Ferrari 2020 Challenger Thread

[chinmay]

Let the silly season start.Totto wolf claims mercedes must bridge the gap to Ferrari for the upcoming 2020 season and that winter testing was a classic sand bagging event.Rumour has it Ferrari will have a different beast for the start of the season.May be totto is preparing for the worst before it even starts, boy I hope he is correct.

Any links for that rumor?

[springfield]

If Toto claims Ferrari is faster, then it's clear Mercedes is at least half a second faster.

[Brembo]

Ferrari has already stated they are not starting the season on the right foot... don't set yourself up for disappointment mate....

Binotto is the one who wants to spread that statement. He wants to be sure if Ferrarir loses, it's not his fault from the start so the check will be "In the mail! "

[Rishu]

If Toto claims Ferrari is faster, then it's clear Mercedes is at least half a second faster.

I remember Hamilton’s onboards from Catalunya testing, that steering wheel was so so stable. They have a beast in hand, I just hope we can be in touching distance if not faster

[paolo lalli]

I wonder when binotto will have something positive to say I don't think he has to date ever said anything that would make you feel optimistic.He has the uncanny ability of hedging his negative bets very well.He prepares for failure in a very professional manner.Binotto really needs to step up and change his rhetoric other wise the exit door is wide enough for him also.The pressure is on binotto 100%talk only gets you so far.Winning championships will guarantee his longevity at Ferrari and nothing else.

[FerrariF60]

I wonder when binotto will have something positive to say I don't think he has to date ever said anything that would make you feel optimistic.He has the uncanny ability of hedging his negative bets very well.He prepares for failure in a very professional manner.Binotto really needs to step up and change his rhetoric other wise the exit door is wide enough for him also.The pressure is on binotto 100%talk only gets you so far.Winning championships will guarantee his longevity at Ferrari and nothing else.

It’s called CYA....if he tells that we’re gonna be quick, this and that and in the end it’s the opposite, then his **** is on the line....this way if the plans don’t come to fruition, he’s got an excuse not to get canned....because I told you we ain’t fast enough

[paolo lalli]

The carry on with Lewis and 7th title this year.The season has not started but the articles are almost a given that he will wrap up his equaling 7th title and join racing royalty.Well I beg to differ this year it has an element and a distinct smell of different and difficult.Iam expecting a surprise result for WDC,yes iam throwing it out there love the element of a surprise.

[wisepie]

The carry on with Lewis and 7th title this year.The season has not started but the articles are almost a given that he will wrap up his equaling 7th title and join racing royalty.Well I beg to differ this year it has an element and a distinct smell of different and difficult.Iam expecting a surprise result for WDC,yes iam throwing it out there love the element of a surprise.

We'd all like a surprise and a change of WDC/WCC but it may well be an unpleasant one in the shape of someone other than a Ferrari driver! I'd love to feel optimistic but will always prepared for an unpleasant surprise when it comes to our team's ability to deliver, sadly!.

[killer]

It’s called CYA....if he tells that we’re gonna be quick, this and that and in the end it’s the opposite, then his **** is on the line....this way if the plans don’t come to fruition, he’s got an excuse not to get canned....because I told you we ain’t fast enough

What you said makes no sense. Think about it.

[Brembo]

Charles vs. Saintz 2021 will be Ferrari's comeback year. Binotto reiterated that Ferrari has no plans to implement #1, #2 status next season with Saintz and Charles. It will be the track that dictates who's 1st, and who's 2nd. He said that was the case even when Michael drove for Ferrari . Every year Michael started at the same level as his team mate. Ferrari is in good hands it seems, even if Binotto doesn't believe Ferrari has a chance against Merc or even R Bull ; he want's to give Saintz the shot to give him all the help he can to beat Charles, on the track.

