Ferrari president expects wins to start in Spain

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In the round-up: Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne expects the team to begin winning soon – starting this weekend.

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Should some grands prix be shared between different venues?

There are a lot of circuits in Spain with infrastructure close to what’s required for F1. Most of those tracks can accommodate over 100,000 fans and have full media facilities etc… because they host a round of Moto GP – which isn’t much of a step down in terms of paddock facilities and media attendance Most of the races in Spain see six-figure Sunday crowds – Jerez in 2015 pulled 125,000 for Sunday alone and Valencia last year hosted a weekend crowd of 211,000!

I do believe the future for a lot of races is to alternate between two or three classic circuits. Especially the lesser-loved Spanish round (and Spain’s weak economy at the moment means you can get two bites of the regional money) or if Baku’s not amazing instead of scrapping it twin it with Turkey or something. (Although it may be best not to race in Azerbaijan at all!)
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On this day in F1

The 1991 world championship looked certain to be heading Ayrton Senna’s way as he won his fourth consecutive race at the start of the season in Monaco on this day 25 years ago. Nigel Mansell followed him home for his first points of the year after squeezing past Alain Prost at the chicane.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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62 comments on “Ferrari president expects wins to start in Spain”

  1. The idea of having a Grand Prix rotate between venues is one I’ve always been a fan of.

    This is effectively similar to how the European Grand Prix was a long time ago, and there are many, including myself, who wish to see it like this again.

    If an Argentinian race were to be back on the calendar there are multiple tracks I would like to see.

    The idea basically means F1 can visit more tracks without having 35 races.

    1. I thoroughly agree. I could easily list at least 35-40 race tracks that I’d love to see F1 use.

  2. Curious comments by Marchionne. Needing to sell more cars before getting into F1? Isnt it the other way around?

    Or is it the fact that Alfa has completely dropped out of the average person’s imagination? I’d like to think so. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, all I ever wanted was a GTV6 and then a 155, also used to love the old Alfettas. They were sexy cars, as they stood out, it had a element of madness in chic sort of way. For all its unreliability, I’d still have one, just for the way they used to look. But over the last decade or so (the 156 was the last Alfa that looked like an Alfa), the sex and madness seems to have been shoved in a back cupboard somewhere while being subject to a Fiat-Chrysler brainwash.

    The real question is, should they be coming into F1? I’d say no. They should go back to Touring Cars, where the aesthetics of the Alfa can be appreciated. The BTCC 155 of the early 90’s is permanently etched in my memory as one of the most beautiful touring cars of all time.

    1. @jaymenon10 Yes I agree, on the other hand though, the Alfa project is still on it’s infant stage, their road car line hasn’t been transformed, it can be shaped to anything. Honestly touring cars these days are brand sponsored events, the highest bidder gets the advantage and looking at sales, Citroen and Honda aren’t reaping any rewards for their wtcc projects.

      Barring any unforeseen catastrophes the race in Spain should deliver the first new race winner of the 2016 season, unfortunately I don’t see Ferrari winning, I see Ricciardo, both cars seem to have great downforce but the Renault on RB is much improved possibly as good as the Ferrari, so my bet is Ricciardo. Ferrari lost the chance to sign Verstappen but they should yet have another chance to get someone from RB, James Key has most definitely produced chassis that matches RB for the past 3 seasons.

      1. Could Max win on his debut?..that would be a story..even a podium would send the media into a frenzy.

      2. @peartree, as you say, Citroen in particular have reaped very few rewards from the WTCC – so few, in fact, that they have announced that they are pulling out of that series at the end of 2016.

        1. Citroen arguably didn’t reap any reward from dominating the WRC for years either. If you ask your average Joe to name a manufacturer of rally cars they would say Subaru or Mitsubishi, not Citroen who are second only to Lancia in terms of WRC constructors title wins.

          1. @geemac, I’d agree with that – the focus really was on Loeb throughout those years, with Citroen’s achievements being completely overshadowed in the process.

      3. If you look at the weather broadcast is friday showers, saterday probaly dry and sunday light rain So thing could be fun.
        http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Spain/Catalunya-Circuit.aspx?sday=3

      4. I may be mistaken but Barcelona is not an especially high downforce track so red bull will not be ahead of Ferrari let alone merc.

    2. Fudge Ahmed (@)
      12th May 2016, 10:19

      8C and 4C are achingly pretty cars, they even bear the classic Alfa caveats of being a bit fragile and with some unique driving ‘characteristics’, no?

