re certainly not alone, either. Big buck signing Prost and Alesi failed to win for Ferrari in ’91. Two former champions, Alonso and Raikkonen couldn't do it in 2014. And two more in Raikkonen and Vettel failed to win in 2016. All with a world champion signing, or two in those teams.

Looking back over the past ten seasons since 2016, It went better with Vettel’s five victories, in ’17. We won three with Seb and Leclerc in 2018 and then it was winless for them again in lockdown 2020. And again in ’21 with Charles and Sainz. Since then Charles and Carlos won four of the 22 2022 races, Carlos won one in ’23 and Charles and Carlos took five wins of last year’s 24 races.

For the context of what follows, however, we must consider the seasons from 2020 to today. From when the Formula 1 cost cuts came in. Since then, Ferrari was not able to spend the unlimited millions it did before that on F1. But it’s not really that dodgy win record that’s the real question, why Ferrari cannot win without big money?

It’s that the money saved, has now won Maranello three Le Mans 24 Hours on the trot and finds the Amato Ferrari-run AF Corse Ferrari 499Ps unbeatable in the World Endurance Championship. Allow me to elaborate a little. When Formula 1 slashed how much money teams were allowed to spend a year from 2021, Ferrari announced it would spend the spare funds on a Le Mans return.

That it did. The rest is history. In spite of the WEC and Le Mans running on a Balance of Performance system that punishes success, the Ferrari 499P has now scored a hat trick of Le Mans 24 Hour wins. Basically, the Ferrari 499P is yet to be beaten at Le Mans. The three 499Ps have also won every race in the WEC so far in 2025.

In fact the Ferraris enjoy a bigger advantage over WEC giants Toyota, Porsche, BMW and Alpine, than McLaren does over Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in Formula 1 right now. And unlike Formula 1, where limp tactics, crap decisions and another shit show typified another useless Ferrari result for so many reasons at Montreal, over at Le Mans, the metronomic WEC team went on its merry winning way in peerless, perfect style.

Remember also that the WEC is not at all like it was back in the day. When Audi maybe had Peugeot, Porsche or Toyota to deal with every now and then. Or vice versa. Ferrari is drilling Peugeot, Porsche, Toyota, BMW, Alpine, Aston Martin and Cadillac every weekend. And Ford, McLaren and Hyundai brand Genesis are joining the party to try to topple the red and yellow cars too.

So how can it be that a team built on the unused scraps of Ferrari’s Formula 1 budget so dominates an even more competitive series, when the F1 team just keeps on embarrassing the Tifosi grand prix in, and grand prix out? How do we fix that?

Well, the writing is actually on that Le Mans wall. If Amato Ferrari could be handed a trio of Ferrari 499Ps for his well-drilled GT team to so dominate with, then surely there has to be another young, virile, enthusiastic and winning single-seater team fit and ready to go out and also conquer Formula 1 with the successors of this hapless SF-25. And do so far more successfully than this league of clowns, too?

Maybe the time has come to tear down this in-house Ferrari Formula 1 system so riddled with ancient disability, ineptness and interference. And replace it with something completely new and fresh. And do so in time to try to prevent this lot from equalling and then beating that terrible 21-year winless streak between Scheckter and Schumacher.

Before it’s too late. It may already be. Because 2028 is coming like tomorrow morning’s sun…