2023 Bahrain Grand Prix - Race Thread

[Tifoso]

1) Went to my first GP in 1972. Been an Ferrari fan since 1979.
2) Given the Scuderia's history, pedigree, passion - and substantial financial clout and technical/ logistical infrastructure - it's tough waiting SO LONG between championships.
3) Particularly frustrating, when we have great drivers, is the frequency with which the team manages to shoot itself in the foot. Last season was a perfect example.
4) I really hate being beaten by (1) a manufacturer of ****e sugary drinks and (2) that smug git Wolff!
5) #ForzaFerrari!

+1

[Tifoso]

I’m gonna advise all that have slated the prancing horse, it’s drivers & team personnel to take a good look at yourselves in the mirror! Clearly you are only fans of winning! I remember my first glimpse of a Ferrari f1 car was 94 season as my dad was breezing through the channels one Sunday afternoon. I saw right there that I was attracted to the red cars, out of all those cars it was Ferrari that caught my attention & that stayed with me for life. 94 was my first full season watching, win or lose I’ve been a fan. Do they frustrate me sometimes? Absolutely!
Never have I slated the team like some of you here.
Ferrari may not win for the next decade, red bull are an absolute mountain for any team to beat. They are the most complete team since Ferrari & Mercedes dominating years. Did you so called fans believe that we could just walk into the season & trounce red bull coz that would be bloody naive of you all!
Being Ferrari fans does not give us a right to win. If you are only here for glory then I suggest you pack up & leave
Real Ferrari fans are here through the hard times & good! Please question your support of this beloved team.

With all due respect. I love Ferrari. I also love winning. Doesn’t have to be all the time, but it has to not be a decade wait.

[stefa]

With all due respect. I love Ferrari. I also love winning. Doesn’t have to be all the time, but it has to not be a decade wait.

Not to be a picky one, but before MS, it was 21, and now it is already 16 years.... Just saying

[brucewayne]

Not to be a picky one, but before MS, it was 21, and now it is already 16 years.... Just saying

So you don’t want fans to see growth and development from Ferrari? There are always phases where you don’t win, that’s normal. But we don’t want Ferrari to become irrelevant and pathetic. We don’t want to be in a position like McLaren or Williams, where we only live by our past. So we should demand more, and this shouldn’t be a problem. I am pretty sure the engineers aren’t satisfied with the results of the last years and want to achieve more, too. So let’s turn the corner!

[aroutis]

OK. The team knew going into the race that the car wasn't good on its tyres. They knew degradation would be an issue, and it was. Almost everyone also knew, or expected, that the AM was good on long runs and that was also evident during the latter stages of the race. Carlos told the team that he could defend aggressively and waste his tyres and possibly be passed by cars behind him or focus on finishing the race in the best possible position. Again, some of you have a predetermined bias towards Sainz so that everything he does or says is immediately criticized.

You do not know if Leclerc would have been able to fend off Alonso. So you assume Charles would have been on the podium but the fact is that you don not know that. Alsonso was cruising during the last 10-12 laps, after passing Sainz, and was still able to pull away from Ferrari and Mercedes. So it was very possible that Alonso could have caught up with Charles and passed him before lap 57.

Sainz at least was able to hold off Hamilton. Had that been Leclerc holding off Hamilton you've be praising him.

Yes. The team has issues. They are fast on the straights as proven by straight-line speed but they chew up the tyres for lunch. I have managed enough talented teams to know that criticism is important but along with criticism I expected ideas and positivity that lead to better results. If all you do is criticize without contributing then you are dead weight.

I am also critical of Sainz. He is fast during practice and in Q1 and Q2 but seems to not get his best lap in Q3. That's where Leclerc shines. But, Sainz also has better strategic understanding of the entire race than Charles and he is less prone to silly mistakes than Charles. Anyway, I'm barking up the wrong tree. Later...

Yes you do know, just check lap times.

[aroutis]

Are you then satisfied with the team then over the course of 15 years and how they've handled themselves as a team since Kimi won?

That's what's going on here with most of us tifosi.

We are simply criticizing the team......year after year after year......because we are not satisfied. Mercedes were dominant. RedBull was dominant and looks dominant once again. Now it looks like Aston Martin could be the #2 team to beat as it looks like they are climbing up the F1 ladder.

