Ferrari really dropped all the balls this weekend. Sainz has been in the way of other drivers repeatedly, which falls on his engineer who should let him know when cars are coming. In rainy conditions the drivers can’t see jack nothing in their mirrors and it’s like Sainz was just left to his own devices by his engineer.
Honorable mention for Tsunoda doing his best mobile roadblock impression. Holy heck he was constantly in the way this weekend.
Then there is poor Leclerc. He asked for slicks, and his team overruled him and it caused him to be eliminated in Q2. How much longer can he stomach Ferrari incompetence before he starts putting feelers out for a drive elsewhere? As things are going at the Ferrari strategy desk it’s clear the prancing horse has bolted the barn and his chances of getting a championship is in the low zeros.
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It was very telling when Leclerc said he thinks he should be on soft and the response over the radio was that Verstappen was on the same tyre as him. That’s not the point!
I really think he want out the team but there’s no other options at the minute.
This is such a want and not based in reality:
Whenever HAM retires, Leclerc making the switch to Merc would just delight me. I’d be really curious how he and George stack up
It’s a shame the timing doesn’t line up better with Leclerc’s contract ending/Hamilton’s retirement (not currently anyway).
Lando still the most likely Mercedes pick for 2026 for me.
I agree on both accounts. Another interesting pairing would be George and Lando. Besides Max (in a bit of a field of his own?) It’s hard to tell how the “middle aged” F1 generation stacks up (Leclerc, Lando, George, Albon, specifically)
Weird to think of those four drivers as middle aged, but they have been around a while now.
Where’s the guy who kept a running list of Ferrari mess-ups for the 2023 season? It’s got to be long by now.
Disappointed on behalf of both drivers.
It was such a shame when that guy was banned from Formuladank
Why was he banned?
One mod when he started it had commented that if he didn’t do it each week, he would get banned, but another mod thought it broke against the rules and didn’t see it as a meme, so they banned for some time, then he posted the conversation on his own profile, so then he caught a permban from Formuladank
We need to bring them here, we need the list back
Qualifying alone is four. One for Charles and three times Sainz impeding other drivers. If I remember Leclerc was also in the way at the final chicane at least once in Quali.
I don’t get it. While Ferrari did make a mistake by not listening to Leclerc, he was on the same strategy as the red bulls and Sainz. Verstappen and Sainz pulled out the lap necessary to progress while Leclerc and perez did not. How exactly is Leclerc blameless in this
Maybe not blameless, but he asked for slicks early on, and given what the other teams who did slicks achieve his was the right call.
Well red bull also had a similar strategy to Ferrari and perez got knocked out in Q2 as well but nobody is saying RB got their strategy wrong which resulted in perez’s elimination. Yes it is true that leclerc recommended slicks whereas perez did not but it is still the teams responsibility to pick the right tyre. Ferrari are treated way worse for making similar mistakes
At this point I feel like a Red Bull drive, where he replaces Perez, is the ideal move for someone as talented as Leclerc. The opening races of the 2022 season really showed that he can keep up with Max on nearly every level. I hope he gets the chance
Unfortunately, as long as Max is at red bull I doubt we will see someone as talented as Leclerc move there. They need a number 2 driver, not someone that can challenge Max.
I would love to see Lando move to red bull if Max goes for an early retirement but realistically they will probably just get tsunoda once checo’s contract expires.
Agreed, they need to find their Bottas 2.0. Perez was filling that role. However, even with such a dominant car, Checo is falling behind the last few races. Would not be surprised if a replacement was called up next year. For sure the year after if there’s is a contract issue.
We were debating this today. Who do you promote? Yuki perhaps?
I feel like the succession plan for Merc and Ferrari have more options than RBR for a Max pairing
Yuki is still too inconsistent, and also to volatile.
I hope Albon gets another chance, he’s showing speed
Wonder if he’d want another chance, after kinda distancing himself from RBRs program. I think he’s driving super well and would do a lot better now than last time
yes, poor management from strategy/pit wall people. Again.
It’s beyond my understanding how a team like this can make basic errors. It should be a given that you cover the basics of car racing procedures as is communication with your drivers and being sure drivers and pitwall are reading the same page of the manual.
All said, I can not agree with how Charles over reacts as if he was fighting for WDC. Of course, several years in his contract with Ferrari and it might be that he sees no progress in the team.
They fired head strategist for this year but are making the same errors.
