The resurgence of the all new Scuderia Ferrari - the new era!

[jens]

I thought I'd like to start a new thread. To discuss about some new things.

This has clearly been one of the stories of the year. One of the good stories. While McLaren-Honda and Red Bull-Renault have been bad stories and disappointments, and there are many other critical sides of F1, let's take a look at that good side.

The all-new team led by Maurizio Arrivabene, car designed by James Allison, cars driven by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. The chairman of all the Ferrari from last year - Sergio Marchionne.

This is the only team to challenge Mercedes this year. They have made a huge jump in performance. I really feel like there is lots of good and positive energy in the team.

I really like Arrivabene's demeanor. Based on interviews and how he generally comes across he looks like a great guy and a great leader.

Allison is obviously a very talented designer. Now that Newey is stepping aside, he may be the new so-called star designer in the offices.

Vettel and Räikkönen are friends and get along well. It is a good working athmosphere in the team.

And obviously the engine (power unit) has been greatly improved. After being nowhere last year, this power unit does some justice to the name of Ferrari.

For years it was felt (I certainly felt) that the old-guard of Domenicali and di Montezemolo had to step aside as the Ferrari team seemed stagnated. Of course all the success can't be put on the new guys, as foundation work was done before. And we also had Mattiacci as a team principal for a while.

But all I want to say, Ferrari feels a very sympathetic team right now. Much more than in the past. And the belief in success is higher than before.

The only thing I dislike and will continue to dislike is that Ferrari gets handed free 100M $ from Bernie just for participation...

[Mia 01]

As long as Kimi and Seb drive for them i will pull for Ferrari. And yes, its not to late for them to get a WDC or WCC THIS year.

[Koz]

I've been saying it all along, a James Allison car would be great and it is! Kudos to the engine guys, too.
Wouldn't have mattered if it was Stefano and Luca were still around.

Fred must be pissed.

[journeyman racer]

They only had one bad year. Their "resurgence" is mainly due to the new regs, lessening the reliance for aero to gain performance, giving the opportunity to make up ground. It's possible Ferrari may overtake MB next year in overall performance. Under the pre-2014 regs, they were never going to get ahead of RB...Ever!

[Hawkmoon]

One race win and a couple of podiums isn't enough for me to be convinced that the Scuderia is back to it's rightful place atop the F1 hierarchy but I'm happier with the current team than I have been for some time. There's a spring in their step and a vibrancy surrounding them that hasn't been there for many years. Producing a good car will do that of course. I don't think they will beat Mercedes in a straight fight this year but hopefully they can keep the Germans honest in 2015 and carry the momentum into 2016.

[Osella]

They said all this in 1989... by 1992 the team was in disarray, firing people left & right, the 'amazing' new designer was gone soon after having designed the F92A & 412T dogs - don't get ahead of yourself..

And James Allison is NOT the next Newey, because he is NOT a designer... James Allison is (and already was!) the next Pat Symonds - he runs a team, lets the designers get on with it & uses their strengths to build a cohesive car, but he doesn't know which way round a drawing board should be..
Ross Brawn was very similar later in his career, after he moved away from designing parts after around 1993 or so.

All these guys learned their craft & won championships with Benetton(Renault) - & that's not a coincidence!

Ferrari will of course win however, and will never be out of the top 3 teams unless the finances change. F1 is a championship based on how much money you spend, and there are only 1-2 positions which might change depending on that (Ferrari behind Red Bull last year, for an example). McLaren Mercedes in 2015 would be right up there with Lotus/Williams, as they spend more but as they are McLaren Honda they are at the back because of the engine. If the engine is right, they will be top-3 if they keep their historic payments, and Honda pay the money as long as the rules stay the same. Even a team like Force India or Williams cannot build 'low-drag' cars anymore as the aero regs are so tight that all the cars are in the same window.
Only rule changes change the order, as long as the rules are narrow, money will dictate where each team finishes.

Fully agree with you about 'sympathy' Jens - and that is no doubt down to having a marketing man in charge. Did you see what they did in Barcelona testing? No Ferrari team of the past would even have considered it, let alone done it, but this is a different time. The Ferrari of 98-2000 had to succeed with the world against it (even the Tifosi & the Italian media who really did not like the 'Anglo-German' Ferrari until they started winning, which nobody seems to remember..) so they had a very different approach which was very single-minded. Vettel was very similar & much more 'open' until people started hating him for winning & not being a goofy loudmouthed Australian. Time will tell whether this friendly sympathetic Ferrari lasts after they start winning more & more.

[jens]

Fair enough, Osella, if this might be the 1989 even though Prost almost won the 1990 title, so it can't have been that bad. But it badly fell apart after that. Before 1991 Ferrari was doing fine.

[jens]

They only had one bad year. Their "resurgence" is mainly due to the new regs, lessening the reliance for aero to gain performance, giving the opportunity to make up ground. It's possible Ferrari may overtake MB next year in overall performance. Under the pre-2014 regs, they were never going to get ahead of RB...Ever!

Well. Chassis (and integration with engine) is still important as the underfunded Force India, Lotus are nowhere despite having the best engine.

But Ferrari chassis (including aerodynamics) now really seems to be up there. They are still behind Mercedes, but it is only a very small gap in every department (chassis, engine). It is possible they might be a match or even ahead at some department - tyre management that is.

However, while Ferrari could not topple the aerodynamics mastery of Red Bull, let's see if they can topple Mercedes in engine (power unit) race, as Merc is a damn good competitor in the hybrid era.

[kfzmeister]

I've been saying it all along, a James Allison car would be great and it is! Kudos to the engine guys, too.
Wouldn't have mattered if it was Stefano and Luca were still around.

Fred must be pissed.

You're really going out on a limb by saying Allison can design a good racer! Everybody knows that. His previous creation at Lotus was extremely competitive as well.

Thanks should go to Marchionne for arranging the Tokens for the engines overhaul over the winter. His doing so was the biggest allowance for engine performance catch-up.

And about ALO, he already said that he if Ferrari wins a WDC this year, his departure would have been a mistake. I'm not sure they can pull it off. My prediction is Ferrari (and perhaps one of their drivers ) finish another strong second to Mercedes, in which ALO's move was justified.

[Big Ben]

Alonso almost won in a Ferrari plenty of times. I don't see any reason for him to cry in his beer yet. But at least some people are so happy assuming that .

I also think people are getting overly excited about Ferrari. Weren't they in the same position just a few years back? Just behind Reb Bull and even better than them at some races and it wasn't enough then either.