Whatever one might think of Ferrari, the fact is that the Italian team brings a certain style to the sport, a certain passion, a certain excitement, admittedly along with a certain amount of baggage, but no matter one's view of the Maranello outfit the sport needs it to be in the mix.

However, still reeling from last year's investigation into its engine, the Italian team has got off to the worst possible start. At a time rivals continue to question how the investigation was handled - and what results it produced - Sebastian Vettel suggests a certain underhandedness in the team's dealings with him, and then an over-eager Charles Leclerc manages to take out himself and his teammate in the opening laps.

Life at Maranello is never easy, and even Michael Schumacher suffered four torrid seasons before Ferrari finally got it right.

Now, Ross Brawn, who has been in the thick of it, and oversaw the German's five titles with the team, admits that recovery will not be easy.

"One of the biggest problems for Ferrari is that of all the teams on the grid, they come under the closest scrutiny from the media, particularly in Italy," he writes in his review of the Styrian Grand Prix weekend for the official F1 website.

"I know from my own experience that the media pressure in Italy can be incredibly intense, and you have to make sure it doesn't get to your people.

"The management have to cope with it and make sure the staff maintain the faith and stay focused on what needs to be done," he continues. "They aren't going to turn it around overnight, and there's a long road ahead of them.

"They need to find out if there is a fundamental problem with the car - and they need to find out fast - because clearly they are some way off the pace."

Referring to yesterday's incident, which prevented the team gaining further insight into the updates it had hurriedly brought forward, Brawn writes: "As a team boss, you never want to see that happen, but this will hurt Ferrari even more given they had worked hard to bring their upgraded aerodynamic package to Austria a week ahead of schedule - and the collision between Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc has robbed them of a chance to analyse the new package.

"Charles was very good in accepting the blame for the accident but it doesn't help. That said, it's sport and these things can happen - and now it looks like the engineers back at the factory have a lot of work to do."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by JL, 15/07/2020 17:03

""When will people realize the Prancing Horse is actually a stumbling Donkey? For the life of me, I have no understanding why Ferrari gets paid one cent more than any other team to show up. If you look at the last 40 years of F1 they, with one short time exception, have been basically bad.

The exception, of course, is the Schumacher years. But if the truth is known, that was a French-English-South African team, not a group of Italian screw-ups. Jean Todt ran the team. Michael brought Brawn in to manage it and Rory Bryn to design the car. Other than those five years what has Ferrari done in the last forty years? You sitting down? The answer is they have won one driver's championship in those 40 years. During the same time, McLaren won 10, Williams 7, Mercedes 6,Red Bull 6, Brabham 2, Benetton 2, Renault 2, and Brawn 1.

In other words, if you let Ferrari be lead by Italians they have the same results as the rest of Italy. They change governments quarterly, can't balance a budget, and they sure as hell can't run a race team. Italy is a beautiful country, has wonderful food, and the people are a joy to be around, but let's face it, they have never been accused of having Germanic expertise with mechanical objects.

The fact they won races in the 50s, 60s and 70s has nothing to do with today. Ferrari of today is not the company of old and hasn't been since the old man died. They miss the strong hand at the tiller of the ship. If we face facts it reminds me greatly of the rumor that the Camel was designed by a committee.

Rather than being paid more money to be part of F1, they should pay F1 more money to take part. Folks, it is time to realize that the Emperor has no clothes.

JL"

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2. Posted by Bill Hopgood, 14/07/2020 20:11

"It was quite refreshing to hear Leclerc take ownership of the accident on Sunday. Shows good character as a person in this high stakes sport.

It would be even more refreshing to hear the FIA and Ferrari be transparent about "that" 2019 PU ruling.

I'm not so sure I agree with Editor that Ferrari is a required team though, as if the racing is good and close and results unpredictable, then folks will watch, almost regardless of the teams involved, hence F2 and F3 being quite exciting to watch."

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3. Posted by Wokingchap, 14/07/2020 9:30

"Vettel suggests a 'certain underhandedness' in the teams dealings with him..... no really?"

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Brawn: Ferrari has "long road ahead"

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