Fred Vasseur has failed to eliminate internal Ferrari ‘fear’ that has been present for more than 10 years

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Ferrari has always been a more emotional team whenever it does well in Formula 1, simply because of its heritage and the connection to its home country Italy.

Every driver wants to win in the red cars that are built in Maranello, but there have only been nine different drivers to ever win a world championship in F1 with them.

Lewis Hamilton is looking to become the 10th with what is considered to be a swansong effort in his ageing F1 career with the Italian team, and while things have got to a rocky start on track, there is growing optimism from the Briton that they can turn things around.

The key to Ferrari’s problems this year has been their car running too low and wearing away the legality plank that every car must run, to ensure that it does not run too close to the tarmac.

This current generation of cars relies on incredibly low ride heights, so getting it in the sweet spot will unlock the performance needed to regularly win races.

Ferrari have an upgrade to their car planned midway through 2025, but by then, it could be too late. The team has some top talent working for it, but one cultural aspect of working for the red team might be holding them back.

‘Pressure’ working for Ferrari having impact on engineering ideas

Calls for Fred Vasseur to leave his post might have been part of the traditional Italian media cycle year on year whenever Ferrari is not winning races, but there may have been a point to them.

While Vasseur has done a good job of streamlining the strategic communication channels, Ferrari failed to capitalise on their strong finish at the end of 2024.

According to a report in The Sunday Times, sources said that while there is a lot of desire to work for Ferrari within the F1 paddock, the added pressure can have an impact.

When things begin to unravel, staff are less likely to suggest ideas or creative solutions through fears of being at fault.

Fred Vasseur must recapture what made Ferrari great under Jean Todt

Working for Ferrari will always be one of the more stressful jobs in F1, simply because of the weight of the brand and its association with success.

The dream team of Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne brought unmatched success in the early 00s, and since then, it has struggled to recapture what made it such a well-oiled machine.

The years under Stefano Domenicali may have yielded two titles between 2007 and 2008, but his exit in 2014 was attributed to the blame culture that had developed within the team.

This was not fixed under Marco Mattiacci or Maurizio Arrivabene’s leadership, then under Mattia Binotto things spiralled out of control operationally.

After bringing in Hamilton, Vasseur came close to securing Adrian Newey, but perhaps a cultural shift that has been present in the team for 10 years now is needed before they can truly be considered as title contenders.