Scuderia Ferrari 2023

Why is that? Sounds like pretty poor planning to me, there being nobody to step up.

Frankly even worse if there are indeed no actual engineers. By the time actually engineers arrive at Ferrari everyone else will be so far ahead. I am not looking for WDC and WCC but honestly this car simply is not competitive.

 

Don't blame the management. That's the problem any carmaker is facing; there is no hiding from it.

Have you heard that Alpine has to reduce its annual production to less than 1500 cars to circumvent new EU laws concerning electronic drivers aids ? Ferrari is in the same boat.

In the future, only the cottage industry small constructors will still make the sort of cars you like: atmo, not electrified, without electronics drivers aids, etc ... People like Morgan for example.
I don't see Lamborghini, Ferrari or Aston Martin reducing their production to escape the eco restrictions.

 

Previous regime that's totally out of Vasseur's hands. Hell, even Binotto is not totally to blame for all of it. These are problems that have existed ever since the dream team left of Todt and Brawn. It's not been addressed properly for a good 15 years. Just and endless cycle of promoting then sacking whoever was just promoted.

The engineers aren't stupid, if they got a job offer somewhere else with more of a guarantee, not a strict sacking culture...who can blame them for leaving when a nice contract landed at their feet? Hell if they plan it right they can even get a significant tax break as a non-dom in the UK...

Contracts for highly valuable engineers allows their current employers to put them on gardening leave.

2026 is the earliest Ferrari MAY be able to make a push.

But Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Mclaren won't be sitting still. If Williams finds a big bag of money I wouldn't even put it past them to do something nice...not championship contenders but certainly one that can disrupt a podium more often than some like.

Ferrari doesn't have a mountain to climb. We have a cliff to scale.

 

I'm not buying anything at all. I'm simply saying no one should expect a thing before it.

 

Vasseur: Ferrari “made too many mistakes” in F1 Hungarian GP
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur admits the Maranello Formula 1 outfit “made too many mistakes” across a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

He makes how much per year?? LOL Deep thoughts from the Team Boss!

 

If I were in charge of Ferrari, I'd seriously consider

McLaren also had a brief flame in 2021 and even won a freak race. Lets see how they do to the end of the season before declaring above Ferrari. Any team can have a good few races, then fall back down.

 

What's funny is that Vasseur goes public and talks about Scuderia like he was an observer.

In fact he is the man at the helm !

 

"Buying" like agreeing.

 

Vasseur is giving the team a public reality check, like Toto does to Mercedes. The last three team principles at Ferrari would lie, lie, lie about the next race being a breakout race, then when they lost they'd disturbingly try to pass off fantasies that they could've ran at the front. Binotto did it all last year.

IDK if Vasseur will save the Ferrari F1 ship, but at least he lives on planet reality. The Ferrari team have had enough smoke blown up their asses. Tough love is desperately needed.

 

I honestly don't get your criticism of Vasseur speaking publicly. I don't see him doing anything Toto doesn't do - which is refreshing.

I'm not saying Vasseur will bring Ferrari back to the top, but he has made some moves that needed to be done a decade ago.

 

For years, we have heard excuses for and defenses of pure unmitigated idiocy. At least we’re not getting that from Vasseur.

 

Maybe we have a different perception of things; I can't see what's refreshing going to the media of explain yjour flaws.
Washing dirty laundry in public is never beneficial in any organization, IMO, it destabilise people.
The best way to improve is to calmly solve problems behind close doors, and not make bombastic statements.

 

True, but at some point ROI matters.

Ferrari should definitely keep their Le Mans program going. It's great they won on their first outing, but you can ask Porsche and Audi the ROI a company can get from becoming the kings of Le Mans and sportscar racing.

If Ferrari look still terribly behind in 2025, I'd say they should withdraw from F1 and focus on Le Mans I mean, at a certain point results have to matter, and getting crushed by Mercedes and Red Bull is not a good look for the brand.

 

He didn't hit anybody by name. He stated reality.

Ferrari is already a mess. Everybody, from the drivers and mechanics at the track, to the designers back at the factory, get paid a LOT of money. They don't work for free. They owe the organization they work for competence and respectable results, and when they fail to even finish in front of McLaren's, the whole team deserve to be told the truth of their failings and how they must do better to keep their jobs.

Binotto's culture of protecting everyone's feelings failed.

 

Ferrari is a luxury brand now, like Rolex, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Chanel or Gucci.
Most Ferrari owners aren't even interested in F1, and it has never affected their choice anyway.
What's important for Ferrari is not winning, but keeping the name in the news, for prestige reasons.
Ferrari can do what they want with its road car business, like reduce production and increase the ticket price to compensate.
Race results have very little influence on Ferrari sales. Which other manufacturer in F1 can say that?

