In the round-up: Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says it may take weeks to deliver the aerodynamic changes needed for their car.
What they say
Binotto said Ferrari can still perform competitively with their current design while they await more significant aerodynamic changes to the SF90.Paul Ricard is very similar to Barcelona. It is not a track where I think we will be very strong. But there is still time from now to there to improve. Improving the full car and the concept it may take some time, no doubt. To define a new aero concept may take a few weeks.
But I think in the meantime what we need is to optimise the package we’ve got and I think there is still room to do so. If you look at the five races at the start of the season there are some where we have been strong as well. I think there are races where we can still be strong with the current package, developing it. So we will fight day-by-day, race-by-race and let’s see.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Snapshot
The number eight Toyota TS050 of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima set the pace in the first test for the Le Mans 24 Hours, lapping in 3’19.440. The LMP2 class was headed by the Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Ho-Pin Tung, Stephane Richelmi and Gabriele Aubry. In the GTE Pro class, the Chevrolet Corvette of Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller led the way.
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Flat out in California! 🔥
Ride onboard the 2016 Mercedes F1 W07/04 with @EstebanGtz at the 2019 @sonomaspeedfest! pic.twitter.com/FlWJtSBLdj
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) June 2, 2019
Obviously frustrated with the way our race ended. Hit from behind trying to make it into pit lane. Easy to say now but I think we could have had a great day looking at how our strategy played out for other cars! Thank you to @ECRIndy for all their hard work, we’ll go again in TX!
— Spencer Pigot (@SpencerPigot) June 2, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
2019 Formula Renault Eurocup - Paul Ricard - Race 2 (Renault via YouTube)
A Word With the President (F1 GODC)
Emanuele Pirro: "Ron Dennis called me and told me in confidence that McLaren would have Honda engines the following year and a big testing programme was going to be set up at Suzuka. Would I like to be the test driver. At the same time they organised for me a Formula 3000 deal in Japan so I moved to Japan in 1988 and that year I took 108 flights from Europe to Japan and back because McLaren testing in Japan was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday every week."
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Comment of the day
Jean Todt and Salt Bae made for a very unusual combination in this weekend’s Caption Competition. Here’s the winning entry from RP:
“Jean, you can sell the sizzle, but you must deliver the steak.”
RP (@Slotopen)
Thanks to everyone who joined in, including Derek Edwards, Nulla Pax and Ryan B.
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Tom Parfitt!
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On this day in F1
- 35 years ago today Alain Prost won a very wet Monaco Grand Prix which was controversially red-flagged and not restarted while Ayrton Senna and Stefan Bellof were closing on him
Phylyp (@phylyp)
3rd June 2019, 0:06
Congratulations, @slotopen!
The Sonoma Speedway (from the Merc tweet) looks very nice, with continuously flowing corners and curves. Is an F1 race being considered there?
Sloppy Shades (@sloppysmusic)
3rd June 2019, 0:50
Sonoma I only know through many races in the Project Cars games. A favorite of mine it has many interesting undulating twists , turns, camber and level changes. A nightmare to learn but a real joy when mastered. You don’t just get a regular hairpin after a straight.. You also get one straight with a tight uphill right hairpin dipping down quickly then up left and then right down again to a sharp right followed by short Monaco like straight dropping steeply down to a sharp left unwinding corkscrew affair… That’s pretty well the first sector described! I think it’s way too small in the way of spectator capacity to host the F1 circus but certainly makes for a fun test track.
kpcart
3rd June 2019, 4:44
You don’t know it from indycar? It’s one of americas great tracks, and like a lot of them, better than all the tilke rubbish on f1. An f1 race wouldnt work there because of the cars not being able to follow each other closely I’m glad f1 doesn’t race there, a dull race there would tarnish this legendary track
Phylyp (@phylyp)
3rd June 2019, 11:18
Thank you, @sloppysmusic
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd June 2019, 5:55
Judging from Binotto’s words… this season is a write off for Ferrari. Introducing a new aero concept in a few weeks?!? By that time Mercedes would have taken eight wins in a row, probably with seven 1-2s . Let’s not forget that Mercedes has an engine upgrade in Canada next weekend… so Ferrari will have a whole lot more catching up to do.
It’s a real shame that the current regulations only gave Ferrari a realistic shot at challenging Mercedes. They fail to challenge year after year… and if people are saying this sport is getting boring and predictable, they should really be blaming Ferrari for it.
