Is the Renault struggling over the bumps?

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Keir
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Joined: 09 Feb 2007, 21:16

Is the Renault struggling over the bumps?

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I've just been watching some test footage on YouTube particuarly from the Valencia test.

The Renaults seemed to be a bit unsettled over the bumps, meaning the drivers were feeding the power in after the point where the Mclaren's were already on it.

Might be just me, but interested to hear your views.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg4yURzutKo

bhall
bhall
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Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 21:26

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Someone posted this on another forum. It's an interesting read that somewhat concerns your question.
Gary Anderson's latest testing (from Barcelona) impressions in Motorsport-Aktuell:

Ferrari:
Barcelona is still very abrasive for the tyres despite its new chicane, and Ferrari is still the best when it comes to tyre degradation. It wasn't a surprise to me since Ferrari is working with BS for several years now. Ferrari's advantage on the long runs is obvious which leads to the following conclusions: either Ferrari sandbagged and mislead the competition, or Barcelona magnifies the tyre issue. I watched this car for hours in turn 3, 7 and the new chicane and it was clearly the best car there, it stays very stable, turns in very quick and isn't any nervous at all despite the drivers fighting with the harder compound. It caught my eyes that Massa knows how to handle tyres better than Kimi does, he sure learned a lot from Michael. It looks like Kimi still has to catch up there. So i think that Kimi and Massa will be equal on a fast lap, but Massa will be faster on a long run.

Renault:
Their car impressed as well, but its not as stable as the Ferrari. The rear is more nervous than the Ferraris but there is no other car that generates as much downforce as the Renault. Laptimes are very consistent. Kovalainen and Fisichella should be happy.

McLaren:
I was surprised how Alonso handles the McLaren. It seems he tries to enforce his Renault driving style on the cars front-axle and overdrives it there. This leads to a premature degradation of the front tyres, something i couldn't see on Hamilton's car. I think its time for Alonso to give up his Renault-thinking. Its like Räikkönen, fast on one lap, but worrying on the long run. Hamilton's style, in contrast, is very smooth which amazed me. I thought he was all over the track to keep up with Alonso. His car looks more 'calm' than Alonso's, and i think its the driving-style that makes the difference and not the setup.

BMW:
The BMW is still very impressive. It embodies a simple but effective chassis with a very good handling in all sorts of curves. It was interesting to watch the two very different drivers. Heidfeld, being very unspectacluar, is already very confident with the new tyres. On the other side Kubica who finally tries to get rid of his aggressive turn-in style. In fast corners the BMW is as good as the Renault, and in slow corners the car is impressive as well. Im worried about their new gearbox which seems to be fragile.

Williams:
The new Williams is almost as good as the BMW. But Nico had to fight a lot of teething problems. Wurz drove a lot more than Nico. The car scores good for turn-in response and 'road holding'(? = Straßenlage), and traction out of slow corners. When i look at the longruns i think their 1 year of BS-experience must be worth a lot.

Honda:
Very disappointing. I heard of problems but didn't think that the grip-deficit was that dramatic. I cannot see that there is anything fundamentally wrong with car and I'm sure the wind-tunnel results are better than the ones of the RA106, but the competition made a bigger step. In high speed-corners Button and Barrichello are not even close to their rivals. It lacks grip in the chicanes as well. If the aero updates, planed for the Bahrain test, don't work we can write them off.

Toyota:
While we are at the teams that should be at the front ... This will be their sixth season and we are talking about the biggest car manufacturer in the world with unlimited resources. The front-axle just doesn't like any corners. Awful. The front-suspension, in this setup, wont work in one million years. I'm sure Toyota will desperateley try to make the front tyres work better and ruin the rear-suspension while they are at it ... The car lacks downforce as well. They wont score their first win this year that way.

Red Bull:
Like Honda and Toyota, Red Bull has much work to do. While the car looks good in fast corners, it lacks grip in slow ones. Or did they miss to adept to the new tyres? The car looks very nervous and difficult to handle when braking and shift of direction. I heard that the drivers feel uncomfortable in the car as well.

dumrick
dumrick
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Joined: 19 Jan 2004, 13:36
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This tyre-focused analysis surprised me a little.
I would count on the new BS's to be less sensible to wear and graining and to work on a reasonable level of performance under a wider scope of parametres, as opposed to last year's tyres whose peak of performance was reached in a narrow band of conditions and would drop down considerably out of that band.
That way, I would think that things like , e.g., Alonso's hard-on-front-tyres driving style would matter less than it did last year... :?

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Keir
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Joined: 09 Feb 2007, 21:16

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The tyre degradation issue is the biggest single issue this winter. All the teams have built their cars around the fact that the rear tyres need looking after.

Could it be that McLaren have gone too far the other way?

bhall
bhall
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Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 21:26

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dumrick wrote:That way, I would think that things like , e.g., Alonso's hard-on-front-tyres driving style would matter less than it did last year... :?
Alonso's "problem" with the new tires makes sense though. His hard turn-in seems to go beyond the traction of the new rubber forcing the tire to slide across the track. It's basically like sanding down the tire. Whereas before, the tires would bite into the track preventing that sort of abrasion.

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joseff
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Joined: 24 Sep 2002, 11:53

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Remember the 2005 one-tyre rule and how ppl were saying Fisi's smoothness is going to trounce Alonso's tyre-killing turn-in? Didn't happen then.

The really good drivers will make full use of the tyres. Driving into the pits with treads that look brand new means you're wasting the performance potential of the tyres. Remember Schumacher's banzai in-laps on totally bald tyres.