The F1 thread

Heartfeltdawn

stickyfiddle said:

TimmyO said:

Vacancy : Strategist
Employer: Scuderria Ferrari
Applications: Invited in crayon or play-doh 

What’s really bad is that their gamble gave them an upside if the rain had got worse, and also mad them the last guys out there with a clear track and dry tyres, but both drivers lOST it in the same place. 

They just all seem to be lacking in that killer last 1% that gives Mercedes the confidence they keep using to win again and again. 

And the lack of killer instinct usually comes out in the second half of the season. Early doors this year Mercedes were looking a bit daft on the strategy front. Second half of the season thus far, they've been pretty much on the ball. This isn't a recent Ferrari issue. It was there in Alonso's day and it's still there now. 

A fair few years ago a friend set a question over some beers. "Schumacher or Brawn: who's the hardest one to replace?". I thought the latter then and still do now. 

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn said:

And the lack of killer instinct usually comes out in the second half of the season. Early doors this year Mercedes were looking a bit daft on the strategy front. Second half of the season thus far, they've been pretty much on the ball. This isn't a recent Ferrari issue. It was there in Alonso's day and it's still there now. 

A fair few years ago a friend set a question over some beers. "Schumacher or Brawn: who's the hardest one to replace?". I thought the latter then and still do now. 

You mean like in the last race when Toto was on the internal comms system talking to strategy .. they missed bringing Hamilton in, he was out for a lap too long and Vettel jumped him. As Hamilton said .. "Guys, how did this happen?"

Hamilton was forced to overtake Vettel on track - he managed it easily as Vettel made yet another mistake. That's a strategy screw-up in my book. Toto admitted as much and took the blame.

Ferrari should have hired Ricciardo .. now there's a guy in the right car who could take the fight to Hamilton. Vettel seems to have had the stuffing kicked out of him.

Heartfeltdawn

Compared to the opposition they've been mostly on the ball. No team has been even close to perfect this year and I'd put that down to the tyres. 

Vettel does indeed seem very very down. It's all a bit sad really outside of Mercedes. Red Bull hate the engine and DR's giving it some on the radio, Ferrari are collapsing, and McLaren just get worse.

markr76

One of the biggest problems at Ferrari, which comes from the top, I might add. Is there is a massive blame culture there. Always has been. You get to a stage where every one there becomes scared of making a mistake in case the finger is pointed at you. It’s poisonous. Unfortunately I think the Italians are too emotional/ passionate. Which clouds their heads at times. The blame culture really is poisonous though. It’s something that crept in at our place when we were Honda f1. Took a while to sort also. All the different departments pointing fingers instead of working the challenges/problems as a team. Ferrari really need to take a step back and take a look at themselves. We’ve had to do it this season at Merc. Earlier in the year Ferrari were punishing us. The way we work at work really impresses me as we never take it for granted that we deserve anything. I think the team orders call last week shows that as we still think Ferrari are very dangerous and not to be underestimated.

prowla

At least Ricciardo thinks the engine is a keeper!

simonk

prowla said:

At least Ricciardo thinks the engine is a keeper!

That’s what I thought I heard too when he was screaming inside his helmet whilst walking down the pit lane during qualifying.

sweepy

Vettel, you utter two faced twat, ill say no more till others have watched the race 

Fretwired

sweepy said:

Vettel, you utter two faced twat, ill say no more till others have watched the race 

More mistakes ... no doubt blames Max.

thumpingrug

And looking very dejected after the race.  

Fretwired

thumpingrug said:

And looking very dejected after the race.  

Can you blame him .. tried the same think on Lewis a few races back with the same result. Too many on track errors ... he's looking pretty average at the moment.

Cols

Alonso claims that McLaren haven’t updated the car since the Spanish Grand Prix.

That’s a shocking thing to hear about a team that were consistently regarded as the best in the business at the development war.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/no-upgrades-on-mclaren-car-since-may/

Fretwired

Cols said:

Alonso claims that McLaren haven’t updated the car since the Spanish Grand Prix.

That’s a shocking thing to hear about a team that were consistently regarded as the best in the business at the development war.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/no-upgrades-on-mclaren-car-since-may/

Not sure I agree. If I were head of McLaren I'd chuck the current car in a skip and start again. Hopefully all the resources are going into the 2019 car. If that's a dud they should call it a day.

Cols

I don’t know... if I was serious about trying to keep Alonso - or sign Ricciardo - I’d have made an effort to show a decent improvement in the mid-season.  

Yes, it might make long term sense to write off this season as a bad job and throw all the resource at 2019.  However, it gives the immediate impression of a team making no progress against obvious problems.

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

Cols said:

Alonso claims that McLaren haven’t updated the car since the Spanish Grand Prix.

That’s a shocking thing to hear about a team that were consistently regarded as the best in the business at the development war.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/no-upgrades-on-mclaren-car-since-may/

Not sure I agree. If I were head of McLaren I'd chuck the current car in a skip and start again. Hopefully all the resources are going into the 2019 car. If that's a dud they should call it a day.

Alonso might well be advised to put wheels on the skip for the rest of the season instead. 

PC_Dave

Vettel. I have no words.

PC_Dave

Could have been much, much worse than that....

thumpingrug

Heck of a race from start to the very end.

TimmyO

Brilliant race. I'd have put Money on the fact that Ferrari had effed up the strategy when neither car pitted under VSC but hats off 

Fretwired

Great that Kimi won a race .. Mercedes cocked up their strategy and Bottas is moving closer to the exit ..

Modellista

They've consistently been leaving Hamilton out for too long on worn tyres all season.  I really cannot fathom why.  As soon as that gap starts dropping they should bring him in.  I've lost count of the times I'm shouting "bring him in!" at the TV, all the while those valuable seconds vanish into thin air.

Lovely to see Kimi achieve a swansong.  But Mercedes need to look closely at their strategy team.  Having to be let past Bottas twice and still only managing third from pole is an embarrassment.