- 21 Apr 11, 15:33#252690
"He was the fastest driver I ever saw - faster even than Fangio"
________________________- Mike Hawthorn on Alberto Ascari
Pretty much a thread for the Tifosi here, but, of course everyone's welcome.
Part 1 - What happened from testing (huge optimism) to the 1st 3 GP's?
After testing was completed, Scuderia Ferrari (SF) were full of optimism for the start of the season, and a lot of pundits had placed them close to Red Bull.
SF have identified probably the major source of their problems - at least a good start. The F150 (excuse moi paranoid Ford execs) was designed with the use of 2 Wind Tunnels (WTs). The Toyota one and SF's own, which was upgraded from a 50% to 60% modelling unit last year.
The design plan for the F150 was to bring a bulk of the car for day-1 testing, and to then bring upgrades after that. SF directly said this at the launch when they said the car would be nothing like the car that would start the first race.
The last upgrade included the wings and these were done in the Maranello WT.
It is a huge understatement to say the team was surprised and disappointed with how the last upgrades performed. What transpired was, that, whilst the WT expected outcome was pretty much validated by what happened during testing, the opposite was true for the last upgrades delivered for Melb.
The problem was tracked down to faulty calibration of the actual WT upgrades. The immediate reaction is for Ferrari to recalibrate and, for the time being go back to the Toyota WT - which they have done.
Part 2 - How Bad is it?
Well, considering how bad the problem actually is, it is amazing that the F150 has shown so much race pace. The reality is that, with everything that has gone so wrong, the car is still only 1 or 2 tenths off the leaders. If you look at the first stints of Jenson, Lewis, Sebastian, Felipe and Nando from China, where they were all on the same option tyre, the F150 was actually able to turn in a couple of faster times than all the others and, when it lost time it was only a small amount.
The first stint is good to analyze because the cars are all on similar wear and we can be pretty sure they are all trying their hardest.
Tifosi can take heart from this because it probably means the F150 is fundamentally a good car and very capable of being competitive.
Part 3 - Where to Now?
I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to my team, so, take everything I have to say with an appropriate grain of salt. However, a lot of this makes sense, and, I genuinely feel that over the next few races, we will see significant improvements in the F150. There are 2 reasons for my optimism.
Knowing the problem, and because it is largely based on appendages, means changes are a little easier to make. I'd expect to see big changes, especially in the front wing of the Ferrari. I'm certain it will incorporate flexing (as Ferrari had already mastered this last year) and, it will compensate for the erroneous calibration.
The other reason for my optimism - Rory Byrne. I mentioned in another thread that he is back at SF. This is a huge boost both in terms of genuine talent and for the morale of the team. Those who know him, know that he too is a master of aeros and, has had some great car designing battles with Adrian Newey. I think, head to head, Rory has the edge on championships over Adrian, but even if I'm wrong there, they are very close. His input will take effect this year and will be very significant in next years car.
Here is one article on Rory's return to SF, it is in French, so here is a link to the same article through an English bot translator.
Part 1 - What happened from testing (huge optimism) to the 1st 3 GP's?
After testing was completed, Scuderia Ferrari (SF) were full of optimism for the start of the season, and a lot of pundits had placed them close to Red Bull.
SF have identified probably the major source of their problems - at least a good start. The F150 (excuse moi paranoid Ford execs) was designed with the use of 2 Wind Tunnels (WTs). The Toyota one and SF's own, which was upgraded from a 50% to 60% modelling unit last year.
The design plan for the F150 was to bring a bulk of the car for day-1 testing, and to then bring upgrades after that. SF directly said this at the launch when they said the car would be nothing like the car that would start the first race.
The last upgrade included the wings and these were done in the Maranello WT.
It is a huge understatement to say the team was surprised and disappointed with how the last upgrades performed. What transpired was, that, whilst the WT expected outcome was pretty much validated by what happened during testing, the opposite was true for the last upgrades delivered for Melb.
The problem was tracked down to faulty calibration of the actual WT upgrades. The immediate reaction is for Ferrari to recalibrate and, for the time being go back to the Toyota WT - which they have done.
Part 2 - How Bad is it?
Well, considering how bad the problem actually is, it is amazing that the F150 has shown so much race pace. The reality is that, with everything that has gone so wrong, the car is still only 1 or 2 tenths off the leaders. If you look at the first stints of Jenson, Lewis, Sebastian, Felipe and Nando from China, where they were all on the same option tyre, the F150 was actually able to turn in a couple of faster times than all the others and, when it lost time it was only a small amount.
The first stint is good to analyze because the cars are all on similar wear and we can be pretty sure they are all trying their hardest.
Tifosi can take heart from this because it probably means the F150 is fundamentally a good car and very capable of being competitive.
Part 3 - Where to Now?
I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to my team, so, take everything I have to say with an appropriate grain of salt. However, a lot of this makes sense, and, I genuinely feel that over the next few races, we will see significant improvements in the F150. There are 2 reasons for my optimism.
Knowing the problem, and because it is largely based on appendages, means changes are a little easier to make. I'd expect to see big changes, especially in the front wing of the Ferrari. I'm certain it will incorporate flexing (as Ferrari had already mastered this last year) and, it will compensate for the erroneous calibration.
The other reason for my optimism - Rory Byrne. I mentioned in another thread that he is back at SF. This is a huge boost both in terms of genuine talent and for the morale of the team. Those who know him, know that he too is a master of aeros and, has had some great car designing battles with Adrian Newey. I think, head to head, Rory has the edge on championships over Adrian, but even if I'm wrong there, they are very close. His input will take effect this year and will be very significant in next years car.
Here is one article on Rory's return to SF, it is in French, so here is a link to the same article through an English bot translator.
"He was the fastest driver I ever saw - faster even than Fangio"
________________________- Mike Hawthorn on Alberto Ascari
) is more than just a few tenths off Red Bull and similarly Mclaren. Sure, in the races ferrari have put in some good laps, but i have given up comparing tire wear/track position and so on (it seems the races will be decied on the last stint), so perhaps those fast times ferrari have posted come from having simply better tires or being on a more favourable tire/situation than the rivals. 
