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[f1ea]

You can have Pat Fry he ain't no Newey!

Fair call, but, we do have RB, he trumps Newey every time

I'd rather Newey myself, fair to say he has designed more championship winning cars with more teams than Byrne. Add the fact Rory is only a consultant compared to Newey who is full time I know who I'd rather have in 2011.

Newey with a tough solid car is difficult to beat.... it looks like they're still coming to grips (RB) with a few minor issues, but the car does look solid as a whole.

I certainly do hope Byrne's position at Ferrari is not a 'honorary mention' like Schumacher's!

Can't say I agree with that SF haven't been innovative.

Well, at least not the headline stuff. You could say they've done conservative innovations... the top teams hardly need to be so adventurous, they stand more to lose... like Mclaren with the octopus thing, that was a big adventure, and its cool that they took the risk and were able to bounce back, because it almost cost dearly..

[bud]

like Mclaren with the octopus thing, that was a big adventure, and its cool that they took the risk and were able to bounce back, because it almost cost dearly..

It was a big adventure, but luckily enough McLaren could pinpoint their problems which were based around this exhaust. Engine reliability, downforce etc problems from pre season testing revolved around this innovation. From what Ferrari are saying to the media at least, they don't know where to start and fix their woes which makes it harder for them. But Ferrari have the ability to get on top of it.

[f1ea]

like Mclaren with the octopus thing, that was a big adventure, and its cool that they took the risk and were able to bounce back, because it almost cost dearly..

It was a big adventure, but luckily enough McLaren could pinpoint their problems which were based around this exhaust. Engine reliability, downforce etc problems from pre season testing revolved around this innovation. From what Ferrari are saying to the media at least, they don't know where to start and fix their woes which makes it harder for them. But Ferrari have the ability to get on top of it.

yeah, more than pinpointing the problem, they were able to go around it and come up with a whole different solution; that they were able to implement it so quickly and working well.... that's pretty amazing.

in ferrari's case, according to some reports the problem has to do with the wind tunnels not being calibrated. If that's the case its not so easy to work around because not only are they using a faulty model to develop their updates but they also have [to] rerun all their simulations and validate their model... could be one of the wind tunnels is out, could be both; so first they have to figure out what is wrong with each model, so it could be a lot of work....... i'm not sure how much limitation there is to wind tunnel/simulations but hopefully they can get working on that as hard as possible.

[spankyham]

... in ferrari's case, according to some reports the problem has to do with the wind tunnels not being calibrated. If that's the case its not so easy to work around because not only are they using a faulty model to develop their updates but they also have rerun all their simulations and validate their model... could be one of the wind tunnels is out, could be both; so first they have to figure out what is wrong with each model, so it could be a lot of work....... i'm not sure how much limitations there is to wind tunnel/simulations but hopefully they can get working on that as hard as possible.

The problem was definitely to do with the calibration of Ferrari's wind tunnel upgrade. Last year, Ferrari's wind tunnel was upgraded from a 50% to a 60% modelling system. Because the tunnel was not available during the upgrade, the original chassis and main body component work for the 150 was done at Toyota's facility in Cologne. There is no problem with this work and, the tunnel findings were confirmed by the track testing in Spain.

The new wings however (front and rear), were done at the newly upgraded facility at Maranello. And these were delivered after testing in Spain.

Since then they have been back at Toyota's facility in Cologne and have reworked things, especially the front wing. They have also put back the flexing of the front section. In fact a new front wing was delivered in China with a lot of the changes already implemented, however, Nando was the designated tester and, as we know, his test session was almost completely lost due to an hydraulic problem. So they just didn't get a chance to work the new front wing.

I did post some pics of the new China front wing. Below is a diag of the new wing with some explanations. Not much in life is certain, and even less in F1, but there are a lot of signs of confidence from Ferrari that the upcoming changes for Turkey and the next few races will make a big difference to the 150's performance.

[f1ea]

^^ cool. Thanks for that info!

it makes sense that the parts developed AFTER Barcelona were th eones with th e most problems. So knowing they used the maranello info for that one, it narrows down the ammount of work to be carried out.

Also, the hydraulic problems at China got the team and Fernando really downbeat. They were really looking forward to that....

Unfortunately, the first races were fly-away so they had little to do in terms of getting the 'corrected' updates (even if they found out what was off with the simulations). But hopefully there is a good turnaround for Turkey.

Somehow, Fernando's battles with Lewis (Sepang) AND Schumacher (China) gave a little "to be continued" feeling

[kerc]

I have the feeling that the current working environment at Ferrari is not the best one. I think there's a strained relationship between Alonso and Massa, and in general terms the team feels "off" and not united. Add to that all these technical problems, and it just makes it worse for the drivers to focus on their job.