  3. knoxploration
    12th May 2016, 1:25

    In other news, Ferrari’s president clearly hasn’t been paying any attention. He’s delusional if he thinks the wins (plural) will start from the next race when Mercedes have now won ten races in a row, and 36 of the last 42 races.

    Doubly so when Mercedes haven’t even been slightly pushed at all this year — the lead car hasn’t even been challenged by his own teammate, let alone rivals, and has basically been able to coast from start to finish — and yet Merc have *still* finished 30+ seconds ahead of the nearest Ferrari at the last two races, and an average of 0.4 seconds per lap ahead of Ferrari at every race of the season thus far.

    Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Merc win every race this year. Even if they lose, it is unlikely to be on merit, but rather caused by safety cars, dumb strategy mistakes or pitstop fumbles — anything but the car, which is simply in a league of its own, almost entirely due to its power unit. I would strongly expect Merc to lose no more than two races at most; certainly no more than the three they’ve lost the past two years running. It’s insane to suggest otherwise at this point.

    1. Agreed.

      This lopsided farce isn’t about to end yet. What Marchionne wants and what he ends up getting are probably two very different things.

      Don’t get me wrong. Divine intervention would be marvellous, however unlikely.

    2. Doubly so when Mercedes haven’t even been slightly pushed at all this year — the lead car hasn’t even been challenged by his own teammate, let alone rivals, and has basically been able to coast from start to finish

      Untrue. Mercedes were a little lucky that Ferrari dropped the ball in Australia, or else it was a Ferrari win. But I do understand your point that they are still way ahead of Ferrari. The only time I expect Ferrari to take a win is if Mercedes makes mistakes or luck factor plays in to their favour.

    3. How on earth are Ferrari going to start getting wins without Ricciardo !!! does Serigo know anything about F1 or just a bean counter???

      1. What does Ricciardo have to do with Ferrari not winning? Or do you think Ricciardo is a better driver than Vettel or Raikkonen? (Personally I think he is better than Kimi, but that’s just my opinion)

      2. You probably just started watching F1 this year, and even so…

    4. While I agree Marchionne needs to check his facts, I don’t think it is correct to say Mercedes dominance is “almost entirely due to its power unit”. It’s fairly common knowledge that the W07 (and the W05 and W06 that went before it) is a very, very good chassis indeed. Gary Anderson even went so far as to say “I disagree with those who argue the Red Bull is the best chassis in F1” to try and dispel the myth on Monday (source http://www.autosport.com/premium/feature/6983/f1-performance-pecking-order-revealed)

      1. @geemac You think your gonna change any of their minds when they are dead set on the belief that Mercedes has a rubbish chassis and it’s all engine no matter how much you tell them thats false.

        1. knoxploration
          12th May 2016, 16:34

          They don’t have a rubbish chassis. They also don’t have a chassis that is significantly better than any Red Bull or Ferrari, however. What they have is an utterly dominant engine.

          For the proof of that, look not at Mercedes, but at Williams. For a decade, they’d never managed better than fourth in the championship, and for six years they’d never managed better than 6th. For an entire decade, they averaged seventh in the championship. And in a decade, they’d managed 12 podiums, of which two-thirds were eight or more years past.

          Yet the instant they had the utterly-dominant Merc engine, they vaulted to 3rd in the championship, two years running. They managed 13 podiums in just two years, more than they’d managed in an entire decade of racing. And the sole reason for that was that they lucked into by far the best engine on the grid. The same engine with which Mercedes ensures its utter dominance over the rest of the field.

          The Merc power unit can make even a crap backmarker team into a contender — and you think it doesn’t give Merc 95% of their advantage over their rivals? Sorry, but remove your blinkers and pay attention.

          1. “The Merc power unit can make even a [expletive deleted] backmarker team into a contender”

            So where are Manor?

            Williams resurgence is as much down to them getting their financial house in order again as it is the Mercedes PU.

          2. Sorry i have no blinkers on, i don’t know how/why you come to that conclusion. My point is that they have a good chassis as well the most dominant engine ever.
            “The Merc power unit can make even a crap backmarker team into a contender — and you think it doesn’t ”
            Sorry take off your Blinkers and Pay attention where are Manor Mercedes???
            As GeeMac said Williams are where they are not only because of the engine, but because they got their financial house in order.

          3. @GeeMac, where is Toto? Obviously not as interested in his ‘feeder’ team. Toto had a lot more strings at Williams than he does with Manor. Don’t worry, there is still the hope of a Merc bungled start at Silverstone this year (not unlike last year).