Chaitanya
3rd June 2019, 7:13
Just like any other season for more than a decade.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
3rd June 2019, 8:38
@todfod
> and if people are saying this sport is getting boring and predictable, they should really be blaming Ferrari for it
Sorry but.. what? There are 10 teams competing, I don’t really get why should Ferrari be blamed for the poor show in the sport. They’re trying, and failing. As much as Red Bull, McLaren, Renault and so on are trying, and failing, more than Ferrari. The fact that they’re the ones that are failing the least doesn’t mean that they have to be the scapegoat. Mercedes is doing something incredible, and all the others are failing to catch up.
Who’s in charge of deciding how much aero weights in today’s Formula 1? Who decides about MGUKs MGUHs MGTheFQ? Who decided that “the pinnacle of motorsport” should consume less than my Citroen and use less engines in a year than they used in a weekend when the sport was fun? Who decided that cars must have more buttons than an airliner? Who heavily reduced the weight of the driver in the overall equation, to favor engineering, remote garages, satellites and computers? Who wanted unfailing cars and now that we have unfailing cars we ask ourselves why nothing is breaking anymore?
I have my doubts the answer is Ferrari.
I’m bitter too about the fact that Mercedes is dominating and my patience to follow a sport where the result is already known before the race even starts is getting very low too. But as long as we don’t address the right causes of this situation we’ll never be able to solve it.
RB13
3rd June 2019, 11:48
Nope, Ferrari deserve more blame because they have as much budget and get paid MORE than the champions for the reason of simply being there. With this kind of inequitable bonus it is embarrassing that they can’t get it right.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
3rd June 2019, 12:21
@RB13 it can be embarassing and all, but it’s a completely different matter when it comes to blaming someone for the lack of show. Ferrari has this bonuses for years. Now that the show is further down the drain, instead of trying to understand what went wrong here we’re blaming a single team for not being able to catch up with the front runner. It’s nonsensical. Remove the bonus and what do you have? Still Mercedes domination and snooze fests, you can’t fix F1 by changing Ferrari bonuses.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
3rd June 2019, 14:12
@m-bagattini – that’s a fair rebuttal.
RB13
3rd June 2019, 15:38
@m-bagattini perfectly entitled to your opinion of course but many do feel that they deserve a higher percentage of blame because that bonus money should be funnelled back into the sport and not, if their budget and headcount is on a par with mercedes as is reported, into other areas of the company.
The errors this year are just examples of laziness and not indicative of a team looking to perfect every aspect of their operation like Mercedes have. Fans are justified to feel aggrieved when their bonus is taking away money from midfield teams who by all counts are doing more with less.
Cranberry
3rd June 2019, 12:32
Ferrari deserver the blame for failing, not just because they have a higher budget than all those other teams combined, but because even with their precious “Veto” they can’t compete.
“Cannot compete” is an understatement, alot of heads need to roll at Ferrari, not just on the F1 team’s side, but on the corporate side aswell. I realize there are a lot of Ferrari fans who think the red team can do no wrong, but, they should be ashamed of themselves for failing so spectacularly for such a long time.
No wonder the main use for their Veto is keeping Porsche out of F1.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
3rd June 2019, 13:10
@Cranberry there are lot of cases in sports where a bigger wallet doesn’t directly buy wins.
Anyway, I see the general feeling is getting bitter and bitter and someone needs to find a scapegoat to justify everything. If you feel better thinking that the problem of F1 is Ferrari veto (as stated in another article here, used once), go on. The next Barcellona-like race try not to fall asleep while trying to correlate veto or Ferrari bonus to what’s happening on track, try to find a direct correlation between those two things and the fact that the race is absolutely dull.
@ruliemaulana you’re right, that’s crazy: if F1, as a whole, can’t understand that it’s on the verge of something, it’s all their fault. In around 10-20 years they’ll lose tons of last-standing viewers due to age. They’re trying to capture new viewers and the bait is working, but what about the real thing? Imagine being someone who fell for F1 thanks to Netflix or Buxton, then you start to follow and… you get this c**p. Maybe after subscribing to that beta platform. Few races and you’re already out, without ever looking back.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
3rd June 2019, 12:53
@m-bagattini the craziest things is that F1 regulators keep the same disastrous formula for 2021 onward.
socksolid (@socksolid)
3rd June 2019, 16:44
F1 cares more about keeping the manufacturer teams than it cares about keeping its fans.
