From: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79980 Ferrari: Diffuser row costly for team By Jonathan Noble Monday, November 2nd 2009, 13:50 GMT Ferrari believes its 2009 season was wrecked by the row over double diffusers - but says total rules clarity for next year means there is no reason it cannot be back fighting for the title. The Maranello-based team did not initially adopt the double-diffuser concept used by Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota at the start of the season and it struggled to integrate it onto its F60 once the FIA ruled it totally legal. Well aware that it was always going to be on the back foot with its car, Ferrari took the decision mid-campaign to shift all its focus onto its 2010 design which has now made it bullish about its prospects for next year. When asked by AUTOSPORT for the reasons why the team feels confident about its chances for next season, team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "The confidence comes from the fact that we don't see any loophole in the regulation that can be considered, I would say, legal. Now things are legal full stop. No discussions and we can look ahead always. "We also did the choice that Ross [Brawn] did with Honda two years ago, to concentrate all the efforts into the new project. I think the reason we did something different to McLaren was because our car was structured so as to not to develop the double diffuser. "It was blocked, and that is why we said we don't have to do work here, because it will not carry on next year. That is why, looking at the numbers we have in the wind tunnel, I am positive now. With my feet on the ground - but for sure positive." Although Ferrari missed out on third place in the Constructors' Championship by just one point to rival McLaren, Domenicali has praised the fighting spirit of his team for its effort over what was a hard season. "We had the spirit and we are used to getting out with the Ferrari spirit and the Ferrari resources, and that is what we have to learn this year," he said. "It was of course a difficult season, but you have to look at the situation this year and what happened. I think for sure on the technical side, the championship was in a way steered with the double diffuser situation at the beginning. "That, for us, [meant] we had to work on the car without that kind of structure and it was difficult to catch up. We knew it, and this is the reason why considering what we saw when we did the first step of development, we took the very difficult decision to say in the middle of July, look let's stop work on this car and work for next season. "It was a very painful decision because we know in this contest, with a lot of emotion, you have to suffer and you have to think that you have done a rational decision. It is painful to pay this year, but let's hope it will be good for next year. "If you look at the end of the championship, unfortunately we are fourth one point behind McLaren who took the decision, which has to be totally respected, to develop the car up until the end. "We have, since the accident of Felipe [Massa], only one car scoring points. I think that if you look at the glass, you have to take it as being half full rather than being half empty. I think that is all the things we have to consider, but for sure there are a lot of important lessons to be learned this year for next season."
I think there was more involved in the F60's problems than the double difuser but it's a good excuse. I think they spent too much time on KERS which never really paid out. McLaren had a similar problem. His point about losing Massa though is a good one. Massa was just starting to get the car working when he was injured. They've been a one car team since then. To finish 4th and only one point behind 3rd is actually a bit impressive when you think about it. But, there is one little problem.... next year's car will have no excuses. If it doesn't perform, heads will roll at the big red machine. A new car with a full year of development AND Alonso and Massa in them? Come on! It's either a world championship next year or it's a major failure. It's difficult to see how much better a situation they can be in. The only real question is Alonso's lack of track time until Feb. He may get off to a slow start but he certainly won't be another Fisi.
Re: the diffuser, intentional ambiguity on the part of Bernie/Max to ensure something other than a Ferrari/McLaren contest. How can teams "interpret" the rules so differently when so much $$$ is at stake? You would think that a ruling as to legality might be issued BEFORE the season starts. Hate to be cynical, but its as if the two top teams were told to "sit this one out." Clarity for 2010? We'll see...
Sorry guys, I'd just spotted this article as I was going out the door and didn't have time to come back to it. Whilst it's not exactly news, I think alot of people who are questioning why the F60 was so poor, haven't realised just how much the double diffuser upset the balance of the car. From the start, the whole design concept was based on the single diffuser and the aero balance was set as required based on this concept. When the double diffusers were declared legal, it was like a double edged sword. Ferrari (and the other teams) realised that to incorporate the double diffuser would upset the aero balance but the gains to be made meant you had to have it, it was worth too much in overall lap times. The trick was how to do it with the least compromise, which some teams did effectively (think McLaren and eventually Red Bull), whilst other teams (like Ferrari), struggled with it. I suspect the F60 ended up with too much rear aero and grip at the back end, making the car car too unstable under braking. I also suspect that when they counter acted the rear end successfully, they wound up with too much overall drag and were then slow again. By this time, as far as they were concerned, the season was over (I doubt Ferrari really care that much between finishing 3rd or 4th, anything less than a win being a poor season). As I read the article, what Domenicali is saying is that the 2010 car's concept and aero balance will already incorporate the double diffuser and so the compromise will be gone.
