Getting it right at the start of the season can result in a few quick wins which is a heck of a head start. Testing ban makes no sense. The idea that it contains costs is ludicrous.
Actually I do believe it has a cost saving effect. But I really don't care about that. What they should do is add a test day to a race weekend. Make it either Thursday or Friday. Maybe not for all races (only for a few fly away races where schedules are tight) but certainly for the "home" races close to the teams' basis. It would give fans a chance to watch testing and it wouldn't require the costs/logistics of extra transports to a test site. And maybe (just maybe) it would make the Barcelona GP more exciting as not everybody has done it already 1,000 times before they get there.
There is, of course, a direct savings by not testing but the increase in the amount of the extra off track work needed to (partially) compensate may outweigh the supposed economies. In any case, any potential savings are dwarfed by the other astronomical costs associated with F1. The testing ban is all about looking to do right and little about actually doing right.
The testing ban almost makes the driver irrelevant ... hardly what we want for the top motorsport team. And before you jump up and down about my comment above, we currently have the best designer's car dominating and we have one of the proven top drivers keeping a Ferrari F1 seat warm and is hardly able to even compete for the WDC. Pete
Yes and no: True that the designer and the car are the predominant factor. But you can still see how driver talent makes a difference: Just look at Vettel vs Webber or Alonso vs Massa last year. A monkey in the best car still doesn't win the WDC.
Many drivers could have won the title that year. Just as when Andretti won his title in the ground effect Lotus. But: Neither Mansell nor Andretti are monkeys. Both were top calibre drivers who worked their way to the top in lesser cars, which is why ultimately they were given the prize winner. When Mansell won his title it was a bit like when Kimi won his: Almost a "lifetime award" for not having won so many WDCs before because of bad luck/failing cars. It was karma after all.
Ferrari are going with a completely different suspension setup next week, geometrically anyway, so it's nothing we will be able to see. It think this is a wise approach as it allows them to thoroughly understand the facets of this car. This is probably one of those situations where it may not make as much sense on paper but it will translate better on the track.
Interesting, if true..... Phil's just gone on record as saying they've "found the right direction" Edited from Autosport; Not sure they want to be heading down completely new rat-holes at this stage of the game. OTOH, may as well try it now rather than in Aus....... Cheers, Ian http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97682
well alonso said they were at 20% in jerez now Massa says 50% so i guess they are getting there lol...
retitle this thread to : "Ferrari says - Massa needs lots of work" will never win WCC with him as a # 2
Great video and thanks for posting. I hope they get the car sorted soon and we have a better season. Good luck to both FA and Felipe.
One Ferrari will make it to Q3 regularly for sure, but they will rarely make top 6. They are still pointing their exhausts at different areas in a half effort with an attempt to see what yields a bit more performance. They have also been cutting bodywork all over the exhaust area and appear to be in a constant state of experimentation very similar to Mercedes last year. All the experts are putting them in 4th at the moment fighting with Lotus. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfPwPDYr4Vw&feature=related[/ame] The above vid shows it very well. Alonso really has to fight this thing and turn in is very awkward
This is their 4th or 5th interpretation of how they want to blow the exhaust. They have cut the exits at various angles inboard, outboard, and are finally moving towards the idea that those outboard wing things are a bad idea as they are now blowing the beam wing. If they want to blow the beam wing all along it would have made zero sense building those sidepod wings, but I believe they have found the above to work best as they used it two days in a row. I would not be surprised if we saw a big change in the Ferrari sidepods shortly into the season if not at Australia. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Piloto thanks for the posts on all this. One would think the experimentation time would be built into the test plan but its all a guess until real data flows as it is now. I hope they can make adjustments for the last test and do some actual race sim runs and make this package work. I also hope LDM understands they are on the back foot in the first race and keeps out of this.
