2018 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[GrayGreat]

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/2960 ... t-ferrari/
c:

Ferrari's lead driver has squandered two chances of winning titles with self inflicted errors. Strategists make mistakes some times, like Mercedes guys did in Australia, Bahrain and Austria that costed them wins. So far, Ferrari made one reasonable mistake of sending out the drivers on Inters in Japan. Otherwise, they have done a pretty good job of managing the races. There were times when they made the right decision in the given context, but things didn't turn out to be how they wanted. It was Mercedes' leading driver that made amends for some of the strategy mistakes and brought home valuable haul of points, whereas Ferrari's leading driver has thrown away a great deal of points. Ultimately, that has turned out to be the biggest differentiating factor.

Can Ferrari afford a similar fate for a 3rd time next year? If the Mercedes and Ferrari start the next season on par, there is no reason to believe the story is going to be any different than this year's. This sounds very pessimistic, but there is no reason that generates optimism. In the current racing form, Vettel needs the car to be half a second faster than Mercedes to beat Hamilton in qualifying to start ahead and stay ahead, which he does the best and of course, without rain.

Regardless of how irrational it sounds, but bringing Alonso back might just save the blushes, at least on track racing issues might get sorted out. With Vettel and Alonso in the same team, Ferrari might just outsmart the Mercedes in Constructor's championship. Good to have at least a team championship. On sunny days, when both Ferraris are out ahead, Hamilton would most likely stand no chance of beating the Ferraris, when those Ferraris are being driven by two multiple world champions. If they can manage to do that more consistently, then one of their drivers might even end up winning a WDC for sure.

But I guess, I know Ferrari most likely wouldn't want to do that for many hypothetical reasons. If the interests of Scuderia is what matters, then this decision is definitely be a masterstroke. Leclerc can wait, in the interest of salvaging pride back to Scuderia.

It is hard to believe that it will happen, even though I really want this to happen. What are the chances of Alonso and Leclerc rather than Alonso and Vettel? Personally, I would prefer Alonso and Leclerc because Vettel will interfere with the fight between Hamilton and Alonso, but it will also mean that Vettel's career will end in Formula 1. Even if he continues, his confidence (or what's left of it) will be gone.

[Phil]

I for one am really going to be happy once Alonso is gone from F1. Not because I don't appreciate him as a driver, but because he's been linked to pretty much every team up and down the grid for the past few years. Mercedes had multiple occasions they could have signed him, but didn't. Ferrari did too, but didn't (Kimi has been on a 1-year deal extension for the last couple of years). RedBull, well, they could have for next year, but again, didn't.

And for the record, in case anyone missed it, Vettel is under contract at Ferrari till end of 2020:

Sebastian Vettel has signed a new contract to stay with Ferrari until the end of 2020.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/41060743

So, 2020 is very unlikely given Vettel's contract. And I very much doubt it there's a clause in there that means Vettel needs to win any championship to hold on to his seat. I couldn't possibly think of how such a contract would be worded.

[GPR-A]

And for the record, in case anyone missed it, Vettel is under contract at Ferrari till end of 2020:

So was Kimi for 2010! But he was dumped as the results didn't come in 2009 and had a poor 2008. Just two years after his title winning campaign of 2007, he was dumped. But then he was hired back for 2014, brought back by the same management lead by Monty! Stranger things have happened.

Comparably, Kimi's situation was stronger than that of Vettel's as he had a Ferrari WDC to his name.

How differently can we view a Man and a Machine. Does any team persist with the same car, despite knowing the weaknesses of the Machine? If a design concept doesn't deliver for multiple years, either the designers get fired (Aldo, Marmorini and likes) OR the deign concept is junked (F14T). Do you see a driver who has driven for the team for 4 years and has not taken up the title on two occasions where he had the Machine to do it, any differently?

I am not saying Vettel should be fired. May be bringing (back) another strong, experienced and champion driver might give the team better opportunity and a stronger chance of winning the titles.

[santos]

And for the record, in case anyone missed it, Vettel is under contract at Ferrari till end of 2020:

So was Kimi for 2010! But he was dumped as the results didn't come in 2009 and had a poor 2008. Just two years after his title winning campaign of 2007, he was dumped. But then he was hired back for 2014, brought back by the same management lead by Monty! Stranger things have happened.

Comparably, Kimi's situation was stronger than that of Vettel's as he had a WDC to his name.

Results didn't come in 2009? He won a race with maybe one of the worst cars Ferrari made. And no way for dumping Vettel to bring back Alonso. That's a fantasy.

[GPR-A]

And for the record, in case anyone missed it, Vettel is under contract at Ferrari till end of 2020:

So was Kimi for 2010! But he was dumped as the results didn't come in 2009 and had a poor 2008. Just two years after his title winning campaign of 2007, he was dumped. But then he was hired back for 2014, brought back by the same management lead by Monty! Stranger things have happened.

Comparably, Kimi's situation was stronger than that of Vettel's as he had a WDC to his name.

Results didn't come in 2009? He won a race with maybe one of the worst cars Ferrari made. And no way for dumping Vettel to bring back Alonso. That's a fantasy.

I already mentioned in my earlier post that this is not going to happen. There is no rationale for not taking that decision, except for money. But it is not going to happen.

