"Schumacher was the real leader at Ferrari, Verstappen also such a type"

Ferrari is experiencing one of the worst seasons in years and given the speed of the SF1000 this is not going to change soon. The Italian team has been in a dip more often and this was often attributed to the fact that there were only Italians in the reign, as is the case now.

With the help of foreigners Ferrari came back on top. The best example of this is the period with Michael Schumacher, who together with Jean Todt and Ross Brown made Ferrari the most successful team ever. Kees van de Grint, former tire specialist for Bridgestone at Ferrari, was there and doesn't want to fault the Italians either. He discusses that time in Formula 1 Café on Ziggo Sport.

Following in the footsteps of Schumacher and Lauda

"To the eye of the camera it wasn't Italians, but there were also Italians in the background who made a very big contribution. But you had Michael Schumacher as the real leader again", with which Van de Grint also refers to the period with Niki Lauda, when a non-Italian also took the lead at the Scuderia.

The question now is which of the current drivers could take on this role. "Well I once said, and I'm repeating that now. And then I say in advance 'that's no misunderstanding, because I'm not saying Vertappen should go to Ferrari', but Verstappen is such a type", concludes Van de Grint.