FORUMula1.com

[darwin dali]

2016: Kimi out, Bottas in - you read it here first.

I was wrong as so many times in my life...

[darwin dali]

ESPNF1:
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne: "It is not a Ferrari problem and the idea that we could have a moral obligation to provide the engines ... it's on the limit. And the same goes for imposing price limits on those power units. If somebody would know the costs involved in the development, the prices we talk about don't even cover spark plugs. This is outside any industrial and corporate logic."

Bada bing, bada boom!!!

[myownalias]

Maybe Bernie can take away Ferrari's corporate subsidies and give it to the bottom 4 least wealthy teams so they could better afford the engines?

[sagi58]

2016: Kimi out, Bottas in - you read it here first.

I was wrong as so many times in my life...

That was close!!

[sagi58]

Maybe Bernie can take away Ferrari's corporate subsidies and give it to the bottom 4 least wealthy teams so they could better afford the engines?

And... maybe those teams could bring as much attention and publicity to the sport as Ferrari does?
Oh... wait...

[sagi58]

From the "Boss":

'STILL TECHNICALLY INFERIOR' TO MERCEDES - FERRARI

Sergio Marchionne has hailed an "outstanding" season for Ferrari at the end of his first year as the fabled marque's president. After the turbulence and mediocrity of 2014, parent company Fiat ousted Ferrari's long-time president Luca di Montezemolo and installed a new team boss in the form of Maurizio Arrivabene.

And so with Marchionne now president of Fiat and Ferrari, he said of the fabled Maranello team's 2015: "At the beginning of the season we said that if we won three races, Arrivabene and I would dance the samba. The results were outstanding," the Italian-Canadian added after a shareholder meeting in Amsterdam, adding that he is happy he has avoided the "embarrassment" of doing the samba for now.

"17 podiums is confirmation that we have a great team capable of doing extraordinary things. (Sebastian) Vettel did a great season and he is a great guy, a great driver who has integrated well with the team. Now we look to 2016," Marchionne continued. "We have confirmed we have a great team by getting very, very close to Mercedes, but technically we are still inferior to them."...(GMM)

[darwin dali]

A (S)hellish Ferrari experience: lots to explore!

Compare KR's and SV's sections

[sagi58]

Ferrari: a 2015 review:

Racing Stories: 2015 Season

01Australia
02Malaysia
03China
04Bahrian
05Spain
06Monaco
07Canada
08Austria
09Great Britain
10Hungary
11Belgium
12Italy
13Singapore
14Japan
15Russia
16U. S. of A.
17Mexico
18Brazil
19Abu Dhabi

[sagi58]

Whoa!!! It's not that far off!!

Ferrari to launch 2016 F1 car online

The Italian Formula 1 team Ferrari is planning an online launch for its 2016 car, it emerged on Thursday.

Citing Italian sources, the Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat said the as-yet unnamed machine will be seen on the internet for the first time on 19 or 20 February, just days before the start of winter testing in Barcelona.

“Ferrari has not decided which of the team’s race drivers will test the car first,” the report added.

But Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari’s Finnish driver, said the only target for 2016 can be the world championship.

“We all know that Ferrari wants to win,” he said. “It will not be easy, there are a lot of strong teams and all of them have the same idea.

“Obviously, having done better in the previous year, we have more expectations for the next one, so we will give our 100 per cent to try to bring back the championship for Ferrari,” added Raikkonen, the 2007 title winner.

As for a firm prediction, however, Raikkonen would not be drawn.

“It’s too early to say. We can do our best but we can’t control what the others do, so we have to keep working the same way, always improving, then we will see where we end up,” he said.

“There’s no point to start guessing, we have to wait until the winter tests and the first race.”

[sagi58]

For those who can, here's a great opportunity!!

#ReadySetRed: Let the challenge begin!

#ReadySetRed is officially ready to take off! This exciting initiative will allow Ferrari fans and enthusiasts an opportunity to experience the world premiere of the Ferrari Racing Team’s new single-seater race car first hand.