[paolo lalli]

Well it did not take long DR DEATH MARKO has fired the first verbal bullets. MARKO has said it will be between us and mercedes Ferrari are not at our level put a muzzle on that man.He reminds me of Hannibal lechter.Lets see how right DR DEATH will be at the end of the day red bull just another bits and pieces organisation who goes to bed with who ever suits.

[tifosi1993]

Yeah well...if we turn back the clock to Singapore 2019, most people including pundits and fans alike, thought that the battle would be between Hamilton-Mercedes and Verstappen-Red Bull. Everyone had written Ferrari off.
But we all know how that race panned out.

And it's not surprising to see people, yet again, over hyping Red Bull. No meaningful WDC-WCC challenge since 2013, pretty much the 3rd best team since 2017 regulation, but every year people over hypes their chances. It's not going to be different this year, the battle will be between Mercedes-Ferrari with Red Bull winning a race or two here and there.

[jgonzalesm6]

And it's not surprising to see people, yet again, over hyping Red Bull. No meaningful WDC-WCC challenge since 2013, pretty much the 3rd best team since 2017 regulation, but every year people over hypes their chances. It's not going to be different this year, the battle will be between Mercedes-Ferrari with Red Bull winning a race or two here and there.

I will say this about RedBull after 2013, the only handicap RedBull has had in this turbo hybrid era is the engine(Renault).......until now with Honda.

[wisepie]

Yeah well...if we turn back the clock to Singapore 2019, most people including pundits and fans alike, thought that the battle would be between Hamilton-Mercedes and Verstappen-Red Bull. Everyone had written Ferrari off.
But we all know how that race panned out.

And it's not surprising to see people, yet again, over hyping Red Bull. No meaningful WDC-WCC challenge since 2013, pretty much the 3rd best team since 2017 regulation, but every year people over hypes their chances. It's not going to be different this year, the battle will be between Mercedes-Ferrari with Red Bull winning a race or two here and there.

Oh dear, tifosi1993, you do like to make some slightly questionable remarks, and if you can't see the danger of Red Bull and Max, you are being somewhat over-optimistic and dare I say it, wearing beer-goggles. As if Mercedes weren't a big enough barrier to Ferrari's success, Red Bull and Max and even the pink Merc Racing Point cars are likely to prove just as dangerous. I'd love to have your optimism but as the season gets closer to starting, there is already some inter-team mud-slinging and I don't think the season will be a pretty one, not helped by out-of-contract drivers still driving for their current teams.

[paolo lalli]

I do not see vettal driving to purely to disrupt the Ferrari class room this year.He is to tailored to be the chair kicking student who graduates at the end of 2020.He is out to win and to drive hard with a no favours and a take no prisoner attitude.I expect Ferrari will support his mission.It will be look at me this is what you had chao.

[Brembo]

I do not see vettal driving to purely to disrupt the Ferrari class room this year.He is to tailored to be the chair kicking student who graduates at the end of 2020.He is out to win and to drive hard with a no favours and a take no prisoner attitude.I expect Ferrari will support his mission.It will be look at me this is what you had chao.

Great post! I couldn't agree more.

[tifosi1993]

Oh dear, tifosi1993, you do like to make some slightly questionable remarks, and if you can't see the danger of Red Bull and Max, you are being somewhat over-optimistic and dare I say it, wearing beer-goggles. As if Mercedes weren't a big enough barrier to Ferrari's success, Red Bull and Max and even the pink Merc Racing Point cars are likely to prove just as dangerous. I'd love to have your optimism but as the season gets closer to starting, there is already some inter-team mud-slinging and I don't think the season will be a pretty one, not helped by out-of-contract drivers still driving for their current teams.

After seeing the barrage of pessimism in this thread, there's nothing wrong being a bit more optimistic than usual.
And I don't see any questionable remark in my post. I mean, Red Bull being the 3rd best team since 2017 and them winning few races towards the end, these are all facts. Even last year Red Bull weren't really challenging Mercedes, and even with a car like SF90, Ferrari gave Mercedes more trouble than Red Bull ever did. And trust me, I would never underestimate Max and his sheer talent. But F1 is machine dominated, the difference between the fastest and slowest driver is around 0.3-0.5 sec, but the difference between the fastest and slowest car is around 1-4 sec. Doesn't matter how much faster or talented a driver is, if his car isn't up to speed.

