scuderiafan wrote:Funnily enough, the reason Ferrari automobiles exist today is because of Enzo's passion for racing and the necessity to fund the Scuderia. Now it seems that the automobile sector of Ferrari may be holding back the racing side.
A. That's ancient history. B. I think it (car company as the reason for failures) applies to McLaren but not Ferrari because for them situation has been like that for a long time, connection between Fiat and racing team was similar in Schumacher days. The reasons are outside of this connection: competition, F1's prize system and how it affects decisions.
Renault is a good example with their fake or real surprise how tough this season turned out. Half a year of stalling, negotiating the price and F1 contract was worth for them the time they won't get back and which is very costly in sporting terms. Toyota would be a good example in some areas like marketing and drivers choices. They realised too late that it cost them results, missing their goals (race win) and before going belly up they suddenly wanted Kubica. I wish something like that would happen to Ferrari but we all know it won't with the amount of Ecclestone's money they get.
In McLaren's case road car division is the biggest reason for their struggles. They could have been current works team with most likely all the championships but preferred to compete with Mercedes and forced them to create own team.