As per Mark Hughes, Mercedes is still the best car and they under performed in Bahrain. He analyzed Mercedes pace relative to rest of the field excluding Ferrari and said that if Mercedes was successful in replicating their Melbourne pace, Mercedes would be on pole in Bahrain a tiny fraction ahead of Leclerc.
So here we can see that, even ignoring Ferrari, the Mercedes was less competitive (relative to the rest of the field) in Bahrain than it was in Melbourne. This is evident whether comparing it to best of the rest (Red Bull), the fastest in 'Class B' (Haas) or the slowest (Williams).
The difference is significant too. Translating it to actual lap time, if the Mercedes had enjoyed the same advantage over Red Bull in Bahrain that it did in Melbourne, it would have qualified around 0.35s quicker than it did. To put that in perspective, Charles Leclerc's Bahrain pole lap was just under 0.3s faster than Hamilton's time. In other words, Merc's Melbourne advantage over the field was slightly bigger than Ferrari's in Bahrain - and had Mercedes retained that level of competitiveness over the field, Lewis Hamilton would have been on Bahrain pole (by a tiny margin over Leclerc)
Just a whole load of speculation and if if if.
I'm. Think a lot of times that there are people that they call themselves "experts" and they are played a lot of money to say thinks that my 12 year old child even say that are.......!!!
For example, now Mr Hughes is saying to us that a teams performance in Aus is the benchmark performance for all the other tracks???!!! Why dont he take Monaco???!!! Its a track as well.
That type of logic I don't even hear it in my local cafe that I use to watch some races !!!!!!
FERRARI FOR EVER !!!!!!!
So, he is saying their car is track specific?? Our advantage in Bahrain was not in full force, because we still had a handling imbalance. Also, RedBull also had a handling problem in Australia, so he is not looking into that. We have to figure out the car, and it is good that we had a 2 day test so we can understand our car. Its very good for us. I am sure, Mattia Binotto and his team will find a better solution for our slow corner problem. One more thing is we have to improve our tire usage in the race. We will have understood the car more and that can only be a good thing.
That analysis from Mark Hughes is of course way too early to judge and indeed, Melbourne isn't at all a benchmark track to begin with. Ferrari needs to get reliability on track but at the same time develop the overall performance as well. We are definitely on the right track and I am sure Mercedes is getting nervous. China will paint a better picture Mr. Hughes. Mercedes just got lucky twice. You could also argue, what if Ferrari could have implemented the right set up from what they understood after they analyzed this last Melbourne race. This gap could have been considerably less. I guess Mark Hughes didn't have any inspiration to write in this murky start of the season. Fact is, we could have had a first and second finish.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Ferrari is the clear favourite to win the Chinese Grand Prix due to what he feels is an unmatched level of performance from its engine.
"Bahrain was very strong [for Ferrari] -- straight-line performance is unbelievable. The power they have displayed is unmatched by anybody. There was, I think in qualifying, five-tenths on the straights only. That is really difficult to compete with.
"It's not the drag. It's never one silver bullet or one simple action, but the drag levels we have calculated would have been 0.1s maybe in difference. It's sheer power. So we have to get used to this level of performance, in my opinion, and see Melbourne as the outlier."
Even Toto seems to dismiss Mark Hughes.. Lol
Ferrari confirmed it can re-use the engine from Leclerc. And I thinks that's good news too!
So 2023 started off bad, but managed to claw back some lap time come end of the year. Lets hope SF24 will give us tifosi something to smile about.
Ferrari should always try to win and bin the conservative approach. I liked the Bahrain race much more than Melbourne, because we had two cars dialled in to win the race, not just come home conservatively. Don't worry about engine failures and breakdowns.
The fastest unreliable car in recent memory is the Macca of 2005. But it was fun to watch. And the Kimster made that season memorable with his daredevilry. If Vet/CL can beat the wheels off the SF-90, we had a legendary season in hand.
Hmm Mark Hughes I could turn that one around and say Ferrari has the best car and we under performed in Australia.
and if Ferrari were successful in replicating their Bahrain form at every race then they will be WCC & WDC champions in 2019
BUT
IF is f1 backwards and we all know what can happen and it usually does.
Forza Jules
If Ferrari had won the first 2 races there would now be uproar the questions and intrigue now being placed on the Ferrari engine is starting to rumble won't be long before fia are asked to check it out instigators red bull.
Seb at the airport with his Ferrari fans. The most humble man in f1, beside Ricciardo and Kimi, never was on social media, he is different in many ways. The f1 is becoming more and more a social media show, its just not the same anymore.
https://www.facebook.com/lanjieya/vi...h2ltSHfXUWrCUB
"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
Both RedBull and Mercedes know that added speculation will put pressure on Ferrari and their main aim is to try and distract them from doing a good job. Ferrari have cracked in the past (last year for example after all the sensors etc). This only means that the rivals DO fear us and the performance is real.
If there is anything worth media attention imo is the fact that the Aero guru Adrian Newey admitted that their 2019 car is flawed and has major Aero set backs. THAT is news worthy, it's like saying Mercedes PU is at Renault level but hey, it's one way of diverting attention.
Binotto is too focused doing his own thing to bother counter arguing and pointing rival teams mishaps. He's a man on a mission and I like that.
Here's more of Seb arriving at the airport. Haircut or buzz cut???
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3wagKYV4AACNzE.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3xm8iGXsAAKU7r.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3xm9HVXkAI-GY2.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3xwVAnW4AIAyle.jpg
It's not how start but how you finish.
So 2023 started off bad, but managed to claw back some lap time come end of the year. Lets hope SF24 will give us tifosi something to smile about.
http://scuderiafans.com/sebastian-ve...m0a6dV2RxsPe5s
Charles’ arrival at Ferrari is positive for me, I can feel his desire for success. He helps me to get the best out of myself.” – Sebastian said, as reported by Auto Bild earlier today – “There are always days when others are better. I don’t like these days, but my opponents aren’t idiots. Today they were simply better, but tomorrow I can fight back. We both have access to all our data. When I do something special, Charles copies it in two sessions and vice versa too.” – Scuderia Ferrari’s German driver explained, ahead of the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix.
Regarding the next race, Sebastian Vettel said: “The Chinese GP has been on the calendar for quite a while and it’s held on one of the most technical and difficult tracks of the year. Two of the corners are especially important: the first one and the one leading to the very long straight, over a kilometre in length. They’re both very technical and it’s difficult to find the right line because the track there is also very wide. They are challenging, not only in qualifying when you need to do just one lap, but also in the race. Looking after tyres is one of the key points in Shanghai, it’s the most important job to do on Sunday in order to be fast for the whole race.”
http://scuderiafans.com/ferrari-chie...usOi-AKOMtY3Ro
My work with him is working with the whole team,” Mattia Binotto told Speed Week, when discussing his relationship with Sebastian Vettel – “For the driver, it is important to feel the confidence of the team. We give everything to make him feel good. But more important than that, in my opinion, is a strong car. After all, everything works better with a good and fast vehicle.” – he explained.
Mattia Binotto then added: “It has to be a car that suits him. We have a close working relationship with our drivers, and this is primarily about the performance limits of the car and about addressing the right problem areas.”
The Ferrari Team Principal also went on to speak about the challenge of managing two “very ambitious drivers” after making the step up to team principal during the off-season. He said: “Of course I now have to manage the drivers as a team boss, that was not the case before. That’s not always easy, because both are very ambitious. But I think that’s a good thing, because it’s important that we have the right fighting spirit in the team, and that includes the drivers.” – Mattia Binotto concluded.
Cheers to that.
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