Ferrari has done it again. This past Brazilian GP saw both Ferraris fumble one of the most important GPs of the year, with a double DNF to put the cherry on top of a very disappointing 2025 for the prancing horses. So today we focus on their blunders while laughing!
Vettel’s Brake Failure in Monza 2020
The GP right in the Tifosi’s home ground would go as well as the Brazilian GP did for them this season. And Vettel’s radio during his brake failure became the lightning rod for discussion around Ferrari’s weekend.Vettel was seventeenth when George Russell was chasing him down in the 2020 Williams for position.
All that was embarrassing enough, but then things took an even worse turn when, in Vettel’s words, “brake line exploded.”So what did his engineer, a man who studied for a decade or more at university and then gained years of technical experience around motorsport and all that, who impressed the most historic and successful teams in F1 history enough to give him a job, say?
“You need to stop.” Vettel, with a confused tone, because of course he’s confused. Said back to him, “He literally can’t stop the car.” He responds with, “If you can drive, you can drive.” Stuff straight out of a comedy.Only emphasized when Vettel blew through the barriers before he became the first of two Ferrari retirements that Monza afternoon.
Leclerc’s Leakage: Australia 2025
Onto the current Ferrari disaster season. To open the year, we had pouring rain, and in the middle of the race career, Ferrari driver Leclerc was confused. As his seat was so wet that he was worried the car would leak.
So he made the mistake of asking his engineer if there was a leak. A mistake, as we’ll see, he really shouldn’t have made. Being very experienced at this point with Ferrari engineers and their lack of communication skills.
He made his worries clear on the radio; his confused engineer asked what he meant, and Leclerc responded that there was water in his seat. And he responded with, “It must be the water.”
Leclerc, apparently having no problem coming up with witty responses while driving at over 200 MPH, responded with, “Add that to the words of wisdom.” A perfect preview of Ferrari’s 2025 to come.
Botta’s P1 Finish: Turkey 2021
Something about the rain brings out the stupid in Leclerc’s engineer. In the pouring rain of the land where the Ottoman Empire was first created, he dropped one of the very first words of wisdom. Leclerc was in P1 on lap forty-five of fifty-eight, but Bottas, in what was by far the fastest car in F1 at the time, the Mercedes, was hot on the tail.
Leclerc was wondering if he continued at the pace he was at, where they’d thought he’d finish. But of course, it was a mistake to think Ferrari had thoughts. As Crofty put it, his answer was “not the most informative.” When he asked, his response was the racing equivalent of “the sky is blue.” “If you keep Bottas behind, P1.” Now I’ll be fair here.
The Cost of A Grave Misunderstanding
In hindsight, Leclerc could’ve misheard “pace” as “place,” or he was trying to motivate Leclerc to do everything he could to take the win now, if it’s the second option, that was the worst way to communicate it, too reactive and blunt.If it’s the first on its own, it’s nothing, but mixed with the other Ferrari radio mishaps. It’s got to be alongside them. Thanks a bunch for reading!
