Arrivabene confident Vettel will win Ferrari titles

I say it was about 50/50. The team has definitely not been at the top of their game this season, or arguably for many seasons. As for the last race, I don't think it was really a mistake on Vettel's part. Sure he crashed, but putting myself in his position, I have to say that I would have gone for it as well. He basically has nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying to overtake Verstappen. Maybe, just maybe, he could have stayed in fourth and some events would have helped him out, but as a driver you can't just sit and wait and hope that something will go your way. And given their recent track record, you couldn't exactly rely on the team to deliver the best strategy to ensure a win, now, could you?

@Ram - Verstappen ended 3rd within 5 seconds of Bottas... Vettel knew VER had the penalty, so that position was his, sure, he would have lost some time on track sitting behind him, but I think, had he showed some composure and patience, he could have finished 2nd behind HAM... I personally think that would have been a better gamble than his lunge knowing Ver wouldnt give an inch. But all that said and done, Ferrari and Vettel could have been closer, but Hamilton's title is thanks to Mercedes and his great driving under pressure, not because of Ferrari and Vettel's mistakes...

Yes I agree - who was it that said Ferrari are "too Italian" to get the job done? I feel Mercedes have nailed R&D two within an inch of all their lives - they see a problem, work it out, fix it - constant review. I say this in the knowledge that only Ferrari and RB have equivalent resources to compete in this kind of devt race - RB still has (brilliant job they are doing) a class-leading car but Ferrari have both the engine and chassis, which makes it all the more frustrating they cannot tough it out for a whole season - again !!!

It was Bernie who said they were too Italian, and separately Wolffman hinted at the lack of blame culture at Merc vs a definite blame culture at Ferrari. That's the key difference imho, everyone at Ferrari (including Seb) has one eye over their shoulder lest they make a mistake; at Merc they dust themselves off and get on with fixing whatever needs fixing when something goes wrong without wasting time and energy on blame.

Oh and there's also the Italian press on Ferraris back the whole time. They have to take some responsibility for the blame culture within the team.

I agree with the sentiment that the current blame culture going on at Ferrari has to be unhealthy. There is a reason for why the French gave up on their national sport revolutions: having heads rolling all the time isnt good for morale. And here in Swedish healthcare (along with several other countries, I bet), going from personal responsibility in all but the most severe cases has actually lead to far better working conditions and morale. I bet Ferrari has all the components necessary to become champions, but it wouldnt surprise me if the pressure they put on themselves together with the pressure from the Tifozzi probably hinder them alot. I also think they rely a bit too much on Vettel. Merc' has a wellestablished pecking order, but they tend to be pretty flexible about it, and wont surprise me if RB will tackle it the same way next season.

Current blame mentality? They have always had a blame mentality as long as I can remember except when Michael was winning championships. Too Italian? I don't know but they do seem to be getting in their own way too much, whether it be failed tire strategy or overcut/undercut strategy, or just getting their drivers to the checkered flag faster than other teams do, the have fallen short, short and sweet. When your lead driver and the team are making mistakes every race, then you don't win championships.

Current in that its still ongoing mate. Never said it was a new thing, did I? And I pretty much think that was going on still during the Schumi era, such things dont go away just like that. We probably just didnt notice it as much back then.

On his day, Seb can drag a car around as quickly as anybody when he's got space around him. But I don't think he has the same level of racecraft as the others you mention in a fight.

Totally disagree, Vettel has only won when he had a car 1 second faster than the rest. Red Bull. Without red bull he would have been out of F1 years ago, competitive yes, fast, not so. If Arrivabene wasn't just a poser, he should have sacked SV when he rammed his multimillion euro Ferrari into Hamilton last year. If he loses his temper and throws a tantrum like a 4 year old he can go and race with the Feber race car. If we want to see racing Ferrari must swallow their pride and get Alonso back. Not to mention SV should have got a black flag for deliberately casing a collision.

Absolutely, they still have work to do before they are ready to legit challenge Merc'.

Kimimlikes his car very different than seb. He just wants stable turn in Vettel likes a very balanced car Kimi doesn't need that.

I guess you are seeing different driver interviews than I saw, where Seb was saying he benefitted upon his arrival at Ferrari because of how Kimi had worked on the setup of the car which was similar to how he liked to drive.