The 2023 Formula One Season

Just a question of how long they can put up with the internal politics, which have always been a part of Ferrari. While not as extreme as in days of yore (when some Ferrari team managers blatantly favoured Italians), they still rumble on.

 

A good friend worked for Pirelli for about 15 years, and the internal politics there eventually drove him away from a job he loved. Is this a common feature of Italian companies?

 

Really pleased about this. AM stepping up to become a proper top tier team now. I think this year is a boost for them but still not 100% convinced with the performance, I suspect a little luck has helped but happy to see them continue the growth if they do. Honda's commitment to be a factory presence is great, I have always liked them being in F1 even if they do not quite know what they want to do with it sometimes.

 

The most notorious Ferrari example was the splitting with John Surtees. Team Manager Eugenio Dragoni was one of those who believed that Ferrari was an Italian team, plus, he didn't particularly like Surtees, who had always got on well with autocratic Italian bosses (Count Augusta in his motorcycling days, then Ferrari). It all came to a head at Le Mans in 1966, when Dragoni abruptly replaced Surtees with Lodovico Scarfiotti as the lead driver to meet the Ford challenge. Scarfiotti was a nephew of the Agnellis who owned Fiat, and one of them was present at Le Mans. Moreover, Fiat had been quietly supporting Ferrari, which they saw as flying the flag for Italian cars. Surtees was furious and drove immediately to Italy to confront Ferrari, and that was the end. So, before the Ford confrontation, Ferrari had effectively shot itself in the foot. Similarly, a couple of years before, Phil Hill, 3 times Le Mans winner in Ferrari sports cars and 1961 World Champion, simply had had enough of the politics and left.

 

Sorry missed this when I posted just now

 

It’s ok, I misspelt ‘formally’ anyway

 

Nobody's perfect.
I can't spell bonnet. Or Donington.

 

The new Mercedes side-pods are revealed: https://www.planetf1.com/news/mercedes-new-look-sidepods-monaco/

 

Monaco doesn't seem to be the ideal proving ground.

 

It's not. It was intended for Imola but rain stopped play.

 

And there was me thinking the Daily Mail had it spot on and he was off to Ferrari

 

The boys relaxing

 

Jim Clark looks like he is probably worried about the damage to someone’s hay field.

 

Ever the gentleman farmer

 

Good one - and with Stirling Moss, which I guess makes it ca. 1961. Seeing both Phil Hill and Dan Gurney there reminds me of the nice story about them at Ferrari. Hill was a very successful Ferrari sports car driver, but couldn't make it on to the F1 team. Every time he tested, the Ferrari mechanics would say Piano, piano, and Hill would oblige. Over time, he came to realise that what they meant was not "drive gently" but "don't bend the machinery". When Gurney came to try out for the Ferrari F1 team, Hill pulled him aside and said, "If they say piano, piano, they mean go like hell." And Gurney did, and got on to the F1 team before Hill.

 

Spa, ‘61.

 

Aha, yes, if I'd looked more carefully, I would have noticed the "Pneu Englebert" sign, which would have been a giveaway. Englebert ultimately disappeared into Continental.

 

I think it is Von Trips sporting the silly hat.

Fantastic photo!

 

Darling, is that an F1 car outside our window?