Honey, we need to talk about our boy Scuderia .. AKA KeystoneF1

[bathurst77]

Sometimes you have to go into the room full of mirrors and have a long slow look at yourself.

Ferrari f1 Management are becoming a weekly joke
Every race they find new and creative ways of losing points podiums and wins.
I swear some of their tacticians are mysteriously finding envelopes of cash with redbull or mercedes logos in their lockers.

I really dont think Ferrari pit wall should be asking the driver what tyres and strategy would he like mid race. Would you like to go with hard and come out behind alonso, or soft and then pit again. "Question?"
They have all the numbers and info on the other cars, the driver doesnt. Maybe just ask, can you go another couple of laps before box?

They should decide the best tyres and strategy and let the driver concentrate on going fast, not asking him to do math and strategy mid race. He drives, you calculate and plan.

Then the last lap "fastest lap" pit stuff up. Again their number crunchers should have seen he wouldnt come out in clear air so be baulked, plus the risk of something going wrong with the stop - as happened.

And on Saturday, they put the wrong tyres on the car, only realizing when the driver asked "why am i on these tyres?"
"sorry, mistake"

If merc and Mclaren had not produced such disappointing cars this year the Scuderia would be nowhere.
Forsa engineers made a great car, the drivers are doing a top job, most of the pit crew are firing on all cylinders but the pit wall decision makers are doing their very best to stop them winning.
Ferrari are in 2nd place in WCC DESPITE the efforts of the team management, not because of them

In the words of Roger Waters "youre nearly a laugh, but youre really a cry"

Still, makes for great 3Stooges/Abbot and Costello race weekend entertainment.
I predict that next weekend Mattia Binotto will be seen eating a banana in pit lane and casually dropping the skin on the ground

[steve_r]

Mistakes happen. Even the best make them.

What is happening at Ferrari is beyond a few mistakes. The latest gaffe being pitting LeClerc to grab fastest lap without enough of a gap to Alonso. Schoolboy stuff surely? You need X seconds gap to pit and come out in front, plus a small safety margin. We have how many seconds gap to Alonso? It's not difficult.

They have thrown away a chance to battle for the WDC, despite having the best car for large parts of the season. It's not even a fight anymore. Verstappen is under almost no pressure at all.

The latest radio messages show that after the last couple of races Ferrari are now paralysed with fear because of their own tactical incompetence, and that their own drivers have lost faith in the team tacticians. That is why they are asking LeClerc about tyres in the middle of the race. The Ferrari team can see the pace and degradation of the other cars on Hard tyres - LeClerc cannot. Question. So why are they asking LeClerc? Question.

Someone at the top needs to make some hard decisions about their team and how they make the choices. It's too late for this years title of course unless Verstappen breaks his leg or something awful happens. RBR can play it safe if they need to, instead of being put under pressure.

[GTRMagic]

Cue the Benny Hill theme music...

[Alan52]

The discussion with Leclerc about tyres (not the last lap fiasco but during the race) was bizarre.The team in the pits has the data from all the other cars and can tell what tyres they should be on.Leaving it up to the driver who does not have this information is just stupid.

[VIVA GT]

I think the situation where the Ferrari team discussed tyre strategy with the driver was all about 'sharing responsibility'. Or to put it another way, 'if it's the wrong decision it's not our fault'.
However, the fiasco's that were putting the wrong tyres on the car during qualifying, and the unbelievable cock-up of pitting for soft tyres at the end of the race were clearly not the fault of the driver...

[broadrun96]

Uh, isn't this just Ferrari as usual rather than Ferrari being un-Ferrari like?? I would posit the "good" Ferrari days were a Brawn and Co internal takeover as much as the Ferrari way.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Uh, isn't this just Ferrari as usual rather than Ferrari being un-Ferrari like??

lol sad but true!

typically we limit our discussions to the drivers, team principle, and technical head while we dont frequently mention the teams chief strategists.

Hannah Schmitz of RB is about the only one i can name off hand but only because she has been killing it the last few seasons and RB talk about her fairly frequently.

with the massive importance placed on data acquisition and real time analysis, is this the now the most important job on the pit wall during the race?

anyways, whomever Ferrari has is complete pants!

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

anyways, whomever Ferrari has is complete pants!

Iñaki Rueda is Ferrari chief strategist and has been for some time. Binotto says "no changes are needed" to the strategy department.

I can't say I agree, how Ferrari's strategy is consistently so bad is hard to believe. Unlike power unit or aerodynamics, it is something that should be able to be fixed relatively quickly and easily.

[S griffin]

Ferrari’s bad strategy calls have meant we have missed out on a closer title fight. Binotto must be worried, I would be surprised if his position wasn’t under threat. Long gone are the organised days of Todt/Brawn/Byrne/Schumi

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

Iñaki Rueda is Ferrari chief strategist and has been for some time.

thank you for that info.

https://www.ferrari.com/en-CA/formula1/inaki-rueda

his team bio lists him as 'head of race strategy and sporting'.

could just be how they name things at Ferrari but sounds like those, while similar perhaps overlapping even, two separate positions?

obviously i have no idea about the division of trackside responsibilities but don't other teams typically separate those departments/titles a little more clearly? RB and Merc, by comparison, have separate people listed as chief race strategist and a sporting director.

mind you, not really a fan of Merc race day strategies either.

