Enzo Ferrari wanted Indianapolis 500 win, says son Piero

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In the round-up: Enzo Ferrari’s son Piero describes his father’s desire to win the Indianapolis 500, after team principal Mattia Binotto indicated they could return to IndyCar racing following F1’s budget cap reduction.

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Anyone else still using Grand Prix 4 for their F1 racing fix?

I’ve tried the Codemasters F1 games, and have bought a few (including F1 2019) – they all look great – but there’s a reason why I keep going back to Grand Prix 4. Even thought it’s 18 years old, it’s still the best one. The mods you get for it to update the graphics and bring in the new seasons, cars and tracks are a big part of that.
Mark McCubbin

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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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25 comments on “Enzo Ferrari wanted Indianapolis 500 win, says son Piero”

  1. Enzo Ferrari’s son Piero describes his father’s desire to win the Indianapolis 500, after team principal Mattia Binotto indicated they could return to IndyCar racing following F1’s budget cap reduction.

    this does Sound an awful lot like JK Rowling saying Dumbledore was always gay if you ask me.

    also, is indy spec per the rules or is it just that noone but the current supplier bothers to put the funds into creating a new car? because i really don’t see a point in Ferrari going into a spec series and painting some car red and sticking their badge to it…

    1. messed up the quote. barnacles.

    2. pastaman (@)
      22nd May 2020, 1:42

      The chassis is contracted to a single supplier (Dallara) per the rules. Though the series is basically spec (two engine manufacturers), you’ll see that the big teams that spend the most money still manage to win the championship year after year. If Ferrari took their (hypothetical) entry seriously, they could be regular front runners.

      1. There’s still some ability for the team to manufacture their own parts. The big teams (Penske) get a lot of competitive advantage from their own suspension designs.

      2. Yeah i get that, i saw Mclaren botch it too, but still, sticking a prancing horse to a dallara just doesn’t seem right to me

        1. The 333 SP is a Dallara chassis with a Ferrari V12 bolted on it, as far as I remember nobody complained…

          1. Bio, it is true that Dallara did work on the car, but that is not quite the same as Ferrari were working directly with Dallara in a technical partnership – for example, the aerodynamic package was a collaboration between Dialma Zinelli (from Dallara) and Giorgio Camaschella (from Ferrari).

            There is also some debate as to how many of the chassis were built by Ferrari themselves – some have suggested that only the first chassis was, but others have suggested the first four were built in-house by Ferrari. In that scenario, Ferrari were still involved in helping to design the chassis of the car – whereas a modern IndyCar is designed and manufactured solely in-house by Dallara.

      3. Spec series yes, but perhaps Penske will change that when he bought Indycar series and the Indianapolis track.

    3. Indy was not always a spec series. journos dictate the narrative, someone made a question that only had one answer so it fits the current fresh story.

    4. They’d enter as an engine mfg. They could have a factory team and supply engines to about 8 total cars. They should have done this long ago, and just about did in 2018 before Sergio Marchionne died.

  2. Bottas to Renault? Silly season is on fire.

    1. that would be a super move for Renault

      1. Yes, it’d be a great move for Renault, and I guess Renault is a better option than going back to Williams, but Mercedes is by far an even better option.

        1. @drycrust Maybe Mercedes gave Bottas notice that they’re going to promote Russell eventually (2021) as they made some comments earlier this week so he started looking for alternatives. And Renault is a quite good alternative (ife they don’t pull out of the sport).

          1. @black Yes it was always going to be Russell from 2021 onward, wasn’t it

  3. I still don’t get the hate for the Codemasters games as they are exactly what they are supposed to be… A fun & accessible officially licensed F1 game aimed at the wider audience & going off the usually positive mainstream reviews & sales numbers it hits that target.

    It’s the same as the Dirt & Grid games, They are aimed at the wider audience & designed to more more on the fun/accessible/arcade side because that is what the wider audience looks for. They went more towards the sim side with Dirt Rally & it didn’t get anywhere near the sales numbers the ‘Dirt 1/2/3/4’ games did which is why they are going even further down that arcade route for the upcoming Dirt 5.

    I get all these Codemasters driving games because I really enjoy them as they offer exactly what i’m looking for from them. Not everything needs or should be a sim because that simply isn’t what the majority of people who get them are looking for, If it was then the more sim based stuff would sell significantly better than they do. The sim stuff is a very niche market, Always has been & likely always will be.