          4. knoxploration, as others have pointed out, Williams underwent a substantial restructuring process in 2012-2013 that saw a sizeable reshuffle amongst the senior management, a complete redesign of their aerodynamics facility and a major change in their corporate structure to substantially improve their cash flow.

            The team had been suffering from underinvestment for a long period of time and also spent much of the V8 era stuck with some of the worst engines in the field. Independent analysis indicated that the Toyota engine was one of the least powerful in the field, whilst they had reliability issues with the CA2006 series Cosworth engines and Cosworth admitted that the CA2010 series engine suffered from a more rapid and more pronounced drop off in performance than their rivals.

            Equally, the evidence from some of the other teams with Mercedes engines is rather more mixed than Williams. By your logic, Force India, who have more direct support from Mercedes (having set up a technological partnership with them) should have also benefited to a similar degree as Williams – however, their relative competitiveness hasn’t changed substantially over the past few years, and it could be argued that they haven’t really moved forward so much as having been the team who benefited most from McLaren’s decline.

            As for Manor, that is a rather pointless comparison given that the 2015 car was essentially a slightly updated 2014 car with a 2014 spec engine. If they had stuck with a Ferrari engine, they probably would still have become contenders at the tail end of the field simply because they made a huge step forward with their chassis this year.

            Comparing the 2014 and 2015 Lotus cars results in a rather poor comparison given that Lotus admitted that they made major mistakes with the design of their 2014 car, which meant that it suffered from extreme aero pitch sensitivity and a diffuser that suffered from unpredictable stalling and choking (they mentioned that the aero balance could shift by as much as 30% forward or backwards due to the erratic performance of the diffuser). Whilst they have tended to punch above their weight, the team at Enstone have sometimes produced the odd car that has proven to be a bit of a disaster – the R31 comes to mind as one example.

            On what basis, therefore, do you assert that the engine makes up such a substantial proportion of the difference between Mercedes and the other teams? Objective analysis from engineers embedded within rival manufacturers have indicated that the difference in peak power between the Mercedes and Ferrari V6 is negligible – in the order of 5-15bhp – and is nowhere near enough to explain the performance difference between the teams.

            Similarly, some journalists at Autosport have been given access to the GPS data streams of some of the teams, and those have consistently indicated that Mercedes have tended to be faster than Ferrari throughout slow, medium and high speed corners – if anything, the gap to Ferrari is slightly larger through slow to medium speed corners, where the chassis might be expected to be more of a contributing factor.

            The only team which the GPS data would suggests that might have a comparable or better chassis might be Red Bull with the current generation car, where the cornering speeds in slower speed corners for the RB12 is comparable with the W07, and sometimes better. However, there is still some debate about the evidence given that it is not entirely clear cut, so the jury is still out on a definitive picture of their relative competitiveness.

            Much as there are those who seem to want to ascribe almost everything to Mercedes’s engine, I would say that the evidence suggests a more nuanced and complex picture.

    5. Fudge Ahmed (@)
      12th May 2016, 11:01

      COTD were it not for the huge generalisation about the Merc engine. But yes, Ferrari are not even close. None of Rosberg’s wins have been at max attack and the margin has still been huge.

  4. knoxploration
    12th May 2016, 1:31

    Also, regarding Merc’s whining about lack of TV coverage, sorry but tough luck. You fought against anything that would even up the racing and rein in an unfair advantage which is essentially guaranteed by the rules preventing proper testing or development… well, you’ve made your bed, now sleep in it.

    There is no “racing” up front this year, or anything even close to it, so far. Sorry, but I don’t want to watch one car way out in the lead race after race after dreary, dull-as-dishwater “race”. At least, not unless there’s a level playing field that allows rivals to catch up and they simply lack the talent to do so — but we all know that’s not the case any more.

    Unless and until the rules are fixed or performance is equalized artificially, I fully expect Merc to get minimal TV coverage and frankly, I applaud that. It’s one of the few things Bernie gets right any more, likely because Bernie isn’t actually the reason for it — the director is quite capable of realizing that video of a Merc with nothing near it is boring as hell and not worth showing, I’m sure.

    1. While I don’t approve of handicapping, I too think lack of coverage of Mercedes comes part and parcel with lack of competition at the front of the grid. There are teams like Sauber and Manor who can go an entire race and get almost no TV coverage, so if they are getting coverage and Mercedes isn’t, then that is a small price to pay. They need the advertising revenue.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      12th May 2016, 13:01

      Totally agree. I tune in to watch racing, not cars managing a race from the front. But as we all know, brand exposure is the sole reason Mercedes are here – nothing to do with a love for f1, sporting achievement or the fans. Just how Bernie wants it.

