Jolle wrote: ↑13 Oct 2017, 11:22
Restomaniac wrote: ↑13 Oct 2017, 11:10
Jolle wrote: ↑13 Oct 2017, 11:02
I agree with Anderson on this. I think i said it in the Ferrari PU forum as well, these snags are part of building a team and putting systems in place. Ferrari has had a big re-organisation the past few years, just like Mercedes had a couple of years ago. When the right team is in place the major parts fall into place first (better output, efficiency) and all those small snags and details come more slowly. Don't forget, Mercedes had these small things failing too in '14 and '15.
The other worry is that Mercedes are on the back foot due to them losing an integral part of their car (trick suspension). It has taken them (if they actually have) and Reb Bull all season to find a work around. Next season they will have designed a car from the ground up without it as well are Red Bull being in the march. Will Ferrari get this good a chance again?
Well, for next year... so many questions, so many possibilities. The margins are quite small, it's all about who will take the most risk on how much to re-design the package. In 14-16 Mercedes were so far ahead, they could do an extended evo version each year, finetuning. Ferrari had to take some sharp turns, which not always worked out well. This year it looks closer within the three top teams. I could see Mercedes doing an evo again and Ferrari doing one of their kamikaze turns.
that would be very unwise from Ferrari. Their current chassis is very, very good and is doing fantastic on a huge variety of tracks. I think Ferrari's lack of results is not at all down to the car itself, but rather a combination of internal pressure on the team which greatly comes from lack of patience and being too 'hotheaded' about things, including stupid moves like that of Vettel in Baku, he would have won that GP if he didn't play bumpercars, and then things like spark plugs and similar 'silly problems' that are probably avoidable and i personally blame on internal stress and pressure within the team. Additionally, the Ferrari engine probably is very close now to Mercedes' engine, but still undoubtedly lacks some compared to Mercedes at the very least during Qually.
Also, i might be mistaken here, but Mercedes is supplying Force India AND Williams with 2017-spec engines, whilst Ferrari, if i am correct, ONLY is supplying HAAS with 2017 spec engines and Sauber with old 2016 ones.
That means Mercedes gets much more feedback from their 'current' spec engine, where Ferrari only gets that from a team which is still developing after being non-existant 2 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if that does to a certain degree influence their 'range' of intel on their engine, resulting in Ferrari themselves getting DNF's and DNS-es instead of their 'customers' helping them track potential issues. You could see it as Mercedes gets a free day of testing every race weekend compared to Ferrari because they have 2 customers with updated engines and Ferrari only 1.
Yet despite all of that, Vettel is
still in range of the WDC title. Mercedes has got that WCC in the bag without any doubt. I also wonder on Kimi, he's doing far from bad to be honest but then he neither is 'up there' with Vettel and Hamilton in spite of how blazingly fast and cunning he was in for example 2007 even if that's 10 years ago by now.
Ferrari can be very proud on their achievements this year, and build on that for next year, no matter the outcome.
I hope they won't be their 'usual' impatient selves and have a redesigned car next year and see them make the same mistakes Mclaren has been making for years on row.