The Pastor Is Waiting

Last years Constructors World Champion are struggling to finish races this season. Though they have one of the best driver line ups and engineering setup on the grid - they have failed miserably. To be fair to the drivers, it is the car that has given up more often than not - however, to read on to see how the drivers fared!

Ferrari – the oldest and the most successful marque of Formula 1 is undergoing some (critics feel much-needed) crisis. Post the Schumi era where they witnessed unprecedented success, Ferrari's run in the 2009 season has been nothing short of a disaster. Niki Lauda feels that the Maranello based legend seems to have returned to, the "spaghetti culture" that they were notorious for during the 70s & the 80s.

While, the unstable and underperforming F60 has definitely been the biggest concern, it’s their never seen before goof ups and avoidable asinine mistakes that have aggravated their misery.

Their driver line up is one of the most competitive, if not the best and they enjoy a team orders free drive. But it is not about their drivers this year, it is the car and the team in general that has been their pain points.

The Australian Grand Prix turned out to be a miserable opening to the calendar. It was the first time since 1992 that Ferrari failed to score points in the opening race of the year. Massa retired with a steering problem and Raikkonen crashed post an error. It seems they were better off during the days of Berger, Alesi, Mansell and Prost who at least got them points in similar packages. Massa of course felt that their strategy was aggressive and uncalled for while Raikkonen had only himself to blame.

Malaysia brought the Asian triad of GPs. The sweltering and humid Sepang was supposed to help Ferrari. The practice sessions provided a glimmer of hope. Massa showed real class when he qualified second fastest in Friday practice. However, he was eliminated after the first round of qualifying. Quite astoundingly, his engineers kept him in pits considering his time was safe enough while a flying lap was required to bail him out. The race was even horrific when the so-called strategy allegedly set by Schumi totally misfired. Raikkonen was sent out on wet tyres on a dry track while Massa went out on slicks while it was pouring. This ludicrousness in strategy was loathed by all and sundry including the drivers.

A pathetically slow F60 saw Ferrari languishing throughout the Chinese weekend. Massa failed to qualify into Q3 for the second successive race. Had it not been for his allegiance to Ferrari, I am sure he would have contemplated a move away from Ferrari by now. Raikkonen weathered an ailing gearbox to grab a P8 – Ferrari’s first realistic chance of gaining some points. The race however turned out to be a nightmare with Massa retiring on lap 21 with accelerator malfunction and Raikkonen bringing in an ailing car out of points. For the first time since 1981, Ferrari had failed to score points in the opening three races. Detractors were having a ride of their life bludgeoning Ferrari.

Sakhir saw some improvement with Massa and Raikkonen starting from 8th and 10th on the grid. However, as luck would have it, Massa and Raikkonen collided on the opening lap, much to the disgust of the Montezemolo. Subsequently, Massa was effectively out of points with a forced pit stop for a new front wing and a KERS glitch. Raikkonen though steadily climbed thru the race to finish 6th and some desperately needed points.

Come Spain and Ferrari repeats the qualifying horrors of Malaysia, although the victim this time around is Raikkonen. He chills in the pits safely assuming that his pace is optimum to take him thru Q1 whereas he gets shoveled out of the top 15. His qualifying blunder got further worsened with a KERS and hydraulic problems and he ended his race on lap 19th. Massa meanwhile finished 6th while running for a podium because of – you guessed it right – a strategy failure that forced him to spend long painful time on slower harder slicks plus a refuel rig failure. He had no option but to allow Webber, Vettel and Alonso overtake him.
Though he collected 3 points taking the team’s tally to 6, they are miserably placed in the unheard of 7th position in the Championship table.

Morale is at its all time low and the team badly needs spunk right now. It is about time that they conjure up something effective and sustainable quickly. The pastor at Maranello is desperately waiting to ring the cathedral’s bell and announce the revival. Amen!