Refreshing start to the season ...

Amen to that.

 

i second!

 

I’ll third that. I probably only watched half of last years races, I’d be surprised if I don’t catch all 19 this year though.

 

There are still 18 races to go. I higly doubt it. Alonso and Fisi will start to show in their relative inexperience in a few races.

No Doubts... remember 2003... they silenced all the critics

He needs at least a few more years to develop as a decent driver. I highly doubt he is World Champion material even after that.

Ralf will come out on top in the end.

Ferrari and Bridgestone have been delt a short hand by the laws of the sport. If the rules are changed to benefit one side and harm another then they cannot be considered as fair. The only reason Michelin have done well is because 7 teams test their product vs. Ferrari who tests Bridgestone tires. (Minardi and Jordan Midland do not count)

Seems like you enjoy the lottery system of endurance racing rather than true performance racing.

Ferrari will be back ... just like 2003!

-A true tifosi till I die.

 

Ferrari chose Bridgestone on their own. Nobody forced them to that. It worked for them in the past by having a tire manufacturer who designs a tire specifically for your car. This time it backfired. Too bad, but don't blame it on the rules. Ferrari could do what Sauber did: Switch to Michelins. It's a free world.

 

Even for being a long time die-hard tifosi, there is some real good to going into a race with no idea who will win.

Kinda makes me root louder for the boys from Maranello so we can ring those churchbells!

 

I agree that Ferrari chose Bridgestone as a technical partner to supply tires. However, the new rules make it such that Ferrari and Bridgestone's core competencies are undermined. In essence the new rules make it such that other teams only have to change 15% to improve or stay competitive. Where as Ferrari has to change 90% to stay competitive. The new rules give other teams an unfair advantage because they did not need to develop higher performance race cars any more. They just need to develop tires and cars that last longer.

Performance racing is where Ferrari is unbeatable. Making F1 an endurance competition only allows other teams to catch up and exceed Ferrari.

In either case, Ferrari will be back... Michael, Rubens and Jean Todt will silence the critics again.

 

You can't have it both ways. When the Ferrari/Bridgestone collaboration first started succeeding, others cried foul because Michelin was making a tire designed primarily towards McLaren and secondarily to Williams and the others had to live and adjust to the tires they were dealt. Ferrari, meanwhile, enjoyed preferred status, using a tire engineered entirely for them. They are the reason everyone else races on Michelin. These days the tires are very much an integrated part of the race car, and if they're designed for somebody else's car, you're kinda fncked and forced to deal with it. So, the boys at Ferrari are very much aware of their impact on the tire situation, and that their partnership with Bridgestone resulted in a lot of success, and now it's being tested a bit. I hardly think it can be called unfair.

 

I've got a few thoughts on the items posted here for discussion:
1. Ferrari are running a 2004 car modified to 2005 specs. The new car will debut in Sakhir (Bahrain) and should be good for about +1.5 sec per lap. Considering the amount of progress Renault have made, this should put Ferrari back to the top of the grid with Renault about in the position they were last year.

2. Did anybody look at Rubens' tires at the end of the Malaysian GP (before he pulled into the garage a lap or two before the end, I might add)? The drivers rear was down to nearly nothing. Even though teams are allowed to change tires in event of serious problems (puncture, etc..) do you really think teams will risk being disqualified for making a wrong call? How long will it take before we will see a more serious accident than Kimi had in this very race? I see flashbacks of Senna's crash comming to mind and this pains me. The saying "Where the rubber meets the road" pretty much describes how vital tires are to motor racing and especially F1. Bring back tire changes and give Max Mosley the boot.

3. Ferrari are always at their best when under preassure. Todt is paranoid by nature and now his paranoia is realized. This will force him to elevate the entire team's game and come Sahkir, we will see a turning of the tide. I'll bet money on that. Toyota's day in the limelight will be a brief affair when Ferarri and Renault battle for positions 1,2 &3. Alonso is the real deal and so are Michael and Rubens. Fisi may be too but it's too soon to tell, since he was with crap teams for so long.

4. If there is one weak point this year, it will be Bridgestone. If Ferrari can't rack up enough data between two drivers, three test drivers, and two test tracks (they own Mugello too, don't forget) then we can expect to see them relegated to positions other than one and two. Michelin will be working hard as usual.

Just my .02

 

I've got a few thoughts on the items posted here for discussion:
1. Ferrari are running a 2004 car modified to 2005 specs. The new car will debut in Sakhir (Bahrain) and should be good for about +1.5 sec per lap. Considering the amount of progress Renault have made, this should put Ferrari back to the top of the grid with Renault about in the position they were last year.

2. Did anybody look at Rubens' tires at the end of the Malaysian GP (before he pulled into the garage a lap or two before the end, I might add)? The drivers rear was down to nearly nothing. Even though teams are allowed to change tires in event of serious problems (puncture, etc..) do you really think teams will risk being disqualified for making a wrong call? How long will it take before we will see a more serious accident than Kimi had in this very race? I see flashbacks of Senna's crash comming to mind and this pains me. The saying "Where the rubber meets the road" pretty much describes how vital tires are to motor racing and especially F1. Bring back tire changes and give Max Mosley the boot.

