There is a house in Maranello, and it’s called the Prancing Horse. And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy, and, God, I know I’m one.
That was a miserable showing.
Charles Leclerc, you cannot do that. I understand why you wanted to, but moving under braking is a no-no.
Lewis Hamilton had all the tire delta in the world to end up exactly where he started. From the radio messages at the beginning of the race, it seems like Ferrari was hoping he’d finish fifth.
I’m a big-picture person. Stats like, “He’s never finished outside the top four in his career” don’t matter to me too much. After all, the driver I support has more than 200 podiums and 100 race wins to his name.
But seeing Hamilton struggle at tracks he’s historically dominant at is not fun, and I know it’s not his ability. Granted, he makes mistakes in qualifying, but if there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s run the damn race. His race craft is elite (argue with a bird outside about it), but he doesn’t get to show it as often as he should.
They’ll both be back. Like Ted Lasso said: “Believe.”
There were several issues with the race across both cars. I’m going to be as objectively analytical as I can be, but I will tell you that my head is hot.
The constant need to lift and coast because of the brakes is killing drivers’ races. If your brakes can’t handle Formula One racing in all its intensity, get new brakes. You can afford it.
Communication from team to driver is clearly not great. I suggest team building or something to that effect.
Recruitment needs to improve at all levels, top to bottom. I get it, Ferrari is an Italian religion, and many come to worship at the altar of the most successful team in the history of the sport. But they’ve been worshipping at an altar that hasn’t produced anything significant since I was 3 (I’m 21).
Leclerc — “il Predestinato” (translates to “the fated one” in Italian), the son of Maranello — now has fewer race wins than Lando Norris. At some stage last year, Norris had zero wins and was finishing at the back of the pack.
The only way this team can improve is to recruit from a wider range of people — engineers, strategists, mechanics, and everyone else. This is nothing against Italians, ever. But the only way the talent pool widens for Ferrari as it stands is if people are willing to move to Italy. And some people, for whatever reason, are not.
Whether Ferrari admits it or not, that’s how it lost Adrian Newey. And I’m not saying he would have changed the whole situation — I’m saying this is a symptom of a much larger issue. You can’t do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.
What is my proposed solution? If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.
If people won’t move to Italy, Ferrari might need to set up shop somewhere more advantageous (in addition to Maranello, of course). It wouldn’t be selling out, nor would it be the first team to do this. Mercedes AMG is a German team with two (count it — one, two) factories in England. Haas is American, based in North Carolina, but has another base in England. Alpine is French with a French engine, and even it has an English base.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the team needs to go to England. Why? Because that’s where the top-tier engineers and strategists go to school. It’s Motorsport Valley. Obviously, this is a long-term fix, but unless Ferrari is offering to pay every engineer millions, I don’t see how it can tempt people to move.
I’m not saying abandon the red, white and green that define Ferrari, but a massive culture shift is needed.
In the last edition, I said it was up to Norris to do something about Oscar Piastri, and this race, he did. My word, I was out of my seat for the last few laps. Zak Brown, what do you have for me?
George Russell to the podium. Somewhat of an unremarkable drive, but consider that Leclerc, who started on pole and led over half the race, finished over seven seconds behind Russell.
Max Verstappen was up against Hamilton, and he still couldn’t pass him cleanly. Come on, man.
In the spirit of objectivity, that was a great result for Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson.
Now we turn our attention to whoever designed this regulation of cars.
Racing, my dear, is about racing. It’s about passing and making moves. If you build cars that are too wide, too heavy and too draggy, then you put them on tracks that are already narrow and hard to pass on, what do you think is going to happen?
No overtaking. That’s correct.
Does that sound fun to you? No. Japan is boring. Monaco is boring. Belgium was somehow boring. I believe that there are other boring races in there, but they’re so forgettable, and I can’t be bothered to go and check.
I’m not complaining because these regs don’t suit my favorite driver. I’m complaining because, in 2023, one driver (Verstappen) won 19 out of 23 races, often by a country mile. I’m complaining because in Monaco this year, there were two position changes in the whole top 10 from the starting grid to the checkered flag (one was because a car failed to finish the race).
Do me a favor, all of you lovely people who take the time to read these, and watch an F2 race. Or an F3 race (if you can get past the fact that professional athletes are half a decade or so younger than you).
It’s overtaking galore.
I love a bit of strategy — who doesn’t? But these things have to get sorted; there need to be battles on track. Drivers can’t keep winning races in the pit lane. The spectacle will only hold audiences for so long if the hype doesn’t carry on to the race track.
And with the growing fandom in the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before Americans realize they can get equally or slightly more exciting racing from their domestic series. (I mean IndyCar, not NASCAR — I’ve never watched a NASCAR race.)
Thankfully, it’s summer break now, so I’m going to be like Sharpay. Except without the dip in the pool, the trip to the spa and “the whole world according to moi.”
See you in three weeks.
