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The 2020 F1 Season

Having watched the Moto GP highlights yesterday evening.

I would suggest that the best thing the rule makers could do to encourage attractive racing would be to get rid of half the wheels!

Mmmm, why not loose all the wheels and race hovercrafts?
 
@IanW Do you know Stuart Harris? Contract designer at Williams, RBR and AM over the last few years.

Met up with him today to relieve him of some rather large speakers...
 
Hi,

Ferrari starting the road back to winning?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53503786

I think I remember they had a shake up a few years ago, or is this something that happens with Ferrari every few years?

Cheers

John

PS
Yes, I just Googled Ferrari shake up for 2015 and 2014 seems to be plenty, just pick a year and read the latest restructure, where did it go wrong, or should that read when will they get it right?
 
Hi,

Ferrari starting the road back to winning?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53503786

I think I remember they had a shake up a few years ago, or is this something that happens with Ferrari every few years?

Cheers

John

PS
Yes, I just Googled Ferrari shake up for 2015 and 2014 seems to be plenty, just pick a year and read the latest restructure, where did it go wrong, or should that read when will they get it right?

I'm sad to say I suspect it will make little difference. The only time Ferrari have been at the top of their game in the last 40 years was the Schumacher era and their senior team management at that time weren't Italian.... hint hint!
 
I'm sad to say I suspect it will make little difference. The only time Ferrari have been at the top of their game in the last 40 years was the Schumacher era and their senior team management at that time weren't Italian.... hint hint!

Also makes you wonder what if Ferrari had clinched a title with that 'smokey & fast' but illegal engine last season? Could you really have seen the FIA stripping them of the title/titles?
 
Also makes you wonder what if Ferrari had clinched a title with that 'smokey & fast' but illegal engine last season? Could you really have seen the FIA stripping them of the title/titles?

That whole investigation and its outcome leaves an extremely bad taste in the mouth. They clearly were doing something that was not within the spirit of the rules at best, but to keep the results hidden is wrong. I suspect had Mercedes lost the championship they would be a lot more vocal about it... but to answer your question.... No I can't see the FIA doing that... certainly not to Ferrari. Sad, but true.
 
I'm sad to say I suspect it will make little difference. The only time Ferrari have been at the top of their game in the last 40 years was the Schumacher era and their senior team management at that time weren't Italian.... hint hint!
I thought the days of the Italian curse were over since the Schumacher/Todt/Brawn/Byrne days. The feeling that Ferrari was an Italian team often cost them dearly - it caused both Phil Hill and John Surtees to walk away.
 
I am no Ferrari fan and do not subscribe to the "Ferrari are special" mantra and it drives me nuts that they get $73 million from the FIA just for turning up regardless of performance which is more that the total revenues of any the teams except the top four. Once you add up all their payments they get over £30 million more than Mercedes despite not winning anything. I don't want them to go in the same way I don't want any team to go but they do not deserve the level of reverence they seem to enjoy.

Anyway (breaths deeply) .... I enjoy seeing Ferrari beaten but not like they are currently. It does make me chuckle when they are incompetent but it is way better when it is close and last year, at times quite worrying. That they pushed the rules significantly or even cheated seems evident now but I am less bothered about that for Ferrari's sake, I do feel for their engine client teams who are taking the same performance penalty now and I am sure there must have been some difficult conversations between them and Ferrari.

Jean Todt's Ferrari was a generational team of brilliant individuals in all areas of the team. No one individual was solely responsible for that winning streak just as Toto's Mercedes isn't either. I think from my perspective that they both achieved success but in different ways. Jean was an old fashioned boss but with very strong lieutenants in Rory and Ross. Bespoke tyres with Bridgestone, the best driver in the world (MSC), very strong car development team Aldo Costa (part of the Merc team 2014 to 2019, now at Dallara and rumoured to be on Ferraris list currently), Nikolas Tombazis (current FIA technical director). Jean had a win at all costs approach both technically and legally as we saw from many legal and marginal ethical strategies. People also forget that Jean was TP at Ferrari for 7 years before they won the WDC and MSC did not face the depth of talent that earlier and later generations did - not discounting Alonso or Hakkinnen but they peaked at different times and there were not any others at that level.

I am not sure Jean ever eliminated the blame culture either, I think he suppressed it with force of personality and results (always helps) but it was always still there. This is where Toto has exceeded Todt's achievements. He has built a non blame culture and one with a wide and deep vein of talent and promotion culture at Mercedes. No one person can create success or cause failure, they really do seem to work as the perfect team. I would love to sit down with IanW for a pint to discuss his experiences at the team, I am sure it is not all flowers and happy smiles but you cannot deny it is hugely effective.

Ferrari need to learn from this. Binotto seems a decent guy and I welcome his approach after the belligerence/arrogance of Arrivabene. He does bear the responsibility of the engine fiasco so if he survives then he needs to dig deep. The new reorganisation is needed of course and I hope they don't adopt the old slash and burn of the past. I suspect he would do best back in charge of the technical aspects and Ferrari need a top line manager.
 
