It really was quite an easy sell for Lauda in the end. From 2011 Mercedes was working on 3 different cars, the hybrid engine was being perfected, and the chassis/aero of the 2014 car only Mercedes truly knew beforehand (mclaren had no way of knowing all the true data for 2014). They had part of the Benetton/Ferrari dreamteam on the cars. Full factory support that would wane away from Mclaren (who used to be the Mercedes Factory team until Merc bought Brawn). Couple this with Ron Dennis offering Lewis a fraction of his contract for his next extension (an offer Lewis thought insulting), an attractive offer from Mercedes itself...#1 status. Deal done.
Ferrari has $300-$400 million to spend in racing every year. F1 will only allow them to spend $150M. Ferrari has loaned off 1/4 of its F1 crew to Haas. and still has a need to spend $150M in racing. So, it basically has everything except a car to go racing with.......and plenty of motors to put into whatever they decide is optimal Where did you get the idea they are splitting resources--it is highly likely that the new series will enable them to use Fiorano and the 9,000 HP Wind Tunnel (which F1 barely allows.) Thus, it is resources going to waste that are being drawn back into a fight.
That's easy: the ressources I am thinking of are not "money"; there are many other ressources than money, Human Ressource, Intellectual Talent, etc... The "ressource" I am thinking Ferrari is lacking are human and organisational. Contrary to what it was during the sixties and seventies, Ferrari is not lacking money, they have all the money they need to win everything; but they are not winning anything. What they are lacking is an efficient race organisation, a capable management able to help competent people to succeed (Don't you find amusing that men like Aldo Costa or James Allison are/were succeeding at Mercedes better than at Ferrari?) For all their money, they have been running behind Brawn, then Red Bull then Mercedes since their last Championship in 2008 (Constructors). They have been unable to assemble a competent team and harness their ressources to win a Championship in a discipline they have been practising for 70 years. So, with all the money in the world, and without having been able to reach their single objective for about fifteen years, they are about to enter a second challenge? I doubt that they will prove more efficient at this one. I honestly do not think that they have the ressources to fight Mercedes and Porsche + Audi + Toyota head on. But, should you be an amateur for "Comedia dell' Arte", that is failures, lamentations and lame excuses, my guess is that you should find plenty of amusement in the years to come... Rgds
Sadly, Ferrari seems to run on hopes (next year...2022 our next best chance!) than actually fixing exactly what you pointed out: Structure. The constant hiring and sacking is not effective and never will be effective.
Good analysis. Ferrari has been a dysfunctional team for some years now, running on emotion rather than efficiency. That's the reason I can't see myself rooting for them.
Have you guys ever thought about teaming up to write a business management book? What about Williams? Mclaren? Renault? Why they can't beat Mercedes too?
Lol! A serious answer, Williams & Mclaren both have the excuse they are not fully fledged factory teams and Renault keeps leaving F1...
At some point, they were. Their fault if they lost that privilege. Anyway, I keep hearing this mantra of Ferrari has unlimited money, and that is BS. Back in the day McLaren and Williams had similar budgets with free engines, same with Red Bull now. And no matter how much money Ferrari has: Mercedes can outspend whoever they want. So yes, money is an issue at Ferrari.
The forthcoming budget cap will take care of that, and put them on a par with the other teams. They will have to find a different excuse.
I think another issue is that Ferrari is in Italy, so getting the right people to a team with an already questionable atmosphere (blame culture, bit of a pain to move to a different country and to then move back again if things don't work out) can be problematic. Many of the senior F1 guys are family men so would have to convince the wife/kids to move to Italy (little English spoken) or would have to commute not only between italy and UK but also the races. I do find it surprising just how many people are against moving abroad once kids are involved, but that's a different discussion.
Or we will see how intellectual and morally superior they are at Mercedes without the biggest budget. Still, they will be able outspend everybody in the engine department.
With the budget cap, Ferrari has too much personel, pluss, they have plenty pf LM experience since they keep running (and winning) the gt class, so it's not a completly new task for them..i for once have been a lkot more interested in lm than F.1 in recent years, and can't wait to see them back.
Oh, God, this has been said many times but I don't know how it got into the Lewis Hamilton is an idiot thread. Maybe it's his fault too. BTW, today I've read something about Hamilton and the Saudi Arabia GP that is more relevant to the thread, but I don't know if it's PR or not.
You're right, I think the thread has been "somewhat derailed", and I do share a responsability in that... As for the other topic, you mean the fact that 45 human rights organizations are asking Lewis to be logical with himself and boycott the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix? If we limit ouselves to mentioning the fact and don't discuss it, well, I don't think it is P & R...unless we start discussing it of course? Rgds
Yeah, the boycott. Hey, I don't want to bring PR to the F1 forum, but it seems that Hamilton keeps bringing more PR to F1.
Well, lets put it that way, very factual, shall we? 45 human rights organisations are asking Lewis to boycott the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, saying that he has often championned equal rights lately, and that would be the best occasion to show that he is ready to put coherence between his declarations of principles and his acts. We won't comment further. No P & R comments, just facts. And we'll see what happens; or not. Rgds
+1 Mclaren and Williams are effectively Garagistas. How can they compete with the Gorilla of Mercedes ?
Oh, and having a Hypercar will be an excelent oportunity to test some f.1 engines in disguise at a decent speed!
True. RE the Saudi stuff, I also won't go further into detail but I've got a feeling we can't discuss it beyond mentioning the 45 human rights organizations basically calling Lewis out.