What's wrong at Ferrari?

Sky Sports F1's Mark Hughes analyses Ferrari in 2016 and the core issues it needs to tackle in order to launch a title challenge

Although the specifics of the various tactical calls made and technical difficulties suffered by Ferrari this year can be argued about, the bigger point is that there are issues there that need to be addressed by the team if it is to realistically challenge for future world titles.

Neither the car nor the team are yet at the level required to take on Mercedes on level terms. More worryingly, there are few signs of that changing.

    Antonio Fuoco running the Ferrari on the second day of in-season testing at Barcelona

Strategy and tactics
Two glaring strategy errors stand out in the team's season to date: in Melbourne and Montreal, both of which probably cost Sebastian Vettel victories. Questions might be asked about calls made in Barcelona and Monaco too, but these are actually easier to defend.

In the Australian GP Vettel was leading the race when it was stopped. There were 39 laps remaining and Ferrari opted to restart his race on super-soft tyres, thereby guaranteeing that he would have to stop again. Mercedes made the more obvious choice of fitting Nico Rosberg's car with mediums. Rosberg simply had to track Vettel and remain less than a pit stop's distance behind - around 23 seconds - before the Ferrari's less durable rubber forced Seb to pit. That's how it played out and Rosberg won comfortably.

In Canada, Vettel was again leading, followed by Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, when the race came under a VSC on lap 10. This was within the window for a two-stop strategy and Ferrari, tempted by the possible time to be made up by dovetailing its first stop with the VSC, brought Vettel in, surrendering his track position advantage over Hamilton. Mercedes remained on a one-stop strategy and therefore always had track position over Vettel - something that was entirely foreseeable when Ferrari made its decision.

There were factors that could be cited to justify these decisions - and they were. But fundamentally, the answers provided by rigid theoretical analysis seemed to freeze those making the decisions into being blind to the obvious practicalities of the moment. It was as much a failure of environment as of rigour, as if the momentous stakes had over-powered common sense, leaving them relying on only numbers.

Technical traits
It has become something of a pattern in the last few years for Ferrari designs to be slightly conservative, very competent but not quite cutting edge relative to Red Bull or, more recently, Mercedes.

The engine department remains impressively strong. Ferrari knows engines. It began this formula lagging behind in knowledge and understanding of hybrid technology but corrected that very quickly. As that technology has matured and bigger development gains are now to be found in improving combustion once more, Ferrari has been highly effective in quickly closing the gap between it and Mercedes.

But in terms of aerodynamics, there is little evidence of innovation or creative thinking. James Allison has instilled order out of the chaos that was there when he arrived, but a technical manager can only do so much; there needs to be creative spark in depth. Conservatism reigns there and has done so for a long time.

Furthermore, the tricky traits of the Pirelli tyres has led teams like Mercedes and Red Bull to invest heavily into the science of working around their anomalies. Ferrari has been very late in recognising the importance of this, has recently made some key recruitments, but has tended to struggle to follow track temperature changes effectively - notably at Barcelona and Monaco, where the car was transformed from a front runner on Saturday morning to a struggler by the time of qualifying.

Managerial challenges
The Scuderia at the moment feels like a team working hard but with a lack of vision. It is Maurizio Arrivabene's responsibility to understand the nitty-gritty of where the team's technical and personnel weaknesses are and where the money needs to be spent. This is in addition to the role of his competence - that of steadying the ship and taking the political heat away.

Sergio Marchionne's understanding is at a much broader brush corporate level. Ferrari is vastly successful commercially but what are its competitive priorities amid the commercial imperatives? The danger is that a lack of progressive thinking at the coal face, resources not in the right places and a culture of contentment could unstitch the progress that was made after 2014.

Source: skysports