Luca Montezezmolo has had enough...

i don't think we should all be hitting the panic button now. if we all looked at the last 5 races, it's clear that Ferrari could have won all 5. besides Aussie and Germany, the team could have swept all.

however, i think what Luca is getting panicked is the way the team is giving away wins. Monaco and Silverstone for example, caused Ferrari precious points. i really don't know what happened in Germany, but it's really odd how Mclaren are almost 2 seconds quicker than Ferrari. something is really wrong here, gievn the fact that Ferrari last won here in 2006, and Mclaren last won here in 1998?

plus, i don't think the team was off the pace during testing last week at Hockenheim. i think, it's just one of those bad weekends Ferrari had. nothing to panic at the moment, however, i just hope Ferrari won't make stupid mistakes like Monaco, Silverstone, and that drive in for Kimi for failing to put on his tyres on time etc. we should win those races, and use those as damage limitation in case the team goes into a slump like Germany.

 

LdM is no-one's fool, he oversaw Niki's wins and orchestrated this era, I wouldn't want anyone else in charge of ferrari

he is a lawyer though, so every silver lining has a cloud

 

But it's an official "Ferrari" etch-a-sketch. (They were all in *red*, remember.)

 

Touche!

 

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but your sequence of events differs from how I saw it. At the end of the day, team management is fumbling their way through the season and seemingly have no link to the efficiency and strategic command of the last regime. When Hamilton ends up as WDC, I think you'll see what the rest of us do.

 

Spot on. Luca's dick waving contest has come back to slap him in the face !

 

Come on guys Italians have never been good at looking and preparing for the future, why should Ferrari be any different?

I went on about this back in like 2002. This is why Ferrari's fortunes go in peeks and troughs. We have had the peek, now we're sliding down ... 2007 was a fluke.

Get used to it, Ferrari probably won't be winning for a few years yet ... and like it or not it IS good for the sport.
Pete

 

funny, the Roman Empire ran for some time , longer than anyone of this board could pay attention

Ferrari planned very well for their future, they have to move on sooner or later and once the wins return all this rubbish will be forgotten and everyone can get back to bashing Massa for only winning because it's dry

 

But did fizzle out.

Lets see:
1. Ferrari ran front engined cars longer than everybody else (ignoring Aston Martin's pathetic attempt ...).
2. Ferrari ran with drum brakes longer than anybody.
3. Ferrari were the last (even after Brabham) to use a monocoque chassis. Even their 80's F1 cars was not really a monocoque.
4. Ferrari ran with out proper ground effects longer than anybody, due to their anquish at not using their beloved 3 ltr flat 12 engine.
5. Ferrari ran with v12 engines longer than anybody. Compromising their race package.
6. Alfa Romeo produced cars with the same engine design from the late 50's until the late 90's ... yeah they plan ahead not.
7. Ducati are doing the same, just making it bigger ... when a v4 model range would sell like hot cakes.
8. Many Italians still don't wear seat belts.
9. Ferrari production cars are still produced with unnecessarily large engines that don't make sense with the current world ... oh hang on GM and Ford still do that
10. ...

Yeah Italians are really adaptive to change
Pete

 

Italians are swinging voters, they voted for the rest of the world in WWI and went with the Germans in WWII
Ferrari and Ducati sell all their cars and have waiting lists
Ferrari's flat 12 won 2 WDC when all the garagisti were running Ford Cosworths due to "their" adaptive thinking
Alfa engines were some of the most advanced engines of their time
the flat 12 was prohibitive towards the ground effects, hence Ferrari using JMB of the FIA to get rid of it
seat belts are for people that don't know how to drive, it's an admission that you're useless and capable of an accident

now, let's start on kiwi car manufacturers ................................................ <sound of crickets>

 

McLaren cars made some good race cars back in the Bruce days ... before Project 4 took over (ie. Ron Dennis).

Now lets start on Aussie car manufacturers ...................................<sound of better cricket players> . And sorry Holden is just a branch of GM doing what it is told, and unfortunately listening .
Pete

 

I don´t know if Lewis Hamilton will win this season or not. But I seriously doubt that the old Ferrari team could do better than the current stuff. They were not infalible as many said, they had really big mistakes, and they had difficult seasons (2003, despite they won, was a season with many highs and lows, just like 2007 or this one, and what could we say about 2005 and 2006). It´s clear that in 2007 or 2008 Scuderia Ferrari is not the same than in 2004, but it´s not so different than in 2003 or 2006, so the slide began before the stuff changed.

By the way: do you remember were the McLaren was just a month ago? Things can turn around very quickly in Formula 1...

 

if we JUST talk race cars then Brabham cars won the WDC and WCC well before BE bought the team, Jack won the WDC 3 times and Denny Hulme (NZer) won it once driving Jack's cars.

Jack also used homegrown engineering for the engine, he didn't go looking for a garagisti engine like the poms (well the BRM was SO successful afterall ) and it was good enough to beat Ferrari, Honda and all the others at the pinnacle of motorsport

Holden was bought out but continued to manufacture cars here designed by our guys and export the cars to the US and UK as Pontiacs and Vauxhauls, so as a 'branch of GM' they aren't doing too bad

There have been numerous attempts at sports cars over the years, Bollwell, Elfin, Nota, Joss, etc but nothing of any substantial numbers or any great longevity but they were some good cars for their era.

Sorry if it seems I'm coming over with an anti-Kiwi tone but had one of your compatriots give me a hard time today when he was in the wrong and tried to laugh it off when he was proved wrong - typical of some of your boys who think they know everything

Anyway, we must catch up for that beer when I'm next in Sydney

 

Well, EVERYBODY produces unnecessarily large engines today.

We could even say that Ferrari´s are small if we compare them to those 7 liters or 6 liters-turbocharged Mercedes.

 

Reminds me a bit of the conversation in "Grand Prix" between Manetta (the "Enzo Ferrari" character) and lead driver Sarti. Do you blame the car, or the people?:

Manetta: The question is, Jean-Pierre, what are you doing to do about it?
Sarti: Do? I don't understand.
Manetta: The time for losing comes to every man, of course. I had not expected yours to come so soon.
Sarti: There have been problems with the car!
Manetta: Come, come, Sarti. I expect excuses like that from lesser men than you.

 

You don't need to educate me on anything in regards to Brabham, read the books, know the story and have respect for what he achieved.

Little respect for Holden though ... LOL ... never been my sort of car. My parents for a brief time owned a Sunbird ... that killed any enthusiams for Holden completely dead.

Yeah one day ... I'm not going anywhere .

Pete