The engineering has always been good, management and investment less so. So Austrian management, German investment and British engineering is always likely to be a winning combination.
In the 60s and 70s, the unions were more interested in forcing nationalisation of the British car industry for political reason, than in any social progress. The unions organised massive strikes that paralysed the factories, and lost millions of customers who turned to imported cars, mostly from Japan. They got what they wanted, and the nationalised car industry collapsed within a few years, at the cost of hundred of thousands jobs. The Midlands region, that was the heartland of the car industry never recovered from it. It's not clever to cut the branch you are sitting on...
Don't you just love Binotto's positive outlook? Ferrari doesn't understand the car they built, they're not trying for hot laps, and one engine has already imploded. The season's apparently lost before the first race. Image Unavailable, Please Login
It was over last year when Binotto refused to learn from his mistakes and kept SV on. This season is going to be a carbon copy of last year, except they won't be gifted 2nd in WCC because RBR has two drivers now.
I don't think Vettel is the issue here. Vettel doesn't design the car. I don't think this car is going to make a dent into Mercedes (or even Red Bull's) armor. Put the fastest driver on the planet in it and he still won't win a title in that car.
Not getting rid of SV last year shows Ferrari aren't serious about winning. This is the guy that left one WDC and 150+ points on the table by screwing up. He's clearly a big part of the problem over there.
They have leclerc now. Ricciardo they need to buy out of his contract, as do they need to with Vettel. Might as well wait the year and get him for 2021. Ferrari should concentrate on building a decent car for once and stop spending enormous sums of cash on getting the very best drivers. It'll never fix their problems if they think all can be solved by simply installing the best driver. If that was the truth then Red Bull would've been winning the title since 2010 till today.
Honestly, 3 days of pre-season testing and people want heads to roll at Ferrari already, because sacking people always makes Ferrari better. It's early days yet and Ferrari by all accounts haven't even been running the engine at full power, so there is definitely more to come. I'm quite sure they didn't think Mercedes and Red Bull were just going to roll-over and give them a big advantage. What will be interesting is what happens in the mid-field. If Force India (or whatever they're called these days) can get in the mix, I'm sure they will regret not having some better drivers than Perez and Stroll.
These 3 days of testing come after some very disappointing seasons for Ferrari. Vettel has been the weakest link for at least 2 years, and not doing anything about it is a sign of Ferrari's weakness. If they want to become a winning team again, they have to recruit new blood and axe the deadweight.
Big question is will Pink Merc leapfrog Ferrari into 3rd behind Lewis/Max? 'Ere you go Seb ,try cheer up a bit mate...
Ferrari fired the guy who delivered their first WDC/WCC capable car in a long time and kept the guy who lost them. This is going to be the same until someone over there grows a pair of balls and started getting rid of the flab.
that's true. Pretty much every single engineer that Ferrari had ended up at Mercedes. What does that tell us...
Mattia Binotto has revealed concerns over Ferrari’s pace in testing and is “not as optimistic” as he was at this stage in 2019. Ferrari are usually the ones pumping up the hype machine with headline times in pre-season testing, but they have stayed firmly off the radar on the fastest lap timesheet so far with the Scuderia posting a best time of 1:18.154 – quicker than only Williams and Haas. “Having said that, it’s a very long season, 22 races potentially, so I think there will be time as well to recover eventually." Translating Binotto: "Well, wait 'til you see us next year!"
To me cost 2 titles and points and what do they pay him. The wasted money is appalling as much as non 4x WDC driving. No excuse for his retention- yes Charles is not experienced so move Kimi up and use his expertise, No such thinking at all.
Binotto is "less optimistic " this year than last year. And what happened last year? By the 5th race we were out of the season and completely eliminated with three races left to go. Pretty soon we will have to start rooting for RB to beat Mercedes.