Sebastian Vettel’s start at Ferrari has been rocky. Ferrari is a record holder in all senses: most races driven, most wins etc. Unluckily they could be considered a record holder in inconsistency for the last several years: ups and downs follow each other at a record pace.
The last 2 years haven’t proven as fruitful as Vettel might have wanted, and rumours linking him with Mercedes don’t seem to stop.
In an interview with Die Welt, Vettel said:
“I still dream to become F1 world champion with Ferrari. I still believe I can do it, I still believe in them.”
He knew that it wouldn’t be easy. Fernando Alonso already proved that.
“I didnt move to Ferrari to become world champion immediately. It was clear that success wouldn’t be automatic and that our targets would not be easy to reach.” says the 4 time world champion.
“The situation at Ferrari now is no big surprise to me, but when I look back at the 2016 season, I know that we are on the correct path. The team is now much more developed and more people are committed. That is why I am sure we will achieve the targets that we have set together.”
When asked how 2017 will be different, Vettel said, “That is always the big question, but also the one which is almost impossible to answer.”
“But we have learned many lessons in the past that will make us much stronger as a team in the future. In 2016 we reduced the gap to Mercedes, but we have also seen that the season did not go as smoothly as we wished for at Ferrari.”
“What bothers me is that the results were not well interpreted. The criticism is not fair because Ferrari has made an enormous progress.”
“We just need to remember that we were fighting teams which did not have to make internal changes during the season.”
Schumacher made his switch to Ferrari, bringing part of his championship winning team to Maranello. It took Schumacher years, and with a stable team. Changes at Ferrari HQ seem to be following at rapid pace so the big question is, can they get a world championship in 2017?
Will Vettel succeed doing where Alonso failed? Hard to estimate without having seen the cars and how they perform an the rumors imply that Ferrari will start on the back foot.
Lets’ have some fun. A sweepstake… Will Ferrari be out of the top 3 at the start of the season?
no. why? because I hope so.
I’m not holding my breath either.
I had high hopes for 2016, but they seemed to go backwards.
From the time Allison was dismissed by Sergio the team followed a roller coaster of performance for the remainder of 2016.
Considering that Mercedes were dominant, their truest rivals were Red Bull and according to sources Red Bull has some advanced technology being developed in Area 51, their secret building 9.
At some events RBR were ahead of Ferrari, others behind but it was ebbs and flows between the teams. Considering RBR were bringing updates constantly it has to be assumed that the Ferrari technical department were holding their own.
For the new season Renault keep suggesting that they have caught Ferrari on engine tech but suspiciously Ferrari have kept their powder dry.
I personally don’t think Ferrari will really be fully competitive until Marchionne steps down from all his other commitments next year and devotes 100% of his attention to the Scuderia but he learns quickly and after the empty promises made by Allison pre 2016 in regards Ferraris level, there’s a much more humble approach this year.
The correct answer is yes.
I wouldn’t have guessed your answer to be ‘yes’. A specially because they finished top 3 last season and i think they belong there.
I personally would say no.
Have they sunk so low that they have to sell pizzas for some extra cash, then?
Please don’t tell me I’m the only one who immediately had that association, on reading the headline 🙂
I think they will solve their windtunnel calibration problems around the time that CFD is the norm (2030 or so…)
I don’t believe they’ll drop down the order, not at least immediately. Ferrari’s humiliation and demise is predicted every winter season and it never really materializes, not like it did between 91-93.
That being said, I also do not believe they won’t produce a WDC car for as long as this current engine/chassis formula is kept. Simply put, they are sandwiched between Mercedes’ incredible engine and Red Bull’s state of art aerodynamics. They can’t beat both simultaneously.
Ferrrai’s best hope to avoid long and pointless suffering is to see Mercedes dominate so heavily that either one of these scenarios becomes true:
1, Mercedes decides to leave F1; or
2, ratings fall off a cliff, Liberty and FIA panic, the whole rulebook is scrapped and rewritten while this generation of PUs is abandonned once and for all.
Correction, it should read “I also do not believe they will produce”.
I misinterpreted the pole as will Vettel as a Ferrari driver be out of the top three rather than will Ferrari as a team be out of the top three. Woops….
So we have silver, purple and red, in that order, based on history and broad assumption.
Can Seb out qualify Bott-boy? Prolly.
Can Seb out quality Kimi? Dunno.
A lot has to go She’s way. In truth, anything can happen in Melbs, as is the case with any endeavour involving measures of skill and luck.
If LH excells at drawing short-straws again this season then Bott-boy might even get the choccies in November should the MB buggy prove to be as dominant as it was last year. As much as it would be fun to see Lewis suffer again, it’d Be super boring (again).