      1. @petebaldwin What a completely and utterly nonsensical comment.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          13th May 2016, 16:35

          @Robbie No further explanation? It’s important to note that I’m not talking about the racing team (Team Brackley), I’m talking about Mercedes as a company. Their existence in F1 is to improve their brand image as is Red Bull, Renault, Pirelli, Rolex, Honda and so on.

          The rules have meant that Mercedes have taken a big lead that is nearly impossible to reduce due to the token system. Suggestions have been made that parts that are not designed by the teams should be of a similar standard. We don’t have some drivers on good Pirelli tyres and some on bad Pirelli tyres for example – they ALL have the same.

          Mercedes don’t want this though which is bad for F1 however I suppose, good for their domination of the sport!

          This puts them in a catch-22 situation though. Refusing to allow some form of parity between the engines on offer to teams means Mercedes will continue to easily dominate but will not get much TV coverage. Allowing some degree of parity means the other teams have an opportunity to be competitive which will cut their lead but will guarantee them more TV time as well as a chance to win a meaningful Constructor’s Title.

          1. @petebaldwin As to the brand image thing…it does help that you have pointed out that you meant Mercedes the company, not the team, but since you have also pointed out the same accusation toward other entities then I have to ask what is your point? Aren’t you just pointing out the obvious?

            As to the rest of your commentary perhaps read what Wolff has just said under Keith’s article about Horner’s comments regarding engine issues going forward. Seems to fly in the face of your accusations towards Mercedes.

    3. I don’t think Mercedes are whining. Just noticing the issue and pointing it out. Just as anyone he would do in their position. Just as anyone in their position would fight to keep it, just as RBR complained when they had EBD curtailed in an effort to curtail their advantage.

      You seem to be blaming Mercedes for succeeding, almost like they solely have made the rules that everyone else has to follow, but then I shouldn’t be surprised. All teams that succeed end up paying for that success with rules changes to try to upset their run before things get too predictable. Tokens have been dropped, equalization is on the way, as are rule changes for 2017 that some say favour RBR again to try to unseat Mercedes, and let’s never forget Ferrari’s extra millions and their veto power.

      1. knoxploration
        12th May 2016, 16:37

        Have they made the rules? No.

        Have they fought any change to the rules — even though it would clearly be for the good of the sport — solely and selfishly to maintain an unfair advantage which they know those rules grant them? Yes.

        And frankly, that’s just as bad.

        Dropping tokens means little to nothing when engines must be homologated, must last for ridiculous lengths of time, and can’t be modified without massive penalties. Doubly so when testing in-season is essentially banned, meaning you have to trade competitive race weekends for test sessions.

        As for equalization, we’ll see if it actually happens. Frankly, I rather doubt it.

      2. Ferrari need Hamilton to go away before they can really be a contender and profit from throwing RBR out of their position :) ROS will do what ever hes told, that much is obvious, and everyone believes in Vettel, the only thing holding back the TV ratings is Lewis Hamilton and people crashing in to the back of Vettel :) :) :) :)

  5. In further news, Sergio Marchionne was very surprised when his engineers at Ferrari were unable to develop an F1 engine that that runs entirely on solar power and the ‘power of positivity’, despite having thrown almost $650 million dollars into the project. When asked about it, he responded, ‘I don’t understand. I told them to do it, so why didn’t they?’ Personnel changes are expected in the near future.

    1. That’s a good one:D

  6. “To everybody at home who said that we looked like ‘muppets’ directed by our engineers on radio, that’s stopped now so it’s a good direction.” – Rosberg

    Goes to show how much whining fans do. There is a lot of fuss about nothing which has been going on. And usually when the sport authorities react, their actions tend to rob us even more of the very things we loved about the sport.

    1. So you loved the drivers being nannied along, being told every possible detail on how to drive their car from their engineer? There’s a robot league somewhere with your name on it.

      1. So you loved the drivers being nannied along, being told every possible detail on how to drive their car from their engineer?

        To be honest, I preferred that to the virtual radio blackout we are getting at the moment. You got a great insight into the strategies and technical aspects of racing before. It was one of the great features of watching F1 on TV (and even more so using the Android app). Now, we see what happens on track and that’s all.

