FORMULA 1 LENOVO GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2022 - Le Castellet...RACE.. ▀▄▀▄▀▄ SPOILERS ▀▄▀▄▀▄

Ayyyyi, Pagliacci!

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Ahhhhh, back to a normal Ferrari strategy race. For a very short while, I thought they were losing their way….but now that I know they bought a translator app online, all is well.

 

I see shades of Hockenheim with Vettel. Let’s hope this doesn’t crack Leclerc’s confidence as well.

 

And what problem would that be for the driver who has the third highest number of poles for Ferrari behind Schumacher and Lauda?

 

Question is, which one?
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The bad result and LEC off were bad enough but the worst was releasing Sainz into the path of the Williams after already having waited ages for other cars to go by and while under a SC!! That, and the “inertia” of the pit wall—as described by the Sky guys—is just sucking the life out of this team.

When the TV guys, TV viewers, and the driver busy racing have a clearer big picture of the strategy, that’s very bad. If there are no plans in the works by Binotto to fix this, I don’t know what to think.

This 5 seconds penalty—and the timing of the SC; too early for Carlos on the hards—screwed him royally. Even if the team stopped him earlier, not sure he would have gained more than a place anyway. Keeping Sainz out on old mediums to the end would have been risky and could have led to an off, like happened to LEC.

The only positive to come out of this is that, based on criticism of LEC today, maybe we need to give more credit to the brain trust at Ferrari for understanding that they need to keep Sainz as an alternative to a #1 LEC.

 

Well deserved

 

I should say DNF’s from the lead (3). He only has 5 podiums in 12 races despite consistently qualifying on pole or top-2. More of a team issue than driver, (IMO), but it’s still a bad trend. Can’t fight MV if you can’t finish races and maximize points. Ferrari seems to have the car but not the organization to win.

 

Like Nico said..changes need to be made at Ferrari. And quickly. I'm glad he roasted them. The pit wall doesn't seem to be at the same race the drivers are...it's really odd.

Telling Sainz to box while in a battle..he takes the position.. then they pull him in a lap later..wtf was that?? He had no chance with the time differance of almost 23 seconds after he passed Alonzo to the next place..unreal..

 

Serving crow. Enjoy.

 

Binotto is the problem.

 

Unfortunately, it’s not about poles - but about wins and championships…

 

Sick and tired of this. I watch these races now expecting for some ridiculous s*** to happen.

if they can’t change results on the track then it might be time to move on Ferrari

 

He is definatly a big part of it..

 

Yep...the new pitlane practically forces a 1 stop. Thankflly this was the last year here.

 

I know this. My point is the driver talent is there, the speed in the car is there, the reliability needs to be solved, and the strategy and confidence are a can of hot garbage.

Leclerc is not the problem.

 

There is no doubt IMO that Charles is an in incredibly talented driver.

But…

Can he handle pressure? It seems to me he often loses focus and folds when it’s most important. Maybe it’s just me but the minute he’s in front and the race is seemingly won I start thinking “please don’t blow it Charles”.

As much as I hate to admit you can’t say the same for Hamilton.

 

Admittedly, though, that was not a real battle because of the 5 second penalty. And if Sainz was going to the end on the mediums he would have either had a big drop-off in performance or had to stop anyway because of the blistering.

The real issue as I noted before is that the pit wall has no clear plan—asking both drivers today for THEIR opinion on strategy—and the drivers have no trust in what they’re being told. This is really bad.

 

Agreed. He seems to have a certain mental frailty about him that makes him crack under pressure.

 

It’s really hard to always perform when you don’t have confidence in leadership and reliability. I think he’s doing just fine. Hamilton has never had to contend with these issues.

 

He fixed the technical side (engine reliability notwithstanding) but I don’t know why fixing the strategy team is taking so long when it should be a much simpler fix.

The first step is recognizing you have a problem and I’m not sure he’s got there yet.

In any case, it’s not like Carlos was on for a win after starting at the back so the real issues today were the engine reliability and the LEC error. Sainz would have probably won this starting from the front.

 

All that “step by step” BS is making me sick!!! This is Formula 1, not nordic walking for the elderly at the retirement home ffs!!!

“We went motor racing, Mattia!”

 

props to Carlos today, he should've been on the podium