Skill, Dedication, ruthless, hot headed and determined makes a World Champion in the right car. MV has all those qualities although I dont like the guy for some reason. A great world champion has all of those qualities but has humility as a extra bonus. Schumacher had that. Tony
To realise that any carmaker has a limited shelf life, you just have to look at 3 brands of high-street luxury/sports cars that were successful in motor racing not so long ago, and have not only disappeared from the tracks, but are barely exiting as road car manufacturers: Lancia, Alfa Romeo, and Jaguar. Lancia was rally champion for a few years, had an endurance team rival to Porsche at one time; now it only markets puny cars in Italy, FIAT under the skin. Alfa Romeo, multi champion of touring cars, a rival to Mercedes and BMW in the DTM when Larini took the title. Alfa also had an endurance team and won the championship, later had a F1 team as well. Now under the Stelantis umbrella, Alfa sells rebadged FIAT or low-cost Maserati SUVs, with not one coupe or convertible in their range. Jaguar, champion in touring cars, Bathurst winner, twice Le Mans winner, then had a F1 team. Now Jaguar doesn't know where it's going; the sales are catastropically dropping, the cars are ageing and the electric replacement coming in ... 2025, may not save them in time. Last I heard, Jaguar wants to relaunch itself as a rival to ... Bentley, with an all-electric range ... I won't hold my breath on that!
I thought Michael was humble when it was called for. There were great moments between him and Mika that I will always remember and treasure. Michael is still my favorite of all time.
We have to say the full electrification path is a total nonsense for luxury automotive brands. Nobody would accept to pay a swatch the same price compared with a patek.. Even new wealthy generation.
We will see in years to come how the luxury automotive brands cope with the legislation in the EU. Most manufacturers have already plans to electrify; some accept it publicly, some hide it from their customers, encouraging the belief that "it will never happen", or entertain the idea that bio-fuel will save the ICE. Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Rolls-Royce, Bentley and even Bugatti are going fully electric very shortly, Maserati will follow, AFAIK. So Jaguar would be in very good company, IF they can pull it off. But I don't know about Ferrari, or Lamborghini. There will be a lot more than the powertrain to consider to differentiate entry-level cars from luxury ones once every maker goes electric, IMO.
Sorry to disagree but for a lot of sportscar lovers powertrain is everything. If Ferrari for instance stop to produce V12 in the midterm, Ferrari as a brand won’t be exist anymore to my eyes. I really hope they will find a way to save ICE.
I expect to see the prices of ICE enthusiast cars increase once new ones are no longer available. The most desirable ones will probably be the ones that are currently the most desirable.
"There will be a lot more than the powertrain to consider to differentiate entry-level cars from luxury ones once every maker goes electric, IMO." You didn't read this properly. Once all cars are electric, luxury cars will all have near identical electric motors, of different power and technology, of course, I guess. So luxury car makers will have to work more on quality, design, and craftmanship to justify the price difference with the mass market vehicles, just like the top end watchmakers already do today. V12? I am sure most Ferraris today are V8 or V6 turbos already. Does that affect the sales? Probably not. I think Ferrari isn't far from dropping the V12.
Many conflicting informations regarding how long ICE cars will "tolerated" after their sale is terminated in Europe from1935. I have read 1940 , and 1950 in another article, but with a stricter emission test apparently, so keep your rechargeable hybrid if you have one. In the long term, there could be a provision for keeping cars of "historical value" on the road for events, parades, rallyes, etc ..., but no as daily drivers; the EU is still very vague on that subject.
Ferrari has big problem: 'British engineers have been scared off' Ferrari has big problem: 'British engineers have been scared off' - GPblog Peter Windsor discusses the tricky situation that multiple F1 race winner Charles Leclerc finds himself in in a video on YouTube. In passing, the Briton addresses a major problem facing Ferrari. Namely, it is not easy to bring in good personnel for the Italian team. Ferrari struggles to strengthen At Ferrari, sporting and organisational matters are not in order. The team is competing sporadically for podium finishes with Leclerc. A bummer for the talented Monegasque who was hailed as the next Ferrari champion in 2019 when he came to the team. Organisationally, things are also very messy at the team. And that would greatly affect the team's sporting form, according to Windsor. Frederic Vasseur has been at the helm at the Scuderia since 2024, replacing Mattia Binotto. Instead of strengthening the team, it seems staff are mostly walking away. Windsor sees that there is a big problem for Ferrari. Windsor: "It is a unique problem to Ferrari, reallly, compared to the British-based teams. It is very difficult to get people to work for Ferrari, these days." Firing Allison at Ferrari has put people off Windsor says that is partly because of the Brexit and continues: "There are [also] so many contractual restraints that's preventing them [staff] from doing that. The teams are very protective. It's very difficult to get them to go to work for Ferrari. I think there is still a little bit of nervousness in the F1 world about the way Ferrari sacked James Allison at the time." Windsor insinuates that apart from the practical difficulties of getting staff at Ferrari, there is also a resentment among British F1 staff to work at the Scuderia. Windsor: "As good as Allison is, Ferrari sacked him. There was a time, when he was going through a lot of personal agony after the passing away of his wife. It was the reality that Ferrari actually just did sack him sent. That kind of scared a lot of good English, British-based engineers into not going there."
Dropping the V12 for Ferrari would be a HUGE mistake believe me.. Better for them to develop a brand new one compatible with green fuel for instance..
You have your reasons which is great but dont confuse being ruthless and arrogant. There are a number of World Champions who were complete prima donnas and considered themselves "saints" .......Mansell came across as one of those, but from what i hear outside of the cockpit he (M.Sch) is a humble person. Best Tony
Exactly the reason why i said SF need to be UK based ! Was JA sacked? I thought he quit to go back to the UK.
Windsor once again, doesn't know what he's talking about. Allison quit Ferrari to be closer to his family. He was feeling isolated after he's wife's death. Not exactly an F1 secret, so IDK what Windsor is on about.
The ICE isn't going anywhere any time soon. It's going to be a player in the automotive world with other alternatives to petrol engines, as electric will not be able to accommodate the entire EU's automotive needs, much less the entire worlds. The EU are living in a fantasy land with their goals. I say this as a climate warrior myself.
That's a loooong ways off. I think we're talking a good 15 years, best case scenario. IMHO, I think electric cars are more likely to take care over around 2040ish.
Jenson Button was humble, but that's the only F1 champ I've seen be so. Schumacher, Senna, Prost, Hamilton, Mikka, etc, were all arrogant. As one has to be to win in racing. F1 ain't a movie. One has to have an ego to win.
Er, Schumi was always a team player and never washed dirty laundry in public. That's a quality F1 bosses really appreciate. Most drivers can't keep their mouths shut publicly when they get hot under the collar.
