Leo Turini compared Hamilton to the Count of Monte Cristo

Leo Turini, a famous Italian journalist and passionate Ferrari fan, is worried about a new failure of his favorite team, but at the same time he is happy for Lewis Hamilton, who achieved the 104th victory of his career at Silverstone…

Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books and I can quote entire pages from memory.

In my opinion, Lewis Hamilton is the Count of Monte Cristo of Formula 1, and I am happy for him. The Scuderia, on the other hand, seemed depressing.

The only good news for Ferrari president John Elkann was Hamilton’s historic victory, and not Carlos Sainz’s best lap.

Not that anyone doubts the feasibility of Lewis’s deal, but now even the sceptics will have to keep their mouths shut. The seven-time world champion, who will join Ferrari next season, has lost none of his desire to win, despite not having reached the top of the podium for almost three years.

What is impressive is this: Hamilton won his first Grand Prix in 2007, and now he has become the only driver in Formula 1 history to have managed to achieve nine victories on one circuit. In Maranello, the legendary champion is welcomed with open arms.

Now about the sad stuff. Of course, about the Scuderia. To paraphrase the title of another novel by another author, let’s just say that “our summer of fear” continues and more and more sad chapters appear in this story.

We see Mercedes being revived, McLaren fighting on the front row for months in a row, Red Bull Racing claiming victories thanks to Max Verstappen. And in general, Formula 1 in the postmodern era is a very exciting spectacle. With one exception.

And this exception was Ferrari, which has not been encouraging lately. In addition to the mistakes, there are also questionable decisions. At Silverstone, for example, the team could not even decide which settings to choose for the cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

The most worrying thing is the sense of a growing identity crisis. I see no difference from the darkest days, when Mattia Binotto’s results also deteriorated.

There is an Italian idiom, “There are slices of ham before his eyes,” which means that a person is so distracted or inattentive that he does not notice obvious things. So, before my eyes, there is no prosciutto.

Less than two months ago, the SF24 car made it possible to compete on almost equal terms with Red Bull, and now Leclerc and Sainz are on the sidelines. How is this possible? What explanations can Frederic Wasseur offer?

I agree that Leclerc deserves criticism for such a performance at Silverstone. But Sainz couldn’t even fight for a podium place, let alone win.

I am prepared to be more specific. It is not at all about expelling someone from the team. Revolutions happen periodically in Maranello, but Ferrari still cannot compete for victories on a regular basis. But it would be a big mistake to believe that only Hamilton can turn the situation around.

I will say more: even if we imagine that Adrian Newey agrees to move to Ferrari, he will still have to rely on a modern, efficiently working organization in which no one wastes time in a sad search for the guilty.

In general, we can only welcome the arrival of Sir Lewis and console ourselves with the hope that Ferrari can match the level of his talent. What is difficult to guarantee now…