In a recent Questions and Answers session organized on Twitter, Former Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg spoke about the Ferrari strategy during the last Grand Prix of China, underlining how the Maranello team favored Sebastian Vettel in the duel with Mercedes and Red Bull. According to the German, who is now part of Sky’s commentating team, Ferrari is applying the same policy used during the period in which Michael Schumacher dominated the sport, with a first driver favored by the strategy and a second driver forced to adapt to the choices of the team.
The first stint of the Finnish with the soft tyres did, in fact, leave more than a few perplexities among the insiders, especially taking into consideration the fact that the SF71H car lost several seconds against the top group. The incident between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen did eventually allow Kimi to get on the podium at the Shanghai International Circuit, but without that moment, the Ferrari Finnish driver would have probably finished the race in sixth position.
Here are the words of Nico Rosberg on the Ferrari and Mercedes race tactics in Shanghai:
Ferrari messed up. merc strategist is best in the world however (even he not always 100% of course as damn difficult)
Ferrari messed up. merc strategist is best in the world however (even he not always 100% of course as damn difficult) #asknico https://t.co/oKrLGqM3zj
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) April 15, 2018
Do you think Ferrari intentionally compromised Kimi if it favours Vettel. Because it certainly seems that way; today, Monaco, among others last year. Don’t see how he’ll ever win a race in that team. #asknico
Yes that was quite extreme today… but it is their approach and in the Michael years it always worked well so they are sticking with it..
Yes that was quite extreme today… but it is their approach and in the michael years it always worked well so they are sticking with it… #asknico https://t.co/FBb8vuLtSF
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) April 15, 2018
And the performance of Kimi?
“He is in super form, but the same goes for Vettel. Today, however, Ferrari had a clear strategy for a driver number 1 and a driver number 2 ” .
Leave a Reply