Chuckjr wrote: ↑31 Mar 2019, 06:08
Maybe the over cooling was more in regards to bodywork and shaping which compromised them in a way a switch or valve or computer control could not help?
Could the smaller aero footprint of the Ferrari front wing compared to the Merc be contributing to Ferrari's straight line speed in Bahrain, or is it down to mostly PU settings and management?
According to the data, Mercedes was faster (in qualifying) than Ferrari in single every corner except turn 2.
However, Ferrari gained 4 tenths on Mercedes on the straights. While Ferrari backed off their PUs a bit during the race in Melbourne, they did run them at full power for qualifying (they admitted this, and the GPS data from the weekend confirmed this).
And Ferrari did not have the same sort of straight-line advantage in Melbourne. When you couple that with the fact that Mercedes was faster in the corners in Bahrain, the Mercedes engineers (via AMuS) believe that Mercedes is running more rear downforce than Ferrari. They went a bit heavier on the downforce because they're hoping it helps with tire management.
Also, Haas, despite running Ferrari PUs, lost about 6 tenths to Ferrari on the straights. All of that evidence rules out the PU as the main differentiating factor.
In sum, it looks like Ferrari was able to achieve a very efficient setup for qualifying. If they're able to keep the tires alive with a little less downforce, that will really speak to the efficiency of the concept/platform.