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By spankyham
#392689
Information about what Ferrari have been doing in their test program to date. Interesting they still haven't run at full power yet.

 wrote:">Allison: “We’ve acquired a lot of important data”


Sakhir, 24 February –Scuderia Ferrari’s path to the start of the 2014 Formula 1 season has now reached two thirds distance. Eight of the twelve test days available are now archived, but there is still a raft of things to understand and perfect given the host of changes this season. The Scuderia’s Technical Director, James Allison spoke to http://www.ferrari.com to sum up what was achieved in Bahrain. “We came to Sakhir aiming to work steadily through the huge list of actions that we must complete. We wanted to maximize track time, working methodically in order to be ready for Melbourne. I have to say that, with the exception of the morning of the third day, we did just that.”

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The team has carried on with its technical programme and continued working on fine tuning all of the innovative elements of the F14T. “We worked on learning how to get the best from the 2014 clutch and on tuning the new brake by wire system” – continued Allison – “We looked in detail at balancing the temperature of all the cooling fluids, a key part of this year’s rules, and we began gradually expanding the operating window of the new Energy Recovery System. We have been able to start to open up our understanding of the handling characteristics of the car and to begin to learn what sort of setup parameters the tyres respond to. Continuing with this work will be an important part of the programme over the last four days here in Bahrain.”

It’s clear from Allison’s comments just how important reliability will be in 2014. Scuderia Ferrari has being working on this aspect of performance up until now and will continue to do so in the final test session, which will also feature some more demanding tests, as Allison goes on to explain. “For the last four days, our programme will see us attempt to operate the car ever more closely to the way that it will run in a race, providing invaluable practice for the drivers and subjecting the car and all its systems to the full rigor that it will need to withstand throughout the season.”

Testing resumes on Thursday 27 February and will run to Sunday 2 March. After that, the next time the cars will see a race track will be 14 March, for Friday practice at the Australian Grand Prix, when things start getting really serious.
By Hammer278
#392711
Where does it say they haven't been running at full power?


“For the last four days, our programme will see us attempt to operate the car ever more closely to the way that it will run in a race, providing invaluable practice for the drivers and subjecting the car and all its systems to the full rigor that it will need to withstand throughout the season.”

Come on bud, this is way easier than reading Ronspeak. :P

Which means Ferrari haven't gone through their entire reliability/race sim phase yet while Mercedes and McLaren have done. Good to know where they stand now.
By CookinFlat6
#392713
He doesn't say they haven't run all their engine modes, he only says they have not run a race sim

They could have run engine modes at full power without subjecting the car to the full rigours

I mean, how can they be satisfied with reliability without running full power at some point, and what about Sauber, no full power yet?
User avatar
By spankyham
#392714
Where does it say they haven't been running at full power?


“For the last four days, our programme will see us attempt to operate the car ever more closely to the way that it will run in a race, providing invaluable practice for the drivers and subjecting the car and all its systems to the full rigor that it will need to withstand throughout the season.”

Come on bud, this is way easier than reading Ronspeak. :P

Which means Ferrari haven't gone through their entire reliability/race sim phase yet while Mercedes and McLaren have done. Good to know where they stand now.


And this bit as well "and we began gradually expanding the operating window of the new Energy Recovery System."
#392715
Are you worried that Ferrari seems to be one test behind? I mean I'm sure it's something they'll have ironed out by the time they get to Europe on the calendar.
By CookinFlat6
#392717
Have Ferrari been good at catching up intra season recently? At least they might not have to out develop a strong starting RBR this year
User avatar
By spankyham
#392719
Are you worried that Ferrari seems to be one test behind? I mean I'm sure it's something they'll have ironed out by the time they get to Europe on the calendar.

By the traditional signposts you'd say they are behind a little. However, it is hard to judge because their methodology is completely different to everyone else. I guess it remains to be seen whether their method has advantages. Its kinda like trying to compare a waterfall v agile release two thirds of the way through. :yes:
User avatar
By spankyham
#392720
Have Ferrari been good at catching up intra season recently? At least they might not have to out develop a strong starting RBR this year


You'd have to give Ferrari a fail over the past few years on their intra season development. Now that probably is mostly down to their wind-tunnel problems, so I'd expect them to do better this year based on the new wind tunnel and what they have said about how well the track data is correlating very well with the W-T analysis.

Still, read my post above in response to WB's question. I'm not sure how to compare how/if they are behind. As Hammer said elsewhere, we will probably be able to make a judgement on that as the season unfolds.
#392721
Their reliability has been at least comparable to Mercedes, which is a good thing. The other markers are so far off this year because of all the changes. There's not only the engine but the pretty big impact on aero changes, so there are two separate and very distinct areas of focus, but yet without a PU that's at what you deem to be close to 100% operational, there's no way to fully test the aero changes.
User avatar
By sagi58
#392763
...Going back to Ferrari, as you say, Alonso was the strongest driver, but you have to ask how mush Felipe was demotivated by some of the calls Ferrari made. He's the sort of guy who needs boosting not de motivating. I know the accident may account for some of his drop of pace but I don't think all. He beat Kimi remember and nearly won a championship.

Massa knows who buttered his bread. He knows what his role (not roll) in the team was.
He signed on the dotted line, so he can't turn around and yell "foul".
Sure he had ""a"" good season, against Kimi; but, that was "pre-accident". The other
thing to consider is that it was the season after Kimi won his WDC and his motivation
wasn't as strong as it was the year before.
Maybe that season, the two of them were equal; but, Massa was no where near Alonso,
this past few years.
User avatar
By racechick
#392771
...Going back to Ferrari, as you say, Alonso was the strongest driver, but you have to ask how mush Felipe was demotivated by some of the calls Ferrari made. He's the sort of guy who needs boosting not de motivating. I know the accident may account for some of his drop of pace but I don't think all. He beat Kimi remember and nearly won a championship.

Massa knows who buttered his bread. He knows what his role (not roll) in the team was.
He signed on the dotted line, so he can't turn around and yell "foul".
Sure he had ""a"" good season, against Kimi; but, that was "pre-accident". The other
thing to consider is that it was the season after Kimi won his WDC and his motivation
wasn't as strong as it was the year before.
Maybe that season, the two of them were equal; but, Massa was no where near Alonso,
this past few years.


I'm not contesting your last statement at all. And Ferrari stood by Felipe when his performance dropped off which is to their credit, as I said Ferrari will do what they think is best. I doubt after nearly winning a championship Massa settled down and accepted underdog status, he had no choice.

If Kimi was under motivated after winning a world championship then I'd say that's a serious concern for Ferrari.

Anyway, it comes back to the fact I'm delighted that Lewis is in a team where he istreated equally with no predetermined 'favourite' . No one performs well when told from the off they're second best.
Ferrari have two great drivers this year but I still think the Merc pairing is the strongest.
User avatar
By racechick
#392773
Engines set to dominate this season ( I think we'd worked that bit out) . This article has the order Merc, McLaren, Williams, forces India. With McLaren about nine tenths off Merc. I'm not sure I'd have. Williams ahead of Force India?

The article says Ferrari are taking a cautious approach ( which I think is what you've been saying Spanky?).....so difficult to place them I guess at the moment.

Lauda says...it's not that we aren't having the problems other teams are having....we're just having less of them :D
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/engin ... inate-2014
User avatar
By Jabberwocky
#392777
I am wondering that because Red Bull have not run any front camera mounts if they have some trick up their sleeve until we get to AUS!
By Hammer278
#392782
Unless their trick involves fitting a huge spring to the car in a bid to hop their way around the circuit, I suspect they have bigger things to worry about than camera mounts.
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