The famous red team from Maranello may be the most successful in Formula One history although today its success is very much a yesteryear story.
Since the death in 1988 of Ferrari’s iconic founder and leader Enzo, the team have had just one period of sustained success under the presidency of Luca di Montezemolo.
Ferrari cabinet trophy bare
After a decade of failure, Montezemolo recruited an ‘outsider’ by the name of Jean Todt to rejuvenate the Ferrari team and bring a return to the glory days.
Todt broke the Ferrari ritual of only recruiting Italians with the result being eight constructor championships and six driver titles between 1999-2008.
Since then the trophy cabinet in Maranello has been bare and the pressure immense on each subsequent Ferrari team manager. The latest incarnation is French like Todt but already Frederic Vasseur is feeling the heat of the furness that comes from running the Ferrari F1 team.
The Italian media were scathing over the team efforts from Ferrari in 2022 and the poisoned pens have been at work again this season.
Italian media slam Ferrari drivers
Following the Australian Grand Prix, the Ferrari drivers who have mostly escaped the wrath of the Italian press were eviscerated in Monday’s sport reviews.
Carriere cello Sport’s writer described the Ferrari drivers as “nervous,” although in the land of the matador and the bull this is more akin to ‘cowardly’.
A “furious” LeCerc is told he needs to calm down and Carlos Sainz is accused of “throwing everything away.”
When the Italian media begins blaming Ferrari’s drivers the pressure barometer is rising quickly. With the team in P4 having scored just 26 points some 97 behind Red Bull after just three races, this is Ferrari’s worst start to season for some time.
Alonso precedent means inordinate delays for final decisions
Vasseur rakes over coals form cost cap row
Almost from ‘out of the blue’ Ferrari’s boss has decided to rake over the coals of the cost cap row from the autumn of last season.
“I am still convinced the penalty was very light,” said Vasseur during a media event on Thursday.
“If you consider that we will improve a bit less than one second over the season in terms of aero, [if] you get a penalty of one tenth of this, it is [equal to] 0.1secs.
“And as it is not a linear progression, it is probably less, and as you are allowed to spend this money somewhere else, on weight saving and so on, for me the penalty is marginal.
Ferrari boss’s claims require context
The Vasseur rant over Red Bull’s current performance and how it relates to their ‘minor overspend’ does require some context.
From a spending limit of $145m, Red Bull were eventually deemed to have exceeded this by around $400,000 – which is around 0.28%.
In Vasseur’s own example the penalty in time alone is worth around 10% of the gain a team would typically expect to make during a season.
The Ferrari boss continues his discourse on the Red Bull penalty.
Pirelli react to criticism with even softer tyres
To excuse, or not to excuse?
“It should be severe, given the rate of development we are doing this season and when you can spend what you are saving somewhere else.
“You have an advantage at the beginning of the season because you spent more the year before.
“I don’t want to say they didn’t do a good job, because they did a very good job on the car.
“I am not trying to find an excuse at all, but if you ask me if the penalty is too light, I say yes.”
Vasseur gives himself away when claiming he’s “not trying too find an excuse….” And for a number of reasons.
Red Bull’s advantage not form overspend
Had Red Bull been slapped with the penalty Zak Brown of McLaren demanded, a 25% reduction in aero testing time, what would have been the effect?
Even if it directly impacted the current car, it would be another 0.15s slower using Vasseur’s example, which is still quick enough to be way ahead of the Ferrari.
Ferrari have suffered two DNF’s this season so far, though without these its unlikely they would be ahead of Mercedes.
Vasseur reveals the team have upgrades in the pipeline.
No B-Spec ferrari car
“It is not a ‘B-spec’ car. We will not come with something completely different. We will continue to update this one and we will try to update it massively.”
With just 3 races gone, 3 new Ferrari engines have been introduced by Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Haas.
This fact appears to have slipped under the radar for now, but if this rate of failure continues it will become F1 headlines in just a few races time.
READ MORE:
Checo ➕ Turn 9 💪 A perfect match 👊 #F1pic.twitter.com/d7WjxIhuqu
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 4, 2023
Without the DNFs, they’d more likely be ahead of Mercedes than behind in points, but a definitive conclusion is impossible.
Nevertheless, Ferrari’s present situation is unideal & while the wind tunnel-CFD penalty will affect RB in this season’s development race, the impact will be even bigger at next season’s beginning.
Nope stop lying. It very clearly stated in the FIA document that they got the penalty for $2m. And then near the end says said. But if they got another rebate the overspend would have been 400k. They were penalized for $2m not 400k.