Villadelprat: Ferrari’s problem is a lack of patience

Motorsport veteran Joan Villadelprat has dedicated 50 years to his passion, including 30 years in Formula 1, working for McLaren, Ferrari, Tyrrell, Benetton and Prost. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper Diario AS, he commented in his own way on the most important results of the season.

Joan Villadelprat: “For the average fan the season seemed a bit boring because the same man always won, but for us, people who have been working in motorsport for a long time, it is clear that we just have to congratulate Red Bull on their incredible success and Max Verstappen, who drove exceptionally well.

This should force other teams to work harder and more efficiently, and there is no point in complaining about the same team winning all the time. Red Bull’s success can be attributed to many factors. Their car is not the most powerful, but it has a very good and very reliable engine, the chassis has excellent aerodynamics and the team performed excellently and has a fantastic driver.

Moreover, Red Bull knows how to adapt to the characteristics of any circuit and how to react when something goes wrong. The team knows how to predict the development of events during the race, makes the right decisions when choosing tactics, carries out pit stops accurately and is well versed in the nuances of tire behavior. They do almost everything perfectly.

From my point of view, Max can be compared to Michael Schumacher, with whom I have worked for quite some time and whom I have always considered an exemplary racer and champion. Both are characterized by ambition, the desire to defeat all rivals, which does not give them any chance.

For example, Ayrton Senna distinguished himself by natural talent, but physically he was not very well prepared and he got out of the cockpit of the car exhausted after the finish of the race. But Michael was one of the first to lay the foundation for a methodical approach to physical training and was much more resilient. It seems to me that Mach is closest to Michael in terms of his psyche and level of professionalism. They both have an insatiable hunger for victory.

At the same time, Max is only 26 years old, and if his motivation does not weaken and he continues to drive good cars, he can break the record for the number of titles set by Schumacher and repeated by Lewis Hamilton.

If we talk about Fernando Alonso, he performed even better this year than when he was winning championships. As the races progressed, he constantly demonstrated the ability to fully control the situation, although this characteristic distinguished him in his youth, but now he is 42 years old and much more experienced.

Fernando no longer has to prove anything to anyone, but he continues to compete in Formula 1 because he still has a passion for racing. If Aston Martin had the ability to modernize its car as effectively as the top teams, it could be a contender for the title. But her car was competitive only at the beginning of the season, and then its rivals began to surpass it in terms of modernization – it showed that Aston Martin did not have the experience that the big teams have.

Alonso has certainly surprised a lot of people this year and is treated with great respect in the paddock. He is also admired by Verstappen and Hamilton; he earned it during the time he drove non-competitive cars but pushed them to their limits.

Aston Martin understands better than anyone that Fernando is a true leader, he has helped this team to impressive progress and has been on the podium so many times that the team will without a doubt extend his contract.

As for Carlos Sainz, he lost a lot of points in the last few stages of the championship, although before that he was ahead of Charles Leclerc, his teammate, for almost the entire season. Carlos performed very well until the last stage of the season, but then made a number of mistakes that cost him dearly, from which Leclerc took advantage.

I know the Ferrari team well, and above all they are characterized by a lack of patience. When something doesn’t work out, Maranello strives to find a solution quickly, they don’t have time to think and they don’t let projects mature properly.

I loved Mattia Binotto, the former head of the Scuderia. I think it was a mistake that he was replaced by Frederic Vasseur, because he managed to achieve stability and the team started to make progress. When the leader and some people from Binotto’s entourage were replaced, everything had to start from scratch.

An example of the fact that patience is a necessary quality was Jean Todt. He was surrounded by talented engineers and he did not allow any of them to be displaced, although the team, together with Schumacher, began to win championships only a few years later. Lack of patience is a serious problem for Ferrari. They immediately start to panic and don’t know how to guarantee stability over a long period of time.”