Ferrari seem to be trapped in a cycle. Every time they get close to ending their championship drought, they tumble back down the order.
Ferrari last won the title in 2008, taking the constructors’ despite Lewis Hamilton’s drivers’ triumph with McLaren. Two years later, Fernando Alonso entered the finale in Abu Dhabi as the leader, only to lose out to Sebastian Vettel.
In 2011, Alonso and Ferrari only won one race. They took their fight with Vettel to the 2012 finale, and then finished nearly 250 points behind Red Bull in 2013.
Thus, the cycle was set. Vettel, now in Ferrari colours, threatened the Lewis Hamilton/Mercedes dynasty in 2017 and 2018, but then the Scuderia fell away again.
Most recently, Fred Vasseur saw his team come within 14 points of ending their drought in their 2024 battle with McLaren. 10 races into the current campaign, a 191-point chasm has opened up between the two teams.
Nico Rosberg says Ferrari could now set up a UK F1 base
Ferrari have had a series of near-misses in the last 17 years, but they can’t put it down to bad luck. They’ve been through multiple team bosses in that period, so one could argue that letting Vasseur go is unlikely to be the answer.
Instead, a more fundamental change may be needed. And to that end, Nico Rosberg has heard that Ferrari are considering whether to open a UK base.
Seven of the 10 F1 teams are headquartered in the UK, and Racing Bulls (Italy) and Audi (Germany) have recently made plans to set up their own facilities in ‘motorsport valley’.
Ferrari were always likely to be the last holdout given that they’re effectively Italy’s national team. Any new site would work in tandem with Maranello.
“I’ve seen a little bit of the inner workings there at Ferrari, and you can see that the level of excellence that they’re at is not comparable to the British teams, and especially to someone like Mercedes, in many areas,” Rosberg said on the F1 Show.
“You can see the whole culture, the fact that they’re in Italy makes it a lot more difficult. At Mercedes, whenever Lewis had a thing, he would just go immediately to Toto. Toto would just be able to make the call, immediately done.
“Whereas at Ferrari, there are so many different decision-makers, and even Lewis doesn’t really know [what to do]. It’s all a bit difficult.
“There are a couple of ideas that I heard going round. Ferrari have been exploring opening a subsidiary in the UK, because that’s where the F1 ecosystem is.
“I’ve heard rumours that they’re also thinking about opening a subsidiary there. The problem then is getting the communication right. If you do have a Ferrari entity in the UK, that’s one thing, but it still needs to communicate awesomely with the headquarters. Maybe that’s not possible.”
Lewis Hamilton may have defended Fred Vasseur – but his media comments are unfair
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could both feel the benefit of Ferrari relocating some staff to the heart of the ‘F1 ecosystem’. It may, for instance, be easier to recruit world-class engineers who would otherwise be reluctant to uproot their lives and move to Italy.
Ferrari lost out on Adrian Newey last year after he preferred Aston Martin’s offer. The Silverstone-based team are situated only around 25 minutes away from his old employers Red Bull.
Hamilton could stay at Ferrari until the end of 2027 through an extension clause in his contract. It’s unclear how long the project would take, but Audi announced their plans in February and are expected to cut the ribbon before the year is out.
While he’s stuck up for his team boss, Hamilton has also put Vasseur in an impossible position by simultaneously demanding upgrades and calling for the team to prioritise 2026. Even a team like Ferrari must be finding that their resources are stretched.
