A Colossal Screw Up


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Yesterday whilst qualifying for pole position Charles Leclerc put the Ferrari into the barriers with only 18 seconds left. The result was he was the pole sitter denying Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz who according to data would of beaten him to pole if he hadn't of crashed. No one is saying he did this on purpose and was more down to bad luck.


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The Ferrari mechanics repaired the damage feeling confident the car would be fine. The Chief at Ferrari said it wasn't a gamble and were confident enough to not replace the gearbox which took a hefty bang. The problem is it could only be tested on the outward lap going towards the grid as in the garage no load is placed on it. If the team had replaced the gear box he would have started from 6th position as it gains a 6 spot penalty.


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What happened next shocked not only Ferrari but the other competing teams as Leclerc complained that there was something seriously wrong. The car hadn't even made the outward lap when signals suggested they had gambled too much. The team is desperate for success and being on pole for the first time in over 20 races was possibly worth the risk. Everyone knows the Monaco Grand Prix is a difficult track to overtake so being in front at the start is a massive advantage. The last 9 winners out of 10 races have won from starting in front.


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I think many of the people in the know like Toto Wolff of Mercedes and the commentary team were questioning the reasoning behind Ferrari's decision. The gearbox is like a Swiss watch being very intricate and after taking such a hefty bang should in their view have been replaced. The interesting thing though is the suspected fault is coming from the left rear and not the right rear which smashed into the barriers. The left rear drive shaft is what is suspected as the fault and this is not a quick fix and why they had to remove the car from the race.


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With so much technology and experience at your finger tips this type of mistake should never happen. Binotto who is the head of the Ferrari team has had so many chances already and to be honest surprised he is still in charge after what he has presided over for the last few years. Rumors in March of his sacking were untrue, but after this how can he still be in charge?

The Formula One teams are meant to have the best of the best especially when it comes to mechanics yet this was overlooked and one has to question the team leadership. When a car is involved in a crash surely you check everything and not just replace the obvious damaged parts. Having witnessed other teams having to rebuild their cars in limited time frames this type of thing has never happened before. There are two sets of mechanics plus the brains that designed the car so surely one would expect this type of fault to be noticed.

Ferrari is in motor sport for one reason to show case their name as having good results helps sells cars. One has to just look at what Mercedes has done and the growth in popularity due to their winning streak of 7 years. Ferrari are definitely suffering and their name is taking a real bashing.



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2 comments
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I am not into Formula one at all, but that was really entertaining, and the cover was hilarious.

It just shows how winning the race is up to the team, and not the driver only.

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Saludos... excelent la informacin...gracias

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