Didn't Ferrari also have to redesign the KERS system at the last minute changing the weight distribution?
I thought they did due to the FIA changing a regulation but can't find anything about on the net (FIA conspiracy anyone!). As I had read it, the F60 had been very fast until this relocation was called for and that was the start of their problems. (Thank you VIZSLA, I was starting to think I'd imagined it and was on My own with that thought )
As I remember it involved moving the battery from the nose of the car. If so that would be a major change indeed.
Ah!, Quasimodo! (That rings a bell! ) Yes,I think the FIA said the reason battery had to be moved was on the grounds of safety, in case the nose section got ripped off in an accident and went flying with 30Kg's of weight in it. And if My thinking is right, Ferrari were using the weight of the battery as ballast to help give the F60 superb turn-in characteristics when cornering. They only managed to rebalance the weight of the car to any reasonable degree when they introduced the lightweight B-spec car, and even then they couldn't claw back the majority of the inbalance.
McLaren and Force India had made far superior aero advancements compared to Ferrari with regards to their diffuser design. The fact that these teams were able to consistently adopt race weekend telemetric aero data, and rapidly develop parts to make advantageous use of them, race to race, doesn't bode well for the Domenicali-led Scuderia next year... unless that testing ban is lifted. And the Ferrari engine runs hotter than MB's or Renault's... rear aero efficiencies on Ferrari-powered cars this year were less than ideal becuase of the cooling accommodations that were needed.
I attended a lecture with ferraris head of CFD aerodynamics back in may just before the spanish GP who evetually started to discuss the double diffusor, in general I would say he was furious about that FIA had agreed to use the double diffusor at the same time they were cutting cost (this apparently increased cost by another $10m,) this change was clearly a political decision as FIA wanted someone else to win that Ferrari or Mc, we can't forget that Mosely who runned things at the time really hated Ron Dennis so it is quite obvious why this was allowed. When asked about the gain ferraris version would get he said 0.5-1s. Kimi improved by 0.75s so yes they really do have a good control what is needed to make the car go. If you also have to remove a 30kg weight over the front wheels on a car weighting only 600+ kg it is very understandable why they got problems with car balance, this together with the new diffusor would clearly have given the car a rear biased pressure distribution (kimi apparently hates understeered cars hence his performance). The funny thing is why a team like ferrari aren't able to counteract such a design fault quickly??, also why they didn't do this within a season to be able to use the current car as a testmule in a world which does not allow testing is just plain stupid. I acctually do recon next year when larger tanks are allowed the old kers car would have a benefit since they have already been forced to package a larger volum that the others. If you look at the current speed of the mclaren it is clear that they have already done the homework needed within a season and gotten the feedback needed to develop the car in the right direction.
The smart guys will also be doing fuel efficiency data logging as well. If you can stretch out your kg / mile then making a very efficient engine could have huge rewards. KERS was one of the biggest downfall of Ferrari this year, it was all packaged in the wrong places. I agree with the previous poster who said Ferrari should have used both cars as test mules. But with KR and GF both leaving the team, it would be madness to let your competition know what was being done through 2009. But Massa's injury was a major setback for the team, more so than KERS,DDD etc etc.
If you look in the FIA website, technical section, rules, in detail, it describes a defuser, further back than 2008, gives dimentions and describes a single defuser. F1Tecnical website also describes a defuser of a single plane and gives a graphic of the allowed area to be used. Ferrari designers asked the FIA Techs about double defusers when putting the F-60 together. They were told "Single, Box like, this much by that big only" Max loves Ross,Maybe