F1 doesn't still. You constantly have to strive to be the best and the whole culture in the F1 team needs to about winning and have the best personnel to do it.

IMHO living ine past like that only damages us.
So ya we only had glimses of what we could do during those 15 years but, every year is a NEW year.
Management one on one, the best you can do is use your mistakes to your own advantage, learn from them, improve your procedures and identify weaknesses and grow.
The real question here is, how good is Ferrari in this process? Judging by results, I am afraid moderate at best, if you compare to say Aston Martin, the comparison is painful.
Can we improve? We have pretty limitless resources, so it is not bout those. We can buy everything or everyone we want. So it's not bout that.
So, it's all about top management.
And that's that.

[aroutis]

1) Went to my first GP in 1972. Been an Ferrari fan since 1979.
2) Given the Scuderia's history, pedigree, passion - and substantial financial clout and technical/ logistical infrastructure - it's tough waiting SO LONG between championships.
3) Particularly frustrating, when we have great drivers, is the frequency with which the team manages to shoot itself in the foot. Last season was a perfect example.
4) I really hate being beaten by (1) a manufacturer of ****e sugary drinks and (2) that smug git Wolff!
5) #ForzaFerrari!

Watched my first GP on a 12 inch b&w sony TV (i believe it was) and I was instantly hooked by the red ferraris (well, B&W at the time lol) back in 1978.
I was 8 years old. Been a Ferrari fan since, I haven't had the chance to go to a GP and as anyone can guess I want to go to Monza and Spa (lol).
It's like you say, being a Tifoso is not easy, especially if you don't understand what you're up against (the likes of scums like Toto Wolff for instance).
But it's also something beautiful.

[Tony]

So you don’t want fans to see growth and development from Ferrari? There are always phases where you don’t win, that’s normal. But we don’t want Ferrari to become irrelevant and pathetic. We don’t want to be in a position like McLaren or Williams, where we only live by our past. So we should demand more, and this shouldn’t be a problem. I am pretty sure the engineers aren’t satisfied with the results of the last years and want to achieve more, too. So let’s turn the corner!

We all want to watch our favorite team win, but one thing I will always give to Ferrari over the other teams, when they lose, they don't tuck their tails between their hind legs and leave the sport. They stay there and try to get better. At the end of the day, the last 16 years, with few exceptions they have been 2nd or 3rd. They are very consistent. It's not a win, but at least they don't run away when they can't compete only to come back 5 years later when the rules are favorable to them (eg Honda, Ford, Mercedes, etc).

The reality in life is that you can't always become #1.

[aroutis]

We all want to watch our favorite team win, but one thing I will always give to Ferrari over the other teams, when they lose, they don't tuck their tails between their hind legs and leave the sport. They stay there and try to get better. At the end of the day, the last 16 years, with few exceptions they have been 2nd or 3rd. They are very consistent. It's not a win, but at least they don't run away when they can't compete only to come back 5 years later when the rules are favorable to them (eg Honda, Ford, Mercedes, etc).

The reality in life is that you can't always become #1.

Exactly.
People should really try to look into the history of the sport and understand it better before digging into Ferrari, especially if they are members of this forum.
And maybe start to read a bit how this team became into what it is today and not take for granted that for instance it has veto power (for instance, try to find out, WHY?)
Ferrari has fought way too many times against odds, more powerful teams and with more resources to get where they are today but most importantly, they never EVER gave up.
They are the pillar of F1.
So even if 2023 did not start as we all would like it to, if you are tifosi, do yourself a favor, and be useful. Support the team. Because contrary to the other teams, they won't stop fighting.

[Tony]

Exactly.
People should really try to look into the history of the sport and understand it better before digging into Ferrari, especially if they are members of this forum.
And maybe start to read a bit how this team became into what it is today and not take for granted that for instance it has veto power (for instance, try to find out, WHY?)
Ferrari has fought way too many times against odds, more powerful teams and with more resources to get where they are today but most importantly, they never EVER gave up.
They are the pillar of F1.
So even if 2023 did not start as we all would like it to, if you are tifosi, do yourself a favor, and be useful. Support the team. Because contrary to the other teams, they won't stop fighting.

