2017 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, 6-8 October

[NathanOlder]

If anyone missed this it's a real gem.

Japanese Grand Prix Driver Briefing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPr5khO86Eg

Thanks!

Grosjean is such a whiner ! Was quite funny when Lewis said something like "if we drive slow on the cool down lap we can undo our belts, But Sebastian should keep his on"

[Vasconia]

With the issues Ferrari had this season, it feels a bit like the eighties/early nineties for me again, when Ferrari's were fast but fragile and the crew generally in chaos. The pre-Jean Todt era. With the drilled operation from McLaren/Dennis and the opportunistic but cleaver approach from Frank Williams.

Thinking of it, maybe this is all part of the big liberty plan, bring back the past: MercedesAMG and RedBull have taken the place of McLaren and Williams very well.

Next up: The old master (Hamilton) with a young, even faster but wild contender (Verstappen) in the same team, winning almost all the races.

This year was the best championship run of the Scuderia in years and the first time someone gave Mercedes a run for their money in the V6 era. They have problems, yes, but I think we should see the positives.

First time in years Ferrari is capable of fighting for the championship.
First time in even more time I see Ferrari being able to follow Mercedes(or any other team) in the in-season development war.

Those are for me the most postive aspects of this season, the ending is being very underwhelming but I do hope the Italians will keep doing the same good job, and hopefully, better in 2018.

[TAG]

First time in years Ferrari is capable of fighting for the championship.
First time in even more time I see Ferrari being able to follow Mercedes(or any other team) in the in-season development war.

From what's being shared on the internet, they were unable to follow Mercedes in the PU development with the new oil burning regulations in place without a significant power decrease, hence the risk taking with the new PU and the consequent reliability issues.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

This is what I had posted. People did not realize why Ferrari was delaying their Spec. They most likely had the jittery of introducing a Spec which most likely had sounded problems before it debuted.

[dans79]

Those are for me the most postive aspects of this season, the ending is being very underwhelming but I do hope the Italians will keep doing the same good job, and hopefully, better in 2018.

My fear is that Ferrari senior management will do what they have been doing for the lase decade, firing people on a what seems like a whim because they didn't win.

[zeph]

First time in years Ferrari is capable of fighting for the championship.
First time in even more time I see Ferrari being able to follow Mercedes(or any other team) in the in-season development war.

Those are for me the most postive aspects of this season, the ending is being very underwhelming but I do hope the Italians will keep doing the same good job, and hopefully, better in 2018.

To me, the big Q is how much of this year's performance is a remnant of James Allison's tenure at the Scuderia. He has been gone for a year now, so I imagine his influence on next year will be minimal.

Add to that Marchionne supposedly stepping in and changing things up, and I believe it could go either way: continue strong or slide down.

[PlatinumZealot]

Huh? Funny, when the Mercedes fans think that James is why the W08 development is so slow.

[foxmulder_ms]

Both Lotus and Ferrari really looked good with James. It may be a coincidence but it may be causal too. I think next year will be informative.

[zeph]

Huh? Funny, when the Mercedes fans think that James is why the W08 development is so slow.

Do you mean in-season development? Allison joined Mercedes in February this year. I don't know how long it would take him to get up to speed and implement his vision, but it seems plausible this could adversely affect the development process, initially.

[Vasconia]

First time in years Ferrari is capable of fighting for the championship.
First time in even more time I see Ferrari being able to follow Mercedes(or any other team) in the in-season development war.

From what's being shared on the internet, they were unable to follow Mercedes in the PU development with the new oil burning regulations in place without a significant power decrease, hence the risk taking with the new PU and the consequent reliability issues.

The performance looks good but yes, the reliability has been sub-par in the last races.

[Vasconia]

First time in years Ferrari is capable of fighting for the championship.
First time in even more time I see Ferrari being able to follow Mercedes(or any other team) in the in-season development war.

Those are for me the most postive aspects of this season, the ending is being very underwhelming but I do hope the Italians will keep doing the same good job, and hopefully, better in 2018.

To me, the big Q is how much of this year's performance is a remnant of James Allison's tenure at the Scuderia. He has been gone for a year now, so I imagine his influence on next year will be minimal.

Add to that Marchionne supposedly stepping in and changing things up, and I believe it could go either way: continue strong or slide down.

His influence in the in-season development has been, of course, 0. At least I give some credit to Ferrari for making progress even though sometimes the reliability is not good.

[Vasconia]

Those are for me the most postive aspects of this season, the ending is being very underwhelming but I do hope the Italians will keep doing the same good job, and hopefully, better in 2018.

My fear is that Ferrari senior management will do what they have been doing for the lase decade, firing people on a what seems like a whim because they didn't win.

This is my biggest fear. They have built an excellent car, give them more time to continue improving. Ahh how much I miss Todt and Brawn.

[Vasconia]

Huh? Funny, when the Mercedes fans think that James is why the W08 development is so slow.

I don´t think it has been slow when so many people said Mercedes was developing faster than Ferrari. I have seen Mercedes bringing updates several times and solving, at least partially, they tyre management problems. Yes, they still are there but the situation is way better than in the first races. I think that a complete solution will come with a new car.

[Just_a_fan]

Mercedes' tyre management issues aren't new to this season. They have been highlighted by Ferrari's excellent relative pace. Last season we saw the gap between Mercedes and the rest fluctuate during the season. I think this was caused by them having tyre issues even then but no one was close enough to benefit. This year has been very different in that regard.

[PlatinumZealot]

Huh? Funny, when the Mercedes fans think that James is why the W08 development is so slow.

I don´t think it has been slow when so many people said Mercedes was developing faster than Ferrari. I have seen Mercedes bringing updates several times and solving, at least partially, they tyre management problems. Yes, they still are there but the situation is way better than in the first races. I think that a complete solution will come with a new car.

Several updates?!! Actually no. The last update package was Malyasia. The one before that was Silverstone. The car was not updated through Spa, Monza, Singapore. I think before Silverstone, must have been Barcelona. I am not saying I am dissatisfied with the quantity of updates, but there is much to be desired of the gains in lap time. The car is still a diva, Ferrari race pace advantage has extended, and RedBull have just about caught up in race pace. Qaulifying pace is still good, but I think that is more down to Sebastian not being able to participate, and Ferrari screwing up otherwise.