Jean Todt "Ferrari is moving Backwards" | FerrariChat

Jean Todt "Ferrari is moving Backwards"

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by beast, Jul 11, 2005.

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  1. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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  2. ricksb

    ricksb F1 Veteran

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    He was referring to the diminished performance as the race weekend advanced during Magny Cours and Silverstone. He did seem to REALLY infer that the tyres are the problem with the car's performance. He said it was not the aero package, then he said that Jordan and Minardi were no real help for them in determining an approach to getting quicker (with no disrespect meant...yeah, right).

    Pretty obvious that they are now starting to point the finger in the same way most tifosi have been for the entire season. Unless they plan to switch to Michelin's, there's probably no reason to pursue this angle.
     
  3. Admiral Thrawn

    Admiral Thrawn F1 Rookie

    Jul 2, 2003
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    'Ferrari disaster!'

    12 July 2005

    That's how the influential Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport headlined the results of Sunday's British GP.

    'The cars are slow,' the article read, 'the strategy incomprehensible, and the errors too frequent. The world champion team is in crisis.'

    Another Italian publication, Tuttosport, gasped at the fact that 'Schumacher, Barrichello and Todt fail to give explanations or suggest solutions.'

    And, with Michael Schumacher all but ceding his eighth successive drivers' championship, Ferrari principal Jean Todt joined the German in describing the Scuderia's 'backwards' progress.

    'It's not just the aerodynamics,' said the Frenchman, 'because if it was, we would never be able to do a quick time.

    'It's up to us, together with Bridgestone, to analyse the problem.

    'I don't know if we can react in a very short time. But it's a new challenge, for sure.'

    Schumacher test drove Ferrari's F430 road car at Fiorano on Monday.

    -------------------------------------

    These are the same Italian papers that put enormous pressure on Ferrari and Michael in the late 90's during their quest for the championship.
     
  4. dretceterini

    dretceterini F1 Veteran

    Apr 28, 2004
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    In Italy it's a disaster if Ferrari doesn't win ever race. This is nothing new.
     
  5. pistole

    pistole Formula Junior

    Jan 31, 2005
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    Malaysia
    yeah right.

    are you watching the same F1 series as everyone else ?
     
  6. imperial83

    imperial83 F1 Rookie
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    May 14, 2004
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    Direct Quote from Jean Todt:
    "Then again I’ve been in much more difficult situations: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, so all of those and part of 1999; all those were more difficult.”

    Source Ferrari Press
     
  7. Koby

    Koby Formula 3

    Dec 14, 2003
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    As much as I am a fan of Ferrari, THANK GOD somebody else has FINALLY stepped forward and decided to win a race or two. Five years of complete domination was getting a little boring. :D
     
  8. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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    it is simple what JT is saying is we are quick out of the trailer on friday but as the other teams start to refine the setup of the car, Ferrari cannot improve upon the F2005.

    It is quite obvious that the F2005 the car with a lot of versitility in its setup configuration has only one sweet spot. As they change it to suit the track better or to preserve the tires for race distance they are losing grip and the car loses speed.

    The season is all but lost for Ferrari all they are doing is racing for the best of the rest. McLaten and Renault got the equation correct for the new rules everyone else did not. The same happened in 97 when a blind monkey( JV ) could have driven the Williams to victory. Or the first year of the narrow track width cars when Mika became unstoppable.

    Even if Ferrari were to switch to Michelin and make the changes to the chassis to work with those tires they would still be behind the McLarens and Renaults.

    It is time for Ferrari to stop refining upon the car and start to make radical changes to everthing. Sure the same thing bit McLaren in the A$$ a couple of years ago but look at the results the MP20/4 is in a league by itself.
     
  9. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Even the German Bildzeitung, a die hard Schumacher supporter finally dared to question Michael's constant "It isn't over yet." statements.

    It is, get with the program and start working on the 2006 car.
     
  10. ScuderiaRossa

    ScuderiaRossa Formula 3
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    According to Todt, its "lack of grip." Not necessarily aero grip, either. What can they do; Bridgestone has been a great partner during the good times?
     
  11. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    In an interview with an Italian newspaper Todt admitted, that "we won't make it", meaning he has given up on the title for this year as well.

    I consider that actually a relief. Now they can focus on next year and arrive at the first race with the new season's car.
     
  12. Formula 1

    Formula 1 Formula 3

    Feb 20, 2005
    1,525
    Not for me it wasn't.....I wanna see Ferrari dominate a whole decade so that I can buy the book on it in........" FERRARI 10 YEARS OF F1 DOMINANCE " :)
     
  13. Admiral Thrawn

    Admiral Thrawn F1 Rookie

    Jul 2, 2003
    3,932
    Hmm, the results don't really back up what Todt is saying.

    1994 and 1995 - I'd have to agree with Todt, Ferrari were nowhere, despite Michael saying at the end of the season when he first tested the '95 Ferrari F1 car, that it was quicker than the Benetton B195! They only won one race that year, and one in 1994. Both years they finished 3rd in the championship, a good 30 points behind second place Williams both seasons. Still, they were around 30 points ahead of 4th place McLaren both years, so thing weren't really that terrible. They weren't close to contending the top two positions, but they were in no danger of losing 3rd.

