call of the track

There was a time, let’s say it was between about 1998 and 2004, when the Ferrari F1 team had impeccable performance. Those were the days of Schumacher, Bryne, Todt, and Brawn. What so amazed me during a decade of success was the reliability of the Ferrari cars throughout the season; there must have been an almost two season stretch when Michael Schumacher didn’t suffer a single failure. Even during the 1998 and 1999 seasons when Mika Hakkinen won titles for McLaren, the Ferrari was the more reliable on the grid. Every season during those Ferrari – McLaren battles played out the same: the Newey-designed McLaren was faster to start the season and the Bryne-designed Ferrari was bulletproof from day one. What this ended up producing was early results for Ferrari that often buoyed their campaign through the middle of the season as the McLaren team finally got their cars to stop blowing up every weekend. It seemed that every circuit produced at least one fast, on fire, and smoking McLaren. There were at least a few Schumacher titles (he won five straight 2000-2004) that were built on those early season successes and reliability of the beautiful, red prancing horses. I don’t know how many times I was reminded of the saying "one hundred percent of short putts don’t drop" when watching a race. For McLaren in those days, if didn’t matter how fast their cars were because they often didn’t make it to the finish line. The reason I bring this up, and I know you’re dying to find out, is that Ferrari over the last few years has seen a significant increase in car failures – two in the last two races. Last year they were able to overcome those problems as Kimi Raikkonen won the title, in equal parts, based on his driving ability and the McLaren drivers’ shortcomings in pressure situations. Even though the Ferraris are quick this year, the most important statistic - getting to the finish line - may well be their downfall.

Consider yourselves informed.