Scuderia Ferrari 2023

You seem to have a wonderful insight into all these teams, did you work in them during these periods or could it be that its actually the drivers ego & greed that needed curtailing. Dennis, Head Williams, Barnard en all would not be dictated to by the drivers who would jump ship for a better deal and pay cheque!

Why would RD let go of something he built, it was his baby and was being booted out. Didnt like the guy at all but you had to admire him.

 

Just like the current F1 car is handicapped by the Pirelli's, some things never change............

 

Totally agree with this.

 

Poorly managed? Check
Underperforming? Check
Disappoint their fans year after year with promises that they fail to reach every damn time? Check check check
Make fantastic cars or have a history of doing so? Awww. Sorry Renault. But that's a hard no.

When you where making this:
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Ferrari was making this:
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You're a very long way off becoming Ferrari...

 

Nope. No insight into those teams. All of this was done in public.

Ron Dennis is one of the greatest team principals of all time. He won 10 WDC and WCC titles, and he took Senna, Prost, Mika, and Hamilton to the top. He found the best talent to support those guys, and was a keen fox in getting Honda (the first time) and Mercedes into F1. Nobody can take that away from him. I actually do like Ron and his sense of humor.

But, Ron changed, as many men do with age. He became difficult, stubborn, and insecure. He was acting like a cranky old man in his 50's. His falling out with Newey and how he had him escorted out of McLaren like a criminal, then insulted Newey in the press, showed how Ron had changed. Then there was the disaster between Alonso-Hamilton, Spygate, and then not learning his lesson and letting Neil Oatley and Paddy Lowe slip out of his hands and into the arms of the works Mercedes team. The team burned to the ground. Hamilton saw the writing on the wall. It's a cautionary tale.

Patrick Head? He's always been a bag of misery. Abusive. Read what every driver ever said about him.

Luca was great for Ferrari, until about 2005, when he became insecure about being in the shadows, and blew up the dream team to get Kimi. Don't forget Luca tossing Aldo Costa and Chris Dyer out like trash. Again, Luca wanted to play TP because he was very insecure, and wanted to show that he was the running the Ferrari race team.

Finally, on Barnard, he was a wizard in his day, but his sell-by date was 1994. The results speak for themselves. Blaming it all on Ferrari management is bogus. Barnard was given a blank check, his own facility and offices, his own staff, total access to everything he needed, and it all failed. That's the way it goes in racing. Doesn't make him any less brilliant to concede the truth in that.

 

The new contract for Leclerc may seem too much to some, but it's actually what's fair. Ditto for Lando.

Both are young talents putting their bodies on the line for their teams, and both have the promising pace for grand prix wins.

If Ferrari want to succeed, they have to pony up and start paying top dollar for drivers, designers, mechanics, and managers. The "prestige" of Ferrari is not enough.

Remember, it was Newey finding out how underpaid he was at McLaren compared to what just Jaguar was offering that started the decline in his relationship with Ron. All the latter had to do was match Jaguar and then Red Bull's offer, and McLaren would still be on top today.

 

Neither are exciting compared to others. I like results. How they are is secondary to performance.

 

Every driver that's not in a Red Bull is going to look like an ant right now, just as was the case during Mercedes dominance.

 

I don’t understand how it can be said that he hasn’t done this. We’ve seen how he has raced wheel to wheel against the best.

We saw him trounce Vettel in his second F1 season and first with Ferrari, win Monza against Hamilton, and hold off Verstappen in a similarly performing car as late as last season. There have been many “wow” moments over the course of his career.

He also would have won Silverstone last season with a broken front wing had Ferrari not bungled his strategy and gifted his win to his teammate, which is not the first time that has happened. The most irritating example is Singapore 2019 when Leclerc was on track to secure his third win in a row, but was sacrificed for a 1-2 instead of a 1-3.

For the past year, the Ferrari has had race pace that is frequently unsatisfactory. How many times have we heard that they don’t understand why the car performs the way it does? I doubt it’s because of Leclerc AND Sainz.

Should Leclerc aim to be more consistent? Absolutely! Consistency, a car that is equal to Red Bull, and a team that inspires confidence are the pieces that are missing to challenge for a championship.

His third place finish in Spa has only reinforced my belief that Ferrari should keep believing in him.

 

Charles has his own issues as a driver. No team or driver is perfect but for Charles to become anything as a driver in terms of MS, Max, FA or LH he needs to get on top of his mistakes to start with. Too many to those noted above listed.

He can do it but this is year 5 now.

Yes the team is also an issue and it takes both to succeed and fail. Charles has taken too many bad steps on his own with no fault but his not the team. Will be interesting to see his efforts after summer.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-big-questions-concerning-leclercs-ferrari-f1-future/10505576/
 Is Leclerc causing his own problems?

