[Octane_Power]

I really feel sad for Alonso. :( He isn't the youngest driver out there and he can't afford to lose one year after another. How I wish he would have continued at Ferrari. It would have been a dream come true! Its so disheartening to see that McLaren-Honda fighting with the back-markers whereas it should be right at the top.

I just cannot see Vettel win, even if it is in a Ferrari. But a great job there by Ferrari engineers indeed. Wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the season Ferrari becomes the new Mercedes! On that note, I hope Kimi gets some generous helping of good luck and instead of Vettel he climbs on that podium..

-Bhargav

[sgiitk]

Gret race by the Ferrari team. vettel wins, Kimi fourth despite a puncture at the beginning. This will revive interest in F1 which was getting boring.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

I really feel sad for Alonso. :( He isn't the youngest driver out there and he can't afford to lose one year after another. How I wish he would have continued at Ferrari. It would have been a dream come true! Its so disheartening to see that McLaren-Honda fighting with the back-markers whereas it should be right at the top.

Alonso has a very unique driving style that needs significant changes on the car to his liking. I've been thinking on these lines ever since I read about the special steering that Alonso insisted at McLaren as part of his contract, which meant he is not comfortable with regular set up and other drivers are unlikely to be comfortable with his set up. When he used the regular one, Button outqualified him. Alonso would have decided to leave Ferrari last year since Mattiacci made it very clear that he wouldn't get preferential treatment anymore. Since Kimi and Vettel have similar preferences, it was easy for the designers to make something that suits both of them. James Allison's designs have been proven to be suiting to Kimi's style. Just like Kimi found it difficult to drive last year's car, Alonso might have found it difficult to drive this year's car considering both Kimi and Seb are liking it.

Given the resurgence in the form of Kimi this year once he got a car that was not designed for Alonso, I can't help but think Alonso might also have some responsibility in the poorly performing Ferrari that we saw last year. Through the entire 2013, Alonso was giving his inputs for the F14T and it ended up as a car that Kimi couldn't drive, but we thought Alonso still managed to get it to places it didn't deserve. Given Kimi seems to be back to the form he displayed in the Lotus days, I think a more neutral design that suits both drivers is paying the benefits to Ferrari now with both drivers taking the fight to the Mercedes and should be the favorites for the second place in constructors. You need both drivers to perform well to get the constructors trophy in the bag, even if it is the next year's target. I doubt if it would have helped Ferrari in case Alonso had stayed back.

[anachronix]

A very special and emotional weekend for the Tifosis, I am sure. The German & Italian national anthem playing in sequence on a sunday evening brings lot of good memories and today was one such day. And the way Ferrari did it fully on merit should leave a few alarm bells ringing at Mercedes. The Ferrari team did everything perfect, the way they held on to their original plan for the race and the way they got Kimi's Ferrari which got lapped after a puncture in the early part of the race to finish 4th was just brilliant. Speaks loads about the pace of the SF15T and the two brilliant drivers that Ferrari has this season.

2015 should be between Ferrari & Lewis for the championship. Rosberg looks average in the race and Lewis is looking to be becoming stronger and stronger. He was really stunned after being beaten fairly by the Ferrari today!

BTW, This is what Rosberg said before testing began about Ferrari's chances in 2015! I think this is Rosberg's year to eat his own words

When asked if he sees Sebastian Vettel as a potential title contender with Ferrari, Rosberg replied: "Sebastian will see my taillights on many occasions.

"I don't want to appear arrogant but if I go by the 2014 results, I can risk it all and say no to a Ferrari challenge - although one should never fully write them off," he added.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by anachronix

2015 should be between Ferrari & Lewis for the championship. Rosberg looks average in the race and Lewis is looking to be becoming stronger and stronger. He was really stunned after being beaten fairly by the Ferrari today!

Mercedes is still the best car, but the current pace of Ferrari is enough to spoil the race for their drivers, especially Rosberg. Hamilton would love to have Ferrari in the mix, which would actually aid his title fight. Last year, he could get 25 points from a race but he couldn't prevent Rosberg from tagging along with 18 points and then getting a 25 point boost whenever he retired. If Vettel and Raikkonen are in the mix, it is very likely that there would be weekends where Lewis can walk away with 13 extra points over Rosberg.

[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by zenren

Alonso has a very unique driving style that needs significant changes on the car to his liking.

Thank You for all that insight zen! Perfectly makes sense. I really hope to start seeing Kimi on the podium more often than finger-boy.

As anachronix has said, Hamilton was quite shocked after being beaten by Ferrari. It is not as easy as it was last year for him.

-Bhargav

[SilentEngine]

It's certainly looking good for Ferrari, considering Kimi finished 4th from what seemed like a damage limitation race after qualifying. I wonder what would have happened if they had an error free weekend for both their drivers.

