2017 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team - Ferrari

[Sevach]

https://twitter.com/PREMA_Team/status/8 ... 4915382272 That's familiar...

[Vasconia]

Vettel does so many laps in these test sessions with the cars supposedly harder to drive. That guy is a machine! My respect for him has just went up a level.

It was a very productive way, more than 150 laps(Sebastian deserves his salary), very good pace, no problems. I hope they can bring good updates for the first race and confirm that they can battle against Mercedes.

[Schuttelberg]

I don't mean to brag, since he's my favourite driver, but after putting in 330 odd laps in these 3 days, he's in the SIM in Maranello today. So i hear anyway.

[aleks_ader]

I don't mean to brag, since he's my favourite driver, but after putting in 330 odd laps in these 3 days, he's in the SIM in Maranello today. So i hear anyway.

Heard from who?

[Schuttelberg]

I don't mean to brag, since he's my favourite driver, but after putting in 330 odd laps in these 3 days, he's in the SIM in Maranello today. So i hear anyway.

Heard from who?

A friend, but take it with a pinch of salt. I have no confirmed source.

[Sevach]

[Vanja #66]

Those are some very disciplined laps driven to a time delta. Discipline is good, I like discipline...

[ringo]

The car is looking like it may be stronger than mercedes. But i remember something similar the last time. They looked very fast in winter testing.
But this car for sure is a strong one. The wings in front of the sidepods and possibly have the strongest ICE may be making the difference.

[Vanja #66]

I've looked at my notes from last year on another forum (where preseason thread had like 220-250 posts) and it wasn't quite the same. Mercedes were pounding lap after lap, ruthlessly. Ferrari had some reliability issues also, not looking to be small either. Almost 900 laps looked meager compared to 1300 by Merc. Now both teams were pounding almost the same (I believe Ferrari could also have crossed 1000 lap milestone had Kimi not had Wednesday crash) and their pace seems really close.

With that said, Merc is the team to beat in 2017 and will remain so until they are beaten. For now, Ferrari look better than last year and that's just the first step for them.

[ME4ME]

Those are some very disciplined laps driven to a time delta. Discipline is good, I like discipline...

I don't like it at all. The very reason for having these more durable tyres, possibly at the cost of less pit stops and overtaking, is that the drivers should be able to push throughout the race.

That said, it remains to be seen how much they can push, or indeed need to follow a pre-set time.

[ringo]

Less pitstops will be better provided the tyres are more durable. The drivers will take more risks to overtake on track and not worry about tyre life. I think things are heading in the right direction.
Ferrari aren't out of the woods yet though... The car is improved, but they made too many mistakes last year operations-wise.
They need to work on strategy and pit stops to be the top team again.

[iotar__]

Less pitstops will be better provided the tyres are more durable. The drivers will take more risks to overtake on track and not worry about tyre life. I think things are heading in the right direction.

190 points and every single statement here is completely against basic reality of F1 racing.
"Less pitstops will be better provided the tyres are more durable"
Durable tyres are the reason for 'less pitstops'.* Durable is better for racing is absurd. No, durable means every single car will be on the same strategy with one (ONE) occasion to do something different. Less stops more durable tyres - less variation in strategy (including tyre differences). Remember Hamilton behind Vettel in Spain '15? Quicker car and couldn't overtake (yes tyres were sliding, too hard, this year's equivalent - aero, dirty air, less effective DRS). More stops, fresher tyres, Ferrari on stretched stints, not overtake but getting in front was possible. That's the problem with F1, every knows what will happen and everyone's doing the same (e.i. refuelling era).

*Now for a theoretical exercise, which tyres are more 'durable' and thus better for overtaking (less worries, according to this logic)? Less durable on two stops or more durable on one ? Number of stops matters.

"The drivers will take more risks to overtake on track and not worry about tyre life."
Remember Alonso -Petrov? Were tyres durable? Was he worried about tyres? Was he not willing to take risks? Absurd upon absurd. Why would be less durable tyres (less grip, potentially bigger performance difference) be stopping drivers from taking risks? On the contrary, difference gives opportunity and possibility to take risks and for the other driver to make mistakes, example: Ricciardo - Hamilton Hun '14 and plenty others: Ricciardo-Perez Can '14). Not the other way round. You take risks when the chances are higher. You don't take risks when you can't overtake at all, period.

There's also a question of timing: when those cars can be close enough to overtake, weight, effectiveness of DRS. Why do you think it was more difficult for Vettel to overtake Rosberg in AD '16 than earlier cars (apart from car itself, Merc vs slower ones and stupid blocking )? You'd say not durable enough tyres , yes and no, A. the thing is durability works for both cars. B. Durability or lack thereof allowed him to pit later, gain fresher tyres advantage and overtake cars (using evil DRS). When the difference in performance was smaller, cars lighter and DRS less effective, closer to the end (risk factor) - overtake was less probable.

[ringo]

The tyres in the past had very poor durability. Durability doesn't really equate to less grip.
Once you attempted a couple late braking maneuvers that was it, you couldn't try to overtake again. We even saw where drivers had to back off because the tyres were overheating or graining up and the strategy wouldn't work if they grained them too early etc. It's that kind of racing where i think we may be able to avoid this year.
The cars have more grip and the tyres are more durable. If there are less pit stops, a driver will have to put more effort into overtaking if he knows the strategic options are exhausted.
I much rather see cards duelling on the same strategy than one car on a tyre that's 3 seconds a lap faster blowing past another car trying to make a strategy work on 30 lap old tyres.
I don't know how this equates with your theories, but i think you may understand what i am getting at.

Iotar i think the sport needs to move away from using performance deficits, be they tyres, DRS, to enable overtaking. You can't really call it competition if we are depending on one guy to be technically disadvantaged (worse if he is actually equally as talented) to the other guy for a battle to take place on track. Maybe im wearing rose tinted glasses, but the refuelling days had more ballsier and on the edge battles.
Any how Ferrari is shaping up to be about equal with mercedes this year, and i can't wait to see which driver will be the lead driver to fight Hamilton. I just want the team to stop shooting themselves in the foot with poor strategy and pitstops.

[Vasconia]

I don´t know if Ferrari is as good(or better) as the Mercedes but if I compare it with 2016´s winter tests the main differences I can see are those:

1. Better reliability.
2. Stronger pace(and seems that they are hiding some potential contrary to other seasons).
3. Better traction.
4. Very well designed aerodynamics.

Australia can´t come soon enough!

[g70]

I do not think Allison has contributed to the SF70 project.
After his wife's death he did not attend more to the race weekend. Ferrari left him free to care for their family interests in England (Ferrari issued a press release) and was in Maranello reluctantly. Meanwhile, Mercedes knew that Lowe at the end of the year would go away and was therefore looking for a substitute. Mercedes spoke with Allison early in 2016 and everything was perfect: Lowe away at the end of 2016, Allison, free from Ferrari, would be back in time for gardening early in 2017. Since then, Allison still neglected the team more. The contract was mutually terminated in August.
Is my opinion