Outside Line: Agony and ecstasy of being a real Ferrari Tifosi
F1 NewsSaturday, 29 March 2025 at 10:37
I am one of those who believes that Formula 1 without Ferrari is inconceivable, but I am hardly a fan of the legend that Enzo built. However, I have been surrounded by Tifosi most of my life and respect their unbridled passion for their team.
The legendary Scuderia is always in the headlines—nowhere more so than in Italy, where, much like their beloved
La Squadra Azzurra (football), it is their national team in all ways and more. They live it. No one lives it more than Ferrari insider and F1 poet (to Italians and me!) Leo Turrini, my go-to for reaction to the highs and lows.
Time to do so again, after the rollercoaster ride of a Chinese Grand Prix weekend for Ferrari. Fred Vasseur's team stunned the world with Lewis Hamilton's splendid victory in the Sprint Race on Saturday. That’s before it all went 'fiasco' for the Scuderia with the double DQs that followed after a below-par Grand Prix on Sunday—on a day in which a broken Ferrari was quicker than the intact one!
Hamilton, God Save The King!
Drum roll... step in Turrini, writing on his essential F1 blog Profondo Rosso about an incredible, bittersweet weekend in Shanghai, starting with the aftermath of Hamilton's Saturday. The headline to his piece: "Hamilton, God Save The King!"
Followed by his thoughts of Saturday in China: "At my age, I would never have thought I would get up in the middle of the night to watch a Sprint. But for Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari, this and more! God save The King. Actually, since they're in Shanghai, God save the Emperor.
"Okay, it was just a Sprint Race. And in fact, I am writing before the Grand Prix qualifying. But this is an undertaking that still has the depth of a novel. The Count of Monte Cristo drives a Ferrari. Neither had ever won a Sprint," wrote Turrini.
The next day, Ferrari were nothing like what was seen on Saturday. Charles Leclerc (Carletto to Leo) clipped Hamilton (aka Baronetto) through the never-ending snail of a Turn 1 complex at Shanghai International Circuit. Ironically, the #16 Ferrari with a broken front wing was faster than the #44 with an intact wing!
Turrini: Unfortunately for now Ferrari is the fourth force
Turrini's tone shifted seismically, starting his reaction piece with the headline: "Unfortunately for now Ferrari is fourth force."
He added: "We should hope Carletto is right. After the race, Leclerc said that without the front problem he had the car to win. Well, in light of Hamilton's performance, I doubt it. In short. At the moment, Ferrari is the fourth force.
"If Yuki Tsunoda replaces Liam Lawson at Red Bull from Japan [which was confirmed], there is a risk of moving down a rung. Obviously, it is not that I like to write these things. However, passion must always be separated from judgment.
"Regardless of McLaren's merits, the SF25 is a car born with many problems and not a few limitations. The Sprint was a beautiful daydream, but the Grand Prix is another thing. Can it be remedied? It must be!
"With 22 races to go, it is not acceptable to already think about 2026. At least, not for me."
As for the relationship between Carletto and the Baronetto
Turrini ventures: "Nothing new under the sun. Drivers, always with very rare exceptions, cannot be friends. They are colleagues, period. What makes me angry is that Leclerc and Hamilton have to fight each other for a fifth place. And here lies the sense of disappointment (I hope temporary!) that only fools can deny.
"About Oscar Piastri, I will say that for many things he reminds me of Kimi Raikkonen. And that is an extraordinary compliment, for me," concluded Turrini, on Sunday after the race in China.
He then followed that up with a further look at the double DQ that occurred afterwards. Turrini declared: "Ferrari, an odyssey in torment." Adding: "So, let's start with the worst. The double disqualification. For two different irregularities. I exclude bad faith—that is, there was no intention to cheat.
"But the episode is serious. Very serious, no point in beating around the bush. The only good thing (so to speak, eh): for a moment, I looked 26 years younger, or almost—I saw myself again in Sepang in 1999. But there, Irvine and Schumi were acquitted on appeal. I don't remember a similar case for the Lady in Red."
At the end of 2024, McLaren was the best car but Ferrari was there
Turrini continued: "Let's say that Fred Vasseur didn't deserve to enter the history of the Prancing Horse in this way. And I'm kind. After that, I humbly believe that the double disqualification is the child of the Ferrari SF25. It is a car born complicated (and this is an understatement). Extremely difficult to fine-tune. It is a Rubik's Cube on four wheels.
"I had reported in time the (internal) doubts that accompanied the technical solutions launched for this single-seater. And here we have to be clear between us. At the end of 2024, McLaren was the best car. But Ferrari was there.
"If you take a new path and after two races you have the same points as Williams—with all due respect—you cannot come and tell me that you are experimenting with a view to 2026. This is nonsense. Objectively, the balance sheet so far is disastrous."
Turrini: If in two weekends you score seventeen points, what do you expect?
Turrini added: "Without Lewis' masterpiece in the Sprint, we would be in a sentimental tragedy. I don't give a damn about 2026, with 22 races to go. I am interested in having a team that doesn't make mistakes on weight and skids, that gets the strategies right, that perhaps explains to Leclerc and Hamilton that if in two starts they come close twice—come on, it's no big deal?
"I care about a Scuderia that, having focused on a technical project, makes every effort to fix what doesn't work. Because either essereFerrari
"Last thing. It's funny to be surprised by the exasperated reactions to the nightmare start. If you are one of the most famous brands on the face of the earth, a legend of motorsport, and you hire the record-breaking driver, a myth, and you are coming off a season in which you played for a title until the last metre of the last race—well, it's obvious that you expose yourself.
"If in two weekends you score seventeen points, what do you expect? Barbera and champagne? And off you go, it's all normal. It's not normal for Ferrari to be in this situation. We'll see you again," concluded Turrini.
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