record accounts but in F1 he hasn’t won since 2008- Corriere.it

gIn January 2016, a parade of supercars in front of Palazzo Mezzanotte. Marble sky, winter in Milan, but red warms hearts and accounts. In Piazza Affari, the Cavallino stock starts its engine (after the first placement that took place a few months earlier on Wall Street), Sergio Marchionne is there together with the then premier Matteo Renzi to illustrate the strategy: Ferrari must be considered a luxury brand , not a car manufacturer.

Seven and a half years after the acceleration of Race, the abbreviation that identifies the shares on the market, has been dizzying. The capitalization, over 58 billion dollars, exceeded that of the entire Stellantis group; revenues rose from 3.1 billion in 2016 to 5.09 in the last year, net profit more than doubled from 400 to 939 million. Deliveries from 8,000 to 14 pieces reached 13,000 to 221, numbers destined to increase with the arrival of the Thoroughbred, the first vehicle with high wheels, from 390,000 euros upwards.

Maranello has never experienced such a prosperous era, double-digit growth in the first quarter concerned all the main indicators. The march towards new records continues despite the unknowns about the transition to electrification. Quite a few for a manufacturer who has built his own legend on petrol and horsepower, because – as maestro Herbert Von Karajan used to say – no orchestra will ever be able to match the melody of a 12-cylinder Ferrari. A battery-powered Red is only a matter of time, scheduled for 2025 and who knows what effect it will have. But money doesn’t bring happiness everywhere. They are not enough to ensure victories on the track.

the other side of the Cavallino, a bumpy race and unable to reach the highest finish line. The Formula 1 World Championship: many millennials ignore the feats of Schumacher and Lauda, ​​the new fans who discovered motoring thanks to the Netflix series Drive to Survive first saw Hamilton dominate the Mercedes and then Verstappen the Red Bull. Red joys? Rare and ephemeral, the last championship won dates back to 2008. The Constructors’ Cup was brought home by Stefano Domenicali, now head of F1. Twelve months before Raikkonen’s triumph in the Drivers’ World Championship. After 16 years the crossing in the desert continues between purges and revolutions.

The presidents have changed (from Luca di Montezemolo to Marchionne, to John Elkann), the managing directors (from Amedeo Felisa to Louis Camilleri, to Benedetto Vigna) but above all the men behind the wheel of the Scuderia have changed. From Domenicali to the meteor Marco Mattiacci, to Maurizio Arrivabene, to Mattia Binotto. Up to the current team principal, the French Fred Vasseur, engaged in a reorganization process, and still hunting for his first victory in F1 to give morale and signs of turning point to a group that hasn’t won a GP for more than a year ( Leclerc, Austria 2022). A swirl of managers and technicians that ended up destabilizing the environment in a sport where long-term programming is essential.

Any examples? Red Bull, capable of winning ten out of ten races this season, has maintained the same management team as it entered F1 in 2005. The manager is Christian Horner, husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. He is the arch-rival of his counterpart in Mercedes, the Austrian Toto Wolff, shareholder and boss of the German company in Formula 1 since 2013. For Ferrari, every reconstruction has a price to pay which inevitably moves further programs amidst illusions – this championship was started with optimistic proclamations, aiming for the two titles— and rude awakenings. Exactly like in 2016 when it was Marchionne who raised hopes based on data (later revealed to be incorrect) from the wind tunnel, with which someone had convinced him of the goodness of the project.

It’s not a matter of resources, technology, pilots: it’s rather about creating the ideal environment to make the difference in a discipline where a millimeter modification on a wing can give you a World Championship.

Ferrari must return to being the center of gravity of F1 as it was at the time of Montezemolo, when in the 90s, to recover from an acute crisis, it brought home the best engineers and the best driver (Michael Schumacher) to build an unbeatable squadron directly with an iron fist by Jean Todt. But times have changed: the introduction of the budget cap – each team cannot spend more than 140 million dollars each year – complicates transfer operations. Furthermore, top-level engineers must remain stationary for at least 18 months before joining a new team, to avoid transferring secrets. And in English circles —80% of the teams are based in the F1 Valley, near Oxford— word has spread about Maranello’s revolving doors (very outgoing) and it’s not easy to convince the most refined minds to move to Italy.

This is why more time will be needed for the return of Ferrari, together with the passion and vision of the top management, essential for success in racing. Where money is not enough, just as having world champions is not enough: from Alonso (the closest to the goal in the lean period) to Vettel, to the return of Raikkonen. The example sometimes inside the house. There is also another racing Ferrari, the one in the World Endurance Championship which broke the ground at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the first attempt after 50 years of absence. Organization, method, and talents. For a new beginning. Beyond financial records.

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