Participating is easy: just follow the Ferrari Racing Team’s social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Each user “action” (tweet, comment or share) with the hashtag #ReadySetRed will accumulate valuable points needed to obtain the ultimate prize: active participation in the live streaming event for the 2016 single-seater race car.

The ten most active users (those with the highest number of points) will be chosen as winners. Fans have been notified and will have until 7 February to participate. Full details of the initiative can be found at: readysetred.ferrari.com.

[sagi58]

There are changes at Ferrari:

RIVOLA LEAVES FERRARI TEAM TO TAKE CARE OF 'ACADEMY'

Massimo Rivola, a long-time member of Ferrari's travelling F1 team, has confirmed he will have a different role in the future. Mid-season last year, the sporting director was absent for the Spanish grand prix, amid reports he had been disciplined by boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

And speculation in the past few weeks has suggested Rivola will be leaving the team altogether to replace Luca Baldisserri. In recent years, Baldisserri has headed Ferrari's driver development 'academy', but has reportedly now left the Italian marque altogether to follow Lance Stroll to Williams. "The news that has circulated for days is made official today," read a report on Wednesday at Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Rivola confirmed it by writing an open letter to Ferrari fans. "It is important to me that with these rumours, you learn it from me," he wrote. He began his F1 career at Minardi in 1998, becoming team manager when the team was known as Toro Rosso by 2006. He moved to Ferrari in 2009, where he has been sporting director.

"After 18 years in formula one, 12 of them on the pit wall, the time has come for a pitstop," added Rivola. "In consultation with Ferrari and as a great personal challenge, I will take care of the reorganisation of the driver academy." Speed Week, a German-language publication, said Ferrari has not confirmed the report but plans to reveal its reorganisation probably next month. (GMM)

[sagi58]

And, that's not all that's changing at the Academy:

RAFFAELE MARCIELLO SPLITS WITH FERRARI AND SAUBER

Raffaele Marciello has split with Ferrari and will also no longer work with the Ferrari-powered F1 team Sauber. With the death of Jules Bianchi, the 21-year-old Italian became the clear cream of Ferrari's driver development 'academy'.

Last year, Marciello split his time between GP2 - where he finished the championship in seventh place - and testing for Ferrari and Sauber. He even appeared on several Friday mornings for the latter Swiss team, but Italy's Autosprint reports that he has now suddenly split up with Ferrari.

Marciello will stay in GP2 this year, but when asked about the Ferrari split, he explained that his relationship with team boss Maurizio Arrivabene had broken down. "I never had a great relationship with him (Arrivabene)," he revealed. "He did not deem me suitable for F1 and so it ended. You can't please everyone," Marciello added. (GMM)

[sagi58]

FERRARI MANAGEMENT RESHUFFLE AS COMPANY BOSS EXPECTS INSTANT FORMULA 1 SUCCESS

As Ferrari gears up for the 2016 F1 challenge, the team’s sporting director Massimo Rivola has confirmed that he has left the Scuderia’s Formula 1 team to become the boss of its young driver programme...

...Jock Clear, Lewis Hamilton’s former performance engineer at Mercedes, who has been on gardening leave from the German team since late 2014, has joined Ferrari has head of track operations. That appointment is expected to allow technical director James Allison to spend more time overseeing work at the factory rather than attending every race.

[Luca]Baldisserri was once Michael Schumacher’s race engineer and had been running Ferrari’s academy since 2010. He is moving on to mentor and manage the career of Lance Stroll, the European Formula 3 racer and Williams’ development driver who was once part of the Scuderia’s young driver programme...

...The Academy may have lost Stroll, but there are suggestions that one of Nicolas Todt’s most exciting young drivers Charles Leclerc, could join the programme soon. He would be following a well trodden path; the much loved and missed Frenchman Jules Bianchi was another of Todt Jr’s Ferrari junior proteges.

The adjustments to Ferrari’s staff structure comes a year after the team made numerous changes to its management structure as a result of its disappointing 2014 season. Maurizio Arrivabene became team principal and Allison was given full control of the engineering department, while Sebastian Vettel replaced Fernando Alonso in the squad’s driver line up.

