+1 Ferrari isn't the same team as it was, although it lives in the same walls, to keep tradition. Ferrari re-invents itself all the time, and there are several eras in its long racing history. After all, it's a team that went through several owners, and (so far) 22 different team managers !
I don’t take offense to anyone disagreeing, just your pedantic and needlessly argumentative babbling. You don’t have a larger point to make, only a goal to be contrarian. The Scuderia is competing for the F1 world champion and they will either win or lose. See Chris the goal is the same and they will achieve it or not. Yes, we can and should compare. What is your point? None. Reliability played a role in the championship then and now. That’s the point. They need to improve their recent lack of reliability. If you think Ferrari had the better car in 1999 and 2000 then you clearly haven’t watched the races. The on-boards tell the story. The McMerc smooth and on rails, and the Ferrari by comparison sawing at the wheel. Also remember Schumacher pulling off the drivers line into the damp part of the track to cool his tires? No, because you didn’t watch it. They didn’t have the best car until 2001-2004. Do you watch the lap comparisons? Generally speaking the RB is faster in the straights and the Ferrari faster in the turns. SO if the track has more straights who do you think will be faster, or if it has more turns who do you think will be faster? RB had their reliability issues early in the season and have seemingly got them under control. Unfortunately Ferrari reliabilities have hit mid season which is worse timing for the Scuderia. Again you aren’t making a point. I and everyone on the planet can see that they aren’t operating as a team at the level they should. You see in my post I touched on why they aren’t and also why and how they can and will. (You skipped using the number 7 for some reason. Simply more pointlessness I presume) You said Michael “Schumacher proved he was a champion” as if to imply he always performed flawlessly at the Scuderia. So as just one example, how about him intentionally running into Villeneuve and getting them disqualified from an entire seasons championship. How much did that cost the Scuderia? Was that Schumacher proving to be a champion??? It took someone, Micheal Schumacher, with the experience of a champion already having won 2 F1 world championships and with a better team including Ross and Brawn and a clear dedicated number two driver 5 years to win one at the Scuderia. FIVE YEARS. Charles has only been at the Scuderia for 4 years and he is no where near as experienced as Micheal was upon joining the Scuderia however has arguably endured more volatility at the team with their massive performance swings from year to year and has proved to be competitive for wins at the top level when he has the car and the team performing properly. As far as drivers errors, yes he has succumbed to a few very costly ones. You mentioned Hamilton nearly won it in 2008. Firstly it was 2007 not 2008. Why didn’t Elton win in 2007? Because he literally drove off the tarmac into the gravel trap from the PIT LANE. Talk about driver error. This is what cost him the 2007 championship. Additionally his car was a championship contender in this debut year for Elton and he was treated as number one driver. Not the case for LeClerc. Ultimately Charles is just as prone to errors as any of the highest performing drivers. No more and no less. Every driver including the champions have examples of silly and costly errors. You finally made a clear statement. You don’t think Ferrari can or will win a championship. I AM INDEED claiming Ferrari are on the proper trajectory to win the championship. Perhaps not in 2022 however yes in 2023 or 2024. This being said they absolutely will NOT win IF they do not fix the issues that have been so obviously crippling for the team this year. The Scuderia’s comeback from 2020 to 2022 is undeniably herculean. Forza Ferrari.
I was clear from the beginning. You said Ferrari and Leclerc are on the same trajectory as Schumacher/Ferrari in 1996-2000. I said you can't compare and explained why. Their path to being dominant 2000-2004 has no relevance on how they will perform 2022-2024. The only thing you can take from the late 90s, and early 00s that has a direct impact to now is Rory Byrne. His return and focus on the 2022 car has proved to be a huge success. His impact at Ferrari was immediate with the 1997 car as well.
