Formula 1 2014: General Discussion Thread

HighLine wrote: »

In fairness to Eddie, he has broken a few true exclusives over the years including Schumacher's return to Mercedes.

Oh I'm not saying anything otherwise, it's just the way he said it and the funny reaction from herself when he said it. He has been correct in most of his revelations.

PukkaStukka wrote: »

The new team president Sergio Marchionne turned Fiat profitable in 2 years in 2006 and then oversaw its megabuck merger with Chrysler a few years back. He is continuing the Ferrari policy of old of sacrificing the scapegoats. It was he who brought Mattiacci in after Domenicali left, and if I was to be ultra cynical of Marchionne's motives, I'd say he is doing a hatchet job to justify the teams exit from F1. One could be forgiven for thinking that the team is on the verge of imploding! The list above of departed people is shocking and clear evidence of the new broom being a bit too indiscriminate.

Among other notables who are no longer active in the team:

Chris Dyer - fired in 2010 after being held responsible for the poor decisions in Abu Dhabi that cost Alonso the title

Aldo Costa - fired in 2011 after being blamed for the poor performance of that years car. Joined Mercedes and the rest is history

Luca Baldisserri: moved from F1 to Ferraris driver academy. Once touted as Brawn's natural successor, he has since drifted into obscurity.

Rob Smedley: followed Massa to Williams as Head of vehicle performance. Again, another case of a Scuderia leaving and finding a performance improvement in his new home.

Of the men named in the post quoted above, IMHO de Montezemelo and Nicholas Tombazi's should have gone ages ago. Likewise, Pat Fry's position is also less that certain with James Allison about. Methinks the scarlet bloodletting may not quite be finished yet......

I don't think Marchionne wants the team to leave F1 though. Scuderia Ferrari exists ultimately to promote the Ferrari brand. If the team isn't winning races, then that isn't good for the brand name. So all that blood-letting is a necessary evil to get the team back on the right track.

The Ferrari part of the business is a huge moneymaker for Fiat. The problem however, is that Marchionne believes, given that there is such huge demand for their cars, that the company could be making a lot more money than it currently is.

Production of Ferraris was limited to something like 7000 units per year by Montezemolo. This was to maintain exclusivity - make sure that supply doesn't exceed demand, thereby maintaining the prestige of the brand. Marchionnes view though was that people were left on waiting lists to buy Ferrari cars, and despite willing to part with huge sums of money, they were left disappointed due to the limited production. This meant Ferrari were losing out on much higher profits. Marchionne wanted to up production to 10000 units per year and apparently Montezemolo baulked at this.

Now with Montezemolo out of the picture, Marchionne is free to do what he wants with the F1 team. Clearly, a season where they are so far off the pace of the Mercedes (who are one of their main competitors in the luxury car market) does not look good, hence the reason for all the upheaval. Of course Marchionne could decide to pull the team entirely from F1 and make the move to Le Mans or elsewhere, but I don't think I could see a future Monte Carlo grand prix without the prancing horse on the grid. Personally, I think we'll see Ferrari in F1 for a few years to come yet. The signing of Vettel in place of Alonso should indicate that they are committed to the immediate future in the sport at least.

greedygoblin wrote: »

I don't think Marchionne wants the team to leave F1 though. Scuderia Ferrari exists ultimately to promote the Ferrari brand. If the team isn't winning races, then that isn't good for the brand name. So all that blood-letting is a necessary evil to get the team back on the right track.

The Ferrari part of the business is a huge moneymaker for Fiat. The problem however, is that Marchionne believes, given that there is such huge demand for their cars, that the company could be making a lot more money than it currently is.

I'd say a lot of it is down to Ferrari, the F1 team in particular, being made more accountable in a corporate context. It'll either end up being run all wrong as Toyota and Jaguar were with unwelcome boardroom interference/indifference, or else end up being 'off-loaded' somehow into a separate entity and run at arm's length.

Rumours abound that Arrivabene is yet another stop-gap appointment so the fun might not be over just yet.

They won't be leaving F1, especially after investing a fortune in Vettel. And they'll have a plan to get back on top, which Vettel will see.

He's not being allowed to drive the car but he can hang out in the garage and meet all the right people.

Schwiiing wrote: »

I'd like to make the races shorter by about 20-30 mins.

No way, if anything they need to be longer. This is supposed to be the pinnacle, yet other series have longer races than F1. Most of them are 1h30m or 1h40m (Monza's only 1h20m!), when they should be ideally around 2h15m. Makes the races 400 or 450km instead of the current ~307km.

Well it sounds louder at least!

Loud engine = wasted energy!

This is also a test PU, it wont be the one they run for pre-season testing.

Infoanon wrote: »

Senna wanted to race the Mclaren Lamborghini at the last 2 races of 1993 following the test - races Ayrton won in the McLaren Ford.

That's right. They were customer Ford engines too as Benetton had the works Ford engines.

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I'd take half a second slower if they sounded nicer.

A lot of people would, but what team would choose to loose power.

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I wonder, is there a more efficient way of making more noise with the same amount of energy? Please don't say trumpets.

Physics says no. To create noise you need to use energy from elsewhere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy

Noise in an engine is caused by friction or vibrations, neither are good.

Was that Lamborghini engine being used by Scuderia Italia in 1993? As I recall McLaren opted for peugeot which was a disaster, jordan ended up with them a year later as cast offs and did ok despite it being 30kg over weight and costing about 50 points and multiple podiums by blowing up. Lambo ditched F1 when Mclaren didnt sign up. *edit: google has reminded me it was larousse F1 with the lamborghini motor.