3. Ferrari are always at their best when under preassure. Todt is paranoid by nature and now his paranoia is realized. This will force him to elevate the entire team's game and come Sahkir, we will see a turning of the tide. I'll bet money on that. Toyota's day in the limelight will be a brief affair when Ferarri and Renault battle for positions 1,2 &3. Alonso is the real deal and so are Michael and Rubens. Fisi may be too but it's too soon to tell, since he was with crap teams for so long.

4. If there is one weak point this year, it will be Bridgestone. If Ferrari can't rack up enough data between two drivers, three test drivers, and two test tracks (they own Mugello too, don't forget) then we can expect to see them relegated to positions other than one and two. Michelin will be working hard as usual.

Just my .02

 

PSK,

You are only happy when you see Ferraris doing bad. Go on and pretend that everything is fine.

Bottom line the new rules are:
1) A safety hazard as they increase risk.
2) Unfair to teams such as Ferrari and McLaren who had developed in completely the opposite direction.

Too bad you will be complaining again in a month after Ferrari and Bridgestone catch up even though the rules are meant to hurt them more than other teams.

 

heheha . who died and made you God ?

puleeeze ....

 

There was a time when F1 raced on slicks and tires lasted the entire race. Nothing special about that and definitely no safety issue.

Bernie reintroduced pitstops for refueling and tire changes to increase the entertainment values of the races. But whether a tire is designed to last 15 laps or an entire race doesn't affect safety, it only affects on how fast the tire will loose its grip.

 

I keep seeing the safety card played, over and over again in various threads, all the time with little merit behind it... What is more dangerous… the 2004 corner speeds or making tires hard enough to last the entire race?

1. In 1993 they had achieved 5Gs in cornering and driver’s were starting to have momentary black outs. Read any of Senna’s books and this is the core of his physical training… improving blood supply to the brain was more critical with skirted cars than getting any other form of physical workout. No matter your opinion on him, he was a phenomenal driver based on facts alone, so he must have been doing something right. We all know where this trend led to (Senna aside, how bout RR and RB), and in 1995 you saw cars with econo-box width tires and drastically reduced downforce (oddly enough, F1 didn’t turn into “endurance racing” then with larger rule changes than we have for 2005, but that’s another story). Senna even went so far as to say that he felt several of the 91-93 crashes wouldn’t have occurred if people didn’t suffer from blood flow problems and an inability correctly make a split second decision. But, that’s speculation on his part I suppose.

2. Flash forward a decade and we have once again return to the ~5G cornering loads in 2004. Schumacher notes in this month’s Forza that last year at Interlagos drivers were starting to have serious difficulties keeping their head up under those loads (bring back any thoughts of Senna’s comments…) . He also notes the new car feels slow in another interview, but it is much more driveable. Now think about RS at Indy last year. A huge crash, except unlike a decade ago, the FIA is not waiting for an Imola 94 to occur, and is stepping in this year instead of waiting to see if someone can get killed. When tires go, they tend to do so on long straights with relatively little to hit (think of Button last year, he had a couple goods ones). When the car lets lose at 4-5Gs in a corner because grip has gotten so high that suspension collapses, etc. the result is never pretty and almost always much worse than any tire failures.

3. The bottom line is the FIA set out to slow the corner speeds. They tried to reduce aero grip more than the decrease in mechanical, and with that I agree (car more consistent from high to low speed corners). No one is making Michelin and Bridgestone step down on the wrong side of the performance envelope, a la KR or RB. They are fully capable of making tires that can go 70 laps safely, and in due time I’m sure they’ll surpass 2004 grip with tires that last the whole race.

4. My bottom line is that whining about the FIA reducing grip under the premise that it is more dangerous by means of harder (inherently more durable tires) is ridiculous. Stop dreaming. I agree that the pit crews look stupid with the ghostbuster pressure gauges though. Argue about other obviously stupid changes, like two day qualifying. That’s my last rant for awhile, and probably the last time I’ll stand up for the FIA (so enjoy it, or enjoy hating it).

 

Here's another aspect of the supposed tire safety-risk subject: we're two races into the season, and we are yet to see any big calamity due to the rule change. And, as the season gets on, tire quality will most likely improve and---now get this!---the drivers will actually improve at tire maintenance. Just think of it--restoring one of the lost driver skills to the sport.

 

Jack, clever as always.

For all those who cry foul at the regulations, remember this: MS is the best driver out there. So a challenge like preserving your tires plays into his hands. Just wait and see.

 

Hell fncking yeah, top post Pete! I couldn't agree more. Let's hope for a great season

 

I have already said I agree 100% with this, but I was wondering:

What do the tifosi really think? The tifosi as in the people living around Maranello, Imola and Monza. We call ourselves tifosi because we are Ferrarifans, but technically that is a bit of a misnomer, a real tifosi has to be of Italian blood and grown up around Maranello.

They come across as very passionate to the point of crazy, at least the folks hanging out in La Ravazza at the Imola GP. I wonder what they think, they might actually be quite happy with parade laps. Dunno.

Anybody from Northern Italy on here?

 

Dude, you're honest.

 

Honest to Scuderia Ferrari... till I die!