Rosberg: "Sebastian will see my taillights on many occasions.

[GodSpeed]

Rosberg doesn't expect Ferrari to challenge for wins



http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/09776

[White flag man]

Vettel will not see Rosberg's tail lights on many occasions because the cars of Bottas, Massa, Alonso, Button and Ricardo will be in the way.
Unlike the amount of times Rosberg will see Hamilton's tail lights!

[m355y]

Lots of the signs seem to point to a season of struggle for Ferrari. I think Vettel will be a success long term, if he wins one GP this season he'll be a hero. Raikkonen can't really win. I doubt he'll be anywhere near. A sting of underwhelming points finishes and retirement at the end of the season, hope I'm wrong though.

[Paradise City]

There's no ingredient there that suggests a turnaround for Ferrari, plenty of internal instability says it won't. I expect Kimi will be reasonable this year. He's more settled into the run of things. Vettel will have trouble adjusting.

[GT6]

If Ferrari struggle this year then they will be looking to blame one of the drivers and i think we know which one will be picked

[Born Racer]

Talking of Kimi's performances, this is a good article helping to explain why Kimi found less year's Ferrari more of a handful to deal with than Fernando:

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/kimis-struggle/

Vettel VS Raikkonnen will be quite eagerly followed by many, but will it be conclusive?

What will people say if Kimi beats Seb?

That Seb isn't that great and neither is Kimi?

And if Seb beats Kimi?
That Kimi is performing poorer and poorer?

Will beating Raikkonen repair Vettel's reputation or not much if at all in that case?

[chillibowl]

lots of good questions there.

my feeling/hope is that we will see at least one swan song performance from Kimi but ultimately he will be made this years scapegoat.

[VIVA GT]

Surely, this (original) comment just means that Nico is expecting to park his road car in front of Seb's in the drivers car park?
(Road cars have taillight's, F1 cars have just a single poor visibility lamp?)

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Talking of Kimi's performances, this is a good article helping to explain why Kimi found less year's Ferrari more of a handful to deal with than Fernando:

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/kimis-struggle/

Vettel VS Raikkonnen will be quite eagerly followed by many, but will it be conclusive?

What will people say if Kimi beats Seb?

That Seb isn't that great and neither is Kimi?

And if Seb beats Kimi?
That Kimi is performing poorer and poorer?

Will beating Raikkonen repair Vettel's reputation or not much if at all in that case?

If that article is correct, my guess is that Vettel and Raikkonnen are similar in that both are potentially not used to driving around issues with the car. I think if both perform roughly similarly that it will likely not do either good from a reputation perspective given that they recently have been seriously outperformed by their teammates. They may appear to be generally equally average. The only hope in that scenario would be an obviously flawed 2015 Ferrari car that nobody could drive. To make a mark, I think one has to dominate the other, but I don't feel strong enough to pick one over the other.

IF!!...

* The 2015 Ferrari is not a horrible car
* Vettel settles into the team and car quickly
* Raikkonen is inspired

...then it might be an interesting 2015 from a Ferrari teammate battle perspective.

Originally Posted by chillibowl

my feeling/hope is that we will see at least one swan song performance from Kimi but ultimately he will be made this years scapegoat.

If I was forced to put money on any scenario, this is likely the one I would pick.

Richard

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Will beating Raikkonen repair Vettel's reputation or not much if at all in that case?

Hardly. Not that much of an accomplishment, surely.....??? I don't think he'll need to be made a scapegoat, frankly....

[Knowlesy]

Pre-2008, beating Kimi would have been a thing of wonder.

Much the same with pre-2014 Vettel.

Now it is two bald men fighting over a comb.

[dsg]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Now it is two bald men fighting over a comb.

Made my day.

[bauble]

Originally Posted by dsg

Made my day.

Might have made yours ................. but ..........................

[bauble]

Vettel's ability is often questioned here, mainly because of his poor season in 2014, and the way Ricciardo made him look ordinary, however, his first WC win at Monza in pouring rain is a good measure of his true worth. Christian Horner's recent observations on Seb's struggles make interesting reading, suggesting that he lacks adaptability rather than speed. One mark of a really good driver is his ability to make the most of what he has got, maybe he and Kimi are similar in this respect, while Alonso just drives the wheels of whatever he is sitting in.

