Ferrari to Write Off 2009?

[McZiderRed]

Will Ferrari follow the precedent set by Honda last year?

No, I don't mean leaving F1, I mean writing off development of this years car in favour of their 2010 car. The reason that Honda/Brawn have competed well this year (so far), whereas Ferrari & McLaren have struggled, so say, is down to the latter two teams fighting for the 2008 title down to the wire. Honda were able to hand over a very competitive team to Brawn because they had months more development. Is that the way things will be from now on. A team that wins the championship one year will not compete the next?

According to autosport.com, Ferrari have not ruled out writing off this year, but has anyone told the drivers! Drivers sure Ferrari will fight back

What does everyone think. Given Ferrari's performance so far, will they be able to turn things around & catch up with Brawn, Red Bull, etc to compete by the time the circus reaches Europe (Spanish GP), or will Stefano Domenicali's assertion come true that they'll write off this season, to concentrate on 2010?

Voice your opinion & vote in the above poll.

 

[The Artist.....]

Can we not have a third option... They'll fight until about June, realise it's pointless and THEN concentrate on 2010?

 

[Brogan]

I'm with The Artist on this one.

I expect them to try for a few more races and then give up, long before it's mathematically impossible.

I suppose we'll have to wait and see whether their new double-diffuser makes any difference.
I doubt it can make that much improvement though.

 

[sobriety]

I doubt it can make that much improvement though.

'Lipstick on a pig' springs to mind

 

[teabagyokel]

I don't think that it will be a pattern that Championship contenders one year will automatically fall by the wayside the next - but the 2009 regulations change certainly did not help McLaren and Ferrari! I imagine Ferrari will be writing off 2009 and soon, there is nothing for them here, they've built their car for KERS and then abandoned it and their on-the-spot tactical decisions are as bad as ever without the security of a fast car to pull them through!

 

[McZiderRed]

Yeah, I could have worded this one in a more expansive way. The autosport article made it sound like Ferrari would throw in the towel after Spain. It could be a few races later, couldn't it...? I still feel, though, that they will give up 2009 as an annus horibilus!

I think you could be right, Teabag. It is most probably the new regs which make McLaren & Ferrari the losers this year, in terms of development. Not necessarily the case in the future. Although, if a team, like BMW for instance, thinks "well, that's this year blown", they could start development early & make gains the following year, albeit not to that same extent as this year... Although, I suppose that's nothing new is it...

 

[Amdathlonuk]

And I do beleive we will have the 'wins' rule.
So will they make the car quicker and less reliable perhaps?......

 

[McZiderRed]

Can we not have a third option... They'll fight until about June, realise it's pointless and THEN concentrate on 2010?

Well, here we are in sunny June and The Artist may just be right. I say may just be right, because although di Montezemolo has intimated that Ferrari may well be switching focus onto next year's car, he's still not fully committed to the idea... "But I am very confident we can improve our performances in the next race, and then we will be fully concentrated to next year's car..." source

If they leave it any later, will it make as much of impact on the development of the new car? By the sound of it, they will always be reluctant to give up on this year. Surely, with no testing this year, it's nearly impossible for the team to improve what, appears to be, a wheelie bin* into a race/championship winning car?



* OK, if the Ferrari is a wheelie bin, the McLaren is... answers on a postcard please!

 

[Brogan]

From the prancing horses mouth

"I'm very confident that we can improve our performances in the next races, and then we can be fully concentrated on next year - without KERS and with clear rules."

Full article: Ferrari admits '09 could be lost cause

 

[Speshal]

^^^ What Bro said.

I think both the Red team and the Silver team will be now concentrating on next years car as both were fixated on last years championship.

The Ferrari is just slow probably due to the fact they had to incorporate Kers in their car and it just added weight and messed with the whole geometry and balance of the car. I think their 2010 evo will be fully competitive.

The McLaren is just plain slow as they built a dog, it happens and again probably too many resources were thrown at the the MP4/23 and then the regs changed. I fully expect McLaren to bin the 24 tub asap write this season off to experience and fully concentrate on the MP4/25 - taking all the good bits off this car and doing something about the downforce.

Due to the recent "difficulties" within F1 no-one has known what regs they were building for next year so I fully expect the 2010 cars to be evolutions of this season's cars but I think the only brand new, radically redesigned car on the grid next year (aside from the noobs) will be the McLaren

 

[GeoffP]

I think Ferrari already have written off the win for this year, however their own perspective of their status will not allow them to fail completely, I believe currently they are targeting 3rd, hanging on for a few races to see if it's worth a re-evaluation to target 1st or 2nd - if not, then they'll do enough to ensure they are the best of the rest whilst trying to make sure they don't do to next season what they did to this one.

It may be a wild shot in the dark, but I believe that Ferrari will right now be doing everything to "front end load" as many costs as possible to defer any pain from any future budget constrictions, expensing where possible to minimise WIP included in future costs. I therefore suspect that they'll be developing/testing and evaluting for all foreseeable technical changes at the same time as developing a non-kers 2010 car in order to get expenses written off asap.