Former Ferrari engineer breaks down the Scuderia’s 2025 struggles

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley has shared his thoughts on what has been a turbulent season so far for the Maranello-based team.

"It's not a great place to be in Maranello when things aren't going well and there isn't a clear way out," the former race engineer to Felipe Massa at Ferrari said on the F1 Nation podcast.

He then added: "I think this is where the he team itself can put an inordinate amount of pressure on itself. Then you just get into this vicious circle where it's just so difficult to get out, because you start to think in the short term and not in the long term."

According to Smedley, when things go wrong at Ferrari there’s always a tendency to focus on the short term to escape the crisis and cope with the pressure, rather than taking a long-term view.

Lewis Hamilton speaking to the media in Baku - Photo: Race Pictures

"What happens in Maranello, and I've seen it myself, when the pressure of not winning and being on the back foot arises, there's a tendency that the team can start to think in the very short term. That will get the pressure off us, which will then allow us to think about 'how we get back on top and win world championships.' It will never work, right?"

Finally, Smedley added: "I've been in that situation. It's horrible. It's not a nice place to be, but if you are united and if you cut out all of the outside noise, you can get through it.

"Let's hope they can get through it. They are my team. They're dear to my heart and I hate to see where they are right now, but it's up to them to get themselves out of it short term."

Binotto’s emotional words for Ferrari fans amid team’s struggles

Although, like many of his predecessors and successors, he never managed to bring the Scuderia back to the top of the world, Mattia Binotto remains a significant figure in Ferrari’s history — not only for his four-year spell as team principal, but also for his long career within the company, starting as an engine engineer before eventually becoming technical director.

Succeeding Maurizio Arrivabene, Binotto’s tenure didn’t yield any world titles, although Ferrari was fairly competitive in both 2019 and 2022 — the first year of the ground-effect era and also Binotto’s final season in Maranello.

The former Ferrari boss has now shared his thoughts on the difficult campaign his old team is going through under Fredéric Vasseur’s leadership.

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