It’s all good at Ferrari

There is a lot of speculation, teeth-gnashing and robe-ripping coming out of the Bahrain GP two weeks ago. Time has presented us with numerous articles and speculation both in the press and on social media about Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and McLaren, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

I view the issue for Charles as very similar to Lando or Lewis if I’m honest, I think all three are worried the team missed the mark this year with the car and all three of them are most likely seeking answers from the team on what they are prepared to do to reverse course and not spend the next 12 months breathing Red Bull fumes. In Lewis’s case, time is very important but I’m sure Lando and Charles feel the same.

Two of the three drivers have contracts and getting out of a contract is not unheard of, especially if there are performance clauses the team must meet, but in Lewis’s case, his contract is up at the end of this season.

Many folks on social media are suggesting Lando just leave McLaren and join Red Bull in Chico’s place but that’s much easier than said as both Lando and Checo have contracts with hooks in them. It’s not that easy to do. Lewis on the other hand has to be wondering if a move to another team might be a better shot at winning that important 8th title.

The other chatter is around Ferrari and the internal situation with Fred Vasseur’s arrival at the team. Some say that Charles is meeting with the CEO and is unhappy. Other say Laurent Mekies is leaving after David Sanchez just left the team. I am sure that all is not well in Maranello but I’m not sure it’s time to “break glass incase of emergency” yet.

Fred has dismissed talk of Mekies leaving and says everything is solid at Ferrari. What would you expect him to say. Fred may also be cracking a few eggs over there to make an omelette. Time will tell. Fred said:

“To have people who are unhappy it’s two different things,” he said. “I think that it’s quite normal to be unhappy when you don’t get the results that you are expecting, and I’m unhappy.

“But the most important is to work as a group, to work as a team and to try to get the best out of this and to do improvement.

“But leaving the company: it’s another story. If you want to speak about Laurent, I don’t know what’s happened in the past with Laurent, but I’ve known Laurent for 25 years, something like this, when he was at school.

“I trust him, we have a very good collaboration together and he will be one of the pillars of the future of the company.”

What is interesting is that many fans believe that Bahrain GP was a bit of an outlier and that the season is far from over despite Red Bull’s domination of the race. They believe teams will develop and the competition will get tighter.

On the other hand, drivers and teams are all acting as if they know something we don’t…that maybe we are wrong and Red Bull might mop the floor this season.

While contemplating that possible reality, I have seen many comments bemoaning that fact that they aren’t going to watch F1 anymore if Red Bull is going to win everything. I suspect these might be the same people who celebrated like mad for eight (8) years of complete obliteration of the field by Mercedes with 8 trophy’s to show for it.