2023 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[LM10]

Rumours of Mekies up next, as well as Cardile and Gualtieri being ‘uncertain’. So, you know, cutting the heads off every key technical department, IF it turns out to be true.

Rumours also suggest Resta could be returning. I respect him a lot but, looking at the Haas these past few seasons it certainly doesn’t suggest he will solve much of this disaster.

Where did you read or hear those rumors? Is it a head-rolling or people following Binotto we're looking at? It really does not make sense to wait for the season to start and then start firing people. Also, it does not make any sense either to fire people from every department. Why Gualtieri for example? He has done a good job with the PU. Why Mekies or Cardile?

Can’t speak to the worthiness of the publication, but it’s getting absolutely pumped on Twitter. Every Ferrari page I follow is in full blown disaster mode, citing this article.

https://www.corriere.it/sport/formula-1 ... e86b.shtml

Others are putting Vasseur in a position of power, saying he negotiated total power with Vigna. I don’t personally believe that tbh. Elkann and Vigna seem hellbent on having their little fingers all over the F1 team. Cause, you know, it worked out so well for Montezemolo

The article basically says that the future of noone is certain. That in itself means nothing because it's just how things work at Ferrari, sadly. They say that some contracts will expire next year - Cardile being one of them - Gualtieri's name is not in the article, though.
As for Mekies, they say he had an agreement to go to Formula 1 and work alongside of Stefano Domenicali, but was stopped by Vasseur. If that's true there are two options how that unfolded: It was Mekies' own intend to resign (not Vigna firing him) and Vasseur has enough power to stop him OR it actually was Vigna who wanted to get rid of Mekies, but Vasseur could change things which then would mean that it's true he has some influence on Vigna.

Vasseur seems to be like Binotto in terms of holding a team together. His initiation of planning a big meeting of team members after the Bahrain race in order to motivate them shows that.

[bas550]

He has done a good job with the PU. Why Mekies or Cardile?

Power yes but reliability?

Mekies likely due to being complicit in it all, refusing to change matters.

Cardille...is the tyre wear related to chassis or aero, or both? (it could be that lack of downforce causes slides = higher tyre wear)

[JPBD1990]

The article basically says that the future of noone is certain. That in itself means nothing because it's just how things work at Ferrari, sadly. They say that some contracts will expire next year - Cardile being one of them - Gualtieri's name is not in the article, though.
As for Mekies, they say he had an agreement to go to Formula 1 and work alongside of Stefano Domenicali, but was stopped by Vasseur. If that's true there are two options how that unfolded: It was Mekies' own intend to resign (not Vigna firing him) and Vasseur has enough power to stop him OR it actually was Vigna who wanted to get rid of Mekies, but Vasseur could change things which then would mean that it's true he has some influence on Vigna.

Vasseur seems to be like Binotto in terms of holding a team together. His initiation of planning a big meeting of team members after the Bahrain race in order to motivate them shows that.

My point is not about the individuals, but of the culture that Elkann and Vigna are installing. We’re back to the revolving door dictatorship of the late 2000’s. Reports are that people are scared, and are looking elsewhere. Already, that is a failure. People don’t do their best work in those conditions. When is the last time you heard about a redbull ‘restructure’ or of people being let go? And who is objectively the smoothest operation in F1?

Ferrari doesn’t seem to understand that only one team can win. Not being that team could make you second best (like last year, 2017, 2018, etc). Does second best mean ‘we’ve failed, everyone out? Or does it mean you maybe need to try again, maybe bolster with some external hires, look at your tools and methodologies, etc?

‘Succeed or else you’re fired’ will never bring Ferrari the championship.

[aleks_ader]

My point is not about the individuals, but of the culture that Elkann and Vigna are installing. We’re back to the revolving door dictatorship of the late 2000’s. Reports are that people are scared, and are looking elsewhere. Already, that is a failure. People don’t do their best work in those conditions. When is the last time you heard about a redbull ‘restructure’ or of people being let go? And who is objectively the smoothest operation in F1?

Ferrari doesn’t seem to understand that only one team can win. Not being that team could make you second best (like last year, 2017, 2018, etc). Does second best mean ‘we’ve failed, everyone out? Or does it mean you maybe need to try again, maybe bolster with some external hires, look at your tools and methodologies, etc?

‘Succeed or else you’re fired’ will never bring Ferrari the championship.

This. One sensible comment here. Seems Ferrari and its members got no patience also.

[LM10]

This. One sensible comment here. Seems Ferrari and its members got no patience also.

If by member you mean fans and if by that you mean me, you seem to not have understood my posts.

[aleks_ader]

Not you specifically and don't be offended. That wasnt mine purpose at all. I speak towards whole impatient community. Let it grow.

[organic]

Is there any idea if the front wing rumoured will be available for Jeddah?

[jambuka]

LEC needs to get out of Ferrari asap. He won't win WDC with Ferrari.

There is a good chance he might, but he does have a contract until 24 and … where would he actually go that would be a better prospect?

AMR if they continue being competitive and are willing to prefer Leclerc over Alonso. They are hungry to win and so is Leclerc.