        I would prefer a middle ground. I actually thought the level we had at the end of last year was pretty much ideal: Very little coaching, but still a lot of information getting to the fans. This year they may as well not bother playing any team radio.

    2. I think it’s been a great move. No more directions like “go slower in turn X to save your tyres” or “Engine setting blue 24 c 18.” I’ve also heard nothing but either drivers feeling it makes no difference to the quality or racing, or appreciating the move because it allows them more freedom on when to deploy which engine modes or strategies.

      If cars being driven by a pitwall is what you loved about the sport then fair enough. But don’t include “we” in that…

      1. “If cars being driven by a pitwall is what you loved…”

        That’s quite a conclusion you arrived at rather quickly I must say.
        One question, do you like the near radio silence so far this year?If you do, then of course you are not a part of the ‘we’ I was referring to. But try to compare 2016 and previous years’ radio chatter published on this very website.
        By the way, radio chatter is a lot more than driver coaching. Mercedes went overboard with that but there are lots of other chatter we no longer hear.
        Look at the difference Seb’s outburst and Mercedes’ PU message to Lewis made last Sunday. At the beginning of the year, that would probably not have been broadcast.
        At least they are slowly loosening up.

        1. The “radio silence” has been exacerbated by the direction of the broadcast. If you think the teams aren’t talking to the drivers that’s just delusional.

          1. Well that’s even more futile then. We know even less about what’s going on, is the net result.

            The drivers still get coaching and their teammate’s telemetry, in the garage. Their diff changes its own settings for corner entry, apex and exit, they have hot and cold tyres and brakes and engines, they lift-and-coast, nearly run out of fuel but not quite, use aggressive or conservative modes… the only difference is we don’t know anything about it.

            They each go faster or slower and we don’t know why, which begs the whole question of why we’re watching.

  7. Nice pieces @kiethcollantine especially the one about Verstappen on Unibet. Indeed the young man is the real deal, as you said.
    Those who have watched F1 for years, I believe, have an eye for that young man that brings the spark back into the sport once in a while. Watching videos of Senna’s handling of race cars always feels like watching a master composer or conductor at work. I was not lucky enough to watch the beginning of MS’ career but when I started watching F1 in the early 90s, aside his controversies and stuff, he was a master of speed, a balls out racer and very calculated.
    When Fernando appeared on the scene his style reminded me of both MS and Senna. It seemed the young man was a student of both hence he was able to beat MS at his own game twice. His appearance was timely enough to revive a sport that was in the throes of controversies, accusations and decline especially with viewership.
    Seb and Lewis stood themselves out against various odds when they came online and those of us who cheered for them can today only say, yes we knew it! I have always seen both of them as very similar in not just driving style but in their mental strength. I just love watching them race.
    Apart from Danny and sometimes Perez (when he is having a good day) it was beginning to look as if the driver market was becoming stale with uninteresting characters (for want of words), until Max Verstappen showed up.
    Yes he was irritatingly super hyped but the young man has not disappointed one bit. He has lived up to expectations at least for now. He is simply a pleasure to watch. He again reminds me to a certain extent of Senna’s handling of F1 cars. It feels too easy for him. The way he sets his car up to overtake or even take a corner and how he accelerates out of it afterwards is championship quality.
    He is going to be an F1 star with the potential to be a multiple champion.
    But I worry if he has the patience. And have Redbull acted too quickly?
    For a sport which is once more in the throes of controversies and decline, he is that spark that is sorely needed. Plus he has the potential to bring in a new generation of viewers and fans for F1. A generation who seem to be more and more into EVs and autonomous Vs.
    Let’s hope MV continues to develope because each era of the sport has a notable personality so let’s be honest, no matter how fast F1 cars are, without a driver in whose hands the cars turn into something else, the sport simply becomes bland. How about that for “DNA”?

  8. RP (@slotopen)
    12th May 2016, 4:46

    Meanwhile at the press conference: “Lewis, before we move on to Max and Danny, I’m obliged to ask, is Spain a must win for you?”

  9. Wow… Really? Kyvat and Vestappen in the press conference?

    Just… Wow.

    Honestly, I really hope Kyvat has a fantastic weekend.

    1. I mean it can’t be much fun for Sainz either…
      “So, Max was promoted ahead of you?”

      1. Hello, Max and Daniil. Before we begin, would either of you like to switch seats?

  10. I’ve been a Ferrari fan all my life but these comments are starting to be really ridiculous.
    Don’t get me wrong, I want Ferrari to be able to catch and pass Mercedes, I want them to be 5 seconds faster than any other car on the circuit but then again… seriously now Ferrari boss, Sky commentators and so on… stop it. The 0.5 to 1 second per lap is not gonna go away by just clapping your hands…

  11. Allison going to take Arrivabene’s spot?!? Attempts to poach Costa back?!? James Key to be the new technical director at Ferrari?? What’s going on at Ferrari camp???