I also think Alonso leaving Ferrari has enabled them to make this turnaround possible. One only has to see what Alonso-Ferrari combination yielded in last 5 years and the steady decline they had.

[mayankk]

What was that? Mercedes race engineers had the team going around like a headless chicken! One bit came awry, with the SC, and it all went for a toss, unrecoverable throughout the race???
All in all, I hope it makes for an interesting season, but this one should make them sit up and realise, they don't own the season like last year, and be a little bit more planned.
Is it just me, or is rosberg looking more like a mediocre driver in a fast car this season?

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

I also think Alonso leaving Ferrari has enabled them to make this turnaround possible. One only has to see what Alonso-Ferrari combination yielded in last 5 years and the steady decline they had.

Oh, you'll get burned for that.

[Argan365]

Ferrari had sensational pace and boiled down to excellent tyre management in those extreme temperatures so kudos to them. I still think this is a small blip in Mercedes performance today and I expect them to be right on top of the money from Shanghai onwards. What I really want to see is some amount of fortune going kimi's way.

Strangely he has never been an exceptional starter in races and sometimes defensive to say the least..wonder if its got to do with a few inexperienced drivers around him from where he starts.

[jraj]

Vettel had a flawless Sunday and drove like the one we had come to known pre 2014.

The only glitch was that he forgot to say "Thank you Fernando for vacating the seat for me" in audio transmission from the car after the chequered flag fell

[Hatari]

Surprise surprise! Was all set for another boring race and we have a cracker.. Nice to see Ferrari back. We seem to have underestimated James Allison's skills! Great tire management.. I have a feeling it will be very heat/track combination related though.

I think the deciding factor on whether Alonso has made the right call to McLaren will only be who wins the WDC first him or Vettel!

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Oh, you'll get burned for that.

No doubt Alonso is a good driver but his ability to develop a car is often overstated. I think his ability to outdrive a mediocre car is actually a hindrance to development if he isn't able to give precise feedback to help make the car go faster. As Zenren said, he probably took Ferrari in a different direction which made it impossible for them to fight for wins and championships. He would shine in a one-driver team with second driver merely supporting, like the Renault team of last decade. I doubt Ferrari would want to be in that mode.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

No doubt Alonso is a good driver but his ability to develop a car is often overstated. I think his ability to outdrive a mediocre car is actually a hindrance to development if he isn't able to give precise feedback to help make the car go faster. As Zenren said, he probably took Ferrari in a different direction which made it impossible for them to fight for wins and championships. He would shine in a one-driver team with second driver merely supporting, like the Renault team of last decade. I doubt Ferrari would want to be in that mode.

Sorry to get into this again mate. But I completely disagree.

Alonso's direction contradicts one that should result in more downforce/build better windtunnels/more horsepower?
So Button & Hamilton were to blame for McLaren's 2013 lemon? Vettel was brilliant at providing direction but not in 2014?

Engineers build cars. Drivers set them up in races as per their driving styles. Now how often does Alonso get his race pace wrong?

Cmon now. Ferrari admitted they screwed up, the Chairman lost his job because he wasnt allocating enough resources to the F1 project.. as simple as that. They then spent $100 million odd more building upto this year, and look where the car is.

[narayans80]

Brilliant race pace from the Ferraris. More than Vettel holding on 1st, it was brilliant to see Kimi smoking out the rest of the pack for a 4th Given how RBR have been beaten by Toro Rosso, am wondering when we'll hear from Christian Horner about their exit plan

Couple of strategy calls from Mercedes made no sense and probably affected the final outcome of the race:

1. Why run Q1 in qualifying on mediums when the rest of the top runners were running hards and were comfortably through to Q2? This meant they had one fresh mediums less for the race.
2. When Ferrari had shown pace all weekend, why make a tire change on the safety car. The pretty much handed Vettel the free air he needed to pull off from the Mercs.

During the Aus GP, someone mentioned how well Vettel was speaking Italian. Today, in one of the post race interviews I saw Daniel Ricciardo speaking Italian though not very fluent (was a bit surprising for me).

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Sorry to get into this again mate. But I completely disagree.

I don't think we will be in agreement on everything. But every little thing adds up. I didn't say Alonso was the sole reason for Ferrari's struggle, but he was part of that. Some of the hype was created by Fernando himself, when he claims he brings 6 tenths to the team with him (or was it 7 tenth?).

Now the question is how long does McLaren-Honda take to be competitive. It's not a pretty picture to see them line up 17th and 18th in the grid on merit.

Back to Ferrari, they need to ensure they can deliver perfect weekends for both their drivers. They make far too many mistakes for a top team.