And I have followed this years testing quite closely, and I have been impressed with Leclerc's race sim during the final day of winter testing. And I know it wasn't as fast as Mercedes race sim, but the track condition was vastly different between day 3 and day 6. The track was quite slow on day 6, and even then Leclerc's race sim was still faster than Red Bull's race sim. So as you can see, there's a reason for my optimism.

I think the SF1000 is going to be a pretty strong 'race' car, the only question mark is its qualifying pace. Have Ferrari lost their Q3 super engine mode? or is the 2020 spec-2 even more powerful than 2019 spec-3? only time will tell.
So I'm not going to Ferrari write off, because it will be a foolish to do so, considering we still haven't had any races this year. But I see you have already made up your mind. Who knows, maybe Ferrari will surprise you in Austria, as they did to many people in 2019 Singapore GP.

[SilverSpeed]

After seeing the barrage of pessimism in this thread, there's nothing wrong being a bit more optimistic than usual.
And I don't see any questionable remark in my post. I mean, Red Bull being the 3rd best team since 2017 and them winning few races towards the end, these are all facts. Even last year Red Bull weren't really challenging Mercedes, and even with a car like SF90, Ferrari gave Mercedes more trouble than Red Bull ever did. And trust me, I would never underestimate Max and his sheer talent. But F1 is machine dominated, the difference between the fastest and slowest driver is around 0.3-0.5 sec, but the difference between the fastest and slowest car is around 1-4 sec. Doesn't matter how much faster or talented a driver is, if his car isn't up to speed.

And I have followed this years testing quite closely, and I have been impressed with Leclerc's race sim during the final day of winter testing. And I know it wasn't as fast as Mercedes race sim, but the track condition was vastly different between day 3 and day 6. The track was quite slow on day 6, and even then Leclerc's race sim was still faster than Red Bull's race sim. So as you can see, there's a reason for my optimism.

I think the SF1000 is going to be a pretty strong 'race' car, the only question mark is its qualifying pace. Have Ferrari lost their Q3 super engine mode? or is the 2020 spec-2 even more powerful than 2019 spec-3? only time will tell.
So I'm not going to Ferrari write off, because it will be a foolish to do so, considering we still haven't had any races this year. But I see you have already made up your mind. Who knows, maybe Ferrari will surprise you in Austria, as they did to many people in 2019 Singapore GP.

[wisepie]

After seeing the barrage of pessimism in this thread, there's nothing wrong being a bit more optimistic than usual.
And I don't see any questionable remark in my post. I mean, Red Bull being the 3rd best team since 2017 and them winning few races towards the end, these are all facts. Even last year Red Bull weren't really challenging Mercedes, and even with a car like SF90, Ferrari gave Mercedes more trouble than Red Bull ever did. And trust me, I would never underestimate Max and his sheer talent. But F1 is machine dominated, the difference between the fastest and slowest driver is around 0.3-0.5 sec, but the difference between the fastest and slowest car is around 1-4 sec. Doesn't matter how much faster or talented a driver is, if his car isn't up to speed.

And I have followed this years testing quite closely, and I have been impressed with Leclerc's race sim during the final day of winter testing. And I know it wasn't as fast as Mercedes race sim, but the track condition was vastly different between day 3 and day 6. The track was quite slow on day 6, and even then Leclerc's race sim was still faster than Red Bull's race sim. So as you can see, there's a reason for my optimism.

