Is this the fall of Ferrari?

[tsunami99]

And so two races in, and Schuey's highest finish is 7th, The car is 1-1.5 seconds a lap of the pace and even Schuey himself is doubting he can win the title this year.

Is this the grand, dramatic fall of Ferrari? (Cue: String section from 'The Omen')

[kevin ritson]

I posted these observations on another forum, apologies to any Lotus owners who find this familiar:

Ferrari reckon the F2005 is about a second faster than last year's car. Well it needs to be double that at this rate, albeit Malaysia often being Bridgestone's bogey track.

It's also possible that Michael is not so strong at the endurance side of racing. OK, he had an apprenticeship at Sauber in the WSCC but his rise in F1 coincided with a switch to the sprint format that refuelling brought in. Plus he appears to be hard on tyres: he often runs several furious stints, when his tyre supplier is suffering he can appear worse than others (see 2003, 1997) - I wonder if it's his full exploitation of the friction/traction circle - if you wring it out to the maximum there must be some trade-off. Another classic example is the pit advantage - he locks up on entry to gain time - might as well as the tyre's coming off. Obviously he can't do that now. Plus he can't lock the inside front, another Schumacher trademark.

Don't get me wrong - a great driver like him should be able to adapt but perhaps it's the wrong time of his career to do so? However, I wouldn't bet against him and it'll be interesting finding out!

[Croft fan]

I do think the renaults are going to be the team to beat all year.
ferrari will be quicker with the new car, but will it be quick enough? we will just have to wait and see.

Kimi has had some bad luck this year so far and I think he could have been right up front if it wasn't for his misfortune. Hes had the legs on Montoya so far, even if Monty has scored more points so far.
The McLarens are also another team that could still be quicker than the new ferrari. We just have to wait for its arraival.

[bramble]

Bridgestone have admitted a big part of the problem is their tires, I expect the new car will be winning races.

[Claw]

I flaming hope so. I can't stand Ferrari with there team orders, the farce they made F1 at Austria and the USA, and the way they can't hack it when they lose. Just read yesterday, they decided to test during the testing ban. :rolleyes:

Rant over.

[kevin ritson]

Just read yesterday, they decided to test during the testing ban.

The problem with gentlemen's agreements is that they require gentlemen to honour them

[AlexC]

The problem with gentlemen's agreements is that they require gentlemen to honour them

exactly... and they never agreed to it in the first place... I'm no ferrari fan, but I don't blame them if I am honest... if you had your own F1 team and wanted to win, you would probably do the same!

[Claw]

if you had your own F1 team and wanted to win, you would probably do the same!


What cheat? No I like winning things fare and square, so you can take more out of the win, unlike FIAri.

[kevin ritson]

Ferrari ignore this agreement at their peril, F1's haemorraging viewers when Ferrari are runaway winners, so I doubt anyone would watch a two-car race when all the other teams either pull out or run out of money.

Now Ross Brawn is whingeing that Friday testing is unfair because McLaren can run three cars! I'm sure it was in Ron Dennis' plan to have a crap year last year just so he can gain an advantage this year. Maybe that's why they're not as competitive as we thought - they want the run a third car on Fridays in 2006! The arrogance of Ferrari is simply breathtaking.

[AlexC]

What cheat? No I like winning things fare and square, so you can take more out of the win, unlike FIAri.

But they are not cheating!

There is not one rule they are breaking...

They are breaking an 'agreement' ... one they never agreed to in the first place!

I'm no ferrari fan, but at the end of the day, I would do the same if I was in F1!

[John]

Interesting story in Autosprt the "Teams" (lots of quotes from Ferrari and one from Williams) think the 3rd cars should be banned on Fridays. This is basically because McLaren are benefitting from the rule. They claim the rule was never meant to allow top teams to benefit from extra track and set up time!! Isn't this a case of - "It's not fair - if I can't have a 3rd car then no one else should!!"?? Which is extreme double standards in Ferarri's case with the amount of testing they do.

There would seem to be 2 simple solutions:

1) To have said that non works backed teams were able to run a 3rd car on Fridays (ie Minardi, Jordan, Sauber, Red Bull)

2) To allow everyone who has signed up to restricted testing to run a 3rd car (or even a 4th car) during the GP practice sessions - might persuade Ferrari to sign up.

Wasn't this the original idea of 3rd cars in 2003?? - Test less away from GPs and you can test at the circuits you are racing on with the track conditions you'll be exposed to. That was far better than based on finishing order in previous season's results.

[Alan]

Well I have to say it is nice to see someone else winning races, and it does seem to be easier to follow the races now.

The few "ordinary folk" I have spoken to seem to be slightly more interested now too.

However I am sure Ferrari will improve and they will soon start to reappear near the front of the grid and on the podium.

Can't be bothered with the politics - so I can't comment on much of the above! :(

[AlexC]

Jean Toad says the Ferrari is one second quicker than the old one, but they are more than one second behind.

I think they will have a fight on their hands this year to get the championship!

[Claw]

Jean Toad says the Ferrari is one second quicker than the old one, but they are more than one second behind.

I think they will have a fight on their hands this year to get the championship!


Well that's good news. Maybe we'll have a bit more excitment this year, rather than playing the guessing game "what lap will Ross Prawn eat his Banana!"

Anthough having said that Malaysia wasn't much to write home about. Thank god for Heidfeld, Ralf and Hippo for making it interesting.

[AlexC]

Well that's good news. Maybe we'll have a bit more excitment this year, rather than playing the guessing game "what lap will Ross Prawn eat his Banana!"

Anthough having said that Malaysia wasn't much to write home about. Thank god for Heidfeld, Ralf and Hippo for making it interesting.

I thought the race between Fisi, Ralf, marky boy and Nick was very good.... decent racing.. not BTCC standards, but still good!

[John]

Never going to be as good as BTCC standards until the FIA change the scoring system so that you score a point for every car you overtake and lose a point for every car that passes you - then you start the fastest cars at the back and watch the mayhem unfold - of course this would require replacing James Allen with Charlie Cox so that the viewer actually gets a feel for some of the mayhem!

Can't think why Bernie and Max haven't tried to introduce that rule! :p

[bramble]

although with those rules the gap in points between the big and small teams at the end of the season would be enormous.

[AlexC]

Never going to be as good as BTCC standards until the FIA change the scoring system so that you score a point for every car you overtake and lose a point for every car that passes you - then you start the fastest cars at the back and watch the mayhem unfold - of course this would require replacing James Allen with Charlie Cox so that the viewer actually gets a feel for some of the mayhem!

Can't think why Bernie and Max haven't tried to introduce that rule! :p

but that would be false racing, and is one of the reasons i don't like the reverse grid rule in btcc...