Former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger attributes a lack of diversity as one of the main reasons for Ferrari's failures in recent years. The Austrian who raced for the Prancing Horse in two separate stints, says that the team has always performed better when different cultures have been thrown into the structurally Italian racing team. "The Italian culture is super nice and gives you a great atmosphere is maybe sometimes missing this killing instinct," Berger told the Fastlane podcast. "Sometimes you see foreign management like Jean Todt, like Ross Brawn, like Rory Byrne, just the best ones that at the time are around mixed up with the Italians and that usually works quite well. "But when the Italians are just by themselves, sometimes they like to fall into some comfort zone. "As lovely as they are I think it's always good to have in a team a mixture of cultures, mixture of different countries, and then have somebody on top who is capable to manage this." Berger also highlited the contributuons of racing legends Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher citing why the pair were so successful in ressurecting Ferrari while others failed. "I have to say also in all the years you had great drivers there, you had Fernando Alonso, you had Sebastian Vettel as four times world champion, surely see myself, Mansell, Prost, everybody but we couldn't make it win," Berger continued. "But two guys was capable to use the Ferrari board and and turn it into a winning team. There was Niki Lauda, and there was Michael Schumacher. Michael had had very good skills and with Niki Lauda yes, we know he had also very good skills, very strong working attitude and very good skills to put things together and to manage things." Berger makes a very compelling argument with Ferrari currently in a midst of a slump. The team's last four principals have all been Italian and if what Berger is true, it goes someway in explaining their recent title drought.
Most read