It’s been a painful season from the off. Charles threatened pole in Bahrain and briefly stole second from Perez but was then badly adrift even before an engine problem cost a certain third and led to a Jeddah grid penalty. Then, in Australia, Leclerc misjudged his car positioning on the opening lap and was pitched into the Turn 3 gravel by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. A pair of poles in F1’s first 2023 sprint event in Baku actually included another crash – on the final run of the sprint shootout qualifying – and two further hefty Red Bull defeats. These were soothed somewhat by Leclerc’s first rostrum visit this term following the main event.

A Q3 crash while chasing another pole in Miami then ripped out the momentum he’d finally started building, and his recovery drive in the race was underwhelming. In Monaco Leclerc demonstrated his searing speed and breathtaking bravery again to end up just 0.1s from pole behind Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, but he started sixth because he’d unwittingly impeded Lando Norris because Ferrari had failed to warn him the McLaren was approaching. Then came successive failures to reach Q3 in Spain and Canada, but only in the latter did Leclerc mount an impressive fightback, heading team-mate Carlos Sainz in fourth.

Ferrari has tried to address its misfortunes by finally switching to a Red Bull-style sidepod concept, but too often Leclerc and Sainz are still frustrated by poor race pace caused by excessive tyre degradation
Canada was an important season milestone. There, Leclerc revealed a factory investigation into why he hadn’t been able to escape Q1 in Barcelona had found nothing wrong with his car. Logic, therefore, suggests the responsibility lies with Leclerc himself – staggering for a driver whose single-lap skills and ability to prepare the car properly for a qualifying push are so often hailed as their greatest asset.

But also in Montreal, Leclerc unloaded in the media after Ferrari’s Q2 tyre strategy conservatism backfired. In drying conditions the team asked him to set a ‘banker’ lap on inters before changing to slicks. It ultimately wasn’t fast enough and the rain’s return scuppered his efforts on slicks.

“I had a clear opinion and a clear intuition, and we went for something opposite,” he said. “We are just making our life way too difficult.”

Even more damningly, he also called the drama a “****ty situation”. But Vasseur would later insist that such comments were understandable in the adrenaline-charged post-session moments – and that Leclerc had later said, “OK, I was wrong.” Yet the damage-control steps were obvious.

 

I don’t really disagree with any of this. He needs to find consistency.

 

To be honest, Alpine (road cars) has always been the poor parent in the Renault empire, and several PDGs (sorry CEOs) have even tried to kill it outright, like they did with Gordini. Now the brand has been resurrected and is already in trouble by lack of identity. France is the last country where to invest in sportscars or luxury cars. The home market is against it, the legislation taxes them to death, and many people sneer at them as a sign of excessive wealth which is unsufferable to many. All the famous names of the past (Delage, Delaye, Bugatti, Talbot, Facel Vega) have been eliminated, sometimes through government interference. I recently saw a report from a Polish journalist wondering why that he couldn't see more "nice cars" in the streets in France, like in Germany, Belgium, Italy or Great Britain. Interviewing people in the street, his research brought the conclusion that the French don't like ostentation, and are jealous of people who flaunt their wealth. So for Alpine to succeed in that environment would be a miracle: they have decided to reduce their yearly production from 4000 to 1500 cars per year !!!

 

You cannot compare a mass-market car company with a niche sportscars constructor.
The mentality, the ambition will never be the same.

 

I am unfamiliar with this. Do tell!

 

@ jpalmito
PS : The Alpine A110 is a very good machine with a wonderful chassis.

I don't doubt it by reading the road test reports, but it's a "one-off".
Renault brought back the name for a single model, and the next one will be electric.
Is that going to attract buyers ? How do you build loyalty among customers that way ?

 

w

The "Twingo" (the first generation) was a brilliant car (even if it didn't reach its intended customer at all).
Believe it or not, I actually would buy a "New Old Stock" 16 valve Twingo with full leather interior (a cousin of mine had one) over a 430 anyday, anytime. The 430 design is so bland; and bloated.
To me (but that's only me) after the 550 and the 355, road-going Ferraris meant nothing, absolutely nothing (except, perhaps, the 458...slightly) . The genius in design is lost. I don't even turn around when one passes by in the street.
The last great Ferrari was the 288 GTO.
A new contemporary Ferrari is just like a Vuitton or Chanel bag. The spirit of Ferrari is dead and gone, and has been so for quite sometime, so no, Renault and Ferrari are not that far, actually...
See Formula One; they suffer from the same disease.
A 16 valve "Twingo" over a 430 anytime; at least its fun.

Rgds

 

Like they say: "Whatever turns you on "

 

And I have to admit that the new Ferraris (= after the 550 /355) simply don't.
A sportscar has to be devilishly beautiful, small, light, only with the bare necessities, had good brakes and a great engines. (The "246 Dino comes to mind, even if it actually is "not that light " and "not that powerful", but the spirit is here)
Modern Ferraris are very far from that. To start with, they are not even pretty.
They do absolutely nothing for me.

Rgds

 

I do subscribe to the notion of ''it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow'' and that current cars are WAY too overpowered/heavy.

However...a 430 for me is still right on the verge of being in that perfect balance.