I think the SF1000 is going to be a pretty strong 'race' car, the only question mark is its qualifying pace. Have Ferrari lost their Q3 super engine mode? or is the 2020 spec-2 even more powerful than 2019 spec-3? only time will tell.
So I'm not going to Ferrari write off, because it will be a foolish to do so, considering we still haven't had any races this year. But I see you have already made up your mind. Who knows, maybe Ferrari will surprise you in Austria, as they did to many people in 2019 Singapore GP.

As usual you have the full facts at your fingertips, so I won't argue with your views or your optimism, I haven't exactly made up my mind and it's dangerous to believe anything you read in the media, but such is my worry that we MAY find ourselves on the back foot, I want to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best! Life is full of surprises!

[FerrariF60]

After seeing the barrage of pessimism in this thread, there's nothing wrong being a bit more optimistic than usual.
And I don't see any questionable remark in my post. I mean, Red Bull being the 3rd best team since 2017 and them winning few races towards the end, these are all facts. Even last year Red Bull weren't really challenging Mercedes, and even with a car like SF90, Ferrari gave Mercedes more trouble than Red Bull ever did. And trust me, I would never underestimate Max and his sheer talent. But F1 is machine dominated, the difference between the fastest and slowest driver is around 0.3-0.5 sec, but the difference between the fastest and slowest car is around 1-4 sec. Doesn't matter how much faster or talented a driver is, if his car isn't up to speed.

And I have followed this years testing quite closely, and I have been impressed with Leclerc's race sim during the final day of winter testing. And I know it wasn't as fast as Mercedes race sim, but the track condition was vastly different between day 3 and day 6. The track was quite slow on day 6, and even then Leclerc's race sim was still faster than Red Bull's race sim. So as you can see, there's a reason for my optimism.

I think the SF1000 is going to be a pretty strong 'race' car, the only question mark is its qualifying pace. Have Ferrari lost their Q3 super engine mode? or is the 2020 spec-2 even more powerful than 2019 spec-3? only time will tell.
So I'm not going to Ferrari write off, because it will be a foolish to do so, considering we still haven't had any races this year. But I see you have already made up your mind. Who knows, maybe Ferrari will surprise you in Austria, as they did to many people in 2019 Singapore GP.

if by Q3 super engine mode, you mean the super clever cheating the fuel flow sensor monied, then yeah, we got caught and our wings got clipped off afterwards...

You mention a new spec 2 engine for 2020; you mean Ferrari have already abandoned the specs 1 they used in Barca testing? And are you sure they’ll run a diff engine at start of season? If so is there legit confirmation from Ferrari they’ll do that? You have any links to back your state?

And hopefully if true, we’ll get more power out of it and fingers crossed more Q3 power in order to qualify near the very top as grid positions always matter....

Hopefully Ferrari have also addressed the transmission casing flexing they have diagnosed in testing which made the car unpredictable from corner to corner due to supposed flex issue.

[Warp]

if by Q3 super engine mode, you mean the super clever cheating the fuel flow sensor monied, then yeah, we got caught and our wings got clipped off afterwards...

You mention a new spec 2 engine for 2020; you mean Ferrari have already abandoned the specs 1 they used in Barca testing? And are you sure they’ll run a diff engine at start of season? If so is there legit confirmation from Ferrari they’ll do that? You have any links to back your state?

And hopefully if true, we’ll get more power out of it and fingers crossed more Q3 power in order to qualify near the very top as grid positions always matter....

Hopefully Ferrari have also addressed the transmission casing flexing they have diagnosed in testing which made the car unpredictable from corner to corner due to supposed flex issue.

Not even FIA could find out what was our trick for the engine performance. Basically they couldn't even prove that we were cheating. How you're sure it was the fuel flow sensor ?

[FerrariF60]

Not even FIA could find out what was our trick for the engine performance. Basically they couldn't even prove that we were cheating. How you're sure it was the fuel flow sensor ?

