Ferrari genius strikes again....
Discussion
You've gotta love 'em when they do things properly.
Remember when they released the launch shots of the car last year there were no pics of the rear end?
Well, check this out:
Inspired.
Remember when they released the launch shots of the car last year there were no pics of the rear end?
Well, check this out:
GrandPrix.com said:
How can Ferrari pull away from the opposition?
Ferrari dominated last week's Barcelona testing during which Felipe Massa was quoted, saying that the developement of the F2007 was "at least half a second faster than before". This is bad news for the opposition and there have been suggestions that when practice begins in Spain later this week we may see Ferrari as much as a second ahead of everyone. And this has been achieved even with Ferrari having redesigned the floor of its cars to withstand the FIA's flexibility tests.
The opposition has been working on a variety of new aerodynamic devices, notably Honda's "Dumbo" nose wings and McLaren's new "bi-plane" front wing. These may make a difference but no-one seems very confident that they can keep up with Ferrari.
The question being asked is how Ferrari has managed to pull off such an improvement, which is huge in modern F1 terms. The answer, however, seems to be that the team started the year with a package that was deliberately not as efficient as it could be - because the team wanted to see how the new tyres behaved.
When the F2007 was launched Ferrari was very careful to make sure that there were few photographs of the rear of the car. This may have been because the team did not want expert eyes to figure out that the rear end was not really changed from last year. The only remarks made were that the rear suspension was similar to that of the 248 and that there was still development ongoing.
"This year the tyres were not known to us until very late in the process as Bridgestone had a new specification of tyre to supply the whole field and did not want to give any team an advantage by letting them know the specification any earlier," said chief designer Nick Tombazis at the time. "We had to leave a bit more margin in some areas of the F2007's adjustability in order to be able to adapt to that."
After three races the tyres are now much better understood and with the evolution in the rear suspension the designers have been able to alter the rear of the car with a reshaped engine cover, a revision of the cooling system and therefore smaller sidepods.
Thus, it may be that Ferrari's impressive leap forward is because the team was not starting from where its rivals thought it was.
Ferrari dominated last week's Barcelona testing during which Felipe Massa was quoted, saying that the developement of the F2007 was "at least half a second faster than before". This is bad news for the opposition and there have been suggestions that when practice begins in Spain later this week we may see Ferrari as much as a second ahead of everyone. And this has been achieved even with Ferrari having redesigned the floor of its cars to withstand the FIA's flexibility tests.
The opposition has been working on a variety of new aerodynamic devices, notably Honda's "Dumbo" nose wings and McLaren's new "bi-plane" front wing. These may make a difference but no-one seems very confident that they can keep up with Ferrari.
The question being asked is how Ferrari has managed to pull off such an improvement, which is huge in modern F1 terms. The answer, however, seems to be that the team started the year with a package that was deliberately not as efficient as it could be - because the team wanted to see how the new tyres behaved.
When the F2007 was launched Ferrari was very careful to make sure that there were few photographs of the rear of the car. This may have been because the team did not want expert eyes to figure out that the rear end was not really changed from last year. The only remarks made were that the rear suspension was similar to that of the 248 and that there was still development ongoing.
"This year the tyres were not known to us until very late in the process as Bridgestone had a new specification of tyre to supply the whole field and did not want to give any team an advantage by letting them know the specification any earlier," said chief designer Nick Tombazis at the time. "We had to leave a bit more margin in some areas of the F2007's adjustability in order to be able to adapt to that."
After three races the tyres are now much better understood and with the evolution in the rear suspension the designers have been able to alter the rear of the car with a reshaped engine cover, a revision of the cooling system and therefore smaller sidepods.
Thus, it may be that Ferrari's impressive leap forward is because the team was not starting from where its rivals thought it was.
Inspired.
Edited by MrKipling43 on Monday 7th May 12:56
Poppycock. I find it hard to believe that a team would deliberately sacrifice some pace - and points - by fielding a detuned car. If they lost the Championship by two points they'd look like a right bunch of charlies. Actually, I hope they lose the Championship by a tiny margin now, just so I can point and laugh.
It's just gamesmanship from Ferrari and a gullible journo attempting to create a story. They've made some developments, like everyone else.
It's just gamesmanship from Ferrari and a gullible journo attempting to create a story. They've made some developments, like everyone else.
ahonen said:
Poppycock. I find it hard to believe that a team would deliberately sacrifice some pace - and points - by fielding a detuned car. If they lost the Championship by two points they'd look like a right bunch of charlies. Actually, I hope they lose the Championship by a tiny margin now, just so I can point and laugh.
It's just gamesmanship from Ferrari and a gullible journo attempting to create a story. They've made some developments, like everyone else.
It's just gamesmanship from Ferrari and a gullible journo attempting to create a story. They've made some developments, like everyone else.
I think you've missed what's being said.
They didn't field a detuned car, they just did pretty much nothing with the rear end. They obviously knew that the rear end from the 248 worked the tires very well so didn't risk designing a totally new one. That way they could develop an already efficient rear according to how the new tires behaved - very canny.
Incidentally, Joe Saward is about as far from a gullible journo as you can get.
Edited by MrKipling43 on Monday 7th May 15:44
MrKipling43 said:
ahonen said:
Poppycock. I find it hard to believe that a team would deliberately sacrifice some pace - and points - by fielding a detuned car. If they lost the Championship by two points they'd look like a right bunch of charlies. Actually, I hope they lose the Championship by a tiny margin now, just so I can point and laugh.
It's just gamesmanship from Ferrari and a gullible journo attempting to create a story. They've made some developments, like everyone else.
It's just gamesmanship from Ferrari and a gullible journo attempting to create a story. They've made some developments, like everyone else.
I think you've missed what's being said.
They didn't field a detuned car, they just did pretty much nothing with the rear end. They obviously knew that the rear end from the 248 worked the tires very well so didn't risk designing a totally new one. That way they could develop an already efficient rear according to how the new tires behaved - very canny.
Incidentally, Joe Saward is about as far from a gullible journo as you can get.
so, what your saying is that they could not improve on last years rear end?
tyres for this year and nothing like last years (as has been said elsewhere) so basically, this whole story just does not make sence. Best I can imagine is the new design did not pan out like they hoped, so they ran the old setup whist they continued to work on the new one.
as said, nobody would purposfully NOT run the best they could.
scuffers said:
tyres for this year and nothing like last years (as has been said elsewhere) so basically, this whole story just does not make sence. Best I can imagine is the new design did not pan out like they hoped, so they ran the old setup whist they continued to work on the new one.
as said, nobody would purposfully NOT run the best they could.
To add to this - Ferrari have the best databank of any Bridgestone user. They were already aware that this year's tyres would be based on a compound they last used in 2005 (IIRC...E&OE). Consequently, one would expect them to be the best prepared of all the teams - that's why I (and perhaps others?) assumed that they knew exactly what they were doing by introducing a car with a long wheelbase this year...
I've seen stories like this concocted to throw others off the scent.
Is anyone else surprised that the issue of flexi-wings has subsided?....by this I mean the use of flow conditioners in front of the rear wing which are themselves flexible and stall on the straight?
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