I am no Ferrari fan and do not subscribe to the "Ferrari are special" mantra and it drives me nuts that they get $73 million from the FIA just for turning up regardless of performance which is more that the total revenues of any the teams except the top four. Once you add up all their payments they get over £30 million more than Mercedes despite not winning anything. I don't want them to go in the same way I don't want any team to go but they do not deserve the level of reverence they seem to enjoy.

Anyway (breaths deeply) .... I enjoy seeing Ferrari beaten but not like they are currently. It does make me chuckle when they are incompetent but it is way better when it is close and last year, at times quite worrying. That they pushed the rules significantly or even cheated seems evident now but I am less bothered about that for Ferrari's sake, I do feel for their engine client teams who are taking the same performance penalty now and I am sure there must have been some difficult conversations between them and Ferrari.

Jean Todt's Ferrari was a generational team of brilliant individuals in all areas of the team. No one individual was solely responsible for that winning streak just as Toto's Mercedes isn't either. I think from my perspective that they both achieved success but in different ways. Jean was an old fashioned boss but with very strong lieutenants in Rory and Ross. Bespoke tyres with Bridgestone, the best driver in the world (MSC), very strong car development team Aldo Costa (part of the Merc team 2014 to 2019, now at Dallara and rumoured to be on Ferraris list currently), Nikolas Tombazis (current FIA technical director). Jean had a win at all costs approach both technically and legally as we saw from many legal and marginal ethical strategies. People also forget that Jean was TP at Ferrari for 7 years before they won the WDC and MSC did not face the depth of talent that earlier and later generations did - not discounting Alonso or Hakkinnen but they peaked at different times and there were not any others at that level.

I am not sure Jean ever eliminated the blame culture either, I think he suppressed it with force of personality and results (always helps) but it was always still there. This is where Toto has exceeded Todt's achievements. He has built a non blame culture and one with a wide and deep vein of talent and promotion culture at Mercedes. No one person can create success or cause failure, they really do seem to work as the perfect team. I would love to sit down with IanW for a pint to discuss his experiences at the team, I am sure it is not all flowers and happy smiles but you cannot deny it is hugely effective.

Ferrari need to learn from this. Binotto seems a decent guy and I welcome his approach after the belligerence/arrogance of Arrivabene. He does bear the responsibility of the engine fiasco so if he survives then he needs to dig deep. The new reorganisation is needed of course and I hope they don't adopt the old slash and burn of the past. I suspect he would do best back in charge of the technical aspects and Ferrari need a top line manager.

Knowing all this (and no doubt even more), it's no wonder Lewis decided to stick with Mercedes! Knowing the same car regs will be kept for next season, barring accidents etc, he's in the best position to surpass MSC's 7 WCs.

Mercedes are so far ahead do you think they're now in the position to run their cars at (guessing here) 90% which should (guessing again) lead to even better reliability over the course of the season?
 
Knowing all this (and no doubt even more), it's no wonder Lewis decided to stick with Mercedes! Knowing the same car regs will be kept for next season, barring accidents etc, he's in the best position to surpass MSC's 7 WCs.

Mercedes are so far ahead do you think they're now in the position to run their cars at (guessing here) 90% which should (guessing again) lead to even better reliability over the course of the season?

I think Merc have run their cars at 90% or equivalent for most years except last year when Ferrari were killing them on top speed. We see it in race pace laps typically being 3 to 5 seconds slower especially once they have got a lead and are just pacing themselves. To be clear, this is a skill as well. Moderating the pace while maintaining tyre and brake temps is a balancing act, once the tyres cool down too much they are very hard to switch on again and can grain from being too cold as well.

With the engine regs limiting the number of engines the sad side effect is turning the races into reliability runs whenever possible.
 
I think Merc have run their cars at 90% or equivalent for most years except last year when Ferrari were killing them on top speed. We see it in race pace laps typically being 3 to 5 seconds slower especially once they have got a lead and are just pacing themselves. To be clear, this is a skill as well. Moderating the pace while maintaining tyre and brake temps is a balancing act, once the tyres cool down too much they are very hard to switch on again and can grain from being too cold as well.

With the engine regs limiting the number of engines the sad side effect is turning the races into reliability runs whenever possible.

I wonder what odds you can get on Merc winning every single race this year? Speaking of which, when will the season actually end this year?
 
I wonder what odds you can get on Merc winning every single race this year? Speaking of which, when will the season actually end this year?

The latter is still to be determined. As for the odds I would think it would still be not too bad as it's never been done... the closest was McLaren in 88 with two of the greatest drivers to ever grace the sport and the best car by a country mile. The thing is you really do need two top drivers as inevitably one will drop the ball or have a DNF at some point and the other has to be there to pick up the pieces. The most dominant car I have ever seen in F1 was the Williams FW15C - active ride, traction control, ABS braking, a setup that could be adjusted between corners and the ability to stall the rear diffuser from the cockpit as well as being able to run auto or manual gear shifts.... even then with Hill and Prost onboard it could not win every race.
 


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