New Ferrari requires lots of work, Massa says

I'll second your position regarding Vettel not getting 3 in a row. The Mclaren looks awfully good and the Red Bull has one slippery rear end. Webber will have a much better year this go around as well as the tires are tons better.

 

How come you think the McLaren is looking so strong?

 

You have the advantage in this bet in the sense that for you to win something doesn't happen. That's easier to win than for me to win something has to happen.

However I'm not worried: Vettel is the second best driver in the best car. That's hard to beat as the best driver sits in only the third best car.

 

They have a clever exhaust. No one is sure how it's working just yet but there is something in it.

 

You sure about that? I believe Mercedes is going to get the best of Ferrari this year. Technologically speaking, Mercedes now have the upper hand.

 

Pat Fry today mentioned that he's not happy at all with the car's progress after 3 days of testing. Looks like another *****ty season for our boys.

 

Well the one good thing is that Pat Fry is used to working in the environment at McLaren where when they encounter performance challenges they have always been fairly quick to resolve them and so hopefully for the Scuderia he can improve their response time as well. The real concern is that front suspension - if they've gotten that part wrong I suspect it won't be quick and easy to revert back to pushrods.

>8^)
ER

 

I have to wonder if Ferrari may have made a mistake going so radical. Keep in mind they were fast at the British Grand Prix where the EBD was banned...


However, I still think they're going to be fast at the 1st race and I also think that Lotus will surprise some people.

 

The EBD wasn't banned, exotic engine mappings were.

 

I think the drivers are having problems placing the nose of the car as they can't see it

Pete

 

Actually, the EBD has been banned as they have lots of restrictions regarding the position of the exhaust.

 

He was talking about last year's race at Silverstone when Ferrari managed to achieve it's only victory, not the changes to the regulations for 2012.

>8^)
ER

 

(mappings)

True, but this is an all new car for Ferrari, and it's looking awfully twitchy. apparently very difficult to set up as the front suspension has to be dialled in perfectly for the car to handle appropriately.

I don't have high hopes for Ferrari this season...and this time it really is down to the design!

 

Sorry, my bad.

 

I never understood why they sacked Aldo Costa...after all he designed the 248, f2007 and f2008...all of them front runners...ok, last couple of years the car wasn´t the best but, how many years Newey spent at mclaren withou winning anything!!!!! It´s ridiculous, you can´t expect him to make the best car every year!!! I really don´t know what Fry did so special at Mac that made ferrari choose him ove Aldo...Well, Ross didn´t waist any time on giving him a job at Mercedes, he knows how good he is.

PS...Massa could have been more blunt and said "the car is ****"

 

FA set FTD on the final day of testing and second fastest of the entire test session.

 

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>8^)
ER
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I think there are two parts to that reasoning. First is that Newey's cars have shown progress from year to year, just like what he did at RBR. Ferraris has not been competitive out of box for a few years now and has always been playing catch up during those seasons. And second, I think he was more of a scapegoat for the team's failure. IMO, the one position that Ferrari really need to re-evaluate is Stefano Domenicali's position.

 

+1 on Stefano for sure!

 

Aren't you the guys who were howling for Aldo's head a while back?......

Now he's gone, he was just the fall guy!?

Who's gonna replace Stefano?

I've said before, seems to me many here want to fire anyone & everyone if they don't win both titles - LdM, Stefano, Nick, the janitor, the truck driver, they all suck according to many.

I guess it won't be long before "everyone's" calling for Pat's head too.

They're all working harder than most can imagine and will hopefully build on these early tests. Nothing to be gained (and possibly much lost) by firing anyone IMO.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Alonso says they made some progress and thinks they can build on it for Barcelona...lets hope so....

 

They should have never fired Rubens or MS or let Felipe go in the future either. Change happens Stefano has had his chance id say.

 

F1 is a tough place to cut it and a team needs to meld with one another to create something truly great. There are many great fluid dynamic engineers out there and they just need time, similar to a think tank, to yield something fruitful and original. Ferrari could be at the beginning of that now, but it will take time and at least they are trying something new and going in a different direction.

 

Haven't the already removed most/all the critical decision making form him? I perceive him as mainly PR guy.

 

+1