Soooooo B., about next year's contract........ Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just finished watching the race because DVRing it saves me some of the extended pain of watching it live. As a F1 fan, the race was as boring as hell. It's reaching NASCAR level boredom where I hope for mishaps to break the monotony. I love the sport, but it's current iteration is testing my loyalty. As a Ferrari diehard fan it is borderline unwatchable. The commentary before the race mentioning that 'Ferrari has been too quick to fire personnel in the past and that they should stick with Binotto' made me furious. When the drivers are complaining with the pit-wall about letting them know WTF the strategy is, there is something fundamentally wrong. I'm hoping that finishing near last in the next 2 races in Italy will result in some kicking of arses and taking of names. I find myself on the Italian media's side; they got the job done with Sarri, they now need to turn up the heat on Binotto. Sounds treacherous, but this current lack of leadership is unacceptable.
Started 13th and 14th, finished 13th and 14th.....It's a good thing there won't be fans at the Italian races, because if there were, results like that would probably cause them to riot!
The biggest "success" of this race is that I managed to stay awake. Mostly by wondering what Ferrari *isn't* doing wrong. Charles had another great start, but then lost speed on the straights. Sky blathering about "soft tyres", but Leclerc even said on the radio, struggling on straights. Seems like the car was losing top end. That got me wondering about the "fuel" issue and the secret agreement. But when they had to stop to pump "something" up, -- followed by another burst of speed that came to an end, I have to wonder if the Ferrari (Charles' at least) wasn't losing valve pressure, which would impact at high revs. But then there was the 3-wheel pit stop (we've got another around here somewhere), and the dithering over different strategies, ... ... and I have to wonder if the "secret agreement" wasn't for Ferrari to intentionally throw this whole season. (Which would explain letting the air out of Leclerc's valves -- he was doing too well with that pig of a car.) Even the drivers are starting to question the rubbish off the pit wall. So: Ferrari: incompetent or intentionally losing?
How high up is Binotto? Any other team in any other sport would have fired whoever is in charge by this point. Or at least, demote & replace him with someone else. I know the car development is basically stuck where it is (iirc), but the pit strategy has to be something that can be better managed. I heard at one point Charles asked about something, & they replied they'll get back to him. Charles, much like Seb in Spain, didn't have a very positive tone when he asked.
What are you talking about?? Pit strategy?? What the hell difference does that make when you have the worst engine. They were forced to take a poison pill by the FIA. Get used to this all the way through 'til 2022. Nothing will change. They will be the same as Alfa and HAAS and that's it.
Montezemelo for instance is not blaming Binotto, he says too much is being asked of him. Besides the fundamental problem with F1 in general (a tyre/fuel saving formula) Ferrari is just not taking it's F1 business serious enough. By the way since Montezemelo left Ferarri also changed it's road car strategy; a higher sales volume, multiple model lines and a focus on cars designed in-house. Do hope Ferrari is not undermining its foundations. I'm not a fan of where Ferrari is heading. From the Barcelona pre-race thread: Montezemolo was just on German RTL criticizing Ferrari F1 for letting the right people walk off (he named Allison), for not having enough good people in team management, Binotto having too many responsabilities/roles, for not not supporting Seb enough. His conclusion was that Ferrari management is not taking it's F1 business serious enough.
Suggest instead of turning off the race like everyone else, you watch it. The team is not communicating with the drivers. The car may be a turd, but the drivers still need to know what the plan of action is. We saw it in Spain with Vettel, we just witnessed it today with both drivers. Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date This is Vettel with the commentators asking, "Whose running the Ferrari strategy today? Drivers wanting to take initiative into their own hands". https://streamable.com/zzr9t4
I watched it in it's entirety. When you're fighting for positions outside of the top ten who cares about the damn pit strategy??
There is a strategy regardless of fighting for position & it's clear Ferrari can not decide how to go about it in the best interest of the drivers.
The teams and drivers Watched qualifying yesterday more for the track than the punks running. No interest in the race, which met my low expectations. Wonder if Ferrari will pursue a total re-organization and use the resources necessary to get back into some type of contention? Or will they decide enough is enough?
Again . . . what are you talking about?? They are not allowed to develop the engine!! What difference would a re-organization do when they are handcuffed by the FIA?
Brawn, currently employed by Liberty, is part of the problem, not the solution. He made a tidy bundle selling his team to Mercedes. He's not about to bite the hand that fed him, is he?
Binotto after the Italian press questions him why an Alfa Romeo was faster than Ferrari. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Max bored - many were of course. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151787/verstappen-labels-spa-race-pretty-boring Max Verstappen found Sunday's Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix "pretty boring", believing he spent 38 of the 44 laps at Spa managing his tyres en route to third place. Verstappen spent every single lap of the race running third as he struggled to take the fight to the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ahead. Verstappen made an earlier than planned switch to the hard compound tyre following an early safety car, forcing him to then manage his pace for the remainder of the race to pull off a one-stop strategy. The option Red Bull had to switch to a two-stop strategy was compromised by Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, who sat within Verstappen's pit stop window in fourth place. Verstappen explained after the race that he was forced to manage his tyres for the majority of the race, something he found disappointing at a track as exciting as Spa. "On the hard tyre I was trying to follow Valtteri a bit, and then they told him to speed up, so I lost of a bit of ground," Verstappen said. "From then on, at one point with 10 laps to go, I started to have really bad vibrations on the tyres, and then I started to have a lot of understeer.
Poor Max, Every GP he places that car where it shouldn't be. I sincerely hope he and Charles don't end up losing all motivation ..
I worry more about Charles than Max. At least Max feels like his team are working hard to help him. The mid-race radio call Charles received "we're thinking of Plans B or C", with no additional information (Charles: "Well which is it? They are very different.") had to leave him, like Seb, wondering what the pit wall are doing.