I’m not sure if it was the fuel flow sensor, but something was, as from USA onwards we were NOT as fast anymore on the straights and that coincides with the extra sensor the FIA installed on our engines.....so something was definitely going on....as before this we were pulling like a second or more on the straights depending on how long the straights were....and that brought suspicions from both Merc and Red bull

Some say we’ll have a spec 2 engine on our cars when season starts (hopefully it’s true and not some rumours again) and hopefully will give us some more ponies so we can keep up with the Merc and now also the Honda engine which has come a long way also

[jgonzalesm6]

Not even FIA could find out what was our trick for the engine performance. Basically they couldn't even prove that we were cheating. How you're sure it was the fuel flow sensor ?

Who's the President of the FIA?? Whom did this President used to work for?? Who is Leclerc's manager?........connect the dots.

Hence as to why this "cheating scandal" was swept "under the rug."

[paolo lalli]

FIA did not have a clue how the part in question operated.They the FIA could not prove that the part or technology in question was illegal, so what do they do in frustration they ban it.Team that went on a witch hunt looking for Ferrari blood were left high and dry and bitterly disappointed they wanted to know all about the technology in question only to hit a brick wall called a confidential settlement. I suspect that a modified technology is on the current spec PU, and this is frustrating the rival teams.Expect a different Ferrari turning up to race 1 as compared to winter testing.

[Brembo]

[QUOTE=jgonzalesm6;1025808]Who's the President of the FIA?? Whom did this President used to work for?? Who is Leclerc's manager?........connect the dots.

Hence as to why this "cheating scandal" was swept "under the rug."[/Q

When Seb " Michael Jr." leaves Ferrari, so will Todt as far as having any ties. Charles' mgr. $$$ wise couldn't care less, the check is in the mail ! If Lewis wins, it's "The Car!' , if Ferrari wins " It's cheating? " The races are still great , we fans need only to forget the politics and watch the races. I hope for 10 !

[paolo lalli]

Looks like there is another big talker in town.Zac Brown of McLaren has had a lot to say of late about Ferrari.He should focus on his own problems and stop stirring the Ferrari f1 pot has far to much to say of a negeative nature.As if Carlos would hang around McLaren just to go around circuits like Alonso did.He is embarrassing him self.

[wisepie]

Looks like there is another big talker in town.Zac Brown of McLaren has had a lot to say of late about Ferrari.He should focus on his own problems and stop stirring the Ferrari f1 pot has far to much to say of a negeative nature.As if Carlos would hang around McLaren just to go around circuits like Alonso did.He is embarrassing him self.

I also think that Zac Brown has been too vocal in his criticism of everything Ferrari recently, maybe he's annoyed that he's losing Carlos next year and is trying to cause friction so that Mclaren can close up to the top three teams. I would never under-estimate Mclaren, who for so long were our closest competitors, and when they get the Merc engine, I expect them to succeed. But Mclaren are being allowed extra tokens to accommodate the new engine, so Brown should be a little less free with his criticism.

[PURE PASSION]

"Ferrari has strongly denied this story (new gearbox), and an associated one of an upgraded PU. The car, insists Ferrari, will essentially be that which was taken to Melbourne, though probably with the usual detail aero developments from simulation"

Unfortunatly,as it happens it the last couple of years, when some good news emerges the team comes out to denied it and it turns out that what the team says is true!!!!!
So i dont expect any new staf for our car!!!
And i have to say that im a bit disapointed from MB management . Since he took over we are on the back foot and keep scratcing our head and look like we are lost!!!!!!!!And i was a supporter of him.

[Tifoso]

Don’t stop believing. 2000 finally arrived after a long wait. The team and Le Clerc have my confidence.

[FerrariF60]

Unfortunatly,as it happens it the last couple of years, when some good news emerges the team comes out to denied it and it turns out that what the team says is true!!!!!
So i dont expect any new staf for our car!!!
And i have to say that im a bit disapointed from MB management . Since he took over we are on the back foot and keep scratcing our head and look like we are lost!!!!!!!!And i was a supporter of him.

so what about this??? FAKE NEWS????

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...e-main-article