#not saying the technical department wouldn't benefit from a shakeup. but like. are we hiring BETTER people to take their place

[leqclerc]

how are you feeling about all of this (ferrari mess). I'm in a paradoxal state where I'm happy there's no race today, because less disappointment, but also I need a race and a good result of charles, because that dnf still stinks and now of these firing people news and the idea of ferrari being a huge unstable mess right now. I just really would like to see a charles podium at least

Honestly... I have mixed feelings about all of this 🙃

I think there's a lot of contradictory and fear-mongering press coming out that's definitely preying on the post-Bahrain panic fest. I've spoken to an Italian mutual who confirmed that Italian journos know that Charles sells so they tend to put him in on the front page of their newspapers every time something happens in Ferrari, even when there's not actually anything to talk about. We're just going from one extreme to another: first Charles is too passive to be a true leader at Ferrari, and now he's some kind of workplace hitman handing out termination of employment letters left and right. First Vigna's a key figure in ousting Binotto and getting Vasseur in as the replacement, and now those two have major beef and trust issues. After, what, three months? First Vasseur says there will be "marginal changes" to the organisation of the race team, and now it sounds like half the staff is on the way out. You get the idea.

I think the most concerning rumour for me personally is the one about Mekies. It was just recently announced that he will be focusing on "team operations," while Vasseur as team principal will be responsible for drivers, sponsors and the media. He's basically the right-hand man. Just two months ago Jean Alesi was saying that Mekies is going to be the guy Vasseur will be relying on to get him up to speed and take some of that load off of him. Remember what happened last time we had a TP who tried to take on way too many roles all by himself? 🙃 I'm just imagining the Ferrari pitwall shrinking to a Haas size 😭😭😭

The thing is, if they were clearing out all this technical staff (maybe they're choosing to resign of their accord like Sanchez, whichever) to make way for intriguing outside hires—and I mean heavy hitters poached from Mercedes or, even better, Red Bull, then that would be something. As it stands, it seems that Aston is the place to be right now. Plus, most of these engineers and other highly-rated technical staff are Anglophones and/or based in England, so obviously it's less of a bother for them to move to the factory down the road than it is to uproot their families and move to Maranello. It would have to be a seriously enticing offer, they'd have to see some real potential in the Ferrari project to make such a major move. Right now the only real contenders I'm hearing about are ex-Ferrari staff who've been rotated out to Haas and Sauber. So I'm not sure how much of an improvement that's going to be, at least in the short-term.

Then, obviously, all this news about instability and tension and resignations and all of that is just inspiring more negativity and defeatism, and a lot of people are already calling this year a write-off because of all the changes and transitions. I guess all we can do now is wait until some real, actual, confirmed news comes out from reliable sources (i.e. the team) and just see how Ferrari does on the performance side as the season goes on. I mean, it's been one race 😭😭😭😭😭 and with all the drama it feels like we've been in the trenches for literal months already. 🫠

Also ngl it's been really annoying to see the Twitter girlies just sitting there going "well I could do a better job than this guy, hire me instead 😤" and then in the literal next sentence they're admitting they don't even know what the actual position entails. I mean 😭😭😭😭

Agreed, I think a Charles podium, ideally in Saudi, could be a much-needed boost.