Ferrari: Team Thread

I’m hearing on social media that Charles Leclerc has resigned with Ferrari until 2026 with an option to 2029 in a deal worth 185 million (euros?). This is according to GP Fans website. About half of those responding felt it was a bad deal for Ferrari with Leclerc being overrated, and the other half thought it was a bad deal because Leclerc will never win anything with Ferrari . As a fan put it “There are two happy days when you own a Ferrari, one when you buy it and one when you sell it”.

No one else running the story yet so who knows if it’s true.

https://www-gpfans-com.translate.goog/es/f1-noticias/1001302/ultima-hora-leclerc-record-ferrari/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

where else could he go and who else would go to ferrari?

 

Charlie to Merc, Hamilton to Ferrari... Make it happen!!!!

 

I thought you meant RESIGNED

 

Yeah, I probably could have made that clearer!

Either way, still no reports of this anywhere else so quite possibly just the usual speculation from someone.

 

Hamilton will never win a race again if he moves to ferrari

 

People said the same when he went to Merc. I think I was the only one suggesting it before it even became rumor.

Would love to see him in red for a couple of seasons!

 

That might also be true if he stays at Merc.

 

More chance of Merc winning then Ferrari. Ferrari probably 4th or 5th best car on the grid now.

 

I read that Ferrari have fired up their 2026 engine and yet the rules are still in place to not start manufacturing that car until 1st January 2025.

Is this Ferrari breaking the rules or not? How do some teams seem to be exempt from authority and regulations?

 

I believe the Car and the PU are 2 separate things for the 2026 regs. I believe they are allowed to work on the 2026 PU but not the car.

 

Thanks for that,ched. Much appreciated.

 

suspected that the definition of 'car' was probably sans PU.

 

Think I read an article this week that said Merc are the first to have the whole thing fired up on the test bench completely.

Intrigued to see how Red Bull powertrains get on with their first in house engine- it’s a big, big task to take on.

 

I think Honda are doing it until 2025, then Ford take-over.

 

So,will Red Bull powertrains be badged as a Ford ?

Can`t see Ford wanting to be responsable for a lemon if they don`t get it right straight out of the box.
Horner was very critical towards Renault when they were not delivering the power or reliable engines.
This could be interesting.

 

Correct- it’s the Honda in it until the new PU regs in 2026 when Red Bull build their own engine but will be badged as Ford. Ford aren’t bringing any expertise to it as far as I’m aware.

Carbon free fuel, and triple the amount of power coming from the MGU-K unit (electric).

Horner thinks the dependency on electric power instead of combustion will require cars to be designed with minimalistic drag concepts, to the point where he says cars will be in a permanent DRS state and that the DRS will be rendered ineffective.

Mercedes slapped down his idea to tweak the regs towards slightly more combustion power- I suspect Merc might think they’re going well in their new engine development and don’t want Horner finding a way out of the challenges they face as a new engine supplier.

I hope it doesn’t further ruin the spectacle- it’s already poor at the moment!! Time will tell- let’s see how it shakes out.

I hope we don’t see a repeat of 2014 loopholes where works teams could technically withhold info on the power unit to their customers. (The main reason why McLaren rushed to Honda in the first place)- we want customers to have the full suite of power to make this true racing.

 

The way the Ford RedBull partnership is set up, Red Bull Powertrains is doing all the ICE work, Ford is providing expertise in the electric and electronic parts.

It seems inevitable that we’re going to go into 2026 with more variation in performance between the PU suppliers - if nothing else because we’re in a nominally equalised and frozen state currently. It’s hard to make an argument for RedBull being the winners out of this change with the fact that they are both new to this and their partnership with Ford coming together much later when everyone else had already been working for a couple of years with a settled team.

 

yes inevitably there will be winners and losers.

there has to be really but if you get it wrong on engines and it gets locked in then there's no way back.

even now 2 years in teams are playing catch up to red bull but the answers are there in front of them to look at.

if one car has 50 to 100 more bhp then it's all over.

 

I think the FIA have a set of rules to allow anyone who has an underpowered PU to improve it to the same level as their competitors. There is also supposed to be some sort of budget cap on pu development - I think.