scuderiabrandon wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 01:56
organic wrote: ↑03 Jun 2023, 21:07
Carlos mentioned in the post-quali press conference that the update was meant to improve their low and medium speed performance more than anything else and they've felt an improvement in that regard. And the noises from Ferrari generally seemed positive about the upgrade.
But he also downplayed the amount of pure performance it is adding. He talks about it bringing a step into a different direction/ opening up a different window of operation
Were lacking in the high speed, this is where we need focusing, were fairly competitive everywhere else.
To be honest, yesterday didn't look any better than before. Of course, it has to be said that Mercedes didn't look good in Monte Carlo either, just as almost every team didn't really look good in the first race with a major update. Most teams even needed several races to get their update working and Ferrari may also need a few races. However, I am still convinced that Ferrari has a big problem with the tyres, because you can see that the variations with the soft compound are not as big as with the other compounds. Like i have explained already in recent comments the basic grip of a compound is determined by its hysteresis - the ability to absorb the energy that goes into the tire. The rubber and its chemical components form a compound that is visco-elastic, with a deformability somewhere between a liquid and a solid. The more toward a liquid it tends to be, the softer the compound. A softer compound will tend to have a higher hysteresis, although this also depends on its chemical composition. The rate at which a compound responds to an increase in load is not consistent. There is a delay in how it reacts to the loads because of the elasticity of the material. So if the frequency of the load is too high, it prevents the compound from returning to a state of equilibrium between loads. It then stiffens the compound and the compound will not be able to absorb as much energy and loses some of its grippieness. So the compound effectively becomes harder at high frequency input loads and softer at lower ones. A too low tire temperature has the same effect. There is an inverse relationship on the effect on the softness of a compound between the input frequencies of the loads and the temperature of the compound. At low frequencies between 10 Hz and 105 Hz, an increase in frequency by a factor of 10 causes the compound to harden like a drop in temperature from 8 to 9 degrees Celsius.The higher the hysteresis, the more heat is generated (because the tyre must absorb more energy). The ideal running temperature of the tread at which the hysteresis of the compound is at its maximum is just slightly above that at which the compound hardens. The "base" softness/hardness of the compound - before the influence of load frequencies and of course temperatures must be considered, is called modulus. Low modulus = soft and high modulus = hard. A low-modulus compound will generate more chemical grip where the rubber of the contact patch bonds with the surface of the track. It will also develop more mechanical grip whereby the unsymmetrical way in which the rubber drapes itself over the rough surface creates a delayed reaction that tries to pull the rubber back to euqilibrium.This force is pulling in the opposite direction to that imposed by the cornering loads and thereby increases grip. Chemical grip generally occurs between frequencies of 106-109 Hz, mechanical grip predominates between 102-106 Hz. Tyre temperature has a lot to do with the amount of energy it has to absorb, although the track temperature itself plays a big role. The temperature at which an F1 tire typically reaches its "vitreous transition" state, and thus its ideal state, is between 85(C5) and 140 degrees(C1), depending on the compound. I think when you consider all this it becomes clear why it is often seen that a team can't cope on one day (like Mercedes on Friday) and as soon as the temperature changes (like on Sunday) their performance is suddenly very good. The temperature at which all compounds work is 115 degrees Celsius. And here I think is the real secret of Red Bull and their suspension, not the anti-dive which all teams use anyway to a certain percentage (although I do think that the percentage and the interaction between rear and front suspension play a big role, so anti-dive and anti-squat). Red Bull is the only team that always manages to keep the tires at 115 degrees under all conditions at every track. Many teams work with very stiff suspensions, which increases the contact frequencies, with the consequences explained above, the compound hardens and you become slower in the course of a stint, or at least only less faster despite decreasing weight. Ferrari's problems are also here, I think, because since the TD039 they use a stiffer set-up. But the curing of the compound by high contact frequencies changes the tyre accordingly. And then you could be caught in a dilemma that makes it incredibly difficult and this would also explain why soft compounds work better than harder ones. It would also explain Ferrari's performance inconsistency and problems in the race and above all why they can't find a solution (although I'd like to emphasize that we'll have to wait and see, because other teams also needed several races to get their updates up and running). It is often underestimated that the tyres are the most important component of a car. They transmit all the forces and if they don't work you can lose seconds. I remember in 1997 Ferrari only gained 2.5 seconds in a few months by improving the interaction between tyres and suspension. Everyone thought it was the new aerodynamic parts, but in fact it was because they had learned to match the car and tyres perfectly. And I don't know if the fluctuating performance can actually be explained by aerodynamics that are similar in their basic features to those of 2022 and functioned perfectly up to TD039. I don't want to say that there are no problems here, that would be wrong for sure, because just the changeable driving behavior points to problems in this area (Tyre Squirt, or problems with Strake Vortex or Floor Edge Vortex at certain vehicle conditions, whereby I think that these could become elliptical and thereby their vector field could change). But the actual fluctuating performance I think has its origin in the tyres and the suspension, just like Red Bull's consistency in the race, on every track and in all conditions have their origin in a perfect interaction between tyres and suspension and an absolutely perfect understanding of this interaction and what happens with the tyres. That's the only way I can explain what's been happening to Ferrari over the last 12 months.
