I would like to see Leclerc and Ferrari finish 2nd in the WDC and WCC respectively. Take a page out of the Mercedes Brazil 2021 playbook--install a rocket motor in Leclerc's car, serve the grid spot penalty and go for it.
A Brazilian friend in work told me there is poiltical protests after the election results. They’re blocking the main roads in the whole country. The International Guarulhos airport, which is the one close to Interlagos, is already having a lot of problems with cancellations.So it wont be just Ferrari
The interview with Binotto on the F1 website is all the proof anyone will ever need that he should be fire...immediately. He does not know how to win, and therefor he should not be leading a racing team. His brain is so pathetic, is must be an example of the evolutionary DNA decline in Italy since the Roman Empire.
Started with the fastest car, then spend all his time talking about Red Bull, whilst Mercedes pulled a fast one on him. Now at serious risk of losing 2nd place to Mercedes of all teams. The same mercedes that was a second a lap down in Bahrain. Meanwhile Binotto is standing there with his clownsuit on pointing everywhere else but his own mistakes. He is completely inept. At the start of the season they had the fastest car, gradually becoming equal best and then completely losing it. To have won only 4 races out of 16 to date is a pathetic result, and they don't look like they'll be doing anything like winning the next 2 races, either. And Ferrari now already talks about being championship ready in 2026...as if this is some sort of accomplishment?! **** that, 2 years ago Ferrari claimed to focus fully on the 2022 car to win that championship. 2 full years went by in order to get rid of the mistakes. The piss poor strategy. They've done **** all. Actually, worse than that. They've given them multiple free passes. Not like they had to use them, as Binotto is waving his arms about saying they did nothing wrong. I'm against constant regime changes but for the love of God, get someone competent in that team and whip it into shape. And yes, that won't be an instant return on investment. But they'll actually be championship ready by 2026, and not find ever more idiotic ways of pissing it away.
Come on, calm down. Ferrari never had a superior car, equal to Red Bull at best. Red Bull has developed better, true; let´s hope they don´t find something fishy in their books again. Mercedes is close only because they have an old proven engine, while Ferrari´s is brand new, and as they said, they had to prioritize speed vs reliability. Strategies are a PITA, but that´s the easiest part to fix. Politics always have been playing against Ferrari lately, the last one the TD39; Mercedes and Red Bull have made FIA their whore, and that´s going to be hard to change. And to be fair, they even don´t have luck. Latifi molesting when they had to do a fast out lap, Russell having a brain fade at the worst moment, rain when things were under control. And Verstappen has made the same mistakes than Leclerc (Spain, Hungary, Singapore) but without points loss... So in the end, yes, a lot of work to do, but the points table doesn´t reflect the whole situation. Probably they wouldn´t be in contention for the title anyway, but with a few things here and there, they would have 7 or 8 wins and an easy 2nd place.
Ferrari had the fastest car first 6 races (just), then it became more RB (just) and post TD39, it was all RB. Strategies for Ferrari have been piss poor ever since Brawn & co left, if it was so easy to fix...why haven't they? RB was completely against TD39, that's all Mercedes Ferrari in all likelyhood would've lost the title regardless, but to brush aside Binotto's constant mistakes is not acceptable. He refuses to even acknowledge them but is certainly an expert in what RBR and Merc is doing. Master of deflection he seems to be.
Add Charles to the list and certainly a factor with mistakes poorly timed. He still mistake prone. Also does anyone think he will stay at less than optimum Ferrari for 4 more years lol ???
If Lewis extends his contract Charles won't have anywhere to go realistically, but if a seat like that does open up I can see him go. The man has championships to win. I'm 100% convinced he wants to do that with Ferrari more than any other team, but even he will take a shot at a title with another team if Ferrari keeps this shambles up.
Ferrari was only superior to Red Bull at Australia, Monaco, Austria (2nd race) and maybe another one I´m missing. In the rest they were tied or behind: Saudi Arabia, Miami, San Marino and other of the first races were Red Bull´s. You can´t blame Binotto for everything that has happened since Brawn left. But anyway, Ferrari had good strategies since then, actually this year has been probably the worst of the decade, but in 2020 and 2021 they did well with the crap of car they had. Anyway, I don´t get this fixation about strategy (actually I get it: it´s easier to be an armchair strategist than an armchair engineer). Mercedes has a history of piss poor strategies too, it´s just that most of the time they went unnoticed because they had a rocket, but now it looks like Ferrari are the only ones that are getting it wrong, and in that respect, Binotto is right. He´s not only covering his ass, but his crew´s.
He and Lando and others have no choice. Team "loyalty" does not make certain F1 title success. I give him 2 more years at the maximum if Ferrari do not significantly improve. I also have no faith that Executive level Ferrari Management will do much more than state what they have already. I do not expect severe or direct action from them. I expect LH to leave after 2 more years. I see no further titles for him. I do think if LH stayed Mercedes could also move George along as well. All is possible to make room for Charles if Mercedes wanted to employ him.
Good points. With a superior car in all regimes, 'strategy' can tend to create its own opportunities, and the car can mitigate mistakes in strategy.
Binotto cannot draw much comfort seeing his team regressing all through the year. At Mexico, the Ferraris finished around 1 minute behind the winner. That's a huge gap for a team that was competing for wins realier in the season !
I don't blame Binotto for everything, he in a way inherited a regime. He did great with the engine gray area 2018/2019 (it's F1, see a loophole, go for it), but I don't understand not developing a fully compliant engine alongside. Only an idiot would think they'd get away with it forever. He's been at the company more than long enough to know the strategy has been a huge problem for a long time now. How it hasn't been addressed is beyond me. Yes it's easy being an armchair expert, but you know what's worse? When the armchair expert actually calls the strategy right...Time and time again. Monaco was just mindblowingly stupid. To then back it up with so many strategy mistakes like Silverstone, France, hungary...I'm sure I missed a few, is just not acceptable. And Binotto is standing there saying everything is A-ok. Everyone makes mistakes. Red Bull did too, this year (Singapore was amazing how they fumbled that), but it's important to learn from it. I don't ask binotto to throw the team under the bus. Everyone knew 2020 and 2021 were going to be lost years. Cool, they made a great car in that time. No complaints from me, certainly. But it takes more than just a great car to win titles. The whole organization needs to run smoothly. How it wasn't addressed in the 2 lost years is beyond me. That's my issue, and that's where I hold Binotto, as team principal of 4 years, and Ferrari company man for nearly 30, absolutely responsible. He's seen the bad times, he's seen how it's supposed to be done in the good...and he's seen the downfall. Surely he sees where it went wrong? And yes you are absolutely right that Mercedes has made plenty of mistakes before....we've all seen that and commented on it over the years, whenever their playbook is affected (everything goes perfect and we vin ze race), chaos likely ensued and they looked like idiots. They did so again at Mexico...they saw from Austin that the Hard against Medium strategy for RB wouldn't work, yet did it in Mexico, with both cars despite one begging to do the medium-soft strategy, with nothing to lose!
Mexico was a low point for several particularities of that race, but at Austin, if it wasn't for Russell making a crickey, Sainz could have won thanks to Red Bull's bad pit stop. Leclerc even beat one of the Mercedes starting 12th. As said, a lot of work to do, but the points doesn't reflect the perfomance of the team.
Yikes! Didn't know that. Just googled him and realized he and I went to the same school at around the same time. I need a new identity.
