Former Ferrari chief criticises ‘lack of leadership’ in winless 2025 campaign

Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has lamented a lack of leadership at his former team, saying the Italian stable “lacks a strong, determined soul”.

After finishing as runners-up to McLaren in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari came into the new season as one of the favourites for the championship.

Ferrari told: First, we do the results and then we make the announcement

Adding to the hype was the arrival of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, with Briton chasing his record-breaking eighth World title.

Ferrari, though, failed to kick on this season.

Instead, it is McLaren which is romping to the double with a 337-point lead over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, while Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are involved in an intra-team battle for the Drivers’ crown.

Ferrari’s best-placed driver, Charles Leclerc, is fifth but has only 163 points to championship leader Piastri’s 324. His new teammate Hamilton is a further 46 points off the pace.

But the Tifosi’s complaints aren’t just that Ferrari isn’t in the title fight; it is that it hasn’t even won a race this season.

While Red Bull and Mercedes have joined McLaren in taking to the top step of the podium, the closest Ferrari has come was Leclerc’s runner-up result in Bahrain. And that’s the only second on the books.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

That, however, didn’t stop it from arriving in thousands to an event in Milan, ‘Drive to Monza’, to celebrate the team ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Neither Leclerc nor Hamilton were able to reward the Tifosi’s support on the track at Monza, taking the chequered flag in fourth and sixth places respectively.

Di Montezemolo, who was at the helm during Ferrari’s most dominant period when Michael Schumacher clinched five World titles on the trot from 2000 to 2004, has blamed a lack of strong leadership for Ferrari’s decline.

“I saw the beautiful images of the fans and then a team that, despite so many announcements on the eve of the race, has not won a single race to date,” he told Sky Italia, “and even if it had won a race, Ferrari after so many years must win the World Championship.

“Ferrari has not even reached the last race for many years with a driver who can win.

“I hope that things will change, first of all for those people who were at Monza and who continue to have an unshakable faith.

“I think today’s Ferrari has even more responsibility towards them.

“The thing I regret today is seeing a Ferrari that has no leader, there is no leadership and above all I see that it lacks a strong, determined soul.

“Announcements are made that often create excessive expectations.

“First,” he insisted, “we do the results and then we make the announcements.”

Di Montezemolo was speaking at the world premier of ‘Luca: Seeing Red’, a documentary about the Italian’s life that was shown at the Visioni dal Mondo 2025 festival.

Today, Ferrari is under the leadership of chairman John Elkann, who was appointed in 2018, and CEO Benedetto Vigna, who took up the role in 2021. Frenchman Fred Vasseur is team principal of the F1 team.

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