Red Bull painted Ferrari under the same umbrella as McLaren there.
It really doesn't matter. The season is over. Mclaren's lead is clear and wont be surmounted. And no, this isn't based on just one race. It's also based on obvious testing observations and the fact that everybody up and down the grid is saying the same that Mclaren are a CLEAR step ahead of everybody else.ScuderiaLeo wrote: ↑20 Mar 2025, 18:31Interview with Leclerc from today:
According to Nugnes (so take with a grain of salt), Ferrari already has ideas on how to upgrade the car, but they're waiting to confirm certain behaviors in China before finishing up.The goal is basically not to be faster on Friday than on Saturday. Of course, we have some ideas on how we can achieve that. I won’t go into details, but these cars remain very, very sensitive, and the slightest change you make to the car's platform can have a huge impact on its feel and performance. I don’t we’ll have the exact same limitations in the future, but it was one in Melbourne, and we need to better anticipate the issues we'll face on each track.
The weekend was simply disappointing. I think part of it comes down to how we set up the car. I still believe the car's potential is much better than what we saw. Whether it’s at the level of McLaren, I don’t think so. I think we are a step back, but we are definitely not as fast as what we’ve shown during this first weekend. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on our side in order to extract the maximum potential of the car every time we are on track.
There’s been a lot of analysis after this first race, there’s been a lot learned and I’m sure that will bounce back this weekend. It’s difficult and we need to be careful about drawing conclusions too early. We need to wait more races to see the entire trend.
[On whether the MCL39 is on the level of the RB19] I don’t think so. Of what we see, we don’t think so. But they are definitely ahead. I think in qualifying the gap that there was in Melbourne is more or less what there actually is. We are around Mercedes and Red Bull in terms of times if we put everything together.
[On the advantage McLaren have] Honestly, it’s never really one thing. If we look at qualifying in Melbourne, they were very, very strong compared to us in the last sector, which could be about tyres. But then if you look at the race, it’s completely different and it’s just overall performance where we were just lacking speed, whether it’s low or high speed or degradation. It was basically everything. I personally know and I think we know where we need to push in terms of performance for this car. The high speed, we did a big step forward. Low and medium speed seems to be the area where we need to work on for now.
These declarative statements of certainty after ONE race of a 24 race season, are pretty irritating to read imo. They're low-effort, hot-takes that cannot possibly be proven right at the time they're made, and are easily forgotten if proven wrong.Seanspeed wrote: ↑20 Mar 2025, 20:55It really doesn't matter. The season is over. Mclaren's lead is clear and wont be surmounted. And no, this isn't based on just one race. It's also based on obvious testing observations and the fact that everybody up and down the grid is saying the same that Mclaren are a CLEAR step ahead of everybody else.ScuderiaLeo wrote: ↑20 Mar 2025, 18:31Interview with Leclerc from today:
According to Nugnes (so take with a grain of salt), Ferrari already has ideas on how to upgrade the car, but they're waiting to confirm certain behaviors in China before finishing up.The goal is basically not to be faster on Friday than on Saturday. Of course, we have some ideas on how we can achieve that. I won’t go into details, but these cars remain very, very sensitive, and the slightest change you make to the car's platform can have a huge impact on its feel and performance. I don’t we’ll have the exact same limitations in the future, but it was one in Melbourne, and we need to better anticipate the issues we'll face on each track.
The weekend was simply disappointing. I think part of it comes down to how we set up the car. I still believe the car's potential is much better than what we saw. Whether it’s at the level of McLaren, I don’t think so. I think we are a step back, but we are definitely not as fast as what we’ve shown during this first weekend. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on our side in order to extract the maximum potential of the car every time we are on track.
There’s been a lot of analysis after this first race, there’s been a lot learned and I’m sure that will bounce back this weekend. It’s difficult and we need to be careful about drawing conclusions too early. We need to wait more races to see the entire trend.
[On whether the MCL39 is on the level of the RB19] I don’t think so. Of what we see, we don’t think so. But they are definitely ahead. I think in qualifying the gap that there was in Melbourne is more or less what there actually is. We are around Mercedes and Red Bull in terms of times if we put everything together.
[On the advantage McLaren have] Honestly, it’s never really one thing. If we look at qualifying in Melbourne, they were very, very strong compared to us in the last sector, which could be about tyres. But then if you look at the race, it’s completely different and it’s just overall performance where we were just lacking speed, whether it’s low or high speed or degradation. It was basically everything. I personally know and I think we know where we need to push in terms of performance for this car. The high speed, we did a big step forward. Low and medium speed seems to be the area where we need to work on for now.
Mclaren are not catchable. Of the top teams, they've made the biggest leap over winter, and that's already ending last season with the best car. They've simply got these regs figured out way better than everybody else.
The only reason to keep developing the current Ferrari is so they can maybe gain some confidence in their tools and engineering/design for whatever they're doing with next year's car. Cuz there's absolutely no indication that this current team and its capabilities are ready to produce a championship-caliber car.
Welcome in the Ferrari thread where such statements based on feelings and armchair expertises are a daily routine. Enjoy.catent wrote: ↑20 Mar 2025, 21:06These declarative statements of certainty after ONE race of a 24 race season, are pretty irritating to read imo. They're low-effort, hot-takes that cannot be proven right, and are easily forgotten if proven wrong.Seanspeed wrote: ↑20 Mar 2025, 20:55It really doesn't matter. The season is over. Mclaren's lead is clear and wont be surmounted. And no, this isn't based on just one race. It's also based on obvious testing observations and the fact that everybody up and down the grid is saying the same that Mclaren are a CLEAR step ahead of everybody else.ScuderiaLeo wrote: ↑20 Mar 2025, 18:31Interview with Leclerc from today:
According to Nugnes (so take with a grain of salt), Ferrari already has ideas on how to upgrade the car, but they're waiting to confirm certain behaviors in China before finishing up.
Mclaren are not catchable. Of the top teams, they've made the biggest leap over winter, and that's already ending last season with the best car. They've simply got these regs figured out way better than everybody else.
The only reason to keep developing the current Ferrari is so they can maybe gain some confidence in their tools and engineering/design for whatever they're doing with next year's car. Cuz there's absolutely no indication that this current team and its capabilities are ready to produce a championship-caliber car.
I know for a fact that people were saying the exact same thing re: RBR after last season's opener in Bahrain (you were likely one of them) and those prognostications turned out to be wrong.
In the first race of a 24 race season, McLaren looked the best and if performance from week 1 will be constant, then yes, McLaren is uncatchable. We do not know that performance from week 1 will be constant, though; that cannot be known at this point in time. Anyone stating as a matter of certainty than McLaren cannot be caught is engaging in speculation and making assumptions about the next 23 races based on the results of one, singular race weekend.
I doubt lapped because they just went back to maranello and forfeited the season. Gonna be bocce season this year.search wrote:On a track like here, I'd honestly think Ferrari is still more likely to get lapped than to challenge for the win this weekend - but I would be happy to be proven wrong, of course.
But why is he so much slower in S3? Running more downforce?SoulPancake13 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2025, 05:46Very early in the session but Lewis had a strong lap there. Hopefully he can carry the confidence into qualy