Priestley notes: 'It feels like the culture isn't right at Ferrari'

Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley believes there is something wrong within Ferrari's team environment. According to the Formula One expert, employees at the Italian team do not dare to take risks because they are terrified of reprisals.

Ferrari is well behind in the championship. Max Verstappen can already win the world title at the next race in Singapore, while Red Bull Racing also seems to already hold the constructors' title. Instead, the Italians now have to look mainly over their shoulders at Mercedes. The team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell is slowly creeping closer to P2 in the championship.

The unreliable Ferrari engine, driver errors and strategic mistakes have all contributed to Ferrari's big deficit. Priestley thinks the environment within the team does not encourage bold and risky moves. Risk-taking is precisely what is needed to beat a team like Red Bull.

'Team environment Ferrari not conducive'

"They have built a fantastic car, the best car on many occasions this year, but they don’t have all the ingredients. I suspect and I know this to some extent, a lot of people I know work or have worked at Ferrari, and it feels like the culture isn’t right", the F1 expert says on the podcast of PitStop.

"It feels like the team environment isn’t conducive to people making decisions on the fly and taking risks. You have to have all of those things. You see it in races, you see it when they are a little bit hesitant on the [team] radio. A team like Red Bull or Mercedes, it feels like the people in that team have the freedom to make a decision that might be a little bit out there, a little bit outside the box, might be a risk. I think at Ferrari, if they take a risk, if anyone’s going to take a risky decision, they are terrified of the reprisals that are going to come from that.”