It's very different for Porsche and Audi, they are in the mass market but only subsidiaries of the big VW industrial conglomerate, where sales figures are all important, and they are partly influenced by racing results. When the wind changes, their racing grograms are affected.

Also, compared to sports cars, Ferrari leaving F1 is risky, even more now. There is no garantee to be allowed one day back.
Ferrari owns an almost unassailable position, because of its prestige, its historical value, the preferential treatment it receives including veto right, or extra payment. It would be mad to throw that all away; endurance will never offer that !

 

Anybody paying attention to the news is aware of Ferrari's failings in F1. Mercedes and Renault's car sales aren't connected to F1 per say, either.

The only leverage any team ever has over a sanctioning body like the FIA is its mere participation in their racing series. Take Red Bull. Marko outright said "We're not interested in the midfield. It costs the same to finish 5th. If we have no chance of winning a title, we'd rather leave". What do you know? The rules were tailored for them in the form of an engine freeze, so factory teams like Ferrari and Mercedes couldn't use their power gains as an advantage over them.

You don't see Ferrari making those kind of moves. Nope. The FIA knows that Ferrari are gluttons and can't stay away from F1, while the other manufactures do need to be accommodated. What use is Ferrari's veto? All of their advantages get taken away from them, one way or another. You can bet Mercedes would not tolerate some of the things Ferrari have over the past decade.

If you can't leverage the sanctioning body to tailor the rules for your advantages and interests to shine, then competing is illogical. You're signing up for defeat.

OTOH, IF Ferrari withdraw from F1 the impact would be massive on F1. Contracts for races, sponsors, and TV deals would all be turned upside down. Other teams would question their own participation. Mercedes would likely think about following Ferrari into whatever they're doing racing wise. F1 absolutely needs Ferrari far more than Ferrari needs F1, but the former is too stupid to grasp this.

Audi and Porsche don't come and go from racing series because of just car sales. They ask themselves if they have anything to prove, if they can truly win, and if winning even matters to their pride, if nothing else. Ferrari should take note of that.

 

This absolutely, the other teams wouldn’t put up with a fraction of what Ferrari has or made the sacrifices for the sport that Ferrari has and additionally and the press loves to either vilify or mock Ferrari. It’s complete nonsense.

 

Did he have to talk to the media ?

 

True, but their management have to listen to the shareholders who are not necessarilly motor racing enthusiasts.
There are plenty of individuals and institutions holding shares in Mercedes and Renault (both public companies), and the only thing that matters to them are the dividends. They are not there to entertain themselves, but to get a good return on investment.
Inevitably when economic downturn comes, they ask for explanation on some of the budgets on the balance sheet.
This is where "non-core" accounts like F1 come under scrutiny and some are simply closed down.
If you are a pension fund or an insurance company manager who invested in a manufacturer with an F1 team, when the times are bad, you prefer it to close the racing team rather receive less for your investment. So they put pressure on the board, that will instruct the CEO.
Quite logically, I would say. In fact, a fund manager has the duty to look after his investors' interests, first and foremost.
Renault is still backing up Alpine, and everyone knows how Renault is volatile, and subjected to political pressure as well.
Daimler-Benz has sold 2/3 of its portfolio in Mercedes-AMG, which less at risk. The team may become INEOS if DB withdraw from F1.
Ferrari is different: the Scuderia can sustain itself, and sponsors are queuing up to support it.
So Ferrari has more latitude in its decisions.

 

Does Vasseur need to be put on a suicide watch, though ?

 

One of the directors of BMW's racing program said F1 isn't the F1 they once competed in, and that the sanctioning body has little regard for the money and people invested, so they're not coming back to F1 any time soon, and would rather do WEC and IMSA.

Again, you're backing up my argument. Ferrari don't need F1 in any capacity. They are purely in it to race and be competitive.

You can bet that if Ferrari exited F1, the latter would be begging the former to come back. They'd realize very quick the value that had been lost.

 

Is the dog wagging its tail, or the tail wagging the dog ?
Ferrari has been threatening several times in the past of withdrawing from F1, and never put it to execution.
So it has been empty talks so far from Maranello, which destroys their argument, IMO.
I personally don't suscribe to the notion that Ferrari is essential to F1, and that the championship would collapse.
But, it's a belief some cling to like the Gospel.

 

I think their entering the WEC was a warning shot to F1.