Why, after so many years of dominance, have Ferrari not managed to cope with the latest rule changes?

they keep them selves out of a lot of things. all the other temas agree on something but ferrari say no. there drivers are taking a long tiem to addapt to the new cars

Bridgestone tyres have not helped. michelin have more teams signed up and they share more data to recieve better results

That and the new rules are... to be frank... more that a little ****.

I've been an F1 fan for as long as I can remember, but last season and this have been ruined IMHO by the rule changes, the one-shot qualifying and all the rest of it.

I know the changes were made to try and help the smaller teams financially (and, if they're honest because they were scared no-one would ever catch Ferrari) but it's been at the cost of everything the sport is about in my eyes.

In reply to the original question, I think it's just because Ferrari have really struggled to adapt to the latest set of rule changes - maybe something they had to redesign because of one of the downforce-lowering changes does not work as well as it should, who knows, but they have been playing catch up all season (which is always hard as the other teams can spend just as much time researching and developing improvements as you can). That and Alonso and Kimi both have very good cars under them that HAVE adapted to those new rules better.

The other teams have eventually caught up and overtaken Ferrari. All the teams have cycles of doing well then not so well.

It's like Charlton Athletic (even though thats b4 xmas and afterwards every year).

Thanx for replies everyone.

Still seems a bit vague as to why Ferrari have gone downhill though. It's still a level playing field and they just arn't doing it.

Are there caps on research bugits now? If not, they still have more resources than anyone else!

I think the rule changes have done the sport a lot of good in terms of entertainment.

Look at what 20/20 has done for cricket!

But, in terms of what motor racing is, isn't the idea to get your car to the finish line fastest, and any rules stop that happening.

Should there be any rules at all, short of 'you can have a 3 litre engine and four wheels'?

Ferrari haven't had all that many years of dominance - I would say they've had five (although they were getting there for a couple of years before that), but before that they were in the wilderness for 20 years.

As Lee says, these things come and go in cycles, although Ferrari do have a lot of things in their favour (especially budget) which should help them to come back relatively quickly. But I think their biggest problem has been that they're the only major team running Bridgestone tyres, so tyre development has fallen way behind Michelin (and also because Bridgestone tend to be more conservative)

There not one specific reason. The other teams have stepped up. Bridgestone tyres are not as good in most circumstances as michelin.
Ferraris position would be a lot worse if they had not picked up full points after the american GP fiasco

I have followed F1 since 1992, watching every race on TV live (even the 3 am ones!) but this season has left me so bored that I never even watched the Turkish GP :shocked: I even turned over half way through the Italian GP to watch Diagnosis Murder :wow:

It's about time they got rid of all electronic aids and took away some of the downforce so cars can actually overtake. And get rid of the tracks where overtaking is impossible like Silverstone :thumbsup: (but keep Monaco cause it's beautiful to watch :P )

It's not necessarily downforce they need to lose, just make a better airflow for they following cars, a quick rule change to the diffusers could make a massive difference.

I haven't seen any slipstreaming at all this year!!!