True! If you compare the Bridgestone only performance Ferrari was faster than Jordan by 3 seconds last year compared to only 1.3 secs this year. The Jordan is still a slug. Therefore the performance decline for Ferrari is attributable to the car design as well as the tire. Unless the design team does something drastically different, we could have the same story next year with the other other teams switching to Bstone being faster than Ferrari.
I must say I AM impressed with Minardi! I think all that have been knocking should appologise , atleast they are going forward ... but now with my feet back on the ground, I guess it is easier to improve their performance. Pete
I agree. The performance gain with the PS05 is incredible really. Minardi was so slow they knew how to make the car faster......but didn't have the money to do it. With most of the teams that's the opposite. They have the money, but don't know what to do with it.
Agreed. And another factor to consider is that Michael and to a much lesser degree Rubens have not gotten worse as much as they are driving against smarter competitors than in the past. Five years ago no one was driving their asses off on "in" laps like MS - but now who doesn't do this or at least try to do this? That's just one example of where the competition is not the same. Add this to a tired chassis design, a drought of fresh strategic ideas and a tire supplier who got behind the 8 ball and you have the situation Ferrari finds themselves in today. I agree with Pete that it won't take as long for them to find themselves but only if they change up the brain trust.
Interesting comments by all. Still, no one can explain why Ross, Jean, Michael & company haven't been able to correct the problem(s). Tire issues can be corrected. Brake problems can be corrected. Suspension problems can be corrected. Engine problems can be corrected. Especially if you are Ross Brawn, Jean Todt, and Ferrari in general. Maybe my hypothesis is not fiction?
Think about this example. If you want 50 more hp from a small block chevy engine you bolt on a cam or add ignition and and exhaust - its relatively easy since there is a lot of "room to grow". Try to get 50 more hp from a 308 motor and you'll spend ten times as much. Why? Because a 308 motor is already developed significantly and getting more out of it takes a lot more ingenuity and modification. IMO the same goes for Ferrari, the team. Todt, Brawn et al arrived when there was no where to go but up. The team and car are developed significantly. You could give them ten times more money and you might see improvement. But bringing in some people with fresh ideas will probably have a more significant impact - for less money.
Yes, but only because the rules of the game changed significantly. If the 2005 rules would have been the same as for 2004 I highly doubt if Ferrari would be in the same position as they are. O well, it could be worse, look at Williams. Ciao, Peter
The issue is probably in the overall design of the car. You can't just bake a new monocoque without spending months of development and production work. Especially not if you don't even fully understand what causes your problem. No, your hypothesis is just that.
The rules changed for sure but considering the one-tire rule is the biggest change from last year, how has that impacted Ferrari's qualifying performance? I see them qualifying in the fourth or fifth row quite a lot yet they were in the first row last year. I understand Bridgestone has problems producing a tire that can perform well throughout the entire race but are you saying they can't even produce one that's fast for one lap?
Agree, but that is because Rory, and the rest of the design teams ideas would still work. These latest changes have caught the Ferrari brain trust out and as we have seen all season long they are NOT getting much improvement either. Thus they are lost and probably really struggling with the WHY ??? Somebody with fresh ideas just might look at things different enough to unlock the key ... ? Pete
gosh. I never thought that this subject could actually be brought up and debated here in a civilised fashion. I do agree that its new people (and therefore , by definition , new ideas) that are required. Just to say that success and its corollary , failure , is inevitable and 'cyclical' , is too easy an argument. What does happen is that the competition always learns , learns from both their mistakes and also from your successes. So , perhaps Ferrari are exactly just where they were this year as they were last. Just that everyone else has caught up or surpassed the 'mark'. I also believe that there was way to much of a 'smug' attitude. Makes the others just plain hungrier.
I'm wondering who's the hot property today. Have the designers become anonymous? I recall not long ago that people like Barnard (sp?), Newey and Byrne were in hot demand. Has it moved from a one man show (if it was like that anyway) to a corporate thing? So if Ferrari decided it was time to go for Byrne, Brawn and Todt, who would they headhunt? Ciao, Peter
Ferrari handed over the reigns to Aldo Costa, but his first creation has hardly been an unqualified success. Shame we'll not really know just how much this is due to the tyres and how much to the chassis. Gavin Fisher is on the market now - got the push from Williams for this year's unimpressive car. He was part of the Newey team with Willis, so hs a good pedigree. If Renault pull out that'll put Tim Densham on the market too.
