Ex-Schumacher Engineer Blames Ferrari, Not Hamilton, for Disappointing Season

Lewis Hamilton's underwhelming first season at Ferrari has drawn sharp criticism, but not from where many might expect. Luigi Mazzola, a former Ferrari engineer for Michael Schumacher, argues the team, not the seven-time world champion, bears the primary responsibility for the struggles. He believes the Scuderia fundamentally failed to deliver a car that suited their new star driver over the entire 24-race season.

Why it matters:

The narrative surrounding a high-profile driver move often focuses on the driver's adaptation, but Mazzola's comments shift the focus to the team's core capabilities. For a team like Ferrari, with ambitions of winning championships, the inability to build a car that extracts the maximum performance from a driver of Hamilton's caliber is a critical failure. This internal assessment suggests the issues are deeper than a simple learning curve and could impact their long-term competitiveness.

The details:

• Shared Blame, Team Focus: Mazzola acknowledges Hamilton has his share of responsibility but insists "a large part of the responsibility lies with the team." He finds it unacceptable that Ferrari couldn't provide a consistently competitive car for their star driver.
• The Un-drivable Car: The core issue, according to Mazzola, is the car's characteristics. "The real problem arises when there is a car that he simply cannot drive," he stated, expressing bafflement that this wasn't resolved over a full season.
• Driver as a Machine: While acknowledging the cultural and language barriers, Mazzola downplays their impact inside the cockpit. "In the car, a driver is like a machine," he explained, suggesting the technical interface with the car is what truly matters.
• Defending the Race Engineer: Mazzola also defended Hamilton's race engineer, Riccardo Adami, who faced scrutiny. He suggested Adami may have lacked the ultimate authority on car setup decisions, hinting at potential structural issues within the team's hierarchy.

Looking Ahead:

Mazzola's blunt assessment puts the onus squarely on Ferrari for the upcoming season. The team must demonstrate they can diagnose and fix the fundamental issues with the car's drivability to finally unlock Hamilton's potential. Failure to do so would not only waste the talent of a seven-time champion but also raise serious questions about Ferrari's ability to ever return to the top of the sport.