There is a petition on change.org where the Fans are asking Arrivabene to bring Alonso back! Close to four thousand people have signed so far.
https://www.change.org/p/ferrari-fernan ... to-ferrari

Ferrari fans launch petition asking Arrivabene to bring back Fernando Alonso
http://scuderiafans.com/ferrari-fans-la ... do-alonso/

[F1NAC]

These are not Ferrari fans

[GPR-A]

These are not Ferrari fans

Is there a handbook that defines Ferrari fans? I would like to educate myself please.

[F1NAC]

These are not Ferrari fans

Is there a handbook that defines Ferrari fans? I would like to educate myself please.

Well real fans i suppose should stand behind team and that includes driver. Yes Vettel did mistakes but IMO we win together we lose together. It's pathetic to launch this kind of petition yet in case Vettel wins next year they will all praise him.

[GPR-A]

These are not Ferrari fans

Is there a handbook that defines Ferrari fans? I would like to educate myself please.

Well real fans i suppose should stand behind team and that includes driver. Yes Vettel did mistakes but IMO we win together we lose together. It's pathetic to launch this kind of petition yet in case Vettel wins next year they will all praise him.

I guess that is your definition of Ferrari fans. There are those, who have been waiting for a decade to see a title come by and that hasn't happened. When Ferrari had right driver, they couldn't produce the right car and when they have produced the right cars, they don't have the right driver. No one is indispensable. Even Montezemolo who was in charge of the most glorious era, was removed when things kept going southwards. Now if there are those, who would like to see Scuderia win and for that if they demand to bring the "best driver of Ferrari of the past decade" back, do they suddenly become "Not Ferrari Fans"? Especially when they have seen two golden chances squandered. What happens if another chance goes by next year?

Toto rightly said, he was ready to look like a baddie in Russia, than to look like a fool in Abu Dhabi.

[Phil]

So was Kimi for 2010! But he was dumped as the results didn't come in 2009 and had a poor 2008. Just two years after his title winning campaign of 2007, he was dumped.

He wasn't dumped for bad results per se. They wanted Alonso and Alonso was tied to lots of sponsorship money by Santander (OTOH).

Anyway, even if we assume Ferrari are serious about this, why in gods name wait till 2020? They could do it right now for 2019. But ok, lets go and give some sort of credibility to some rumor that Ferrari are considering to firing Vettel for 2020 to get a driver who at that point will not have driven an F1 car for a year (and a competitive one for 6 years), who will also be on the brink of turning 39.... yeah, sure, why not. Sounds entirely plausible.

[GPR-A]

Anyway, even if we assume Ferrari are serious about this, why in gods name wait till 2020? They could do it right now for 2019. But ok, lets go and give some sort of credibility to some rumor that Ferrari are considering to firing Vettel for 2020 to get a driver who at that point will not have driven an F1 car for a year (and a competitive one for 6 years), who will also be on the brink of turning 39.... yeah, sure, why not. Sounds entirely plausible.

There were doubts about Usain Bolt's capability to win a gold treble in his third Olympics! But he did. Niki Lauda came back after a major accident to then win a the title next year. He came out of retirement to then win a title again! I am sure, there were people who were as pessimistic back then too. You only measure the capability with their success, not by age.

Vettel, 31 years currently, in a similarly capable car, hasn't managed to beat Hamilton in two great opportunities. What makes a team principal to feel optimistic that he would beat Hamilton next year? Which one would a team principal consider, an evidence based fact vs a hypothetical measurement of a driver's capability only because of age (especially when that driver has been considered the most complete and the driver of his generation)!

I know for sure that Alonso back to Ferrari is not going to happen! Just that, there are no reasons why it can't be.

[LM10]

When Ferrari had right driver, they couldn't produce the right car and when they have produced the right cars, they don't have the right driver.

Building the right car is not enough. You need to develop it constantly and make the biggest steps in order to win the championship at the end. Ferrari did quite well for a long time into the season, but now they’re way behind Mercedes again and this already started several races ago when they went backwards in terms of performance. So they would have not won these races anyway.

Secondly, and even more important than what I mentioned above, is that the whole team needs to be spot on. Mercedes with all departments put together is still miles away from Ferrari.

[NathanOlder]

So Ferrari need a driver capable of dragging a lesser car around to mount a decent title challenge. Vettel is no good at all for that. Fernando on the other hand....

[LM10]

So Ferrari need a driver capable of dragging a lesser car around to mount a decent title challenge. Vettel is no good at all for that. Fernando on the other hand....

Dragging a lesser car around is one thing, dragging a lesser car and a lesser team another.

Vettel definitely needs to sort some things out, but so does his team. Even in Vettel’s crash in Germany the team played a significant role, in my opinion. Knowing that Hamilton would be clearly faster than the rest in wet conditions, they should have let Vettel pass Kimi way before instead of holding him up. This way the pressure on Vettel would have not been unnecessarily big.

[GrayGreat]

So Ferrari need a driver capable of dragging a lesser car around to mount a decent title challenge. Vettel is no good at all for that. Fernando on the other hand....

Dragging a lesser car around is one thing, dragging a lesser car and a lesser team another.

Vettel definitely needs to sort some things out, but so does his team. Even in Vettel’s crash in Germany the team played a significant role, in my opinion. Knowing that Hamilton would be clearly faster than the rest in wet conditions, they should have let Vettel pass Kimi way before instead of holding him up. This way the pressure on Vettel would have not been unnecessarily big.

Even at that, Fernando will be miles ahead of Vettel, as evidenced by his stint at McLaren.