Autosport reporting he quit, going back to where he came from—McLaren. Probably jumped before he got pushed.
I think it's more than coincidence that Ferrari's season starts off with the same, or even aero problems than before, and Sanchez is announced as "leaving" just days after. I said that 2023 would be decisive for the Ferrari technical department, and Sanchez and Cardile particularly. They've yet to make a championship level car that can compete with the likes of Mercedes or Red Bull over the course of a season. Sanchez getting the boot might indicate that Ferrari know the SF-23 has fundamental design flaws that can't be corrected for a championship run, and so the design department is being held accountable for not only failing to correct last years design issues, but perhaps making them worse. Might just be a palace revolt at Ferrari, as there was in 95-96'.
Ferrari should never have parted ways with Aldo Costa...but i guess we can thank Alonso for that..... One thing i don't recall anyone mentioning was how well both Ferraris launched of the line, like two rockets, that was a big improvement from last year!
Ferrari have a ton of design talent on their bench they could promote, or they could poach somebody from Red Bull like Aston did. Hell, they might recruit somebody that's already on the LMH car project. Or an all of the above approach could take place.
Well, it's better to start well, than to start slow! Last year car was bad at starting races, pitstops were crap, strategy a disaster....all these problems had to be adressed, and in this first race i would say everything went impecable on thse areas.....now we need reliability and more speed....
It's not that easy poaching someone from another team like Aston did with RedBull. For Ferrari to poach someone from another team, that individual has to move himself, and family(if any) to Italy.
If i were living in England you bet your life i would pack and move to Italy! At least there they know what food is!
I don't get the concern about Italy. This isn't the mid 2000's. Designers do much of their work from their personal homes if they want to. Most of the UK team designers aren't constantly at the factory. When there was in season testing, living in Italy was something Todt required. Now? It's not an issue.
Oh I agree. Telecommunications and tele networking can all be done from home...at least I think it can when it comes to F1....but I digress.
..I see this on Autosport: The timing of Sanchez's departure is far from ideal, with Ferrari already facing a challenge in trying to work out how to close down the gap to Red Bull after the disappointment of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. With senior figures at other teams all likely to need to see out a lengthy period of gardening leave, Ferrari will almost certainly need to shuffle staff internally to make up for his absence in the short term. Sanchez himself is also likely to need to take a lengthy period of gardening leave too before being able to work elsewhere, with his next destination not yet confirmed.
He made some good cars, although not great cars. That you said about working from home... forget about it, they're not allowed to get a single sketch out of the factory, so they won't want anybody having data in their home computer. Also we're talking about managerial roles here, not the guys who push the buttons at the CAD computer. And now you'll say that John Barnard, blah, blah... That didn't work either, and I still think it's easier to move some guys than a factory.
In 2005, when he was in charge with Tombazis, thats when things started to go downhill, They never recovered and where lucky to win in 2008
This ! The John Barnard experience in Guildford was a failure in the end. Fact is for now the SF23 project is a mechanical and an aero failure. I don’t buy Vasseur’s explanation about set-up problems. In the end Sanchez wasn’t enough good for the job. To add something, in this formula one the providential men doesn’t exist, even Newey. Red Bull dominates now because the whole group of engineers is better. Period.
+1 We are back to the same problem: Ferrari is isolated and may not attact many engineers from abroad. Not everyone wants to uproot his family to come to Italy where the chances of another job outside Ferrari are remote. Some did it of course, but I think it's a deterrent for many.
Despite speculation Charles Leclerc’s Bahrain retirement was caused by his SF-23’s battery or even a wiring loom gone wrong, Marc Gene says it looks as if it was the combustion engine.
