scuderiabrandon wrote: ↑19 May 2024, 23:25
Seanspeed wrote: ↑19 May 2024, 22:56
yooogurt wrote: ↑19 May 2024, 22:23
But then why is Charles talking about a different PU strategy (energy management)?
Could just be his presumptions before he's gotten more info.
Or just excuse making, though Ferrari tends to be little pleased with their drivers criticizing their drivetrains.
Either way, very annoying weekend for me. We're not bad, but it's very frustrating that we've gone from clear 2nd best with some hopes for occasional wins throughout the season to being thankful for even being on the podium cuz we're clear 3rd best.
EDIT: In terms of downforce/drag levels, I feel it's more that Mclaren have made a huge leap here than Ferrari suffering from bad choices. Annoying as hell to acknowledge, but that's my read. In comparison to Red Bull, we seem to be about the same as we were before. It's unbearable.
1 tenth (race pace & qualifying) between Mclaren Red Bull & Ferrari = clear 3rd best.
Please be real. That's 5degC swing in track temperature, one mistake, one bad pit stop away from having a complete 180 on 1st & 3rd force. Ultimately, we'll go to circuits that will favour us more and vice versa. I can't believe the hissy fit people are throwing, this victim complex needs to stop.
In Miami, we were again a tenth slower than Norris without any major updates, why? Because it was very much a favourable circuit along with favourable conditions. Not to even mention Norris had a 10 lap tyre offset. Mclaren came into Imola saying it will be a strong weekend for them & that's what happened, they had the fastest car. Verstappen lucked out with the tow in Q and having track position is crucial. That's how fine the margins are.
You have to accept that this is how it is going to be for the next two years if we stay on this trajectory.
So there are even tifosi not buying the usual, trite Ferrari propaganda. We are clearly missing something: this team can build a car that reach to within say 3 tenths behind the best in class (more or less what they're already achieving), but not much more. They lack some fundamental know-how to be truly eligible to win a title, they know this but it seems they are not exactly selling their souls to have it. Red Bull has it of course, McLaren got to acquire it by poaching Marshall from Red Bull. Ability to predict improvement in performance by Red Bull (new concept) and McLaren (recent upgrade) speaks loud: they know very well what they are doing. This weekend Ferrari was again disappointing, expecially in quali, despite a new package that -before being strategically downplayed- was worthy spending a filming day to pre-test: and at end of the day they came up saying, oddly enough we were weak in terms of EOS speed, but we were strong in turns. Come Montecarlo, where everyone one will be set up to maximize cornering and -I fear- they'll say the opposite. They are not to be blamed for failing to succeed: competitions is there with the same targets, and if rivals prove to be more capable you have to compliment them, rather then blaming your favourite team. But this attitude, promising when they know they can't keep, creating expectations just to tear them down when the "proof of the pudding" is imminent, that is simply irritating.