Racing
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Bernie Ecclestone has reopened the long-running debate over Ferrari’s leadership structure, saying the team still has “too many Italians” involved in decision-making just as Maranello tries to keep expectations in check after Lewis Hamilton’s Barcelona win and a difficult weekend in Austria.
Speaking to multiple outlets including Crash.net during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, the former Formula 1 chief said: “Trouble with Ferrari, I think there's too many Italians that's involved explaining what to do and what not to do.” He added: “You just need really one person do this or do that. Whether they're right or wrong, time will tell them.”
The timing mattered because Ferrari had only just broken through in Spain. Hamilton’s victory at Barcelona-Catalunya was his first for Ferrari and the 106th grand prix win of his career, ending the team’s nearly two-year wait for a victory. It also stopped Mercedes’ unbeaten start to 2026 after six straight wins and cut Hamilton’s deficit to championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli to 41 points.
Ferrari, though, had already been pushing back against any idea that one result had changed everything. Team principal Frederic Vasseur said after Austria that the team needed to stay balanced in its reading of the car’s level. “We were not world champions in Barcelona and we are not stupid in Austria,” he said, after a Red Bull Ring performance that fell well short of the momentum created in Spain.
Hamilton struck much the same note. In comments reported by The Times, he said Austria had been “a return to reality” for Ferrari after a result the team does not fully understand. “I think Austria was a return to reality. We don’t know why we were so competitive on Sunday in Barcelona,” Hamilton said. He added that Ferrari still had “a good car” but was behind Mercedes on pace, and said the team had to keep improving performance, “especially in terms of power.”
That made Ecclestone’s intervention especially awkward for Ferrari. While Vasseur and Hamilton were framing Barcelona as an encouraging result rather than proof of a transformed title force, Ecclestone shifted the focus back to an older accusation that Ferrari’s internal structure remains the real barrier.
It is also a criticism he has made repeatedly before, including in 2017, 2018 and 2020. The issue remains sensitive because Ferrari has still not won a constructors’ championship since 2008, while Kimi Raikkonen remains its last drivers’ champion from 2007, even with the team now led by Vasseur rather than an Italian.