  4. Correct me if I’m wrong, nut it seems that the efforts that were made to kick Ron Dennis out of McLaren are exactly what is jeopardizing the company’s health in these difficult times?

    1. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Keeping Ron Dennis was seriously jeopardising the team back then..

    2. @ifuel @eurobrun Not necessarily. I’m a banking and finance solicitor and I can tell you it is quite common for a company to offer the same assets as security to multiple financiers. If the existing bondholders and the new lender agree to it (which the new bondholders don’t have to, because why would you weaken your position without a quid pro quo), they will put in place a document called an Intercreditor Agreement which will set out the circumstances in which each set of creditors can receive payments under their various finance documents, who gets priority over the assets in certain circumstances and who can enforce the security in what circumstances.

  5. I would like to fuse gp4 and f1 challenge and get the perfect f1 game.

    1. Hm.. maybe have them learn the fusion technique, not sure it will work out though:/

  6. Maybe Renault have contacted Bottas because they think, or have heard Vettel is going to Mercedes. LOL.

  7. I think it makes a lot of sense for Bottas to sign for Renault.
    Wolff talks about loyalty but they have only ever given Bottas a one year deal or extension, and now there are several drivers in the running for that second Mercedes seat. Aside from the possibility to sign Vettel, the Mercedes young driver program has recently be questioned, and I think rightfully so, for not yet proving a young driver with the opportunity to drive for the team. Wolff might just wait to see how Russell performs in the first couple of races in 2020, and then decide that he’s ready. A perfect move to showcase loyalty, show the worth of their young driver program and pick up some refreshed marketing exposure that goes with a new driver line-up.
    Imagine Renault signing any other driver in that period of time. Then what for Bottas?

    Waiting for Mercedes to decide could possibly gain him another 1-year extension for 2021. The possibility to drive the fastest car, yet also an almost guaranteed role of support driver to Lewis Hamilton. A few poles and races wins are distinctly possible. A championship title very unlikely. Bottas has to weight all of this up against the 50-50 chance of being left out.

    I think a 3-year Renault contract would be a very attractive option for Bottas. 2021 to settle in with the team while racing in the midfield, then 22 and 23 to be competitive racing near the front (hopefully). It would certainly allow him to focus on his driving and not have the headache of annual contract negotiations. Ultimately I think Bottas rather secures a reasonably competitive seat for the years to come, then betting on the best car for one year which in any case will not deliver him the title.

  8. Go on then Piero, green light the Indy Project then. If my understanding is correct, Ferrari are only talking about the Indy project as a parallel program to F1, rather than as a replacement to the F1 program, because they want to carry on spending ludicrous amounts in F1 and are worried about laying off staff. If that is genuinely their intention, they should use the surplus funds they have to set this project up and have a crack.

    But they won’t. Because they know, at least initially, they’ll get spanked by Penske, Ganassi and Andretti (and probably ECR at Indy as well).

  9. I think the F1 gaming market will always be stuck between accessibility and realism. Codemasters have done a fine job on F1 2019, if you are using a controller and want to play 30 minutes after work then it’s perfect. I’m sure a lot of F1 fans, particularly in the early 2000s, became entranced by the sport through this style of game. However, I’ve become more and more worried by recent titles notably the pay-to-customise angle. £20 extra for a couple of Senna-Prost challenges was extortion. Paid Christmas liveries felt out of place with the direction the sport is trying to go. I admire their career mode, but the customisation is laughable compared to Gran Turismo and the graphics for damage, whilst contractually difficult, should have been addressed by now.

    Fundamentally, I think most fans on this site would ideally like to see a career mode from 1928 to present day where you can hop into the 1983 Ralt F3 and race Brundle versus Senna through to the year 2000 on the most accurate tracks in VR versions of the cars. Of course that isn’t going to happen overnight but the COTD raises a good point – baseline realism and quality will always be coveted. I’d like to see the sport use an iRacing equivalent version of GP4 or Gran Turismo where modders can add their own cars, tracks, graphics and unite the motorsport community. This requires huge initial investment but this pandemic has shown the appetite for esports and the history of GP4 is testament to modders commitment.

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