Ferrari face ‘intense’ scrutiny from Italian press

Ex-Ferrari team boss Ross Brawn is hoping the Scuderia are going to cope with the “incredibly intense” media scrutiny, especially back home in Italy.

Ferrari continue to find new ways to make the wrong headlines during the 2020 season after a collision between Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel at the Styrian Grand Prix resulted in both drivers having to retire from the race.

It provided the latest flashpoint in the dynamic between the two drivers and prevented Ferrari from gathering race data to test whether their much needed upgrades were having any positive effect on their SF1000 cars.

Brawn has first-hand experience of how volatile the press can be when it concerns Ferrari and has called on his former team to stay focused on trying to improve amid all the scrutiny.

“It was a race weekend to forget for Ferrari, with their drivers committing a cardinal sin by colliding and forcing both cars out of the race in the opening laps,” Brawn said in his post-Styrian Grand Prix column.

“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.

“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.

“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. 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.”

Source: planetf1.com