Appears so. Not too many lessons learned from last year so far lol. Applies to Mercedes and Ferrari. Aston simply looked and applied what worked in terms of total design. All the others stayed neutral or lost a touch of time. Thats the fun of this sport. The last real 15 years, one team simply dominated until the others caught up by simply adapting what they could of the winning design. Now with budget crap/cap you get it right or just spin your wheels and money playing catch-up until your Accounts-Engineer shuts you down for lack of funds. Thats F1 now!
If I believe Sportal.fr, Charles Leclerc has asked for an appointment with John Elkann at Maranello. It's probably not to exchange platitudes.
Is Leclerc in conflict with Vasseur that he needs Elkann support ? Or was he firing an early warning that he thinks about leaving ? What's your take on this ?
Don’t think Leclerc and Vasseur are in conflict, more so they are discovering at the same time how deep are the problems. Fact are some people didn’t tell the truth or are incompetent. Charles loves Ferrari but he will leave soon if Ferrari doesn’t deliver until 2024, you have to be certain of this.
Elkann pays the bill and controls the team. Not Vasseur. If Charles has been able to communicate directly with Elkann so be it. They wont fire him for doing so. Did Elkann initiate the conversation to begin with?
I'm speculating only. My read is he will ask his boss to consider fully empowering Vasseur. That's what I would do. /
https://f1i.com/news/468489-leclerc-not-planning-more-assertive-approach-on-strategy.html Leclerc not planning more assertive approach on strategy Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc says he has no plans to be more assertive when it comes to the team's strategy calls during Grand Prix races in 2023 despite a string of miscues derailing the team's campaign last year. The Ferrari pit wall was blamed for a number of mistakes last season that derailed their championship bid and allowed Red Bull's Max Verstappen to open up a dominant lead in the points. Verstappen had been playing an increasingly large roll in decision making from the cockpit, just as Lewis Hamilton does at Mercedes. Even George Russell has been heard to call strategy and talk tactics from the cockpit. But this week, Leclerc told the official Formula 1 Beyond The Grid podcast that this wasn't the way he liked to do things, and he didn't plan to start criticising the team strategists any time soon. "In terms of being more vocal once I'm in the car and taking more in hand the decision, I don't think this is the way forward," he said. "We won't win a world championship if I am making the decisions on my own in the car, this is not how it works. "People don't understand how little information we have in the car about the whole situation during a race," he explained.
In GPToday, they said Leclerc and Hamilton will swap teams in 2023. No mention of Norris. No idea who would win out of that.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/karun-chandhok-lando-norris-mclaren-deal/ McLaren’s lacklustre start has seen Norris linked with the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari, as well as suggestions that Red Bull could renew their past interest. However, while a Formula 1 contract is never bulletproof, Chandhok says McLaren have positioned themselves in a way to ensure that Norris has a sizeable “barrier” in the way on any potential early exit. “Lando is committed to McLaren long term but I wasn’t convinced when he signed,” Chandhok told Give Me Sport. “I think it’s the right thing for McLaren because he’s the best driver on the grid outside the top three teams, so I think that’s a great bit of negotiation by Zak Brown [McLaren Racing CEO] and the team but [for Lando], I’m not sure it’s the best thing for him to have committed for so long, because you need to have options. “Of course, everyone can be bought out of contracts but it just makes it a barrier to be released on your contract.” Chandhok says it is simply a case of seeing how the cards fall now in terms of Norris’ future, but suspects it will be Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who starts any domino effect. Hamilton is into the last year of his Mercedes deal, and despite stating his intention to continue in Formula 1 for many years to come, Mercedes’ poor start to 2023 and his evident frustration surrounding that situation has cast doubts over his future with the team. “We’ve just got to see what the market does,” Chandhok stated. “What Lewis does will dictate so much in the market.”
I think Lando will go to Merc. Ferrari is unlikely to be in breach of contract with Leclerc, Mercedes isn't going to pay stupid amounts of money to buy Leclerc out of a contract when they a) have Russell and b) can get Norris for pennies on the dollar.
I'm really not in the know, but I don't see a path for CL to move. No good options. Also, I'm sure I'm biased, but Ferrari is still a team to drive for. Right now they are not miles ahead, but last year was a step forward. I'm sad after the first race this year, but I'm reserving kicking a hole in the tv for a few more races.
Saudi Arabia-Jeddah GP 2023 Still to this day with 3 days left in practice, there has been no confirmation from the Scuderia whether Leclerc had a double ERS issue or an ICE issue. Whether it's intentional by the Scuderia to not disclose this information remains highly debated. IF a double ERS, Leclerc most likely will face a grid penalty at Jeddah.
Exactly. The move doesn't make sense for either of them. Leclerc is a huge Ferrari lover, always has been...whole career supported by them. Same goes for Lewis with Mercedes. What does Ferrari get out of that move? Absolutely nothing. The drama from Lewis retiring every other weekend will backfire intensely. You think Mercedes has a bad time on social media at the moment? Imagine being Ferrari in the same circumstances. They'd need to up their security at Maranello! And aside from that...Lewis isn't getting younger. If it takes till 2026 for the Ferrari to make a serious attempt at a title again, Lewis is long gone. The salary expectations? Even with the Leclerc severance they'll get from Mercedes, won't go very far in paying it. As for Charles, the move is - at best - a sideways move. Uhhh...what sense does that make? Mercedes isn't going to pay him 50 million. Or anywhere near that. Total ********* article written by a bunch of clowns that IF it comes true in opposite land, they'll jump up and down that their guess was a fact, in the hopes of being taken serious with their next ''predictions".
Elton would be crazy to leave mercedes. Fist nobody is gonna pay the same merc does for a "has been" already at the end of his carrer, second, elton can become a merc ambassador for the rest of his life, earning tons of money just for doing a couple of comercials....per year, he had to be nuts to walk a way from a job like that!
Leclerc could have a 10-place grid penalty at Jeddah following a component change. Ferrari really starts the season on the back foot this year.
Confirmed on F1 Instagram. Control Electronics power unit component was replaced. This is not a good start to the season for poor Charles, he must be ripping his hair out...
I’m completely baffled why these driver penalties for non-driving infractions still exist. Is there anything more obviously and absurdly unfair…even illogical….in the voluminous rule books? Why isn’t the team penalized either in points or currency, or in some other fashion? Even as ignorant as FIA/F1 are, one would think that this would have been addressed long ago.
