Ferrari-Hamilton, the priorities are different. We need technicians and clear ideas – Corriere.it

Montecarlo, Leclerc house. The buzz of rumors about a courtship of Lewis Hamilton makes the British dream more than the Italians. And that already says a lot. Make ends meet, other than 45 million salary, those on track. The accounts with fortune, which has always turned its face to Charles in front of his people.

Two poles – in a row – and zero victories, on a track where if you start from the front you win even with a crippled engine (Ricciardo, 2018). A kind of curse. In the Principality, this weekend, Ferrari has the most concrete opportunity to take the big prize. Row in qualifying and suffer in the race, but in Montecarlo on Sunday – if it’s not raining – there’s little to suffer if you’re in the lead. To lose your head with a red hit. It would shock Maranello, even this Red Bull-branded F1. Yeah, but then what?

If the Ferrari of the present is an unknown factor, that of the future is a mystery. It gives the idea of ​​a building site blocked, or at least proceeding slowly. The tourbillon on Hamilton threatens to raise a fog on another front. Where are the technicians who are supposed to bring new knowledge and lay the foundations for a return to the top? Negotiations continue, but so far attempts to steal top engineers from Red Bull have not been successful. Interested parties were retained, and received raises. Maybe because the Cavallino proposals weren’t so fabulous, they say. The assaults continue and will continue, but the more time passes, the more difficult it will be for those who embrace the project to affect the short term due to the mandatory stoppages in the contracts.

It’s not nice to hear Helmut Marko say that “Ferrari can help Hamilton, because Verstappen is now richer than him”. He smacks of teasing. Without the other side ever raising a voice, a gasp, to set a limit to what one can and must say when speaking of Ferrari. That is a myth. And it can’t be just that of Fred Vasseur, as soon as he arrives he is moving with competence and passion. Everything has a price in F1, the budget cap has made operations more complicated, not impossible. Lawrence Stroll demonstrates this with Aston Martin: he has secured some of the best brains, he motivated Alonso, he convinced Honda to return to F1, he is acquiring enormous political weight. Come with me and you will win, he says. Sometimes it’s enough to be clear, and have clear ideas.