Asanator (@asanator)
3rd June 2019, 13:22
The answer is because they dumped Alonso!
Todfod (@todfod)
4th June 2019, 5:14
@asanator
I agree. We would have had a much more interesting battle for the championship in 2017 and 2018 if he was driving in place of Vettel.
Todfod (@todfod)
4th June 2019, 5:04
@m-bagattini
Are 10 teams really competing in the current regulation era? The way I see it, only teams that build their own chassis and their own engine stand a chance of winning in the current regulations. Maybe we can blame Renault for not being more competitive, but then again they only joined the party in 2016. You can blame Mclaren/Red Bull, as they were Honda powered teams with factory status. But, the current engine regulations made it so difficult for new entrants that realistically it was only going to be a Mercedes, Ferrari or Renault factory team that would really be competitive.
So, when you narrow it down. Only two teams were there from the start with a realistic chance of competing for the WDC & WCC. Mercedes is looking strong to win 6 championships in a row, and Ferrari are looking at failing to beat them 6 times in a row.
So yes. I think F1 is getting boring and unpredictable because there is a lack of competition at the top… courtesy Ferrari.
AliceD (@aliced)
4th June 2019, 9:05
I blame Mercedes for the state of F1. They jumped on the current engin format knowing that their truck division’s experience with this turbo’s would give them a massive advantage. And as soon as Ferrari start winning, guess what, Mercedes finds something “illegal” on the Ferrari which gets banned and then Ferrari goes back to second place. Mercedes really sucks.
frood19 (@frood19)
3rd June 2019, 10:24
It’s hard to disagree that this season is already a write off for ferrari – they want to win titles and 2nd is of no real value to them. however, if they had performed better operationally they would surely have at least 2 wins by now (bahrain and baku were gimmees for leclerc) and the whole season would be looking a lot rosier. in fact (and this is with the benefit of hindsight) if they’d gone all in for leclerc from the get-go, he would in all likelihood be in a competitive third place in the title race, snapping at the heels of bottas – all with this current car concept.
mercedes have clearly produced an immense car, but they’re dominating because the whole team is performing at a higher level than anyone else – their project managers must be the best in the business, for example.
Ryan B.
3rd June 2019, 20:50
Oh how the time flies…
It seems like just yesterday it was winter testing and Mercedes were making the “maybe we chose the wrong design concept, it would take months to covert over to a Ferrari-type front wing design concept” comments to the media.
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
3rd June 2019, 6:28
The only way Ferrari can have a shot at the title is transforming the car in the way Red Bull did Back in 2009. They will need some insane development in order to dominate the second half.
Sham (@sham)
3rd June 2019, 7:02
Just as well Ferrari are so notoriously good at in season development then, isn’t it?
I did try to keep a straight face while typing that, honestly.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
3rd June 2019, 11:28
Look on the bright side. McLaren can compete with Ferrari this year, maybe?
RB13
3rd June 2019, 11:49
@jureo are you being comical? McLaren need to compete with Haas aka Ferrari 2018 first.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
3rd June 2019, 7:42
Grats to @Slotopen ;)
Nice to see Ferrari accepting that they have problems with the car but I hope they also accept that they need to tidy up their strategic performance as well.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
3rd June 2019, 8:38
Couldn’t agree more, if they tidy up their strategic performance, they might find that they’re capable of winning with the car they have.
I’ve seen them bad before at times but this year they have been consistently bad on the pit wall which makes me wonder whether or not they’re also failing with set up engineering and all other decisions that make for a winning formula.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd June 2019, 12:46
But not that similar, though. Yes, both Circuit Paul Ricard and Circuit de Catalunya feature some similarities when it comes, but the former is definitely quite a bit more straight-line speed-dependent out of the two, so not too comparable in the end.
GeeMac (@geemac)
3rd June 2019, 13:45
Interesting McLaren related news @keithcollantine. The headline takeaway is that Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat has seen its 2018 net profit fall by 73.5 per cent according to a statement it made on Sunday. What is also interesting is that, despite this, Mumtalakat said their revenue for 2018 ($5.5bn) was up 38 per cent over the previous year due in part to the full year impact of the consolidation of McLaren.
https://gulfbusiness.com/bahrain-wealth-fund-mumtalakats-2018-profit-tumbles/
kpcart
3rd June 2019, 15:58
Sonoma lap record lap 2019, Marc gene un a 2004 ferrari f1 car, what a track: https://youtu.be/SzSCIW25nDI