That FERRARI FIN again !!!!! (serious question)

[whirlybird]

Having just read that David Coulthards Red Bull will feature a mainly white, 'Gives you Wings chrity' paint scheme
for his Swan Song Race, and that all the teams must agree to a change in two teams cars livery etc,
It would appear that only tiny subtle changes are permitted between a teams two cars, so how come Ferrari can run with a 'FIN' aft of the airbox on one car, but not the other, hardly a subtle change in the visual appearance ?

[zac510]

One's a mechanical/bodywork change and the other is an aesthetic change..?

[whirlybird]

thats my point, its both !!!!

[TonyHetherington]

Is this not confusing mechanical versus livery?

One driver may need different bodywork due to style of driving etc versus the other?!

[zac510]

What's the wording of the rule, is it one of those loose discretionary rules?

[Correct Change]

I would imagine a physical change in the car takes priority over a purely cosmetic one. In Ferrari's case, both designs were legal so either could be used by either driver. If both cars had been identical yet wanted to run with differing decals, that would probably be different.

[flemke]

zac510 said:

What's the wording of the rule, is it one of those loose discretionary rules?

This is the FIA we're talking about.
All their rules are loose discretionary rules.

[zac510]

You got me there

[jamieboy]

TonyHetherington said:

Is this not confusing mechanical versus livery?

Exactly that.

zac510 said:

What's the wording of the rule, is it one of those loose discretionary rules?

FIA Formula 1 Sporting regulations, available from the FIA website.

Section 21.1 said:

Both cars entered by a competitor must be presented in substantially the same livery at each Event, any change to this livery during a Championship season may only be made with the agreement of the Formula One Commission.

I guess you could argue what exactly is meant by 'substantially the same livery', but Tony is right - the OP is confusing the livery of the cars which is governed by a rule that says they should be the same with the physical structure of the car, where no similar rule applies.*



* unless I've missed it.

[wainy]

IIRC some drivers have has new aero packages whilst the 2nd driver has still had the old one at a number of races so as said as long as it is legal there should be no issue with different parts.

Hope DC has a good final race though..however if he finishes higher than Massa and then Massa misses out on the championship by 1 point do you think that he could be penalised.... Only joking!

[williamp]

wainy said:

IIRC some drivers have has new aero packages whilst the 2nd driver has still had the old one at a number of races so as said as long as it is legal there should be no issue with different parts.

Hope DC has a good final race though..however if he finishes higher than Massa and then Massa misses out on the championship by 1 point do you think that he could be penalised.... Only joking!

yep, afterall if the cars had to be identical mechanically, then logically they could not set the aero devices up differenty to suit the different driving needs. I've not got a problem eith Ferrari doing this. Makes sense to me.

[whirlybird]

whilst I agree slight aero package changes are and will be different between the two team drivers, having what appears to be several square cm/inches of both 'side plane area 'changes the visual and potential livery aspect between the two cars ?
ie would massa stuggle to drive kimis car and vice versa ????

[jamieboy]

whirlybird said:

whilst I agree slight aero package changes are and will be different between the two team drivers, having what appears to be several square cm/inches of both 'side plane area 'changes the visual and potential livery aspect between the two cars ?

Think of livery as 'uniform' or 'paint job'.

whirlybird said:

ie would massa stuggle to drive kimis car and vice versa ????

I guess to a tiny extent each of them would 'struggle' to drive the car they're less familiar with.