Vanja #66 wrote: ↑29 May 2023, 08:27
Unfortunately, the extent of just how superficial the quality of Binotto's team and leadership was can be seen in full this year. The operating window for the tyres was the same issue last year in every overcast and wet race (Imola, Hungary, Japan, etc). The fearsome pace of Leclerc in wet Monaco clouded this conclusion last year, however right now its very clear it's a major issue. I'm even inclined to believe they truly lucked into excellent setup in Bahrain testing last year and kept riding that as long as they could - and it still wasn't working well in mixed conditions.
Contrary to what they claimed, the suspension definitely even made a step backwards and after so many races this year - it's clear it is a very, very big issue. There is absolutely no consistency and no prediction on how the car will behave in different conditions. And even with all of that - if there was no amateurish blunder from Leclerc's wall with Norris impeding, the podium was a done deal. Vigna and Elkann certainly aren't helping, but there really isn't anything they can influence the suspension design with...
Tifosi are facing the painful fact the team was riding the success of Todt-Brawn-Byrne-Schumi era for a few years later and there is a steady decline with a few flashes of solid car performance (2010, 12, 17, 18, 22) since. I think even F1 management is now hoping Vasseur will be able to build a good team in the next few years and gather excellent experts in every area from other top teams, let alone the Tifosi. It will be another few painful years and I don't see any Championship chances earlier than 2026. I hope Charles finds another seat for next year, but it doesn't seem to be possible to place him in Merc or AMR, let alone RB... It would now be very beneficial for Ferrari to have Hamilton with his experience of operations of a strong, multiple championship winning team, while Merc would really benefit from Charles's speed.
Surely "Binotto's Ferrari" was far from perfect, but I think it was still the best Ferrari since late 2006. I also think that there are many different things to consider that played a role in the Binotto era and now, both technically and organizationally, simply in every way in short.
2023 Ferrari has problems on all fronts, but I also think that the current situation and the balance of power in Formula 1 in general is one created by the FIA and is only logical, even when it comes to Ferrari's technical problems, whether with the suspension or anything else(even if the reason that these are not yet solved of course lies with Ferrari itself).
I think we agree that the TD039 really threw Ferrari's concept completely out of kilter. They had a car that was designed to run as low as possible and produce maximum downforce at very low ride heights. Then came the TD039 which on the one hand practically made higher ride heights mandatory and on the other hand closed exactly the grey area that made it possible for Ferrari to drive so low. This has thrown the car out of the working window it was designed for and gave all the advantages to Red Bull, whose concept was the only one with a completely different orientation in that regard. All of this had several consequences - Red Bull could simply continue to develop, while Ferrari and everyone else had to practically start all over again. Here one is then faced with two possibilities. Either you really start from scratch, which means that you are practically thrown back to the state of June 2021 (what means that your main opponent is automatically one year ahead of you) or, in order not to fall so far behind, you try to adapt what you have accordingly with the risk that this is ultimately always a kind of compromise solution. No matter which option you choose - you inevitably fall behind in terms of development, because you have to "waste" development time to even get there in the first place, from where the opponent has been able to develop for a long time. And I think that is the current situation of Ferrari and Formula 1. Red Bull has simply been able to develop further, while Ferrari and the other teams had to waste time and money to get to where they actually already were. And now you have a Formula 1 where one team is actually at least 6-8 months ahead of all the others. Certainly Ferrari has even bigger problems than that. The team is not able to develop as well as others during the season. The reason for this is the same as it has always been with Ferrari (except for 1997-2006, when Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Michael Schumacher stopped this with the participation of Jean Todt, as you have correctly pointed out) - that people like Vigna or Elkan constantly interfere with or change the direction of development, which means that the team never develops purposefully in one direction, as it did when Brawn/Byrne were technical directors.Thus, one inevitably loses in this area. One must consider that such an interference can also lead to the fact that one creates problems for oneself and one develops in a direction which does not fit at all to that to which the others were urged. which may even exacerbate certain problems or create new ones. Secondly, it unsettles the engineers and creates the potential for conflict and politics. Ultimately, this is also Ferrari's dilemma. As long as they don't stop this, they will never really stand a chance against teams that are purposefully and unanimously developing in a direction that the specialists paid to do so dictate and in which no managers interfere. In addition, the available talent is not used properly. People whose talent clearly lies in being creative and having an eye for the big picture are used to improve individual problem areas instead of dealing with design and concept development, in which they are demonstrably among the very best. Or they are not listened to because the top management, far from having this knowledge, has ordered something else, and therefore these engineers, fearing to lose their jobs, follow this direction instead of the solution thrown in by someone with far more expertise. In addition, decisions of a technical nature sometimes come to nothing or important things are lost because the responsibilities and accountabilities are unclear. Thus it comes to losses in the system. All of this is enough several times over to ensure that, despite all of the potential, there is no chance of winning any titles, and these are not even close to all of the problems, because both the organization and the communication on the track itself are inadequate.
All this is reflected in the performance on the track as well as in the car itself, I think. Even if this may sound a bit philosophical - the car reflects the organization behind it, with all its mistakes, problems, shortcomings and the state of development through no fault of its own. Unfortunately, I don't see any hope for improvement either, because the only one who addressed Ferrari's biggest problem, namely the constant interference of people like Vigna or Elkan in the general technical development, is no longer there and was, so to speak, "disempowered" in this respect in June 2022 - Binotto. Binotto, who learned the F1 trade in the Ferrari organization Todt/Brawn/Byrne/Schumacher, had recognized why one was successful at that time and long before and the complete time after no more (2007&2008 one still profited from what this organization had left, particularly since the F2007 was still a car developed by this organization, As you have correctly recognized).
At that time there was one direction and it was the senior engineers and technicians who set it and everyone could work in peace and without pressure (intercepted by Todt, Brawn and Schumacher) and knew what to do and where to go. This went after, as well as the fact that after Brawn as technical director someone with his authority was missing who could demand necessary investments (and who had the vision and the network to know which ones) in the technical infrastructure and could explain why these were necessary. So they fell behind in the very area they were leading in, simulation, and other teams got a head start when the test ban made DiL simulators indispensable. In the years that followed, Binotto was able to observe but unable to do something about these problems until he was then made "Pharao" with the help of Marchionne. And even after Marchionne's demise he forbade the bosses any interference until June 2022. Since then, things have clearly been going downhill, which is only logical if you know the background. Unfortunately, I don't see anyone who can solve the problems that are the reason for Ferrari's problems to fight for the title in the foreseeable future. And Vasseur, team boss by the grace of Elkan and Vigna and their conditions, simply does not have the means and possibilities at hand.
As I said - under Binotto, many things were certainly not perfect, but he in the period when he really had full technical control, things went steadily upwards. After that it went downhill. And at the moment, many things are going down at Ferrari because the organization is a mess and the responsibilities and competencies are unclear. These are also the reasons why, in my opinion, no real progress is happening in the area of tires and suspension. It all takes too long, one relies on the other and what comes out in the end is nothing half and nothing whole. Sure, the problems with tires and suspension started when Binotto was still there. But they were a consequence of TD039 and their appearance fell in a period when Binotto could no longer claim full technical control (after June 2022) and especially Vigna interfered more and more. And the fact that certain problems have not been solved until today, I think, can be a consequence of the things that came out of it. Of course, Vigna doesn't build a suspension and design it. But when the whole organization and development is messed up, nothing decent comes out in the end.
But my source is the official document showing the updates for each team.