Could the problem be Luca? I think he can be kind of a jerk sometimes...

[f1ea]

i think that relationship is overrated. If the car didnt have the problems it has, and either ferrari driver was P1 on the championship, this strained relationship would mean squat.

But the atmosphere at Mclaren seems pretty nice from outside though....

[kerc]

i think that relationship is overrated. If the car didnt have the problems it has, and either ferrari driver was P1 on the championship, this strained relationship would mean squat.

But the atmosphere at Mclaren seems pretty nice from outside though....

I wouldn't think it's overrated. A bad teammate relationship can either make you shine or make you crash. And it's not just that, it's the team as a whole; I perceive a lack of cohesiveness. This is purely subjective, mind you--it's just the vibe I get from news, results, and seeing them on screen.

[What's Burning?]

i think that relationship is overrated. If the car didnt have the problems it has, and either ferrari driver was P1 on the championship, this strained relationship would mean squat.

But the atmosphere at Mclaren seems pretty nice from outside though....

I wouldn't think it's overrated. A bad teammate relationship can either make you shine or make you crash. And it's not just that, it's the team as a whole; I perceive a lack of cohesiveness. This is purely subjective, mind you--it's just the vibe I get from news, results, and seeing them on screen.

I think you're reading waaaay too much into your vibe, by that logic over at the Red Bull paddock they should be doing cartwheels, skipping and singing while holding hands and that's not happening. Although if Turkey brings Ferrari more of the same then you can start vibing it.

For the sake of competition, I hope they come back... otherwise we start getting this over on GPUpdate;

Nick Heidfeld’s next goal is to help Renault beat at least Ferrari this season. The German, who scored his first podium finish for two years in Malaysia, currently believes that Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes GP are edging ahead.

After Renault drivers reached the rostrum in the pair of opening 2011 races, the former World Champion team failed to make such an impression as it picked up just one ninth place in China. However, Heidfeld – who has been drafted in to replace the injured Robert Kubica – is sure that Ferrari’s speed can be matched.

“We are working very hard,” he is quoted as saying by The Sun. “The team has made big improvements over the last one and a half years and, if we can keep that development speed up, we can maintain the early-season momentum.

“It's certainly not going to be easy because we are competing with the likes of Ferrari now, who we will definitely try to beat. Mercedes seems to have improved and McLaren and Red Bull are still ahead, but the team's ambitions and our targets are clear - we want to go to the top.”

[Hammer278]

Renault targetting to beat Ferrari? Now wouldn't that be just.......

[vaptin]

Massa and Alonso seem to get on alright, its better than the redbull drivers at least and those guys won both championships last year. . .

They don't seem to actually be friends, but the key is professionalism and a lack of hostility.

[oaba09]

There's a reason why Ferrari is the most successful team in F1. I'm quite confident that they can bounce back(they did it last year). This coming from a mclaren fan....

[spankyham]

An article here on the filming day just completed by Ferrari at Fiorano. On filming days you're not allowed to try new parts, but you are allowed to change setups. Felipe did the honours.

Massa performs F150 shakedown at Fiorano

Ferrari have run Felipe Massa at the wheel of the F150° Italia this morning at Fiorano. According to Italian website omnicorse Massa featured in a commercial with a test that allowed the team to run different setup options.

The car running at Fiorano certainly appeared to be running more rake, a setup option that many appear to be investigating after Red Bull's RB7 appears to work marvelous with it.

In an attempt to reduce the gap to Red Bull and McLaren, Ferrari will introduce a new front wing design to gain additional front downforce. It is believed that this is the major culprit for the team, after finding its wind tunnel tests inaccurate. Running more rake will also help reduce the height of the front wing, hence also allowing it to create more downforce.

Along with the new package at Turkey will be an updated rear wing and revised rear suspension.

[acosmichippo]

what is the purpose of "filming" days?

[spankyham]

what is the purpose of "filming" days?

It's supposed to be where the teams can film for promotional material with the real car and driver(s). Each team has a limited number of these filming days per season.

Last year there were no restrictions on what version of car you could run during these filming days. Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault all ran upgrades (due for the next race) on their cars on these filming days.

Some teams complained that it wasn't i the spirit of the law and so the rules were revised to say that no new components could be added to cars for these filming days, however setups could be changed.

Would I be being too cynical in saying that when some teams find ways around rules they are "clever" and when other teams find loopholes they are "breaching the spirit" of the rules and need to be stopped at the first opportunity?