Yet to be confirmed on Sunday, of course, but Ferrari looks to have made a step. The fact they got the upgrades produced early, tested and confirmed on a filming day, and delivered to Austria with a setup seemingly in the bag from FP1 is very encouraging.
I was the biggest Binotto apologist, but I can’t help but feel this simply wouldn’t have happened under him. It often felt like Mattia would say it was just this race, or just this set of circumstances, or could be improved through set up, etc, and we would flounder.
Earlier in the year Ferrari felt in crisis, and Fred has actually done something about it. Very proactive. And thus far, very positive. I also much prefer this philosophy of developing year-long instead of simply abandoning early to focus on next year. It’s absolutely true the cars will be much the same, so learnings now will help when developing next years car. I can’t help but wonder if that’s why we suffered out the gate this year - because we abandoned last season too early and didn’t learn what needed to be learned.
Rant over. Long story short, I have optimism for the first time in 2023. I trust Fred, and I like what he’s doing this far. I’m excited for the ongoing recruitment and am relieved to see the death of the ‘promote from within’ mentality that has dominated, and ruined, Ferrari since 2009.