Seasons go by and the state of affairs in the Maranello-based team continue to be disappointing.
We are halfway through the 2019 Formula One season and it would now require an almost impossible sequence of events to see another contender apart from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes from winning the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.
The Ferrari dilemma seems to be due to chronic problems within the team that have not been resolved yet.
We were already witnessing wrongly timed pit-stop calls in the days of Fernando Alonso, which deprived him from comfortable race wins – and in the recent past, this has been happening again.
Ferrari’s 2019 car philosophy is considered to be a low-downforce one with a top-performing engine providing top speeds through straights.
The team should always favour a holistic approach while developing solutions for the car, and it shouldn’t compartmentalise the development process.
Despite a very encouraging pre-season test, once again, the Scuderia have failed to dominate races and eventually achieve much-needed wins.
A change in personnel would not improve the situation.
The people within the team are already competent enough to understand the limitations of the car.
(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
However, there needs to be more positivity within the team. Sebastian Vettel came in as a breath of fresh air for the Scuderia. I still recall his first races when he kept on motivating all mechanics and strategists despite being behind Mercedes in the championship ladder.
Since the end of last season, Vettel is no longer the catalyst of the team. His continuous failure to deliver on critical occasions coupled with team strategy mistakes have further complicated the situation.
Charles Leclerc is still in his maiden season and while he has been satisfactory so far, it is still premature for him to lead the most prestigious team in motorsport.
The time is now for the Scuderia to be as strong as possible internally and believing in each other’s capabilities to maximise the chances of challenging for race wins.
Three years ago, the Mercedes engine was outperforming Ferrari’s. This hurdle has now been overcome for Ferrari but a proper engine-to-aerodynamics balance should be found in this year’s car to close the gap as much as possible to Mercedes.
Here’s hoping for a far better second half of the season from Ferrari.
Lewis Philip
Guest
One very important question which journalists haven't asked any of the Scuderia staff has been why did the team choose to adopt this low downforce approach. Everyone seems to be taking for grated Ferrari's approach, yet no one is wondering why is it this way and what were the calculations standing behind it, let alone to be bold enough to ask Binotto & co. what lay at the root of such a terrible decision. You mention in your article that the team should have adopted a holistic view and that's indeed very true. As a constructor you ought to be striving for a balanced car, unless you can be so extremely clinical with your maths so as to take all the circuits, divide them into mini-sectors and determine that on a sufficient number of circuits throughout the calendar an approach favouring more downforce or efficiency would win you the championship. That's clearly not been the case. Therefore, why has Ferrari chosen to put all its eggs in one basket instead of producing something more balanced? Why would a top team which presumably has all the analytical tools at its disposal choose to take such great risks so as to build a car which is not a good all-rounder?
DN9
Roar Rookie
Very much agree with you, Simoc. Renault is also another major disappointment - they need to step up to allow Daniel to force through the midfield pack.
Simoc
Guest
Indeed Mercedes major competition is looking like Max Verstappen on his own. The performance of the Honda motor this season has backed up their decision to change from Renault though Verstappen was also dominant in the last three races of 2018 with the Renault motor. Ferrari along with Renault have been the major flops of the season to date. Ferrari desperately need a race win to restore some confidence to the drivers and team. Unfortunately, they seem to be getting worse the further the season goes.