[Moneyseeker]

But the early season run of form was not the norm for Ferrari, competing against themselves is the norm, so actually normal service has been resumed, as we all imagined it would.

[GT6]

Hey stop being so critical, this year Ferrari has been the top team for entertainment they seem good value for money and have provided laughs a plenty for the fans and the other teams. A wasted season for certain and i suspect almost everyone there must be looking over thier shoulders wondering how long they will be dressed in red.

[broadrun96]

And remember, multiple F1 drivers over the last few years have said hey, it's raining and all the computers said that's impossible so the team said no it's not. Few turn around and reach their hands out to find out over reading a screen. Ferrari seems to be stuck at the screen without looking out the window more so than others, MB has had moments of it as well.

[PhilipR]

My own theory but I suspect Ferrari is not sure what makes their car fast and why it works. I did find it peculiar at the beginning of the year when they said they would not bring developments to try to understand the car and to me that sounded like they are not sure why it is fast or what makes it fast(similar to MB who seem to be unsure why the car sometimes work and sometimes it does not) . Ferrari had an advantage by starting designing their car earlier than MB and Red Bull and I believe that is why they started so strong

As such I wonder this uncertainty on why the car is fast and why it works has lead them to make weird strategy decisions in a desperate attempt to keep an advantage that is slipping (has slipped by now)

The budget cap probably helped Ferrari stay at the front as others could not develop at will but also probably is hindering them from finding solutions

Mattia's comments about Red Bull spending also seems to corroborate with this as maybe Ferrari is surprised on the amount of updates on the RB as they are not sure how to spend it.

Again this is just my theory

[S griffin]

I think Ferrari’s best hope is if Red Bull’s early season unreliability returns

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by PhilipR

I did find it peculiar at the beginning of the year when they said they would not bring developments to try to understand the car and to me that sounded like they are not sure why it is fast or what makes it fast(similar to MB who seem to be unsure why the car sometimes work and sometimes it does not) .

i had assumed they were keeping an eye on their budget and/or planning to roll out updates later in the season and not be outspent on late season development by RB...sort of what RB did to Merc last season.

i must admit early season, i thought that was for sure the right move.

dont think that so much anymore!

[PhilipR]

This is one of my concerns with the budget cap - if a team hits out the jump with a great car the others might not have the resources to catch up so we end up with a team dominating or if a team gets a good design but not sure how to develop it further it will be left behind again allowing for dominance

Hopefully over the years the knowledge will equalise and maybe give better racing once all the details are figured out by all teams and how to budget

[Casper]

Ferrari have confusion in their DNA and most probably run the pit wall on a committee basis. Not being racist but I think it is an Italian/Latin thing and it encourages confusion and lack of clear decisive thinking. Binotto as an individual most probably can't influence that national trait, they can't even elect a head of government who stays there for any length of time. If you want to see chaos get into a Italian traffic jam and it will keep you amused for hours.

[Anyopenroad]

I’ve worked out from the chat that this thread is about Ferrari, but I still don’t have a clue what the thread title means .

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

but I still don’t have a clue what the thread title means .

At a guess - it's a combination of the phrase 'Honey we need to talk' - used when there is a reality that needs to be faced and an honest conversation is required. And a reference to the film 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' - which is about the mother of Kevin, struggling to come to terms with her psychopathic son and the horrors he has committed.

[sizzle]

And the comedy contiues

[steve_r]

Job Vacancy. Ferrari team leader.

If a car needs 4 tyres at a pitstop - how many tyres should you have ready when it enters the pits? 3 or 4?

Can you spot a blue and pink car driving down the pit lane? Y / N ?

Does a wheel gun belong in the incoming path of a F1 car, in the middle of the pit lane? Y / N?

Can you explain what a yellow flag means to a driver? Overtake / Dont Overtake?

If you can answer those questions, then Ferrari would love to hear from you.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Job Vacancy. Ferrari team leader.

If a car needs 4 tyres at a pitstop - how many tyres should you have ready when it enters the pits? 3 or 4?

Can you spot a blue and pink car driving down the pit lane? Y / N ?

Does a wheel gun belong in the incoming path of a F1 car, in the middle of the pit lane? Y / N?

Can you explain what a yellow flag means to a driver? Overtake / Dont Overtake?

If you can answer those questions, then Ferrari would love to hear from you.

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

I’ve worked out from the chat that this thread is about Ferrari, but I still don’t have a clue what the thread title means .

My title (with my typical typo)

I was thinking of the wife saying
"honey, we need to talk about ouR son..."
(always means bad news and an un-fun discussion)
Scuderia should be clear to all on here.

I dont know the movie referred to.

[bathurst77]

And this week Our Boy Scuderia didnt fail us...
Somebody was found out as being unable to count to 4, Somebody else doesnt know to look both ways (well only 1 really) before releasing a car, and another person likes to scatter their tools all over the place when they are working.

Mind you Alfa Tauri and Merc both gave Ferrari a bit of competition for the "problem child" award this week

Christian just smiled.