We've all seen it and have been talking about it for a while. The performance of the Scuderia at the Hungarian Grand Prix was a shocker to say the least, not that at least one of the cars didn't have the pace, but that car failed to see the chequered flag.
In this article, I try to plot a path to how the team has come to this problem and to see if it really is a crisis we see at Ferrari, or whether these are minor setbacks.
As some may already know, I am a McLaren fan, but I write this with the strictest intention in remaining unbiased toward Ferrari in favour of other teams.
It seems this 2008 season is a far cry from the success that Ferrari seemed to be enjoying in the opening of the millennium. Watching Felipe Massa explode on the pit straight must have sent alarm bells ringing.
But Ferrari have had many different things going on around them for the last few years. In 1996, Ferrari boss Jean Todt and Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo managed a coup in attracting Double World Champion Michael Schumacher from Benetton.
Ferrari were driving toward a clear objective in this magic journey they all undertook together. Designers, managers, and drivers all had their alotted goals.
This is perhaps where things have differed most of all. In 2007, Kimi Raikkonen joined the Ferrari outfit as a hopeful to take up the Schumacher role and lead Ferrari into another World Championship, Drivers and Constructors.
However, the difference this time was that Felipe Massa showed himself to be capable of challenging the Iceman on a lot more days than people thought possible, and he stayed in title contention until the very latter part of 2007. Ferrari have not yet still backed just the single driver in the current line up.
Of course, the actual team of Ferrari is entirely different from those Michael Schumacher 'dream team' days. To begin with, 2007 saw the 'spygate' scandal affect both themselves and McLaren, their chief rivals.
The result was that the Ferrari top engineer Nigel Stepney was dismissed from the team. A top talent was missing from the Ferrari lineup.
Ross Brawn, too, was a key component in the Michael Schumacher days. He masterminded many Ferrari miracles on the tactical front.
Ross took a sabbatical in 2006, missing 2007 as well. When he decided to return to the F1 fray, he chose to leave Ferrari and join the Honda outfit. That was yet another blow.
Jean Todt also left the team, having been the guiding light at a highly successful team for almost two decades. Todt left the team at the end of 2006 as well.
Into his shoes stepped Stefano Domenicali. Aldo Costa came in to replace Ross Brawn too. These two men have been key members of the Ferrari team and should know the ropes.
However, to take the Ferrari team of 2006, we can see the details have changed almost unrecognisably.
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 2006
Driver 1: Michael Schumacher
Driver 2: Felipe Massa
Team Principal: Jean Todt
Technical Director: Ross Brawn
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 2008
Driver1: Kimi Raikkonen
Driver2
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