Ferrari have been told they face a long road to recovery after making one of their worst starts to a Formula 1 season in recent memory.
A slow start is, in some ways, understandable. After all, Mattia Binotto's departure as team principal and the appointment of Frederic Vasseur to replace him was always going to lead to a settling-in period for the new chief, as he adapts to the way his staff work and vice-versa.
Despite that, all the pre-season noises coming out of Maranello were resoundingly positive. Talk of an extra 30bhp on their new car might have been augmented by fantasy, but everyone who claimed to be in the know was very hopeful about what the SF-23 might achieve on track.
Safe to say, those dreaming of a lightning start to the new season have been brought swiftly back to reality. Not only is their car nowhere near the Red Bulls in terms of pace – though the same is true for everyone else – but the Italians have already lost ground on their more beatable rivals.
Aston Martin have emerged from the midfield as a challenger to the top three, while Mercedes have been able to score decent points despite their own car performance woes. But Ferrari have just not got going and, after just three races, are already 97 points adrift of runaway leaders Red Bull, languishing in fourth place.
The Australian Grand Prix would have been the most painful of all to watch for the Ferrari hierarchy. Charles Leclerc was out of the race within seconds, being spun on the first lap and becoming the first of eight drivers to retire in Melbourne, with his car beached in the gravel.
Carlos Sainz looked on to score a decent haul in fourth, but was hit with a controversial penalty late on which meant, because the race finished behind the safety car, he ended up dropping down to dead last of those still running. It meant the Scuderia went home from Australia without a single point to show for their efforts.
Former Ferrari team boss Luca di Montezemolo is concerned that it might still be a while before the team, without a championship success since 2008, can return to the F1 summit. "It’s a knife in my wound," he is quoted as having told Italian TV programme Piazzapulita by FormulaPassion.it.
"Ferrari together with my family is the most important thing in my life. I have been around for 25 years in two periods. It's painful for me, I'm sorry to see them like this. I don't think it's a short-term crisis – it's a question of rebuilding and we need to bring together the best technicians."
Di Montezemolo knows a thing or two about how to build a successful structure at Ferrari. He played a key role in assembling a leadership team made up of the likes of Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, before Michael Schumacher became the final piece of the jigsaw which led to their dominance in the early-2000s.
The 75-year-old recalls there was "a serious crisis at first" back then as well, before calling for vast changes to be made to help make Vasseur's reign a successful one. He added: "Even if you start bringing in some technicians of different nationalities, you also have to change the culture in the company in the areas where it is needed."
