Luca di Montezemolo — former chairman of Ferrari and the Scuderia’s team boss during its most iconic era — feels he’s pinpointed the key problem facing the team.

It all comes down to leadership, he told Sky Sports Italia.

Ferrari “lacks a leader” in Bahrain quali disaster

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc set the third-fastest time in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, but he’ll line up on the front row alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piastri thanks to George Russell’s one-place grid penalty.

But further down the grid — in ninth — is Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Hopes have been extremely high for the seven-time World Champion’s move to the iconic Prancing Horse, and apart from a sprint pole-to-win conversion in China, things haven’t looked good.

As he pulled into the pit lane after the session, Hamilton could only apologize to his team over the radio.

“I’m really sorry, guys,” he said. “Sorry, man. Really sorry.”

And in the media pen after quali, Hamilton had very little to say, other than that “clearly the car is good enough” when considering Charles Leclerc’s position.

More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari at Bahrain:

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This weekend, former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo is in the paddock, and after the session, he was brought onto the Sky Italia broadcast to speak about the performance of the team — and he had strong words for the outfit.

Simon Lazenby on Sky UK got ahold of the translated quotes, which he read aloud as saying, “This is a team that at certain times lacks a leader, lacks leadership in the broader sense.

“Anyway, I am happy that Leclerc starts from the second row but the race is a different story.”

Those are quite strong words that will perhaps encourage team principal Fred Vasseur to begin pushing for more performance.

Part of what makes the Ferrari performance so surprising is its introduction of a new floor this weekend. Both drivers have had complex thoughts on that new component; Hamilton and Leclerc both stated after practice that the floor had helped performance, but Hamilton sounded quite positive while Leclerc noted that the change wouldn’t quite be enough to make a difference in the battle to McLaren.

Nevertheless, Leclerc will be looking to capitalise on his front row start.

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