I think it's Alfa-Romeo for next year then Audi in 2026 so somehow Sauber have a bit of a gap for for 2024 and 2025!
Think they are taking a stake- they may as well come in and run it properly! I wonder how they’ll get on. Not always easy- big focus on the electric power too for 2026?
Looks like Binotto is being binned off. No big surprise. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/b...-amid-ferrari-f1-resignation-report/10404859/
I'd bin him off but am quite confident ferrari won't get better. There's too much politics in that team and culture is back biting and fighting each other. They need a dictator that the are all so frightened of that they are too busy being scrared to be fighting and once damaged binotto might as well go as he can't dictate. "its the strategy stupid" If they got the strategy right and didn't lose the championship before the summer as a result he could continue on talking about improving over time.
That's Ferrari though. They are rightly considered a huge part of F1 and its history but when you bear in mind they've been in the competition every year for 72 years and have the budget they have, and then how many championshiops they have won, they start looking like terrible underachievers.
They have two absolutely dire periods in my lifetime. Pre Michael Schumacher/brawn and... well post the same. It's now how long since raikkonen got very lucky on the last day of the season??? 15 years? Biggest budget won nothing for 15 years but got caught cheating with fuel etc. Prior to Michael Schumacher I can recall vaguely berger and alesi stinking out the pace with a really unreliable car. The gap between championships then was 21 years. They are serious underachievers for imo the reason that I gave. Infighting and politics. Its a fiat company, led from outside and its not like some other teams where the direction is clear.
Madness from Ferrari if they let Binnotto go. A major reason they have had cars at least fighting for championships with Vettel and for half a season with Le Clerc. A Seidl-like figure is what they need, without losing Binotto. An organiser! In separate news, Gulf Oil are not extending their partnership with McLaren into 2023. Sad as I was hopeful for a livery, but you suspect Zac Brown has something else in the pipeline.
I Think they will get rid of Binotto , but I don’t want them to . He seems calm and level headed , but like Domenicali . If they get rid of him , will they get rid of the strategy team as well ? They are the ones making decisions .
Ultimately getting rid of the strategy team was Binotto's job and he didn't do it. He seems like a nice guy, but when the attitude towards mistakes all season seemed to be pretending they didn't happen, its not a shock to see him out.
Binotto didn't seem as passionate as I thought a typical Italian would be. He didn't seem to get angry in front of the cameras - maybe he was just good at portraying calm to them? I do wonder if Ferrari are almost there and he couldn't quite get them there. i.e. they need to improve reliability when running at full power, and they need new strat software & staff. Hopefully new leadership will just improve a few things and not destroy what has been building towards winning regularly again.
I agree totally that it was Binottos job to hire and fire as required , but as it’s Ferrari , I ask myself if he was actually allowed to ?
As we suspected the Chinese race has been cancelled for 2023. They are looking for an alternative to replace it though! That could be interesting.
Malaysia? Used to be in that part of the calendar. As an aside- could we move Suzuka forward into this part of the season- would it be better weather? We almost had it washed out again at the end of the season and the Japanese fans deserve that incredible circuit to shine.