Australian Grand Prix 2012 - Albert Park - Race 1

[blaney1977]

I'll wait a bit more, as I'm sure the price will drop further.

Just joking of course, but anyway all we can hope for is that the "major upgrade" we have in May does the trick, and that everybody else stops developing their car in the meantime.

As for the other comments by other posters about personnel, we don't really know the ins and outs of how the team works, who does what, how are decisions taken, etc., so it's really impossible for us to make any sort of judgement of who should take the blame.

8

again were playing catch up, especially with the quality of teams

[hogo]

Guys, forget Ferrari & lets try and enjoy the season. It will be a fantastic season looking how close the grid is. I am very happy for Gosjean & MS. And very pleased to see RB further back. Lets see how good the finger kid is when he is in traffic.

I can't, I don't have secondary teams/drivers which I would like to support, well Sauber maybe but they are struggling as well. And our car... It's slow and ugly to look at. I'm actually worried that both our drivers will end race stuck on a gravel cos car is so unbelievably hard to drive (with empty tanks at least). Melbourne is a great track, so I won't skip on it but I don't see torturing myself in other less exciting venues. :/

[Imperatore]

Massa needs to and will be replaced for next season as for the rest of the team, Stefano Domenicali will probably be gone by the end of the year. LDM must be furious, it's sad, looks like another bad year, obviously i hope they can turn it around.

[Kyss4k]

I very much hope that a lot of you are eating your words come the end of the season, I really do. Some people on here would only be happy if Fernando was cloned and put in the other seat, to be honest.

I look forward to seeing if we can turn it around over the rest of the weekend and in the coming races. The rest of you can enjoy your hissy fits and your comfy armchairs from which you are such great experts about possible 'changes' within the team.

We didn't turn it around in any of the last seasons. What makes you believe we will now, when we are worse than in those years? We are just being realistic. If we will turn it around, it would be f***ing mirracle.

[Rishu]

As much as I don't like Hamilton & Mclaren, but well done !
And great step taken by Mercedes. Who says that you can't gain significantly in one season?

[ClaudiuCojo]

Maybe Alonso could have gone 0.5 faster if in Q3 but that's about it really ... this would put us around 0.9 - 1.0s slower than McLaren.
The good part is that last year we were 1.5s adrift in Melbourne, the bad part is that this year everyone is much closer together so we are much furthest behind.
I had expected much more, I could have lived with .5s behind but this is to much, I doubt we stand a chance to fight for anything this year but maybe I am wrong(I would be delighted to be proven wrong).
I am very happy for Mercedes Gp, we have lot's of our people there(Brawn, Costa and Schumi) and I very much want to see them in the fight this year with McLaren.
I am very sorry for Fernando, it's a shame a driver of his caliber must waste his talent in anonymity, right now we don't deserve him and I am also sorry for Felipe he is a nice guy and a fast driver given the right circumstances.
I am not very optimistic about our chances, I don't want to flame, but my opinion is that it will take us a long time to get to the bottom of the problems(and that's a bit IF), I just don't want another championship were a single team is winning always(like last year).
I will stand by Ferrari, I love our team but I must detach myself from the context, accept that we are slow and try to enjoy F1 in some other way, I just hope that we can find a direction because right now this seems to me it's our biggest problem.
We don't have a clear direction of development and work, we are just shooting in blinds in the dark, we give the impression we are in disarray, I will be happy with small but constant progress over the year.
I want to hear no more talk about abandoning this season and concentrating on the next one, we have our car and now we need to improve it however we can.
It just seems we are always wrong, not sure what's happening to us.
In a way I am sad, last year we started with a simple car and it didn't work for us, we got criticized that we were two conservative, this year's car seems more to me than just a knee-jerk reaction to last year critisism, we did it so radical becaue it needed to be done, not because we understood the concept or because it would be faster.
With so many smart people out there it's strange that we are so slow, something is missing but I cannot put my finger on it.

[Raz]

I guess I'd better leave the room ..

[Cemz85]

well alonso crossed the line at 1.26.494.
He maybe could habe improved by a maximum of i think 5 tenths the most..
that would have put him P8 somewhere like Maldonado..
How much did button improve on his second flying lap in Q3?

