Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team 2015

[PlatinumZealot]

Does anyone remember what time of year was Massa's retirement announced?

[windwaves]

I think this car is basically a improved version of last year's chassis with the mistakes corrected. One can argue that it is Tombazis and Fry's design with little to no input from Allison and I doubt he would like to continue developing this platform.

The car still has understeer and lack of traction but not as worse as last year. But the chassis is flawed and performance varies from track to track and low to high temperature so it's better to ditch this and start on a new design than spend time correcting/improving this and that's what Ferrari are doing they are bring small updates which can be carried to new car.

People are also forgetting that this is a transitional year for Ferrari with new people and everything like Mclaren. Seb has no realistic chance to fight for WDC and finishing 2nd or 3rd in WCC makes no difference to a team like Ferrari so why push for updates?

I don't remember where I read it but Allison said they are shifting to new factory. Don't know if it was last year or this year but he said it would have an effect on development of this years car.

you got it, IMHO, your observations are right on. Ferrari is in transition and unlikely they would not much better than what they are doing. After all that is what they pretty much said at the beginning of the season. Fair.

[windwaves]

Does anyone remember what time of year was Massa's retirement announced?

That was not a terrible race from Massa, almost surprising. I do think Bottas might have done a better job if he was allowed to pass him at the beginning when his pace seemed stronger than Massa.

Anyhow, Massa will hang in there as long as he can.

[domh245]

Does anyone remember what time of year was Massa's retirement announced?

That was not a terrible race from Massa, almost surprising. I do think Bottas might have done a better job if he was allowed to pass him at the beginning when his pace seemed stronger than Massa.

Anyhow, Massa will hang in there as long as he can.

I think that PlatinumZealot was trying more to get a better idea of when Kimi might be announced as leaving the Scuderia based on when Massa's departure was announced. And for what it's worth, he announced his departure in early/mid September

[noname]

And for what it's worth, he announced his departure in early/mid September

Ferrari usually makes announcements during its home GP. This year we may expect something 1st weekend of September.

[Vasconia]

Raikkonen simply has more pace around silverstone at this moment. That's it. It's been like this trough every free practice and qualifying. I don't expect anything to change during the race.

Agreed. Mark Webber was often quicker around Silverstone as well. It isn't one of Vettel's strong circuits, although he managed to do well today.


Edit: Calculated Ferrari vs Mercedes qualifying deficit:

Australia: +1,66 %
Malaysia: +0,07 %
China: +0,94 %
Bahrain: +0,44 %
Spain: +0,92 %
Monaco: +1,00 %
Canada: +0,83 %
Austria: +0,52 %
Britain: +1,23 %

The best update for Ferrari would be some races with very high temperatures. The team is not going backwards but once again, their updates dont work as well as in other teams, for example Williams or Mercedes.

[evered7]

Raikkonen simply has more pace around silverstone at this moment. That's it. It's been like this trough every free practice and qualifying. I don't expect anything to change during the race.

Agreed. Mark Webber was often quicker around Silverstone as well. It isn't one of Vettel's strong circuits, although he managed to do well today.


Edit: Calculated Ferrari vs Mercedes qualifying deficit:

Australia: +1,66 %
Malaysia: +0,07 %
China: +0,94 %
Bahrain: +0,44 %
Spain: +0,92 %
Monaco: +1,00 %
Canada: +0,83 %
Austria: +0,52 %
Britain: +1,23 %

The best update for Ferrari would be some races with very high temperatures. The team is not going backwards but once again, their updates dont work as well as in other teams, for example Williams or Mercedes.

We do not know how much of an improvement was given to their customer cars through the Merc's reliability update. Lotus, FI, Williams have all suddenly upped their game since Canada. Can't be just a coincedence I suppose.

7 podiums in 9 races is still a decent return no matter how the competition is. 9/9 if not for a driver/car error, pitstop error.

Hungary is not power hungry I suppose? Maybe Ferrari might use the old allocation of the engines driven prior to the Canadian GP to balance the allocation sheet.

[wickedz50]

With the recent performance if the gradual step forward continues for Williams for the rest of the season and Ferrari continues their gradual decline then the 2nd spot in the championship for Ferrari is gone. Their pitstop time have increased suddenly in the last few races.

[bhall II]

We do not know how much of an improvement was given to their customer cars through the Merc's reliability update. Lotus, FI, Williams have all suddenly upped their game since Canada. Can't be just a coincedence I suppose.

Yeah, most "reliability" updates are a scam, even going back to the old V8s.

The key to maximizing development is to introduce a PU that actually requires a "reliability" update in order for it to operate at max power. It's like having free "tokens," and relative competitiveness is indicative of the manufacturers' ability to toe the line between current performance and future potential.

In other words, you have to be able to discern between areas in which reliability is paramount and areas where reliability can be pushed to some degree.

As Renault and Honda have clearly demonstrated, it's not easy, because success on-track hinges upon a fluid integration of all components. Thus, there's no such thing as a single fault; everything is compounded.

I still think Ferrari should be a bit less concerned about reliability, but that's the way they've always been. And it probably doesn't matter in the long run, anyway, because Mercedes is years ahead of everyone else...

“We started thinking about [PU design] almost as soon as [Brawn] was bought by Mercedes [in 2010],” [Nick] Fry told Telegraph Sport. “It presented the best opportunity of overhauling Red Bull, so resources were dedicated to it from a very early stage.

Combined with ill-considered regulations that severely limit the scope for improvement, Mercedes will likely always have a counter to rival developments. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a storage room somewhere in Brixworth that's filled with next-gen PU components, just waiting to be deployed at a moment's notice.

