I so wish you’d get your memoirs written Frank - every snippet is a revelation!
^ So. Much. THIS! ^
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Recall saying similar about Esteban Ocon and George Russell, but F1 moves at its own pace, like a sluggish bloodhound scenting-out where the money lies. So unless he brings a mighty tranche of cash with him, don’t expect him to pop-up any time soon…
I recall Enzo himself had said you don’t need aero if you have a good engine, or words to that effect.
Great GP 
, many entertainments occurred.
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My experience of Ferrari generally aligns with yours.
In 2014 I was interviewed to be the head of vehicle performance at Ferrari. The then head of VP wanted to go and work on the race team. He then changed his mind and stayed as head of VP. They picked another person to work for the head of VPT (as he had stayed in that role) which was good for me as I was unimpressed with his interview questions (he had a poor understanding of vehicle performance) and 6 months later James Allison arrived and the people that I knew at Ferrari were kicked out by him. As I would not have worked for the then head of VPT or for James Alison, then gaining very different and interesting experience in the States was very good for me.
Mattia Binotto was taking the team in the right direction, but he also had a poor understanding of where performance came from, as evidenced by their poor resourcing of their aero department. I know this from having talked directly to Mattia about this whilst at Sauber. And Mattia should just have been allowed to get on with taking the team in a better direction, but the big bosses decided to kick Ferrari backwards by a few years and they will need to find a very good leader to build a more balanced and capable team.
And of course Ferrari would have needed a much faster car than their competitors if the strategy team had been allowed to continue to throw away points and wins.
Ferrari have looked good when their engine has been strong, but you need more than that to win unless the engine performance advantage that you have is as large as Merc had in 2014 and 2015.
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“…including all the significant trophies won during his time spent racing in Formula One and IndyCar…”
Massive tax bill or (hopefully not) a terminal illness?
Feck!!!
Great work Max. 
It’ll buff out that.
“Verstappen and Red Bull have been struggling all weekend but few expected them to fail to make the grid’s top 10.”
“Verstappen swore over the team radio as he struggled with his unexpectedly uncompetitive Red Bull, which threatens to end his record-breaking run of wins.”
Well that was entertaining 
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Best race I have seen for a long time.
Have the rest caught up with RBR or this just a total outlier track for them?
Total outlier track for them. I’m sure they will be back on form next week at Fuji
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Wasn’t it?! Shame it’s gonna be a one-off in that respect.
How much of an outlier is the race though? I mean, RB went very well at Monte Carlo (well, Max did…), which is arguably the closest in terms of technical demands on vehicle dynamics, but Singapore’s performance was very different. Only a mix of questionable good luck evading a series of penalties, plus assorted DNFs actually flattered RBs results today, they should have finished further back than they did.
Does this have any relation to the recent tightening of regulations concerning floor dynamics? One for Ian and Frank I guess…
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Bit late part to the party, but: I had the impression - albeit while trying to keep the kids occupied mid-race - that if the Sargeant hadn’t brought out the SC, it would have played out a lot better for the RB’s starting on hards.
Their race pace was pretty strong in FP2 IIRC, even if it didn’t get much chance to show it during the race after their qualli
Probably just one of those things (, sadly)
It certainly seems to be what Red Bull are saying.
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