Ferrari’s struggles said to be hurting ticket sales for both F1 races in Italy amid uncertain future of Monza Circuit

Ferrari have been struggling, and now it's begun to hurt ticket sales in Italy. This is worrying considering Monza circuit's F1 future is already uncertain.

Ferrari’s struggles said to be hurting ticket sales for both F1 races in Italy amid uncertain future of Monza Circuit

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc after his error at last year's F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola

Ferrari have not won a single championship since 2008. For a team of their stature, this can be considered a crisis situation. In recent years, they came somewhat close in 2017 and 2018, especially on the Drivers’ championship front, but ultimately failed. 2019 was alright, but they were never serious contenders. 2020 and 2021, however, were extremely disappointing years by their standards. Everyone had high expectations for them in 2022, and at least initially, they delivered.

But eventually, they faltered, and rather quickly. After Charles Leclerc won two out of the first three races, their downfall began right in the next race, in Imola. Soon after, their championship challenge faded away in a storm of driver and strategic errors, and unreliability. After the summer break, they didn’t have any pace either. The start to their 2023 campaign, though, has been even more dismal.

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In the first three races, they have only scored 26 points, and Leclerc has already retired twice. It isn’t going so well for Carlos Sainz either. There is promise of improvement, with possibly major upgrades coming around Imola and Barcelona, but that may not be enough. Ferrari aimed to win the championship in 2023, and while that may yet happen, three races in, it’s beginning to look highly unlikely. And these disappointing performances have off-track consequences as well.

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Ferrari have the status of a national team of Italy. As their performances have been lukewarm at best, this has began to hurt ticket sales for both Grands Prix held in Italy – Monza, and Imola. Angelo Sticchi Damiani, President of the Automobile Club d’Italia, told Eurosport Italy: “We have to keep our commitments to Formula 1. But ticket sales for the two races aren’t going as hoped. Ferrari’s performance is decisive – when it goes well, purchases rise.”

Read More: Monza Circuit’s F1 future uncertain: ‘Very optimistic to think it would stay beyond 2025’

It’s worrying times for Ferrari and Motorsport in Italy

The F1 Italian GP at the Monza Circuit
Carlos Sainz from Ferrari leads a host of cars at the 2022 F1 Italian GP at the Monza Circuit

Ferrari’s performances are driving a lull in ticket sales in Italy. This is even worse news, considering that earlier, Angelo Sticchi Damiani had disclosed that there are budget difficulties, and the circuit lost money in last year’s event as well. He even went as far as to say that it’s hard to see the circuit staying on the Formula 1 calendar beyond it’s current contract. As per GPFans, he said:“We have to keep up with F1, and to do so we must evolve.“

The Italian continued: “The challenge is to go beyond 2025, but we must have what it takes to do so. We invested €44 million last year, which went very well, but we still lost some money because of the very high running costs, regardless of the Grand Prix. Now our budget is starting to run into difficulties. We can’t be left alone in this challenge. We worked a miracle to have two races until 2025, but you would have to be very optimistic to think it will stay beyond that date.”

There is a clear correlation between Ferrari’s fortunes on track and F1’s popularity in Italy. The Maranello team need to step it up, not only for their own sake, but for the sake of the sport as well. Major upgrades for Ferrari are expected to arrive at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, which should help them give a better account of themselves at their home race.

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