Mostly because Leclerc is not going to produce from day 1. They will need Vettel to develop the car - and provide a clear benchmark. I wish I was as slow as Vettel! he's still the best out there.
All he's further proven out is that he is over-rated and only capable of winning from the front of the grid in championship-capable equipment.
+1 a consistent mistake under pressure driving style this year and last. Also his race-craft is not at all the best on the grid. Those Red Bull glory days are long past relevance now. Ricci exposed him badly.
The days of drivers developing the car is nonsense. They have limited test days which junior drivers usually drive anyway. Driver input happens on practice days and race days...if you haven't noticed, Vettel hasn't been doing all that great in that regard. Car set up usually happens on those days, anyway. Drivers aren't engineers in the same way engineers aren't drivers. Gone are the days of Schumi banging out thousands of laps a year on Fiorano to find that extra tenth from a new doodad. If you recall, Schumi's return in the MB was hampered by his inability to do limitless testing....something he was given in spades at Ferrari before the FIA nixxed it.
And his inability to do simulators work as reportingly he is one of a certain percentage of people who are not able to do this due to their equilibrioception
I completely disagree. It’s not all about testing today- and don’t forget all the simulator work that goes on - you need a consistent driver for that. Not to mention that base line setup - seating steering etc... as well as systems integration etc all needs a driver who has that experience. Actual car testing is about working out systems for future development and how the car works with tire compounds Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
Of all the years to lose the championship this was the worst. They had the double in their hands if their strategy didn't fail in so many races.
Even if Vettel hadn't thrown it away in Germany and lost points in Italy, MB has made huge strides in the car over the last couple of races-nothing Vettel can do about that. Look at how fast They have gotten. It's all about the car, not the drivers. MB has simply out worked Ferrari.
That is so true, MB is miles ahead and when they are not they catch up at a rapid rate of knots and overtake back into the number one spot. Fact that they played a major role in the development of the current series and appear to be the pet of the FIA also has no bearing on their results does it?
I would not go that far but obviously the Mercedes had the best package from the beginning of the hybrid era and the regulations make it almost impossible to close that gap...Look how Honda struggled and Renault still is not up to date with their engine...and as it looks today (after this second sensor thing at the Ferrari) the Scuderia was only able to catch up for a while by "cheating" with their batteries. So the first half of the season only gave the illusion that they have a matching car, now it is all back to normal. I think during this hybrid era no other car than a Mercedes will win any titles...
It would not be unfair to call the series Formula Mercedes since the hybrid V6 era. They defined much, if not most, of the formula.
Exactly. One of the main problems of the Scuderia is that they have lost a lot of their political power. Compare to the Todt-Brown-Schumacher era...
Ferrari need to concentrate on who’s coming ONTO the team, and not necessarily who is throwing in the towel. The pit strategy people need to up their game and not rely on some outdated notions of what to do. Clearly Seb was getting too involved, and he isn’t Michael, so he ****ed up, but at least he was trying - the actual people paid to do it don’t seem to give a damn Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
It does appear that strategy is a Ferrari weakness- coupled with Vettel not able to always control emotions... if you look at Hamilton he has ultimate confidence that the team will do the right things at the right time - even when questioning them on the radio... I don’t think it’s the same at Ferrari Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
What I don't understand is that all of us armchair strategists see what is happening without the vast data that they have available and we see when they make the wrong call by simply what we see on TV perhaps they should give some of us a go as we can't screw it up worse than what the so called experts currently are doing. Hamilton simply relies on the pit 100% and just concentrates on driving as that is what he is paid to do. If he thinks something is not right he radios is given an explanation and just continues driving. Vettel knows that the pit call is not always right so his concentration is split between strategy and driving. Schumi had the natural talent to work out strategy as he drove.
Vettel should just shut up and do whatever the team wants, this team have been buggering up races for decades ....... as Kimi is want to say "I know what I'm doing !!"
So, in Japan yet again ferrari prove their strategy team is utterly useless.... the thread title is right. But fire the strategists as well. Shambles. Merc must be laughing sooo hard.
It's always amazing how in this day and age, with accurate weather forecasting, advanced real time radar, etc. how F1 teams (and Ferrari in particular) know rain is predicted, rain is coming, rain is imminent but when the rain finally arrives, they are completely wrong footed. Seems as though Lena Gade may be available. If it were me, I'd be making calls to her immediately. BHW
Ferrari should give liberty and the FIA what they want..... announce as of the next race, they are going to concentrate on development parts for the next season, happy with second, forget the title race. Why bother, the FIA keep shackling us with changes to things that suit Mercedes and take back any improvements we make, so let them have their bias highlighted. Take away the challenge for the last few races, viewers will switch off and tickets won’t get sold.... since over half of F1 fans are Ferrari F1 fans, the sport will then be shown as the biased, pre-ordained crap that it is right now, and liberty/FIA will have to sit up and take notice and stop the fakery and bias, and let racing resume, or the sport will be killed off by their incompetence and blatant bias. It then gives ferrari more time to try to correct their issues for next season, and if the governing bodies actually change things to encourage competition and stop pandering to some behind the scenes agreement of titles for Mercedes, maybe we will get s fair run at thing. The removal of our aero advances on the basis Mercedes can’t design a counter, Mercedes spec tyres, lack of disciplinary action for transgressions of Mercedes, removal of engine developments all need to be stopped and reversed, it’s all designed to keep Mercedes in number one spot.....pure manipulation. It’s not dominance as per ferrari in the early 2000’s, that was because ferrari spent more and did much more testing, this is dominance due to manipulation of the rules and a lack of tolerance towards all teams bar the one that is chosen to win from 2014 to date