[organic]

How on earth would AMR already be a better "prospect" than Ferrari? They've been competitive for 1 race

[LM10]

I can't remember any other recent season with so much overreaction after one race. It's always been a very well known thing that for a clear picture of the pecking order we have to wait 3-4 races. Especially with tracks like Melbourne and Bahrain being not so typical. Now we see everyone congratulating RedBull for both titles already after 1 of 23 races and even suggesting Leclerc to go to Aston Martin.

Ferrari have been massively compromised at Bahrain. It's a track where setup and balance problems are penalized even more. With the new generation cars things can rapidly turn into really bad with a wrong or not sorted out setup. Just remember Melbourne last season when Ferrari was excellent there and in the next race in Imola they suddenly were nothing like competitive. For RedBull it was the other way around.

[Xwang]

I can't remember any other recent season with so much overreaction after one race. It's always been a very well known thing that for a clear picture of the pecking order we have to wait 3-4 races. Especially with tracks like Melbourne and Bahrain being not so typical. Now we see everyone congratulating RedBull for both titles already after 1 of 23 races and even suggesting Leclerc to go to Aston Martin.

Ferrari have been massively compromised at Bahrain. It's a track where setup and balance problems are penalized even more. With the new generation cars things can rapidly turn into really bad with a wrong or not sorted out setup. Just remember Melbourne last season when Ferrari was excellent there and in the next race in Imola they suddenly were nothing like competitive. For RedBull it was the other way around.

Last year Ferrari's excellence in Bahrain mainly due to RB being overweight was in any case way less then RB this year. Way less than a second each lap. Do I remember correctly?

[Schippke]

[quote=LM10 post_id=1122654 time=1678692624 user_id=38755]
Ferrari have been massively compromised at Bahrain. It's a track where setup and balance problems are penalized even more. With the new generation cars things can rapidly turn into really bad with a wrong or not sorted out setup. Just remember Melbourne last season when Ferrari was excellent there and in the next race in Imola they suddenly were nothing like competitive. For RedBull it was the other way around.
[/quote]

For Red Bull, it was the other way around and they recovered quickly... does anybody realistically see Ferrari doing that between now and the season's end? Based on the last few seasons (although I'll admit 2020/2021 weren't as representative)... Yes, first race of the season and what not, but that kind of advantage Red Bull held was akin to some of the dominant Mercedes seasons. Its worth noting Red Bull backed off once they had secured 1,2 so there's more pace to come from them.

A lot of people seem to be pinning the setup in Bahrain and the new rear wing not working as the issue with Ferrari's performance. To me, that alone isn't enough to claw back the Red Bull deficient... and lets not get started on the fact that they've had 2 cracks (pardon the pun) of the rear wing and has failed both times...

[LM10]

I can't remember any other recent season with so much overreaction after one race. It's always been a very well known thing that for a clear picture of the pecking order we have to wait 3-4 races. Especially with tracks like Melbourne and Bahrain being not so typical. Now we see everyone congratulating RedBull for both titles already after 1 of 23 races and even suggesting Leclerc to go to Aston Martin.

Ferrari have been massively compromised at Bahrain. It's a track where setup and balance problems are penalized even more. With the new generation cars things can rapidly turn into really bad with a wrong or not sorted out setup. Just remember Melbourne last season when Ferrari was excellent there and in the next race in Imola they suddenly were nothing like competitive. For RedBull it was the other way around.

Last year Ferrari's excellence in Bahrain mainly due to RB being overweight was in any case way less then RB this year. Way less than a second each lap. Do I remember correctly?

Every car had it’s pros and cons. RedBull was overweight, but so were others and the RB18 despite that was a very good racing car looking after it’s tires in Bahrain.

I’m sure an overweight, but sorted out and well balanced car is much more preferable over a compromised and not ready one.

[LM10]

For Red Bull, it was the other way around and they recovered quickly... does anybody realistically see Ferrari doing that between now and the season's end? Based on the last few seasons (although I'll admit 2020/2021 weren't as representative)... Yes, first race of the season and what not, but that kind of advantage Red Bull held was akin to some of the dominant Mercedes seasons. Its worth noting Red Bull backed off once they had secured 1,2 so there's more pace to come from them.

A lot of people seem to be pinning the setup in Bahrain and the new rear wing not working as the issue with Ferrari's performance. To me, that alone isn't enough to claw back the Red Bull deficient... and lets not get started on the fact that they've had 2 cracks (pardon the pun) of the rear wing and has failed both times...

Maybe you should ready carefully next time. What I meant with other way around was that RedBull was nowhere near as good as Ferrari in the race in Melbourne last season, but in the next race things were turned around. The explanation of that was primarily setup. While RedBull nailed it in Imola, Ferrari didn’t.

RedBull’s advantage is the race. The SF-23 had enough pace to get pole in Bahrain had Leclerc tried another lap. This shows that the car has potential. It being awful in the race (though, only relative to RedBull), is another story and that’s exactly the consequence of a compromised setup.

[JPBD1990]

My reaction (and probable overreaction) has nothing to do with Bahrain and everything to do with the reinstallment of the revolving door policy at Ferrari. That makes me far more nervous than one terrible performance.