You said that better than I ever could

[aquaria]

My birthday is exactly one week away, and I'll be turning 24. For my whole life or to put it better, since I started closely following F1 around 2010, I witnessed exactly 0 titles of my favorite team or the drivers that drove for it.

All I had was watching seasons from the past and watching Michael's dominance and Kimi's miracle in 2007, while at the same time witnessing the dominance of first Red Bull, then Mercedes and now apparently Red Bull again in real life.
Never for a second I had the thought that I'm supporting the wrong team or that I should support one of those two. Going to Monza during an F1 weekend is something that made me a Ferrari fan till the day I won't be breathing anymore, because I can put my life on the line for the fact that no other fan can experience what a Ferrari fan can experience in Italy.

Yes, we made mistakes in the past. Yes, we did a lot of stupid things (hello strategy department). Yes, we got outdeveloped during the season many times when we had a chance of actually taking the title race until the end.
And this season has not started well at all but still, supporting this team fully. And more importantly believeing in them. I'm sure they want to win as much as we want to see them win.

Still having the faith in all of them; Charles, Carlos, Fred as the new face, and the entire team back in Maranello. Let's see what Jeddah holds for us and then we can take it from there. I firmly believe that labelling this season as a "failure" is far away from the truth.

[wisepie]

My birthday is exactly one week away, and I'll be turning 24. For my whole life or to put it better, since I started closely following F1 around 2010, I witnessed exactly 0 titles of my favorite team or the drivers that drove for it.

All I had was watching seasons from the past and watching Michael's dominance and Kimi's miracle in 2007, while at the same time witnessing the dominance of first Red Bull, then Mercedes and now apparently Red Bull again in real life.
Never for a second I had the thought that I'm supporting the wrong team or that I should support one of those two. Going to Monza during an F1 weekend is something that made me a Ferrari fan till the day I won't be breathing anymore, because I can put my life on the line for the fact that no other fan can experience what a Ferrari fan can experience in Italy.

Yes, we made mistakes in the past. Yes, we did a lot of stupid things (hello strategy department). Yes, we got outdeveloped during the season many times when we had a chance of actually taking the title race until the end.
And this season has not started well at all but still, supporting this team fully. And more importantly believeing in them. I'm sure they want to win as much as we want to see them win.

Still having the faith in all of them; Charles, Carlos, Fred as the new face, and the entire team back in Maranello. Let's see what Jeddah holds for us and then we can take it from there. I firmly believe that labelling this season as a "failure" is far away from the truth.

You are echoing what so many tifosi feel, as if it's in their blood, I became a Ferrari fan aged 15 by being lucky enough to go to Monza and that was it....I still believe in the team but it has been a long, hard, painful journey!

[Riccardog]

I find so totally amazing how the 2 teams that cheated on the budget cap, are hailed by media as racing great stuff, instead of pointing out the fact!
I also hope that Ferrari issues are soon fixed, and that they can give our drivers a weapon to win races with.

[Cavallino]

I find so totally amazing how the 2 teams that cheated on the budget cap, are hailed by media as racing great stuff, instead of pointing out the fact!
I also hope that Ferrari issues are soon fixed, and that they can give our drivers a weapon to win races with.

yep, David Croft did not miss an opportunity to point out that Ferrari was "found out" with their 2019 engine.

[paolo lalli]

The budget cap fine placed on red bull will start to bite very soon when there time in the wind tunnel will be limited.This will present a great opportunity for ferrari and other teams as well.Red bull know its coming it is just a matter of when.

[stefa]

So you don’t want fans to see growth and development from Ferrari? There are always phases where you don’t win, that’s normal. But we don’t want Ferrari to become irrelevant and pathetic. We don’t want to be in a position like McLaren or Williams, where we only live by our past. So we should demand more, and this shouldn’t be a problem. I am pretty sure the engineers aren’t satisfied with the results of the last years and want to achieve more, too. So let’s turn the corner!

On the contrary! I wan't Ferrari to fight every year for poles, wins, CWC and WDC! I don't wan't to wait decades for championships to be won!