[luicchi]

As much as I don't Hamilton & Mclaren, but well done !
And great step taken by Mercedes. Who says that you can't gain significantly in one season?

i say....in other seasons like this one ...we didnt. 1.6 sec. off the pace ....

[tifosi_kaka]

I don't think that's the case. I think we just need a consistently quick driver in the seat alongside Alonso.

We aren't going to win a Constructors Championship with a driver constantly a second or so slower, nothing to do with being an expert, it's just blatantly obvious.

We would be saying the same if Alonso performed poorly for 2+ seasons. Everyone complained about Raikkonen when he performed poorly, this is no different.

I too hope we can turn it around and that both of our drivers win races and bring us the Championships this year. Obviously.

Sad but true. Felipe just can't handle this car. When I saw in Q2 that the Mercedes drivers were one tenth apart, the McLaren drivers again one tenth apart and the Red Bull drivers only three tenths apart, I can't stop thinking why Fernando, who only got one lap in the session, was 1 second faster than Felipe who kept running throughout the session.

[tifosi_kaka]

well alonso crossed the line at 1.26.494.
He maybe could habe improved by a maximum of i think 5 tenths the most..
that would have put him P8 somewhere like Maldonado..
How much did button improve on his second flying lap in Q3?

6 tenths. Button was behind Vettel on his first run, who was in turn 7 tenths behind Hamilton.

[Hornet]

I guess I'd better leave the room ..

No Merc hating from me.

I'm a ferrari fan so its Alonso and Massa first and foremost

But if we can't do it, I want Schumi to win. I cannot stand seeing Lewis winning the title again. His ego is already bad as it is. They will have to widen all the doors to accommodate his head if he wins another title.

Really, please don't let it be Lewis again

[tifosi_kaka]

I guess I'd better leave the room ..

Well you can stay of course as long as you are sharing your views on Ferrari not celebrating the success of Mercedes. I'm sure that you have found a better place to share your joy of the Mercedes come back.

[Kyss4k]

I guess I'd better leave the room ..

I think there will more of Schumi support than you think

[F2008]

I've always been a big fan of Felipe and he's a great guy. But there comes a time when enough is enough.

Why would Massa himself stay at Ferrari? To be racing in (yet again) an uncompetitive car against the best driver on the grid is the most thankless position for any driver.

I hope Ferrari can recover as soon as possible, because I don't think Alonso wants to spend his time in uncompetitive cars for the rest of his career either.

I'm very disappointed right now and feel sorry for both drivers. To see them making rookie errors doesn't make any sense, something is fundamentally wrong with the car.

[tifosi_kaka]

Agree. The mcLaren looks pretty much untouchable atm. However, i like schumis chances better than Nicos (who was clearly buckling under the pressure in Q3). The old war horse might make it interesting at the front, especially if he manages to sneak ahead of lewis at the start OR if its a wet race.

Yes but I do wonder if the Mercedes has what it takes to stay in front or at least stay with the leaders during the race. They have also been quick in qualifying in the past two seasons, but their race pace is often hampered by tyre wear. If they have also sorted out on this then they'll be a true contender this season.

[Raz]

Honestly Schumi's got more of a Chance to stop Ham, remember Monza last year in a waaay inferior car he held him up for half the race, and not to forget the electric starts.. hope he can stop him.
Also really wasn't expecting the mess that happened today with Ferrari.. well all have ups and down.. it's a long season.. hopefully Ferrari WILL recover.

[ClaudiuCojo]

And please stop the nonsense talk about head rolling etc

We have been doing this for 2 years already and look were we end up now ... the most important thing is stability and continuity, being an Italian team Ferrari will always be sensitive to the media and fan reactions, unfortunately this can some time trigger emotional reactions(like sacking Aldo Costa last year).

Now instead of having a top engineer like Costa, we end up giving him to another team.

We need stability and hard work, not emotional reactions and sacking people just to make some fans felling better.

[Raz]

Yes but I do wonder if the Mercedes has what it takes to stay in front or at least stay with the leaders during the race. They have also been quick in qualifying in the past two seasons, but their race pace is often hampered by tyre wear. If they have also sorted out on this then they'll be a true contender this season.

