Alonso said...

You may be right, but I'm not quite as pessimistic as you! Ferrari at least (forget Renault & Honda for now!) seem to be closing the gap.

Given a decent winters development (spend those tokens!) I can see them being very close to them next season. At least my optimistic self believes that.

Cheers,
Ian

 

And, being an optimist myself, may I remind you that in 2012 and 2013, Kimi scored many points more than "the other side of the garage" at the time (Grosjean, who, like him or not, is no slouch). That ability Kimi cannot have lost it. He is not that far from Vettel in terms of speed. There is still some hope. Arrivabene is quoted today by "Autosport" saying that Niki Lauda is right to fear Ferrari for the future. Forza...

Rgds

 

+1

I see Alonso's point. No point racing for 3rd, and Ferrari when he was there didn't seem to move anywhere. Mclaren seemed like a good enough option, but we all saw how that turned out...I'm sure Seb is enjoying this season quite a bit more than Alonso . But no one could really foresee this. Mclaren acquired decent people so I expected the car to be half decent at least...

I also see Ferrari competitive next year. Vettel was on an identical strategy to Rosberg last week, and finished only 14 seconds behind him (though at the 2nd to last lap the gap was 11 seconds, so Vettel may have backed off across the finish). rosberg was pushing, since he was challenged by Hamilton the entire race.

RE the Kimi thing, they're still 2nd in the championship, the team has made mistakes and he's made more than he should, but Vettel is 3rd in championship remember, it's not like he's nibbling at LH's toes.

 

I still believe Kimi has got "it". If, and it's a big if, they can give him a car he likes I can see him beating everyone, including Seb on occasion.

His "I don't give a crap" persona is just that - A screen IMO. He remains motivated and wants to win.

Cheers,
Ian

 

+1

But he HAS to deliver next year. Freshmeat does have a point. Kimi doesn't necessarily need to beat Vettel, but finish close to him much more often is what really needs to happen.

I don't think we'll have a dominant car next year. Extremely unlikely, actually...but what I think we will have is a car that's able to fight Mercedes tooth and nail for each and every point. I just hope Kimi is there to do so too.

 

You know as well as I do that Kimi needs to win one or two, or more, Grand Prix; nothing less would be acceptable. I still think he can do it...

Rgds

 

Of course, but I think it'll be Vettel in the running for the title next year. Obviously I'd love it to be Kimi...If Kimi can finish close 2nd's to Vettel whenever he wins, I see no reason for Ferrari to not extend the contract beyond 2017. Arrivebene said Kimi is partially key to Vettel success and his enjoyment in the team, because of their friendship and easy going personalities.

 

I think Alonso sucks...

 

Counterpoint: Where did jumping ship once again get him? He is barely languishing above 16th now so if his logic is sound he will soon be jumping ship once again and once again showing no loyalty. His logic is "I am a 2-time WDC and I deserve better" but does he truly deserve it? No!

I will never understand why Alonso does not understand that a driver cannot win every race or every championship. If Ferrari had not had reliability issues Alonso would have only one WDC under his belt and Michael would have eight yet Alonso would still be acting like a arrogant pickle.

 

I was waiting for this haha

He's right. When you're a double WDC, you want another WDC, not another 2nd place. 16th and 2nd are the same. If you're a newcomer or midfielder, you'll enjoy 2nd place with no problems like most of the grid.

 

Please tell me that they don't have the stupid token "allowance" during the off-season, do they???
I assumed that if the car complies with the formula, then they are free to develop the car any way they can during the winter.

 

*Bad* assumption! [Car yes, power unit, no.]

I believe they'll all be given a new bunch of tokens. I *believe* after Abu Dhabi. However, the total number available is scheduled to be reduced year on year until there's virtually none come the "end" of the specified regulations in, IIRC, 2020 (ish....)

Cheers,
Ian

 

They can make all the changes they want to the chassis (no testing however) but are limited in PU development from what I recall.

 

Found it! - Here's the relevant section of the technical regulations laying out what you can & can't do moving forward. Note the very bottom line detailing the % of the PU that's frozen......

Cheers,
Ian
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Kimi should've retired after 2013

 

There go everyone....toil has spoken....there is no point discussing this further.

lol

 

Darnit! I wouldn't have seen those words of wisdom if you hadn't quoted him!

When is Kimi signed thru? IIRC, the end of 2016? Or is it '17?

 

+1

glad to have him on ignore...still up to the same usual **** I see.

Kimi signed till end 2016 at least.

 

OK, thanks.

Hopefully, Mr Allison can work the same magic for Kimi as he did with Fauxtus - Give Kimi something to his liking & I for one believe he's still more than capable of beating them all.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Arrivabene said after Brazil Ferrari have the same power and Mercedes. Im not sure I agree but he has the pit wall telemetry. The problem is the aero in coordination with that. Can they get that right in time to harness the power.....and remain reliable.

 

Front suspension next year will be push rods, so definitely a step in the right direction.

 

I think they will be close enough in 2016 that Vettel will be winning more and Rosberg will be crying a lot. I like Vettel's chances in an adverse situation more than Hamilton personally. I like Kimi much more as a supporting driver to Vettel than Rosberg to Hamilton.

Logic would dictate that Ferrari will make more progress and close the gap as Mercedes should have extracted just about everything they can out of their design at this point. But who knows, the Germans are crazy. They also have the added benefit of data from Haas as a customer.

Let's also not forget that James Allison ran out of time on various parts of the car over the off season. He should be able to achieve all his design goals this year without the team turmoil and changes to staff.

Who knows for sure. They need to add more mechanical grip to the cars to avoid snoozefest races. The changes for 2017 look good, but hopefully we have something to cheer for in the meantime.

Certainly, I think Ferrari stands a better chance than anyone else. If Redbull could get a Merc engine, they would be a huge threat, but that won't happen.

 

I know this is the "common wisdom", and it may be correct. But to be honest, I'm not convinced the pull rod is their problem. Suspension design is, at the end of the day, a pretty simple geometry exercise. Specify a few parameters (roll centers & bump steer behavior probably being the most significant) and the rest kind of "fall out".

I'm not convinced that push is "inherently" better than pull. I believe (but am out of date and may be mistaken these days) they're still using rising rate "springs" (OK, torsion bars) and they don't care if they're being pulled or pushed!.......

But I may be mistaken; If Allison does a world beater with pushrods I guess I'll eat some crow!

Cheers,
Ian