That reshuffle was followed by almost instant success as Vettel won the second race of 2015 and Ferrari’s chairman, Sergio Marchionne, has already declared that he expects the team to be capable of challenging for the 2016 title from the first race of the new season.

“The year of our return to the top has begun,” he said early this month. “The team is there and we’re not far from reaching the level of our competitors.

“The investments won’t be lacking. We have invested a lot of financial resources – the work done in 2015 has laid an exceptional basis for a season of success in 2016.

“We must win right away. We must get back in the saddle immediately and reset to zero the difficulties of the past.”

[sagi58]

FERRARI MANAGEMENT RESHUFFLE AS COMPANY BOSS EXPECTS INSTANT FORMULA 1 SUCCESS

...Sergio Marchionne, has already declared that he expects the team to be capable of challenging for the 2016 title from the first race of the new season...

...“We must win right away. We must get back in the saddle immediately and reset to zero the difficulties of the past.”

[sagi58]

For the record:

TOTO WOLFF CLARIFIES MERCEDES’ FIA AERO ENQUIRY, SAYS: “FERRARI IS OUR BEST FRENEMY”

POSTED: 30 NOV 2015

Mercedes’ motorsport boss Toto Wolff has explained that his squad’s appeal to the FIA for guidance on using another Formula 1 team to help with aerodynamic development was to cement its understanding of the regulations and he congratulated Ferrari on its interpretation of the rules.

During last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes asked the FIA’s race stewards to examine the legality of ambiguous rules relating to an existing F1 team doing work with a new team not yet entered into the F1 championship, as it believes Ferrari as done with its technical partner and 2016 debutant, Haas F1.

The stewards’ ruled that Ferrari was not in breach of the regulations, but closed the loophole by making it clear that no team can use another outfit for its aerodynamic development.

The FIA already inspected Ferrari’s windtunnel earlier this year regarding the team’s relationship with Haas and found that both were operating within the rules.

Speaking after the race in Abu Dhabi, Wolff explained that he was happy with the stewards’ decision and praised Ferrari on its perception of the rules.

He said: “I comfortable with the outcome because the stewards’ decision gives us clarity and that was the main purpose of the exercise.

“I don’t think they [Ferrari] operated outside of the regulations, I think that Ferrari and Haas interpreted the rules in the right way. It wasn’t for us to seek clarification of the past, but we just wanted to be rock solid for the future, for us mainly, but in the way we did it, for everybody to have that transparent information.

“This is a sport about gaining an advantage and if they gained an advantage by interpreting the rules like they did, then ‘chapeau’. They deserve that.”

At no point in its correspondents with the FIA did Mercedes mention Haas or Ferrari as the reasons for its enquiry and Wolff explained his team asked the FIA for clarity on the rules to avoid what he had previously described as a potential “arms race” of bigger squads using smaller outfits for aero development.

He said: “We had asked the FIA for clarification for what we could do in the future.

“We were looking for a partnership with some of the teams who are our engine partner in order to optimise on the aero development and we weren’t quite sure of the rules, which were vague and ambiguous in certain areas.

“This [is] why we asked for guidance to everybody, so every team would have a transparent, open communication [and] guidance from the FIA.

When asked if he considered Ferrari as a serious threat to Mercedes’ dominant position in F1, Wolff described the Scuderia as his team’s “best ‘frenemy’” as a battle at the head of the pack in 2016 would be good for the sport.
He said: “Ferrari has made a big step forwards from 2014 in 2015 and considering the resources they have we think that could well be the case again from 2015 to 2016 and we take the Ferrari threat very seriously.

“Competition is good – I think it’s important for Formula that there is more going on at the front and Ferrari is our best ‘frenemy.’”

But Wolff explained he is still confident Mercedes’ form would carry on next year based on the work he has seen on its 2016 car so far, although he warned that the team could only be sure of continued success once the season got underway at the Australian Grand Prix.

He said: “What I see from the various departments is very encouraging. We just need to put it together and the stopwatch never lies, whatever the day is for Melbourne, in March or in April, we’ll see if we have done a good enough job or not.”