They have sorted their racepace out.. all thru winter testing they were very strong.. both JB and Webber noted it..

[F1NAC]

Costa must be laughing now somewhere ....

[marcom01]

I was reading this post.... well a real ferrari fan will always and uncoditionally stand beside ferrari for the best and or the worse, but this does not mean that we can be angry or desappointed after the winter workout.... it looks nothing improved since last year and this is makking me feel sad, upset, desappointed.... I think its not the pilot or car itself in ferrari there is a big problem of management and this reflects on the perfomace and armony of the team... at least this is my opinion.... Anyway I really hope something would happend otherwise.... no fun at all...

[zike]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAA .

[cokata]

the embarrassing thing is that we started working on the car very early atleast 2 months before rbr and mclaren.we restructured our development team got a lot of talented people promised an aggressive car,and the result of all that is a horrible and undrivable car,and mclaren with a "conservative" nose are 1.5+ secs faster
EPIC FAIL FERRARI

[Grillo]

The main problem with the car is the car. It is not just the downforce. It understeers (it has nothing to do with the lack of rear downforce) than oversteers, it's unstable...

Agree.

Alonso said after Q3 that the lack of downforce isn't the main problem. He said top speed is 15 km/h slower than others and pointed out some other areas where the performance is poor.

Race pace seems to be poor too.

[Imperatore]

I was reading this post.... well a real ferrari fan will always and uncoditionally stand beside ferrari for the best and or the worse, but this does not mean that we can be angry or desappointed after the winter workout.... it looks nothing improved since last year and this is makking me feel sad, upset, desappointed.... I think its not the pilot or car itself in ferrari there is a big problem of management and this reflects on the perfomace and armony of the team... at least this is my opinion.... Anyway I really hope something would happend otherwise.... no fun at all...

Well said fratello.

[OSS EL BOSS]

Even a coputer would have done errors while driving this car, its horrible to drive!
Understeer at corner entry, oversteer at the exit, bad topspeed at straights, eats the tyres, well is there anything positive about this car?

[Curbs]

And please stop the nonsense talk about head rolling etc

We have been doing this for 2 years already and look were we end up now ..

But we have choosen the wrong heads. The one that needs to go (for some time) is softie Stefano. But he will prob BS Luca even more to stay in his seat.

[FrankAlfa]

Obviously, the lack of testing days have hurt Ferrari, Big Time. The car is very new and they have a great deal of work to do to make it fast. I just hope asking Aldo Costa to leave last year does not come back to bite them??? Nicholas Tombazis has the most pressure on him in the Ferrari Team, I would think. Ferrari have to find out where they lack the speed? Ferrari have to figure out how to "Expand the Performance Window" with more speed and less drag. If the F2012 design concept is good but if they can not perfect it, it is worth nothing.

1.5+ seconds behind at the moment is not a very good position at all and they know that. It will take at least the first Four (4) races to have enough time to be in the top Six (6) on the grid. I think Felipe Massa is going to have a very difficult year to say the least. One feels bad for Alonso to have to endure such a poor start to a season again! My personal feeling is Ferrari have to find a new "Super Mind" like years ago when Mauro Forghieri was in charge and the Ferrari team was strong in both Engine and Chassis with the guiding hand of one man. Now, the Engine is strong but the Chassis design is in "Flux" and it may take several years for so many new ideas and techniologies to be sorted out. Ferrari just need as many miles on the race care as they can now to keep producing new parts and pieces for the race car. It will be a relatively slow steady process to be able to rise through the field and only time will tell when they are able to challenge for the top Five (5) let alone race wins. Thankfully, it is a long season with Twenty (20) races to run. Time will tell. Keep the faith because that is really all we have at the moment.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[MarlboroFA]

latest tweet from Alonso 5 minutes ago...


Some pictures today at the hotel and on the track ..! It seems we need to improve fast..and I'm sure we can do it..;))

[tifosi_kaka]

They have sorted their racepace out.. all thru winter testing they were very strong.. both JB and Webber noted it..

Hope it will be a good battle between McLaren and Mercedes instead of a McLaren run-away. Too much run-aways in the past seasons we need some action at the top of the order.