Back when I was young (wanders down Memory Lane here....) even the best Grand Prix drivers drove in Formula 2, sports cars, saloons, indeed what ever came along, even rallies, this made them able to drive anything. Today with nothing but Formula 1 cars to drive, the modern driver must find it hard to adapt when faced with something different, which is why we get these 'complaints' about, "The car not suiting him ....".

Feel free to defend your heroes, or disagree entirely.

Bauble.

[Aysedasi]

No, sounds pretty accurate to me......

[Knowlesy]

I am unsure that is 100% true. Alonso and Hamilton have spent their entire lives on the single seater ladder and are extremely adaptable, having shown well in recalcitrant cars.

I suspect it is just something you have or you haven't. Plus it is probably harder/easier depending on motivation.

[bauble]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I am unsure that is 100% true. Alonso and Hamilton have spent their entire lives on the single seater ladder and are extremely adaptable, having shown well in recalcitrant cars.

I suspect it is just something you have or you haven't. Plus it is probably harder/easier depending on motivation.

I know I gave permission to disagree, but .....you didn't have to, you know!

[Knowlesy]

I wasn't disagreeing with you per se!

[bauble]

Never mind my warped sense of humour, it is frequently misplaced, and I take your point that some drivers, you mention Alonso and that other chap, but all of their relevant experience is in single seaters, but neither has been particularly successful in a 'dog' of a car. As has been noted here and elsewhere it is almost impossible to win unless you have the right car, Red Bull previously and now Mercedes for example, which makes Ricciardo's wins standout, and high light Seb's inability to get to grips with new technology. Now if he had driven at Le Mans ........!

Cheers,

Bauble.

[Knowlesy]

But Alonso has taken some pretty rank Ferrari's deep into title contention and Hamilton got some amazing results out of the 2009 McLaren before it was sorted.

Ricciardo did wonderfully the season just gone, but even though his car's engine was middling he did at least benefit from a Newey chassis that handled on rails seemingly. Hardly a dog for gawd's sake.

My suspicion is that Ricciardo has the right attitude for adaptability though.

[Paradise City]

Vettel is just at sea with the new rules. He had the old rules sussed.

He was slowly adjusting to the new rules. He was 'getting there' in parts of last year but now outside of the Newey umbrella and into constructor chaos - it just doesn't bode well for the guy. Encumbent Kimi on the otherhand, he might turn a surprise if only against his teammate.

[bauble]

I suppose that it is possible that a poor car, ie a 'dog', is not bad at all but that the drivers just can't adapt to it!

For example, if Vettel's performance was the sole judge of how good the 2014 Red Bull was, we would probably concluded that it was a 'dog', not competitive, however, because of Ricciardo's results we can see it was not a bad car, just lacking the power of the Merc. engine.

So when we say Hamilton struggled with a poor car (or any driver/car combination) perhaps he lacked the adaptability to make the best of it?

Most here agree that Alonso worked wonders with his Ferrari over the last few seasons, and few doubt his ability, therefore we can safely say the Ferrari really was a dog, and that Kimi was unable to adapt to the same degree as Ferdi.

Usual rules apply.

Bauble

[wolfhound]

Remember last years Ferrari would have been designed with Alonso in mind even if it was a dog. Kimi only came later and his preferences would not have been in the design teams mind. This years Ferrari should be more geared to suit the known Kimi's preferences than those of Vettel who will be the new boy in town.

[chillibowl]

when did SV sign his Ferrari contract or when did Ferrari know they were losing Alonso and when do those events fit into the 2015 development time line. rather do we actually know who the SF15-T was designed for?

perception is that SV has a better work ethic than KR so SV may still have enough time to get the car to his liking over that of KR's.

feel and experience no doubt plays a role in driver adaptability but surely work ethic and desire to improve plays a part too.

[Razzzor]

I think it's pretty much a stab in the dark predicting Ferrari's performance this year, and predicting seb vs kimi, so I don't think I'll even bother. We're all just guessing. What a great discussionist I am.

It will be fun to watch though. Oh and Vettel topping practise times. Fun.