Xyz22 wrote: ↑12 Jul 2023, 21:20
I doubt that even the perfect Ferrari would have matched the McL which has been the closest car to RB yet this year i think.
Max was managing his pace and top speed again this race, unlike Austria where RB flexed their muscles to the fullest. Also, Ferrari was slower than they could have gone, as explained by Vasseur.
CMSMJ1 wrote: ↑12 Jul 2023, 22:43
I read a lot in here..rarely post as there are some strong convictions and to be fair, I'm just a fan of the racing.
Ferrari though...how is it they struggle so much to get the last 2%?
Car - generally fast - maybe not fastest in any year, but very much top 3 "most" of the time... a dog is rare.
Strategy - generally terrible - how do they fall so often into the proverbial bucket of **stuff** and come out sucking their thumbs?
Drivers - generally a strong and capable pairing and that you could argue that most teams on the grid would drop one or both of their incumbent drivers for one or the other.
How do they manage to drop the ball? What causes it? How, in all honesty since Raikkonen in 2007 (and then clutching it by the McLaren team really imploding) have they not managed to win either championship with peak Alonso or Vettel?*
Is it the regs? A baked in advantage is never lost? A team who fails to deliver loses the year from that point?
I would love to see a new Ferrari WDC and WCC - will it be any time soon - doesn't feel like it and that is worrisome. I think that there is more chance of McLaren winning a championship, or even Aston with a massive hurrah.
*reader - Yes, I know RBR and Merc have totally nailed the field since 2010....but come on Ferrari!
Some of us have been trying to figure out the same thing since the mentioned 2007 title
Alonso and Ferrari lost the 2010 title together in the last race. They underestimated both Vettel and Petrov as well. You could argue Alonso's crash at Spa was also something that could have been avoided and would have probably brought him the title. 2010 was huge for Vettel and his confidence and he was very much a confidence driver, more than some other champions. There's no telling how the following 3 seasons would have gone had Alonso won in 2010, especially Vettel-Webber relations in the team.
Vettel in 2017 and 18 had half a chance in each season (before and after the car wasn't there), Merc was still more powerful and could afford more drag for more downforce and still match Ferrari on straights. Vettel also made a few mistakes on his own, more in 2018, while some of Hamilton's driving opponents off the track was allowed as usual.
Last year, it's hard to tell if TD39 would have lost Ferrari the title even if they were perfect after Australia and used all of their chances. Most certainly, PU troubles and amateurish strategy lost them more points than TD did.
Overall, it turned out they never had a true race-winning car throughout the entire season since 2010 and that's kind of the biggest thing. Other than that, strategy department has been degrading visibly in the last few years, while Binotto's deal with FIA in 2019 turned out to be a terrible thing for the PU and we still can't say for sure if all the PU reliability problems of last year have been sorted now.
In short, they are too big to drop too low, but ever since Todd-Brawn-Byrne team departed the team has never been on the same level. RB and Merc were simply far better race teams in the last 15 years, taking utmost care of every single aspect of their operations. I'd argue the same thing can be applied to McLaren in this same period, but McLaren also had financial trouble that set them back further at times.
