Think about it, Red Bull and Mercedes are the teams of the future, FACT! Who would of thought that back in 2007-08? First McLaren went backwards and suffered their fate of losing their best people, now Ferrari are unable to stop the rot and look to have the same fate starting next year regardless who they sign. This with Red Bull and Mercedes pinching all the best engineers and paying them very well and showing a lot of form over a long period. No one person is bigger than the team, but if you "steal" 20+ of them then that's a game changer against the people who lost them!
Never count Ferrari out. They've had down periods in the past and come back. I'm still hoping Macca can bounce back next season too.
Last season the Mclaren was the best car on the field for the majority of the season, but issues within the team (and, if rumour is to be believed, the properties of aluminium) restricted that performance. Ferrari had their moments as well, once they got development going, but they were unable to keep up with Red Bull's development pace in the tail end of the season. I want to say they are in many ways both just struggling with a lean period... but then it's impossible to finish that sentence without mentioning Williams, who have now been in a lean period since 2005/1998 (take your pick). Realistically though the prestige attached to both teams means that by rights there should be plenty of people willing to pick them up - and plenty of people unwilling to tolerate failure. Plus, Red Bull only picked up the pace because of the 2009 technical shake-up, and it's fair to say that had that shake-up not happened, Mercedes would probably be nowhere as well. (Remember the 2007/2008 Hondas? They were dreadful!) So that gives next year's new technical regs that little bit extra edge...
What's the aluminum story? Not come across that before? As to Ferrari, I think they've almost become too caught up in who they are than what they are, as have McLaren. Both need to go back to basics and sort out some key problems in their development pipeline.
Ferrari had the best car at the start of the season. I do think Red Bull and Mercedes will be the frontrunners next season though, possibly Lotus if they can scrape together some funds and keep Raikkonen.
What are Ferrari playing at though? It's like development has ground to a halt. It seems they are unwilling to bolt new parts on the car and race them. They have an uphill battle to get back in to this one... and they started out so strong. Bonkers.
I thought this would be Alonso's season tbh... I can't tell if it's just the car or if he's not as sharp as he was last season. Even though Vettel deservedly won the the title last year, Alonso was the man of the season for me... just because he was able to hang in there to the end. He just doesn't appear to have that same punch right now.
Ferrari desperately need some fresh ideas and to move away from the more traditional design, i mean active suspension, blown diffusers, freaking holes drivers put their knees over, right now being the first to have these ideas tends to significantly help teams gain an advantage over the opposition, well at least until next year, when i can see the top 10 being completely dominated by Mercedes powered cars.
What super-duper gadget does the Mercedes have on it though? They seem to have a car that works without a gimmick right now... That we know of...
It's way too early to write off McLaren completely. They built a shocker of a car this year, but since Red Bull ascended in mid 09 they've been their closest challengers for pace more often than not, only for a variety of issues to scupper them. I still believe that they can come back from the current disasters and even if not next year the Honda deal could save them. It's not quite "Williams 2.0" just yet. As for Ferrari their situation feels very different. Far from the up and down roller coaster of McLarens form over the last few seasons, Ferrari have just seemed a little uninspired since 2008. Consistently average (by their standards). Never really at any point have they looked like serious challengers to Red Bull on pace.
as i just said aren't they one of the teams using the new "active suspension" that allows independent control over each wheel or something like that? Lotus have something similar if i recall, not sure about Red Bull but it seems likely seeing as though they're all the teams now at the front right now and getting a system like that working would obviously be a huge advantage, as Williams showed when they first did it.
They've been using the fric suspension for years, since 2011. All top teams have it but I have no idea how long, but I do know for a fact that Mercedes have used it longer with their cars than the others have.
I just meant innovation in general, Ferrari don't seem to have that ability right now, so they're constantly playing catch up.
Good read. Though it makes you question why the Merc was still so hard on tyres until the kevlar switch.
Ferrari's biggest mistake is going 'all Italian' after the Schumacher dominance. Instead of going for worldwide talent they only employed homegrown which is really a disadvantage against the others. They obviously didn't know about the stereotypes of their own nations engineers