Prost lost 3 titles in a row before winning his first, and he crashed several time while leading or fighting for the lead, i can post videos if anyone doubts it...yes, the same Alain Prost that a few years laters was held as the most inteligent driver ever, that never made a single mistke and that won 4 titles. I can also post several crashes from Nelson Piquet leading, another one that it's revered as a cerebral driver, i won't even mention guys like Senna or Mansell. This talk about Charles is Bs. He's the fastest driver out there, and like Gilles he always pushes like mad, he knew he wa sgoig to fall behind Max after the stop, so he was trying to stretch his lead, i saw a compairaison betwen the 17 and 18 lap in the same curve, at one point he was 20k faster when he went off, lololo. Keep driving flat out Charles, in the end you'll win it your way!
You like to pointlessly argue. Perhaps you can’t comprehend a comparison of the two era’s however I and others have, will, and should. I didn’t say there was any direct link to the performance of the early era to this era so stop fabricating things. I compared the timelines and pointed out similarities and differences. The Scuderia’s improvement from 2020 to 2022 has been so huge that it’s revealed the weaknesses of the team. Rather than responding to me you should save your babble for your boring threads.
Says the guy that started a pointless argument because someone didn't agree with his idea that current Ferrari is on a similar timeline as the 96-00 Ferrari and therefore is destined to win the title in the next year or two. Maybe you just aren't very clear, and there are a lot of flaws in much that you say. Sorry if you don't like conversation that disagrees with your statements, you seem okay to disagree with others though.
or just quit following team instructions and start telling them what he is going to do and when (and they better be ready)
I think Charles is on the top tier of lap speed when things are near optimum. But in F1, the best laid plans often fall apart. That's when Max is mentally tougher and also his TEAM scrambles faster and better to execute Plan B, or C, or whatever it takes. I don't think anyone maximizes the car he is given better than Max, even on the final lap. Charles can become emotionally spent long before the race is over and go into survival mode, although to be fair, Binotto does the same....Michael never had that problem.
Charles is good enough to win with a Top 2 car and Team. It's tough for anyone to win today with less than that...
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Prost lost titles due to Renault vs. making mistakes. He had some mistakes that were minor in comparison, but Renault at the time was fighting among its self.... to Prost's detriment. That much I do agree with Leclerc - but I think that Leclerc is also making mistakes, ( compounded by Ferrari ) and that is whittling away his own confidence and ability to lead the team. He is too emotional and needs to calm down - he needs better situational management.... I do think he's an outstanding driver- but perhaps not the best today.
Fully agree. I do think that Ferrari adds to the pressure, unnecessarily. The lack of uniform leadership at the team is a problem. All the top teams have true #1 driver. and that is the focus. Ferrari have let them fight it out and that has been detrimental to the entire team. I think the days of having two great drivers in the same team at the same time are over... the teams cant cater to two diverging sides...
You know, your comment got me thinking. How do they manage drivers in Indycar, where some teams have 3 or 4 drivers (Ganassi, Penske, Andretti)? Do they let them fight among each others, or do they have a pecking odrer to keep the peace within the teams? Some drivers in the same team have different sponsors sometimes, etc ... In MotoGP, until recently some teams used to have 2 sides cohabiting under the same roof (Rossi and Lorenzo at Yamaha, for example), each with its own group of mechanics, working separately and battling on the track with no team orders.
It has never worked and will never work. Teams can't predict having a car a well clear of the rest of the field so that it can work out...
So who is the #1 driver at Mercedes--the driver who scored a win this season and has the most points or the other guy?
I think 2022 was a transition year at Mercedes. Russell proved to be fastest, scored more points and got one win. Hamilton has been used as a guinea pig early this season to debug the car from it's porpoising woes, consequently he hasn't performed so well. Difficult to say if it will be obvious in future that Russell will become the lead driver, but I guess that's coming. Being faster, Russell will be listened to for technical feedback, and Hamilton's importance will be decreasing, probably. Soon, Mercedes will have to look for a third driver, I mean a replacement for Hamilton. We will see which car will be used by the candidates during the FP1 sessions, Russell's car, or Hamilton's car? That should be an indication of "who's the daddy" at Mercedes from now on.