    Looks like something’s never change at Ferrari. They still have the need to reshuffle and roll heads when results aren’t delivered in a short duration of time. Mercedes struggled for 4 seasons before they finally tasted their massive success, but for some reason Ferrari have always changed their personnel and reshuffled roles or fired people in an attempt to find a winning formula instantly. Chris Dyer was gone in 2010, Aldo Costa was gone in 2011, Pat Fry was hired and fired within 3 seasons. Tombazis gone. Team principal Stefano gone, and a year later so was his replacement. King Luca gone. James Allison hired in 2014, and now they are looking at moving him away from technical to managerial in 2016, and where will that leave Arrivebene?

    I cannot deny that this article put an evil grin on my face. As a die hard Alonso fan, I saw a lot of this between 2010 to 2014, and now it looks like Seb is tasting the same medicine that Alonso did during his Ferrari stint.

    Maybe Alonso was right. At best, Ferrari can only be second best.

    1. @todford Whilst your vindictive glee at the prospect of a Ferrari re-shuffle irks me as a Ferrari fan (although I am guilty of the same about Alonso’s fortunes since leaving the scuderia) it all seems to be a bit of a non story as far as I can see. Largely stemming from Marchionne taking on additional responsibilities within the Fiat/Chrysler group and the media assuming that it means there is room at the top and a re-shuffle was imminent, let the media frenzy commence.

      It does pain me to see Aldo Costa still at Mercedes though. Off all those you mention, only he is the one that Ferrari should never have let go. He was Rory Byrne’s protege and has taken those years of Ferrari knowledge straight to Mercedes et viola! there are of course others who should never have been hired in the first place *cough* Pat Fry *cough (thanks Nando!).

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      12th May 2016, 13:04

      It’s just the usual Ferrari ‘keep changing people around until we win’ strategy that NEVER works!

  12. What is Lewis talking about? I think Hamilton himself has got the most exposure in the last two races…

    1. Lewis is not saying anything, it’s just the Sun using his name to sell the story @jcost. It’s Toto, presumably with some data – I’m guessing about Rosberg.

  13. I knew Lewis is being paid more than Dieter Zetsche, but I didn’t realise he liked his car so much he bought the company :)

    Seriously though I can believe that grandprix.com story that the top teams are talking to CVC about getting rid of Bernie. He’s gone from how-does-he-do-it indispensable to a what-now liability.

  14. It’s a really lazy management approach to simply demand specific results by a certain point. It seems to imply an attitude of ‘the reason we haven’t done it yet is because I haven’t told them to do it yet’. Ferrari aren’t being beaten because the engineers are all sitting around thinking that they’ve done a good enough job. If they were capable of designing a car and power unit to beat Mercedes they’d have done it by now. Simply demanding an improvement in performance is nonsense. You’re the head, if things aren’t working underneath you, you need to put in place the resources and the expertise needed to achieve the results you want. Otherwise you’re just flogging a dead (prancing) horse.

  15. Mauricio really seems to be talking up Ferrari’s potential. I think it will make for an interesting race weekend to see if their tokens used in Sochi will have a bigger effect at this race weekend. Ferrari are also claiming the track surface is to their liking. So it will be interesting to see the gap after Ferrari are on a circuit that they claim will suit them, with the effects of an upgraded PU. If they have a trouble free weekend, and still finish over 20 seconds off the race winner, Mauricio will be eating humble pie, and of course, heads shall roll!

    1. Except the miracle might happen. In which case the last few posters should have a second helping of said humble pie. Here’s hoping.

  16. Someone jumped the gun on that Heineken story. Great news though. Take that Eurocare! (who want a ban on alcohol sponsorship in F1)

    It’ll be interesting to see which team they opt for as well. Red Bull would be the obvious choice with Verstappen now in the seat. Maybe too obvious…

  17. Ferdinand Piech (VW) demanded his organization achieve 5% market share in USA with clean diesels, or else…

    That worked out well.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      12th May 2016, 13:06

      Haha :)

  18. Caption Competition:
    Arrivabene whispers into Marchionne’s ear…”Listen you tiny headed man, just saying it does not make it so.”

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