Ferrari, no longer the feared all-conquering Formula One masters, are floundering perilously closely towards the dreaded failure zone of the struggling also-rans.
And for the richest and most traditional outfit on the grand prix scene the setback, or rather standstill, in the championship chase, it is a near-disaster with the despair of hapless drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, both ex champions, only too regularly mirrored in their faces.
The same desperation is reflected almost every race weekend on the unsmiling countenance of frustrated team principal Maurizio Arrivarbene, who has not significantly accelerated his charge’s results or the team’s promise since his emergency takeover.
Meantime Mercedes, in the capable hands of treble champion Lewis Hamilton, the current title pacemaker, and his chaser Nico Rosberg, as well as the resurgent Red Bull twosome Daniel Ricciardo and teenage wonderboy Max Verstappen — just 18 — threaten to totally overshadow the flummoxed Italian outfit, winners 224 times from 919 starts, but sadly looking unlikely to add to that harvest of victories for some time to come.
A 17th Constructors’ championship and a 16th world driver’s title are merely dreams right now, disastrously far short of the prospects in the fast fading performance returns demanded of the car by its brilliant driver pairing.
Stroll down pit lane by the gloomy Ferrari garage or glimpse the agitated reactions of the anguished back-up team trackside and the portents are clear: whatever upbeat feelings of expectancy there were before the season’s opener look to have evaporated.
The summer break, I would suggest, is welcome respite from the floundering Prancing Horse team’s non-progress. It will, however, I suggest and suspect, be the opportunity for newly recruited Jock Clear, the Senior Performance Engineer, to exercise his vast knowledge and expertise in a re-awakening around the dozing Maranello HQ.
If I were Ferrari’s troubled president, Sergio Marchionne, a notoriously unforgiving character when his trusted accomplices fail to hit the targets he sets for them, I would sidestep the reigning pit-lane hierarchy and underpin Clear as the overall voice to be reckoned with and obeyed.
The hard-working Englishman’s pedigree on the Formula One front is immaculate and respected which is why, of course, he was signed in the first place. Now it is up to Marchionne to bless him with his full-out backing.
Clear’s merits behind the scenes variously and progressively at Lotus, Williams and Benetton before his capture by Ferrari resulted influentially in earning world titles for Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton, as their personal engineer, as well as giving David Coulthard, 13 times a winner, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg valuable backing.
I have known the Portsmouth-born 52-year-old, quietly spoken and modest, for all his F1 career and have never failed to be impressed by his competence relentlessly echoed by every one of his team bosses and the grateful drivers who listened and learnt.
That is the way it should be right now at Ferrari, a legendary team now in turmoil, further setback by the departure of technical director James Allison, one of the very best, after the sad death of his wife, and an undercurrent of failure to succeed as the unbeatable likes of Mercedes clear off and resurgent Red Bull edge Ferrari towards the also-rans.
All may look like peace and quiet in the mid-summer break as the hard-pressed multi-millionaire drivers bid to relax — but behind the scenes at headquarters, the paranoia will be peaking and the countdown to the Belgium grand prix re-start uppermost in Mr Marchionne’s mind set.
The faithful tifosi, the massive worldwide Ferrari following, will welcome Clear’s typically honest ambition and uplifting vow as he stresses: ”Winning a world championship with Ferrari would be even better than those I have won before.
“What I know about winning championships is no longer enough to win a title, so I also have to evolve with the team as well. I am developing with Ferrari and we are confident we are heading in the right direction to win the title we have won so often before.
“I am hugely impressed by the race team I have inherited. The drivers and mechanics know all about being winners and that is our aim. There is, I promise, a lot of positivity. And I know we can deliver. We are motivated.”
Vettel welcomes Clear onto the Ferrari stage and said: “Jock has a great reputation. The first half of the season has not gone as we wanted. And I, for one, had too many ups and downs which cost me a lot of points.”
Raikkonen adds: “We were ahead of Red Bull and now they are ahead of us. It has been a bit painful for all of us. But we shall improve.”
Promises ... promises!!!
