22 replies to this topic

[AustinF1]

Hadn't seen this here or anywhere else previously. Sorry if already posted.

 

Ferrari team principal rules out challenging Mercedes for F1 title http://gu.com/p/48a45/stw

 

“Fighting for the championship I think is a bit too much,” he conceded. “I didn’t say [we would win] two races this year. To be honest, I said three races. I still believe that this is achievable but there is nothing in life that you can achieve without working hard and this is what we have to do.

“I don’t really care about being on the podium. If you look at the situation that we had last year, now every race weekend we are on the podium. But what I care about is the gap.”

 

Edited by AustinF1, 03 June 2015 - 09:51.

[kosmos]

 

“I don’t really care about being on the podium. If you look at the situation that we had last year, now every race weekend we are on the podium. But what I care about is the gap.”

 

 

Copyright  ©Fernando Alonso

[aramos]

I think this is fairly obvious by now. They're consistently behind Mercedes in the races and the gap is already over 80 points in the WCC.

[Nonesuch]

That's rather obvious. Mercedes is still by far the best car/engine. That Ferrari has made progress is good, but it would take more than a dozen Monaco-style blunders on the part of Mercedes for Ferrari to even have a chance at beating the Germans in the constructor's championship.

 

This year is Hamilton's and Mercedes' to lose, and they almost certainly won't.

Edited by Nonesuch, 03 June 2015 - 09:39.

[YoungGun]

I had to laugh. We've now reached the bottom of the barrel recycling quotes made after the Spanish GP where a major update was performed on the SF15-T.

 

Mind you Arrivabene as usual is not blaming anyone, simply stating the facts. Which is refreshing considering the previous regime.

Edited by YoungGun, 03 June 2015 - 09:46.

[AustinF1]

I had to laugh. We've now reached the bottom of the barrel recycling quotes made after the Spanish GP where a major update was performed on the SF15-T.

 

Mind you Arrivabene as usual is not blaming anyone, simply stating the facts. Which is refreshing considering the previous regime.

To me it doesn't sound all that different from SD or LdM repeatedly saying "Not good enough! We must roll up our shirt sleeves and work harder."

[FullThrottleF1]

That's rather obvious. Mercedes is still by far the best car/engine. That Ferrari has made progress is good, but it would take more than a dozen Monaco-style blunders on the part of Mercedes for Ferrari to even have a chance at beating the Germans in the constructor's championship.

 

This year is Hamilton's and Mercedes' to lose, and they almost certainly won't.

 

We could be set for a great title battle in 2016 though 

[as65p]

For this year Ferrari the team is already safe, unless they somehow get caught by Red Bull or Williams, which seems just as unlikely as MGP getting caught by them.

 

Safe because they already exceeded expectations, expectations that were lowered somewhat ariftically at the end of last year with those rumours about the '15 car being even worse than the '14 car. Anyone remember that?

 

So the vibe of "positive surprise" will see them through '15, combined with now lowering expectations for the rest of the year. They nicely bought themselves time to work away quietly for a big assault next season. It will be interesting to see what they'll come up with after a year of positivism and all-around happiness in the team, top to bottom, as we're told.

[aramos]

I had to laugh. We've now reached the bottom of the barrel recycling quotes made after the Spanish GP where a major update was performed on the SF15-T.

 

Mind you Arrivabene as usual is not blaming anyone, simply stating the facts. Which is refreshing considering the previous regime.

 

Arrivabene is having his fair share of taking shots at the prior management. Just because his smoke and mirrors are new, doesn't mean its not smoke and mirrors.

[YoungGun]

To me it doesn't sound all that different from SD or LdM repeatedly saying "Not good enough! We must roll up our shirt sleeves and work harder."

 

Sure, being on podium in each race speaks for itself. Though lets bookmark this thread and revisit it after Arrivabene has had the same time to screw things up like his predecessors.

[AustinF1]

Sure, being on podium in each race speaks for itself. Though lets bookmark this thread and revisit it after Arrivabene has had the same time to screw things up like his predecessors.

I'm not saying he's wrong to say what he's said. I'm saying the other guys said the same things and were consistently hammered for saying them. I think MA will do fine at Ferrari.

[SealTheDiffuser]

So he is not ruling out the WDC?

 

anyway if VET or RAI will win this years F1 crown, I will open a 1 L can of beer. and watch the internet break.

[AustinF1]

For this year Ferrari the team is already safe, unless they somehow get caught by Red Bull or Williams, which seems just as unlikely as MGP getting caught by them.

 

Safe because they already exceeded expectations, expectations that were lowered somewhat ariftically at the end of last year with those rumours about the '15 car being even worse than the '14 car. Anyone remember that?

 

So the vibe of "positive surprise" will see them through '15, combined with now lowering expectations for the rest of the year. They nicely bought themselves time to work away quietly for a big assault next season. It will be interesting to see what they'll come up with after a year of positivism and all-around happiness in the team, top to bottom, as we're told.

Yep. I thought it was a strange thing to say then, and I still do. Surely there was some reason for that comment to be made so openly.

Edited by AustinF1, 03 June 2015 - 10:24.

[AustinF1]

So he is not ruling out the WDC?

 

anyway if VET or RAI will win this years F1 crown, I will open a 1 L can of beer. and watch the internet break.

Don't think there's too much danger of that happening.

[Jon83]

As long as we don't need to remain calm, I'm happy

[topical]

So he is not ruling out the WDC?

 

anyway if VET or RAI will win this years F1 crown, I will open a 1 L can of beer. and watch the internet break.

 

Not going to happen. Hamilton will cruise to the title, make a speech about God and Senna being with him in the car, then celebrate his 3rd title by releasing the album Straight Outta Croydon during the winter break . . .

[jjcale]

In other news...  the sky is blue and water is wet

 

.... here's John with the weather.

[BillBald]

Yep. I thought it was a strange thing to say then, and I still do. Surely there was some reason for that comment to be made so openly.

 

3 drivers under contract, and needed to persuade one of them to leave?

[Rasputin]

“Fighting for the championship I think is a bit too much,”

 

Really, and the Pope is a Catholic?

Edited by Rasputin, 03 June 2015 - 16:27.

[FrontWing]

Arrivabene just wants to seem like a miracle worker if Ferrari do actually challenge, it seems all the more greater when expectatons are reduced. And if they don't challenge he says face.

Reminds me a little of Scotty   

Edited by FrontWing, 03 June 2015 - 19:22.

[Nonesuch]

Arrivabene just wants to seem like a miracle worker if Ferrari do actually challenge, it seems all the more greater when expectatons are reduced. And if they don't challenge he says face.

 

He's actually raising expectations - or targets. Since the start of the year the talk was about two wins. Now he's saying three.

 

Even challenging for the championship was never going to be likely, as the first set of races has confirmed.

[DrF]

This season sucks even harder. At least 2014 had HAM vs ROS.

[Quickshifter]

Stating the obvious eh. When Alonso said the same thing he was called a case of sour grapes. Despite Ferrari bringing in massive updates to the car and Engine Mercedes are still so far ahead. They have managed to stretch their first engine six races without even breaking a sweat. What does that say? That Mercedes can afford to run the cars even more aggressively in races than what they are doing. They still have tokens up their sleeve. Driver's and Constructors championships are done and dusted for Mercedes this year.  Ferrari have done an impressive job this year but if they are so far off despite all the upgrades just imagine if Mercedes decide to up their game? Mercedes team has beaten every team hollow this year without even trying.