“I’m not sure I want to say where we have ended up on engine development, but let’s say that we have a 20 per-cent token buffer which we can introduce later.”

[windwaves]

nice post bhall !

I also wish Ferrari would be more aggressive but I fear the commercial side of their name brand often takes priority hence they really worry about their cars stopping in the middle of a race more than final placement. However, I have a feeling that Ferrari's conservatism had increased significantly in the past few years, particularly thanks to Domenicali's mismanagement, certainly someone unable to take any risks whatsoever.

Now, as to some positive though, I have a feeling that with the new guys with the team we are going to slowly reverse the trend Domenicali brought about and results will come. We do need to replace KR asap though.

I am also fed up with regulations that strangle the sport, its creativity, the entertainment and everything you can possibly imagine. I particularly disdain myself the bs of doing all of that stupid crap under the cost cutting saga. OMG. By the way what was LH agreed upon compensation ? ah ah ah

[Spoutnik]

I think Ferrari will put minimal ressource of developpement this year to secure the second place, and they will focuses on 2016.
Don't forget, the main target of Arrivabene at the start of this season was "to win 2 races", they achieve 50% of the work.

[evered7]

“We started thinking about [PU design] almost as soon as [Brawn] was bought by Mercedes [in 2010],” [Nick] Fry told Telegraph Sport. “It presented the best opportunity of overhauling Red Bull, so resources were dedicated to it from a very early stage.

Combined with ill-considered regulations that severely limit the scope for improvement, Mercedes will likely always have a counter to rival developments. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a storage room somewhere in Brixworth that's filled with next-gen PU components, just waiting to be deployed at a moment's notice.

“I’m not sure I want to say where we have ended up on engine development, but let’s say that we have a 20 per-cent token buffer which we can introduce later.”

I am not sure if Ferrari will ever catch up to Mercedes in the PU department but they certainly can do a lot with the Aero/Chassis department.

For one, they can stop being kinder to tires. I have not seen any race barring Malaysia (correct me if I am wrong) being a 3 pitstop one. Ferrari's tire advantage is not that great to turn a 2 stopper into 1. In that case, it will be better to find a way to heat up the tires quickly and maintain them at sane levels than babying it around in the initial few laps and then trying to be within 2 tenths or 3 of Mercedes' pace.

Their wet weather traction also didn't seem too good and they can still improve on the power delivery I suppose with Kimi spinning at the hint of a colder track or tires.

This and combined with the Monza PU upgrade will help them close the gap to Merc while also pulling away from the rest of Merc's minions.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I am not sure if Ferrari will ever catch up to Mercedes in the PU department but they certainly can do a lot with the Aero/Chassis department.

They never really had good aero people in their ranks. Even in Brawn/Todt/Byrne era, they got beaten by McLaren (Newey) and Renault with aero ideas. There is something at Maranello which doesn't allows Aero to flourish. They are always a Mechanical company and seems to remain the same. That is also the fundamental philosophy of Mr. Enzo Ferrari. Unfortunately, even the Mechanical strength is on erosion.

For one, they can stop being kinder to tires. I have not seen any race barring Malaysia (correct me if I am wrong) being a 3 pitstop one. Ferrari's tire advantage is not that great to turn a 2 stopper into 1. In that case, it will be better to find a way to heat up the tires quickly and maintain them at sane levels than babying it around in the initial few laps and then trying to be within 2 tenths or 3 of Mercedes' pace.

So, is the debate about Ferrari beating Mercedes based on tire advantage is over? Sigh.
It shows that they have never gone radical and have been over and over again, using the same platform for building their cars. For a number of years now, they have the trait of not pushing temperature in the tires.

This and combined with the Monza PU upgrade will help them close the gap to Merc while also pulling away from the rest of Merc's minions.

Williams jumping ahead of them on a track like Silverstone, speaks volumes about the progress Williams have made and the inability of Ferrari to move ahead in season.
Now, what exactly is Simon Resta and Byrne are doing in there? What is the head of aerodynamics Loic Begois doing, along with Dirk De Beer? Mr. Allison got so much of credit for Malaysia win, shouldn't he be answerable about the slump? Isn't he the one who decides the development direction?
As for Monza PU upgrade and closing the gap to Merc; Merc haven't introduced their token based PU upgrades yet this year and are bound to introduce it at Monza. Does that make it for an optimistic situation? If Merc delivers a good upgrade on their PUs, how is it that Ferrari can pull away from Williams? I am sure people at Ferrari are smart enough to ask these questions themselves, but the competition needs answer, which so far, haven't been answered.

[Wayne DR]

As for Monza PU upgrade and closing the gap to Merc; Merc haven't introduced their token based PU upgrades yet this year and are bound to introduce it at Monza. Does that make it for an optimistic situation? If Merc delivers a good upgrade on their PUs, how is it that Ferrari can pull away from Williams?

The only saving grace is that Merc may delay the upgrade to Williams (as a customer) for a race or two, as they have done previously.

This may see Ferrari gain a slight advantage over Williams, even if the Mercs are still ahead...

[wickedz50]

Ferrari needs some miracle on their PU development and pray somewhere they get their aero right. With some good strategy and luck Williams will eventually be No 2 on the championship table. For Ferrari fans its a complete nightmare as what to expect from the team. A win once in a blue moon and it was enough to forget the past failures. No crafty driver behind the wheels and on top a Malboro managed Team Boss. Selling smokes isnt the same as managing a F1 team. James Allison will continue to say he isnt involved in the design for eternity.
Focus on 2016-2017-may be even 2018 development but by the time they get there Merc PU will be 2020 powerful so when can they eventually catch upto the leader is the mystery!!!