Why Ferrari lost their fans
Second Year University Article - UNSW Media
‘Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly, he will draw it red.’ - Enzo Ferrari.
I think that’s all you need to know about Ferrari.
But the Prancing Horses have dropped from being the most popular team since 2006 to third-popular behind both McLaren and Red Bull in the last global fan survey conducted by Motorsport Network and Nielsen in 2021.
Has the domination which followed Italian great Enzo Ferrari’s team faded away, is Ferrari still the most well-known and loved team in the paddock today?
Since the first season in 1950 - Formula 1 has only ever seen a handful of races without Ferrari, the team beginning at the Monaco Grand Prix and becoming a force to reckon with throughout most eras in Formula 1.
German Michael Schumacher brought glory back to the Tifosi through the late 90s and early 2000s, racing to seven World Championships, five with Ferrari and most media coverage from these races in Italy saw thousands of streaming, decked-out fans cheering underneath the podiums.
In recent times what springs to my mind of this fanbase is the 2019 Italian Grand Prix where the Tifosi’s il predestinato Charles Leclerc came out on top in front of 200,000 adoring fans with the famous commentary ‘He won in Spa; He wins in Monza!’
In the same fan survey from 2021, Monza was still on the highest podium step for the most popular track, which famously is Ferrari’s home race when Imola isn’t around.
But then again, Monza is the fastest track on the calendar so that automatically gives it a cutting edge over any other piece of tarmac to me.
This 2022 season opened in Bahrain with a clean sweep for Ferrari’s current pilots, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who took the team to their first 1-2 since Singapore 2019.
By the end of Sunday in Australia, Leclerc was ahead in the Championship standings, 46 points clear of the closest rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Then, a double mechanical DNF around the streets of Azerbaijan.
The last time Ferrari had a double DNF due to mechanical issues was 1997 at the British Grand Prix with Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine, I wasn’t even alive at that point.
And then, a 10-place engine penalty was given to Leclerc in Montréal and it’s only the ninth race out of a 23-race season.
By the end of Sunday in Montréal, Verstappen was now 49 points clear of his closest threat from another team, Leclerc.
The race in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku also saw four Ferrari-powered cars not complete the race, Mick Schumacher in the Haas and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas the only ones to finish around the unforgiving street circuit, it was a pretty shocking weekend for those under the Ferrari name.
As I see it, these bouts of unreliability are reminiscent of the early 90s and the F1-90 that retired 11 times in a 16-race season.
The up and down of losing the championship so quickly to the dominant Red Bull have sparked a new wave of distrust and annoyance with fans of Ferrari.
Formula fans are beginning to support reliability rather than loyalty, we’re seeing fans jump ship to Red Bull with Verstappen, McLaren and Lando Norris, who is highly ranked among F1 fans under 24 according to the global fan survey.
Ferrari has always been a contending car in the 2022 Championship to me, watching Leclerc zip past me at Turn 2 where I stood at the barriers 20 seconds before the rest of the pack in Albert Park - Melbourne made me understand just how quick they made this F1-75.
73 Seasons. 16 Constructors titles. 15 Drivers titles. 240 Race wins.
But are these statistics enough?
I’m not sure it is for the fans of the Prancing Horses when this Championship slipped so far out of their reach within the blink of an eye.
