Why are we so slow?

Hopefully this will be a short lived thread and rendered redundant by a Bahrain 1-2.
On the other hand maybe not.
So what is it? Engine? Aero? Balance? Drivers?
Maybe we will get some insights from the press over the next few days though , after testing, my trust in their anaysis is about zero.

 

I don't know.











really!!!

 

There are rumors of set up issues and an power issue for Seb. I’m also thinking maybe when designing the car they are designing for the majority of dedicated F1 circuits and not outliers like road courses...? I think that we need to see the car on a couple of regular tracks to know more. Also I’d rather them lose the first race and win the championship than what we’ve had before which is the opposite.

 

Maybe this is a clue. Notice the green light on the upper left hand side of the steering wheel. Lift and coast. Seb aiding in whatever issue it may be but definetly not "attacking" the corners.


https://streamable.com/seq60

 

I am not sure about that.

If the car was designed with a bias to out-and-out race tracks as opposed to a part-time street track - I think Ferrari would have been expecting this scenario in Melbourne. The team seemed genuinely surprised and shocked by the lack of pace

 

Mercedes is once again in a class of their own. Almost 1 minute slower than Mercedes at the end is horrible. Another season of being either first or second loser.

 

This is interesting/worrying analysis of our aero direction.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/47527705

Though I think we should be "concerned" rather than panicking.

This is an early test of Mattia's leadership.

 

And what about Leclerc?

Why was he able to ride Vettel's ass at the end? Is he that good; or was Vettal not on it?

 

Yes aero plays a part but here's more clues....

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Honda seems decent. Max could be in the hunt this year.

 

Don't know why they were slow, but they left one point on the table. With almost 30 seconds to the car behind them they should have brought one of them in for new softs (assuming they were available) and set fastest lap.

 

Lack of risk it appears or lack of willing to risk anything at all. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/142192/ferrari-explains-keeping-leclerc-behind-vettel

Ferrari told Charles Leclerc to stay behind Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1's season-opening Australian Grand Prix because there was "no reason" to take a risk fighting over fourth place.

Leclerc, making his Ferrari debut, caught his four-time world champion team-mate in the closing stages of the grand prix.

He asked if he should stay behind Vettel, who was on older tyres, and was told "yes, and back off to have some margin".

Explaining why Vettel was struggling so much compared to Leclerc, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said: "When Seb pitted, put the medium tyres on, he didn't have the grip he was expecting.

"And he was attacked by [Max] Verstappen, having been in the position to hold his position on track.

"So, we decided to bring the car home. He was managing the tyres to the end.

"I think 10 laps to the end, we decided not to take any risks and hold positions, bring the cars home and score points."

In pre-season, new team boss Binotto had made it clear Vettel would be prioritised early on in the season if the situation required it, as he is Ferrari's initial title focus.

But Binotto said instructing their drivers to hold position in Melbourne was neither "difficult" nor a "decision" that Ferrari had to make, because it did not make sense to let them risk fighting when it was not for the win.

"As I said, Sebastian was managing his pace because of poor grip, and bringing the car home," he added.

"Charles did a great second stint, [but] 10 laps to go, there was no reason to take a risk today.

"They were not fighting for the first position."

Leclerc ended up on the grass on the exit of the first corner after being accidentally squeezed by Vettel, who he had tried to pass on the outside.

Risk-management was also the reason Ferrari opted not to pit Leclerc, who had a massive advantage over sixth-placed Kevin Magnussen, and put him on fresh tyres to push for fastest lap.

"I think at that stage, whenever you pit it may be a risk," said Binotto.

"It was more important for us to bring the car home, score the points.

"Sometimes races where you are not the best, it's still important to score points.

"That was our choice. We will review the race and eventually the decision, but it was for that reason."

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Leclerc said he pushed for the bonus point for fastest lap anyway, on his existing tyres, but accepted that race winner and eventual fastest lap earner Valtteri Bottas was too fast.

"We tried on the last lap but obviously [it] was not enough, by quite a bit," said Leclerc.

"I don't think we wanted to take the risk to do a pitstop.

"There are a lot of risks with a pitstop obviously and we just wanted to finish this race clean.

"I tried myself but it was definitely not enough and by quite a big margin."

 

LeClerc would have put the car in the wall going for a fastest lap toward the end of the race.

Vettel is just done... unfortunately. He will be down in the dumps rest of the year.

They should let LeClerc race.

Strategists for Ferrari are still clueless and team and new boss appear to be hurting with arrivabene change - not that they were going to be better with him...

Mercedes may be tops in f1 the last number of years but I would not desire one of their high speed cars over a Ferrari. Just no way. So I’m really not sure if anyone really cares Mercedes is winning as far as Branding goes. When will they be done and move on to their next twin turbo hatchback diesel?

Robb

 

Max is going to win the WDC this year. No one outdevelops RB and the engine power is there and will mostly likely increase, and thus far reliability has been excellent.

IMHO Ferrari were simply too cautious and evolved a car that was last year’s first loser, although this track is weird per Binotto. Let’s see after the first three races but I’m not feeling it thus far.

 

Cheers for the detail; appreciated.

Very conservitive approach; but given the gap above vettel and behind leclerc probably sensible.

Be interesting if leclerc takes the fight to vettel at the next race!

 

Vettel knew there was no hope in gaining position so he was saving the car/engine IMO.

 

They stopped him way too early. Both Max and Charles pitted much later and were both faster at the end...

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Vettel was coasting the car home to save it. No point to try to catch Max.

Blame the STUPID rules that penalize you if you try hard.

 

I'm pretty sure Seb had PU problem. His car was planted and he wasn't fighting with the steering wheel. More shall be revealed.

 

Melbour

I suppose they were aware beating any of the Merc on pace was unlikely so they had to select a daring strategy. The assumption of keeping Max behind would not be far fetched as this is not an overtaking course. Best case go up to 2nd, worst case drop down to 4th instead of maintaining 3rd.

 

Mario Binotto's home movies since taking control of Ferrari F1!

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Firstly, I don't see any issue with the logic of not letting Leclerc pass or fight with Vettel. To catch Vettel he was lapping about the same pace as Hamilton and Verstappen so wouldn't have caught them. So they would either be ordering the two cars to swap positions for no net gain for the team or risking them fighting each other. So the right call for me.

Secondly, the analysis of Barcelona testing looked correct. All the cars were pretty much where you'd expect from testing. Except for Ferrari. Mercedes were better but you can factor in some sandbagging in Barcelona, progress since then and a circuit that particularly suits them. But even so, based on testing and looking at where the other cars were, Ferrari should have been right with them or ahead, So clearly Ferrari underperformed (to say the least) compared with testing. So the question then is does the car only work at Barcelona, did they make a fundamental set up error in Melbourne or what? Time will tell but let's hope they made a setup mistake, realize what it was and don't make it again because otherwise it is going to be another very long tedious season of Mercedes walkovers.

 

You nailed it man!

 

Vettel did not make any attempt at all to hold up Max ...so why should he try to race Leclerc who was also clearly faster?

Leclerc should shoot first then ask questions later.

 

Sandbagging fooling you too I see. Who wants a winning Ferrari apart from us? And we’ll watch anyway. If Ferrari starts winning again the whole sport will implode so smart move there!