    1996 - Schumacher, Brawn, Byrne, and several other people from Benetton all moved to Ferrari. 1996 was really the baby steps for the new 'dream team', and despite the '96 Ferrari car being a shocker, they still managed to win 3 Grands Prix and finish second in the championship, albeit only two points ahead of Benetton, who didn't win a single race that season (despite 11 victories and both championships the previous year!).
    It was an interesting situation in 1996, because for the pevious few years, Williams had been battling fiercely against the Benetton dream team, but once all the top people left for Ferrari, Benetton was left as a shell of its former self, fell to pieces and never recovered before being bought out by Renault in 2001. This, along with the fact that the Ferrari were still becoming reestablished, the Williams team completely ran away with the championship, winning 12 races and beating second place Ferrari by a massive 105 points.

    1997 - 5 wins, 2nd in the championship, 21 points behind 1st place Williams and 35 points clear of third place Benetton.

    1998 - 6 wins, 2nd in the championship 23 points behind first place McLaren, but a massive 95 points ahead of 3rd place Williams. 1998 was really a two horse race between McLaren and Ferrari.

    1999 - 6 wins, 2nd in the drivers championship by a measly 2 points (Mika Hakkinen 74, Eddie Irvine 72), and 2nd in the constructors championship, again by only 4 points, and a mega 63 points ahead of 3rd place Jordan.

    If Michael hadn't been out of 7 races with a broken leg, they would have won several more races and both championships for sure.

    So overall, I'd say that 1997, 1998 and 1999 were significantly better than 2005 for Ferrari. In those years, they were always among the top two teams (either Williams vs Ferrari or McLaren vs Ferrari) battling amongst each other, way ahead of the rest of the field.

    1996 was a bit of an odd year as Williams clearly dominated without any real competition (McLaren 1988, Ferrari 2002 and 2004), so it's not worth comparing based on results alone. But in terms of Michael's career at Ferrari, it's the closest to this year. One plus for Ferrari in '96 was that even though there was no way they could compete with Williams, they were still the 'best of the rest' and finished second. 2005 is one of those 'two horse race' years, and I can't see Ferrari finishing better than third in the constructors.

    1995 seems to be on par with where they are now in terms of competitiveness and results (even though the team was completely different then), down in third with no prospect of battling amongst the top two, who are now Renault and McLaren.
     
  14. Mr Payne

    Mr Payne F1 Rookie

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    I think 95 is the closest season to compare. If one looks at qualifying positions on tracks that appear in both 95 & 05......neither car has a better qualifying record.
     
  15. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    I read some more disturbing news in which the team said they no longer understand the car. They change something and it works and the next day it doesn't anymore.

    Also did you guys notice that they went to Paul Ricard for testing? What's that all about when you have Fiorano and Mugello in the backyard? Sounds like a desperate search for answers they don't find on home ground.

    I said they'd win one this year and thought it'd be Monza. I think I'll take that back. Indy might turn out to be the only "win" this year.
     
  16. Senna1994

    Senna1994 F1 World Champ

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    Ferrari won the Constructors Championship in 1999. Barnard designed the 96 Ferrari. Brawn and Bryne did not go to Ferrari until 1997. In 94 and 95 Ferrari were a lot more competitive than they had been for the previous 3 years, but they still were way behind Williams and Benetton.
     
  17. DeSoto

    DeSoto F1 Veteran

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    Yeah, fully agree, I´d buy that book too...
     
  18. DeSoto

    DeSoto F1 Veteran

    Nov 26, 2003
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    Many people say that Fiorano it´s not a good track to test the speed of a F1 car, it´s mostly used to check reliability. And Mugello... well, nobody uses only one track for testing, so it´s not so strange to see them testing at Paul Ricard...

    Well, I don´t know, just speculating...
     
  19. Admiral Thrawn

    Admiral Thrawn F1 Rookie

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    Thanks for the clarification.

    I did know Ferrari won the Constructors in '99, stupid typo there.

    As for Brawn and Bryne, I'm surprised they left it till '97 to join Ferrari (I presume they left at the end of '96 and were at Ferrari in preparation for the '97 season). I thought they followed Michael right away. If what you're saying is correct, why was the Benetton so bad in '96? Was it simply because they didn't have Michael?

    Agree on your last point about '94 and '95. I just mentioned those years because I was relating my answer to what Jean Todt was saying.
     
  20. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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  21. rfking

    rfking Formula Junior

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    My wife made the most insightful comment this evening during our conversation about the difference between this season and past ones. She commented that no longer is Michael able to stay out - or come out - of a pit stop and pound out the fast laps to build up the lead necessary to be first.

    The difference? JT spends his time in the pits with his new girlfriend instead of working pit startegies!

    What do you think? Brain in pants?
     
  22. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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    Ross Brawn comes up with the race strategy not JT.
     
  23. rfking

    rfking Formula Junior

    Nov 16, 2003
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    Your explanation then?
     
  24. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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    Plain and simple Ferrari did not do there homework and they are paying the price right now.

    the car/tire/engine package is not on the same level with Renault and Mclaren.

    On top of this Ferrari is falling behind Toyota and BMW in developing next years V8 engine. I feel that this year is just the start of a downhill slide :(
     

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