Hope your source is right Rookie cause I WANT Ferrari to win.
On the other hand if this is true and Ferrari has the best engine in the field then it must be tweaked to under-perform - maybe reliability i.e. % of breaking vs % of finishing.
I know that the car design is optimised towards straight line speed meaning that they can carry less wing and still maintain sufficient downforce - which explain the optimisim with respect to Monza, Indianapolis and Suzuka and the pessimisim for Hungary.
Canada speed traps are one thing but I feel that we should decide on the fastest engine in Indi
Indianapolis won't eighter tell who's got the strongest engine. Once for all, Ferrari is down on power compared to BMW. Ferrari is near Merc in power. Ferraris wings and floor are flexing within legal limit in a much more excellent way than the rest, that's why people get confused about engine power. Indianapolis is a Ferrari win, because that track requires both really high downforce and really low drag when on straight. You can't get the extreme of both. Changing aerodynamics is Ferrari still best in.
I don't think it's correct to blame bridgestone for Ferrari's dull performance. For example, last year bridgestone won 15 out of 17 races. No one complimented them. But now, since ferrari is losing, the blame comes on bridgestone.
I feel there is something deficient in the car itself, which does not permit bridgestone to try out new innovations. I think there is some limitation in the car which does not use the tyres to it's maximum potential.
Hello guest. I would like to ask, how on earth you can get both low drag and high downforce???? Arent they both extremities of basically the same thing; aerodynamics??
I think it possible to get both high downforce with low drag. this is where the detailed design plays its part,i.e efficient design. they just have to reduce the drag of other non-downforce part like the air intake,front and rear suspension design,placement of exhaust or a careful airflow management surround the wings and car so that the pressure difference between the pressure at the front and rear is not that great.
I think the new f2003 lacks development. from my reading of f1 techical 2000 book, the air outlet of ferrari (the shark-fin part) will hurt aerodynamic. and if you see carefully the air duct on Fw25 at the side of sidepod is exactly the same as air duct on f2002 last year.
one more thing is, from what i read in Racing technology magazine, f2002 actually lack downforce. the reason it can go so fast in the corner was because bridgestone tyres.F2003 is surely was designed using the same principle. it has a high aero efficiency (L/D ratio) but lack the critical downforce.combined with tyre factor(poor bridgestone) it looks logic enough why they are performing poorly now.
but since ferrari is highly aerodynamic efficient, I think monza and indianapolis would be better for them.Suzuka also would be fine coz all of its high-speed corner. if there is another low speed corner track ferrari will suffer again due to lack of downforce.so fortunately, the battle for title,I believe,is still alive.
Well, you see akbar, You can explain about aero efficiency, but not how to gain low drag with high downforce. You're right, non-downforce pieces can be made to have very low drag to increase aeroefficiency, but since you basically use drag in a favourable way to gain downforce, it's fundamentally impossible to get both extremities of the same subject.
If you're looking for a low drag F1 car, i thnik the F2001 was a reasonable one. Since revisions took place in aerodynamic regulations - raising the front wing by 10cm from the PR - , teams split to a) continued to search for more downforce, or b) comprised downforce for low drag. The latter proved to be more effective at that time since teams lacked any knowledge of getting as much downforce as they do now with the same regulations. This lead to more intense development of tyres in the following years. Tyres were the way to go for Ferrari to attck corners. More so than downforce.
IMO, i dont think Ferrari was particularly innovative in terms of aerodynamics over the past few years. Surprisingly enough, i thnik it was the smaller teams that really effect current F1 aerodynamics. Teams like Williams, Jordan, Sauber, Mclaren, and even Minardi.
Williams introduced the ever popular winglets infront of the rear wings. Jordan introduced the so-called 'Ferrari style' periscope air exhaust before Ferrari in 2001. Sauber introduced the innovative twin keel front suspension design. Mclaren created the trend of smaller engines and also those multiplane-ed bargeboards currently also used at Ferrari and Sauber. And Minardi brought along their PS01 in 2001 with an inclined radiator setup.
I thnik Ferrari's greatest strength is their ability to focus on tiny details. Of course they take nice ideas from others as all teams do, but it's Ferrari that really give light to it. Most of the parts listed above are very effectively in use on board the F2003-GA.
very interesting posts indeed monstro......
keep in mind everyone that besides the first few races when ferrari made some driving and tatical errors, then they looked like they were going to go back to their winning ways of 2002 and this stopped suddenly at monaco.....on saturday.
Odd that they dominated on thursday and other bridgestone teams went well then the rest of the weekend was all michelin.
but then you remember that a rumor (or allegation) was issued that suggested that bridgestone were using different compounds on front and rear tyres and was taken seriously enough for the FIA to issue and announcement on the subject...
let us see what this latest rumor bout the width of the contact patch of the michelin tyres in during the race has if any.
peace out monstro....
if people dont think its down to the tyres look at this:-
Points scored at hungary
38 to Mich : 1 to Bridge
points in Germany
36 to Mich : 3 to Bridge
over the last 4 races it is something like Mich 128 points to Bridge 26 (approx)
TOTAL DOMINATION!
yes the mich teams are quicker than Bridge but i believe the tyres play a major role. Mich teams are on average approx 1 sec a lap quicker! Even BAR vs Jag the jags are quicker. plus last year BAR and SAUBER were probably the 5th& 6th teams after the top 4.....now with the demise of bridgestone and rise of michelin they have slipped down....as the Michelin teams of Toyota and Jaguar rise....coincedence that these teams got good as the other micheline teams (BMW , REN and MCLAREN) did....?
If only 2 or 3 michelin shod teams got better it could be put down to good car development...but EVERY michelin team has got very good (all ahve scored points and very high ones at that) whilst EVERY bridgestone team has got worse. FER, BAR, SAU, Jordan, MIN have all slipped down compared to last year.
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Also of interest
Barrichello has been faster than MS in every qualifying since Silverstone QF1!!! He has also scoreda pole and won a race!
Barrichello has scored 12 points out of possible 40 for last 4 races but has had 2 non finishes due to unreliability....
Schumacher scored 14 out of 40 but has finished all 4
this gives rubers a 6points per finish stat whilst schumi has only 3.5 points per finish.
WHATS GOING ON??
In both germany and hungary Rubers was much quicker than schumi. In Hungary he was 0.5 sec quicker is both qualifying sessions. Now Schumi has never really been slower than his team mate , let alone by 0.5 of a sec. A little worrying if Rubens has been faster for past 3 race weekends! Watch very closely at Monza to see if this trend continues
I think Bridgestone is really bad this year.But this shows one thing. Ferrari car is massively better than other Bridgestone runners.Even with stone tyres,Michael still leading the championship, even by a point.
Michael and Ferrari and of course Bridgestone is sleeping this season.But somehow Rubens woke up and steal the race from Michael. But I still think Michael will still fight,like what he said, till the final bends.In f1.live.com,its said that Ferrai has new wings,sidepods,diffuser and engine modification as well as launched control.Hopefully this produce another slipstreaming,wheel brushing,side-by-side,front-wing flying,power-sliding and out of this world racing.
haha well saying your car is better is the easiest, always has been....
Sauber's car is also better than last year, but the other teams made a bigger step forward. Sure the tyres play an important role here, but the advantage of the F2003-GA is not that much I dare to think... the F2002 had a bigger advantage on the competitors.
