Soldato
Suzuka is a fun circuit and there have been some great passes on track here in the past, but I expect to get more enjoyment watching paint dry tomorrow morning UK time!
Poll: Japanese Grand Prix 2018, Suzuka - Race 17/21
- Thread starter Shimmy
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I am likely to be asleep. Although whenever I do that I miss a great race.
Soldato
I’ve been out all day and just got in to watch the qualifying now. Normally I’d try and write something pithy to stick it to our resident Ferrari trolls, but the honest truth is that words can no longer compete with just watching the visual capitulation on display race after race.
Ferrari had the faster car at the beginning of the season, and look what they did with it. Now Mercedes has the faster car and look what Hamilton is doing with it.
Ferrari had the faster car at the beginning of the season, and look what they did with it. Now Mercedes has the faster car and look what Hamilton is doing with it.
Ferrari had just worked better with the tyres, Ferrari didn't have the faster car. That large difference 1:21.164 (Hamilton) vs 1:21.828 (Kimi) in Australia is extremely telling.
Sebastian "enjoys" poor luck, probably coming from his own disbelief in winning anything.
Plus the errors of his engineers, the picture becomes easily unbearable.
Again - how could they let them with intermideates on a dry asphalt, again waiting for something that never came, for n-th time?!
Soldato
Apologies mod. I'll address the issues rather than dismiss them with a cheap comment. We are of course all living on planet Earth, and I was wrong to suggest otherwise 
@4K8KW10 you can dispute the fact that Ferrari was the fastest car at the beginning of the season, but it would be more compelling if you did so with facts - perhaps facts other than where your favourite driver managed to finish. This thread for example, and others, are full of detail about how Ferrari are now suddenly slower on the straights than before, and how they appear to have had to adjust to a sudden power deficit by reducing their downforce which has also led to poorer tyre management.
Still, your post above suggests that your thinking has started to come around to what many others are seeing:
Well, as per the above it seems pretty clear that Ferrari DID have the faster car earlier in the season. And when they did I think they were able to manage their tyres better. If you go back to some of my posts when watching the first Barcelona test in February (before the snow!) you'll see that I observed that Ferrari were able to switch their tyres on much quicker than Mercedes.
I agree that Sebastian hasn't looked like he things he can win the championship for a couple of races now. His reaction and body language after Sochi was telling. He appears to be coming to terms with the fact that Hamilton and Mercedes have gained the upper hand and have forced both him and the team into making rash and sometimes poor decisions, both during races, practice and qualifying.
I think we can all agree that Ferrari's strategists' decision making has been below par for much of the year.
Some have said that F1 needs Ferrari more than Ferrari needs F1. That may have been true in the past, when they were winning. I think it is quite the opposite now, when they are not. Ferrari need F1 now, they need to prove that they can win in F1. They've won nothing for a decade, in some seasons dragging defeat from the jaws of victory and in others having drivers drag an underperforming car up to near the front. Buying a Ferrari 10 years ago, with the DNA in it from a decade of success is a little different to buying a Ferrari today when it has been beaten by a mass market manufacturer and a caffeine drink powered by a Renault. A brand can only trade on its history for so long - the memories fade and the customers are younger and never experienced the successful era.
That's the pressure of running the Ferrari F1 team - huge responsibility carrying the brand. I think Sebastian's feeling it, along with much of the team. His decision making has suffered in recent races, for at least two years running now, the car's performance seems to have remained static at best and the strategies deployed have become ever more desperate.
I'd love to see a Ferrari race through the field and win on merit tomorrow, to keep the championship interesting. But it seems increasingly unlikely, unless there's some third party intervention that takes the Mercedes and Red Bull cars out of contention.
@4K8KW10 you can dispute the fact that Ferrari was the fastest car at the beginning of the season, but it would be more compelling if you did so with facts - perhaps facts other than where your favourite driver managed to finish. This thread for example, and others, are full of detail about how Ferrari are now suddenly slower on the straights than before, and how they appear to have had to adjust to a sudden power deficit by reducing their downforce which has also led to poorer tyre management.
Still, your post above suggests that your thinking has started to come around to what many others are seeing:
Well, as per the above it seems pretty clear that Ferrari DID have the faster car earlier in the season. And when they did I think they were able to manage their tyres better. If you go back to some of my posts when watching the first Barcelona test in February (before the snow!) you'll see that I observed that Ferrari were able to switch their tyres on much quicker than Mercedes.
I agree that Sebastian hasn't looked like he things he can win the championship for a couple of races now. His reaction and body language after Sochi was telling. He appears to be coming to terms with the fact that Hamilton and Mercedes have gained the upper hand and have forced both him and the team into making rash and sometimes poor decisions, both during races, practice and qualifying.
Plus the errors of his engineers, the picture becomes easily unbearable.
Again - how could they let them with intermideates on a dry asphalt, again waiting for something that never came, for n-th time?!
I think we can all agree that Ferrari's strategists' decision making has been below par for much of the year.
Some have said that F1 needs Ferrari more than Ferrari needs F1. That may have been true in the past, when they were winning. I think it is quite the opposite now, when they are not. Ferrari need F1 now, they need to prove that they can win in F1. They've won nothing for a decade, in some seasons dragging defeat from the jaws of victory and in others having drivers drag an underperforming car up to near the front. Buying a Ferrari 10 years ago, with the DNA in it from a decade of success is a little different to buying a Ferrari today when it has been beaten by a mass market manufacturer and a caffeine drink powered by a Renault. A brand can only trade on its history for so long - the memories fade and the customers are younger and never experienced the successful era.
That's the pressure of running the Ferrari F1 team - huge responsibility carrying the brand. I think Sebastian's feeling it, along with much of the team. His decision making has suffered in recent races, for at least two years running now, the car's performance seems to have remained static at best and the strategies deployed have become ever more desperate.
I'd love to see a Ferrari race through the field and win on merit tomorrow, to keep the championship interesting. But it seems increasingly unlikely, unless there's some third party intervention that takes the Mercedes and Red Bull cars out of contention.
Soldato
Soldato
That Kmag defensive move, almost Max-like.
Soldato
What's with such a long SC? Giving track a spring clean?
L:etting the lapped cars pass doesn't help.