Villeneuve Accuses Ferrari Of Letting Go Of Talented Engineers Because They Weren’t Italian

The ex-Formula One driver said Ferrari could be dominating the sport now had they better retained their talent.

Jacques Villeneuve has accused Scuderia Ferrari of letting go of talented personnel simply because they weren’t Italian – and he believes this exodus of talent is costing them dearly.

“Ferrari could have been the Mercedes of today, but they let go of so many talented engineers. Most of all because they were not Italian,” Villeneuve said.

READ: Ferrari Working ‘Very Hard’ On New Power Unit For 2021

“And they all ended up there, on the other side,” he added, pointing to the fact that many of Ferrari’s most talented personnel ended up working at the team’s main rivals.

For example, Aldo Costa left Ferrari and went on to become Mercedes’ engineering director, while James Allison also left the Scuderia and now serves as the Silver Arrows’ technical director.

However, it should be noted that Costa is Italian, and there’s nothing to support Villeneuve’s claims that Ferrari let the others go simply because they aren’t from Italy.

“The team is facing extremely difficult times and it will take a lot for them to rise again,” he added.

“Maybe it will take at least two years. The most important thing is to get the best people on the team, regardless of their costs.”

Continuing, Villeneuve said that, in his opinion, “the problem is not the fact that they are not winning but that they are so far behind technically.”

Article continues below

Regardless of what Ferrari does over the coming months and years, Villeneuve believes that it will be “almost impossible” for the Maranello-based team, or any constructor for that matter, to catch Mercedes in the hybrid-era of Formula One.

“As long as F1 remains a hybrid formula, it will be almost impossible for competitors to get close to Mercedes. Not only do they have the best car, they also have the best driver in Lewis Hamilton.”

Teams such as Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, Renault and Mclaren will be hoping that the new regulations will give them an opportunity to challenge Mercedes despite the new set of technical rules not mandating significant changes to the power units.

Subscribe to Formula1News.co.uk’s Google News feed for the latest F1 news

Enjoyed reading this article? Consider sharing it: