where do I send my bets too please? and what odds do I get ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mia 01
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where do I send my bets too please? and what odds do I get ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mia 01
Hmm. While it looks like Red Bull and McLaren are still above others, it is becoming difficult to rank teams behind them. Hard to choose between Mercedes, Lotus, Ferrari and Force India. Also the long-run performance of Sauber has been praised. Meanwhile both Mercedes and Ferrari seem to have tyre degradation issues, more so than others.
We should promote a sig betting forum. It costs no money and is harmless, but still makes you or your "opponent" eat humble pie. Seaon end predictions wouldn't be much fun, as the main laugh is when people have to display their signature for a period during the main season.Quote:
Originally Posted by driveace
How about a wager?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mia 01
Alonso will wipe Kimi all over the track this year I'm afraid. Put your sig up if you think different. At the en of the season (or when it's mathematically impossible), the loser must have the winners choice of sig until the end of 2012
I'm not putting my money nor my signature on anything, but I believe that this year's Ferrari is going to be a dog. It's still not working and it's not like they have a lot of time to turn things around.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knock-on
From JAF1:
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso managed the Scuderia’s first race distance simulation this afternoon, after Felipe Massa’s attempt yesterday. There was encouragement for the team from being able to work the car on long runs, but trackside observers report that the Ferrari is still clearly struggling for grip on corner exits and the drivers are noticeably later getting on the throttle than other front running cars.
I know qualifying pace is not the focus but if it was then this is worth noting, putting all 7 days at Barcelona together, we have 18 cars separated by less than 1 and a half seconds and less than 6 tenths separating the top 12
1. Sergio Perez (Sauber) ................ 1m 22.094
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) ................ + 0.009
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) ................ + 0.061
4. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) ................ + 0.218
5. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) ................ + 0.297
6. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) ................ + 0.319
7. Paul Di Resta (Force India) ................ + 0.372
8. Bruno Senna (Williams) ................ + 0.386
9. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) ................ + 0.514
10. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) ................ + 0.520
11. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) ................ + 0.536
12. Mark Webber (Red Bull) ................ + 0.568
13. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) ................ + 0.797
14. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) ................ + 0.838
15. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) ................ + 1.032
16. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) .................. + 1.086
17. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) ................ + 1.290
18. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) ................ + 1.496
19. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham) ................ + 2.782
20. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) ................ + 3.285
21. Timo Glock (Marussia) ................ + 4.079 *
22. Charles Pic (Marussia) ................ + 5.249 *
* 2011 Car
Valtteri Bottas time not included
I doubt the Ferrari will be a "dog" but I also see them struggling for wins early in the season. They will however wipe the floor with Lotus-Renault-Genii-Lada-Cuthbert-Dibble-Grub, Kimi notwithstanding.
I'm up for that! I'll wager Renault in general and Kimi in particular will be way ahead of Ferrari/Alonso, especially in the early season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knock-on
I mean Lotus, not Renault. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by studiose
I've been a bit busy with work lately, but not too busy that I didn't manage a trip out to the circuit. Here are some photos from Feb 22.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1054015...eat=directlink
Regarding Ferrari v Lotus. Yea, Alonso will outscore Kimi over a full season. Also considering Kimi's comments about steering issues as the car may not be to his liking/he is still re-adapting to F1, etc. So getting top performance out of himself may take time. But it must be added that beating over a full season doesn't mean Lotus couldn't be able to beat Ferrari early in the season. Flashback to 2011. From the first two races Renault got two podiums, Ferrari zero. Going by the points accumulated by the end of the year one wouldn't have expected such start!
But beating Lotus over a full season is not Ferrari's priority, WDC is. However, this is where they are most likely going to fall short, even more so than in 2011 if testing is anything to go by.
I think especially Red Bull and McLaren are most probably capable of doing times in the 1:20's, so top teams shall have a fair amount in reserve. But I have to say Caterham's 1:22.6 was an impressive effort and they may not be as far behind midfield as they initially seemed.Quote:
Originally Posted by DazzlaF1
According to an article published on the Italian press, Fry seems confident Ferrari is not ready to win yet. That's due to a failure of one of their main projects: having their diffusers blowing outward.
After determining during testing the that this solution was not working the way the thought they decided to go "a la RB", (sorry for accent mark missing on the "a" : ) with their diffusers blowing inword.
Such a change should not represent a major set back, however for the team. In fact Fry still feels that Ferrari would be upthere with the other teams.
He also says that the project is not being abandoned and that their engineers would be continuing working on the devollopement of this project and introduce it in the due time, convinced of the fact once applied it would give the car a decive boost.
Major revision for RBR
http://img4.auto-motor-und-sport.de/...5bf-574959.jpg
Well its enough for a cause for concern that Scuderia have cancelled their driver's conference and instilled Pat Fry to answer the difficult questions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
Vettel Owns up to going off and damaging the new front wing. Where's Webber's front wing when you need it? :s mokin:
Basically the trend this year is still blowing the diffuser but also the rear suspension.
However the rules say that the exhaust exit angle should be at least 10°. To get round this the rear of the sidepods are aggressivelly sloped to meet the floor of the chassis and thus creating a channel of air and exhaust air to feed into the rear of the car.
RBR have a novel system: they have a duct at the bottom of the sidepods. Air from the side/bottom profile of the sidepods is fed into this duct and exits at the floor/sidepod transition and thus more air to play with
http://www.formula1.com/wi/0x0/sutto...ms1203ma21.jpg
I think that .. sure, Lotus and Kimi looks fast ... but it is not possible know how good the teams are until after the race in Australia ... however ..if one are listening to the drivers .. it gets a feeling that it will be tighter than last year. It's also great that Kimi is back in F1 and I hope the car Lotus can give him is good enough that he can give the other a good fight :) ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mia 01
I disagree with the pessimistic view (that so many of you share) of the Ferraris' performance.
I know for a fact that they are working at this very moment, on a B chassis, which is identical to the A chassis at the front, and has minor mods at the back and sidepod area to accomodate new sidepods' shape. This will allow a better placement of the exhaust tubes that will allow to channel the air towards the inside. This will give 25% more downforce, fixing most of the balance problems.
Another thing to consider is practice times, with alonso being the fastest in Barcelona (fastest average), and the team admitting that the Ferrari is fast on a single lap, I would not be surprised to see Alonso qualify in the top 3 spots, and actually I would cont on it.
The major problem, and the biggest unknown is tyre wear. The car has shown to be hard on tyres, but OZ is a different track and you can't really be sure of anything when it comes to tyre wear.
When we look at the comments of Pat Fry etc, we have to consider that they had set a much higher goal this year, to be well ahead of the competition from the word go.
This hasn't happened and to see other cars that are roughly at the same level, is viewed as a failure.
Expect the ferraris to be doing much better than you think they will...
Mark my words for it.
;)
Looks like Horner thinks the same as I do:
Horner: Beware of Ferrari | Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com
Well, you can never know whether he actually believes that Ferrari will be strong or he's just trying to divert attention from his own team being considered the fastest. Anyway, if you read the article, it's not like he's saying much, is he?Quote:
Originally Posted by CavallinoRampante
How exactly do you know that your statement is a fact? If Ferrari are actually doing a B car, then I doubt that Ferrari are in good shape for the beginning of the season. If we have learned anything from last year is that a team needs to be at the front and winning immediately.Quote:
Originally Posted by CavallinoRampante
Now I know you're making stuff up! That is a ridiculous amount of downforce for a car to gain from the beginning of testing to the season opener.Quote:
This will allow a better placement of the exhaust tubes that will allow to channel the air towards the inside. This will give 25% more downforce, fixing most of the balance problems.
I guess we can just wait, then you can see what I am talking about. I am in Italy and live very close to the Fiorano factory. I know several people who work there. They have already made the chassis, but have to undergo crash tests again, don't know if it will be ready for the first race, but everything else is the same.
As far as the 25% downforce, maybe I didn't explain it too well. With the new positioning they reckon they can get 25% of what they could get with the blown diffuser, which would be enough to fix most of their problems.
Domenicali also said that the car has a very good performance over a single lap, confirming the good overall design , but by changing the exhaust to the new configuration, the lost downforce at the rear made the car less balanced, but the car is still fast, unbalanced but fast. The problem remains with tyre wear.
For you guys to write off ferrari, and put predictions like 10th on the grid, or lower, is just lack of objectivity, or wishful thinking.
Hmm, good to have an insider on the forum. :) :up: But it shall not be news that an F1 team is working really hard on solutions and improving the car. The real question is whether Ferrari's upgrades are better than the ones of other teams. I don't think Ferrari is 10th, but at the moment we can say so much that Ferrari is behind its key rivals (Red Bull and McLaren) and it is certainly not an easy task to catch them.
It is not ruled out that this concept of car can work well in the long-run. For example in 2013, when Ferrari rises to title contention. Reminds me, how Gordon Murray got 1986 Brabham wrong, but took his ideas to McLaren and won the title in 1988 dominantly.
But rival teams will be doing the same, they too will be trying to make gains for Melbourne.Quote:
Originally Posted by CavallinoRampante
The question is can Ferrari make huge gains?
See, I have complete faith in this guy: File:Rorybyrne.jpg - Wikipedia
this year he's given more than a few advices on the new car.... ;)
The main problem remains the wind tunnel. It's still spitting out data that does not match to real life testing... that's where the exhaust placement problem originated from.
If being "well ahead of the competition from the word go" was Ferrari's goal then it was an unrealistic one.Quote:
Originally Posted by CavallinoRampante
To expect Ferrari to jump well ahead of Red Bull (2011 - 650pts) and McLaren (497pts) from third (375pts) in the championship was never going to happen.
Well, based on their effort and budget spended they have the right to be disappointed if they worked towards that goal. This said, this year's ferrari won't be a midfield runner...
Surely, the RRA, which I understand all teams (regardless of their participation in FOTA or not) are bound by, is legally enforceable and restricts the teams to a certain budget. One hopes that Ferrari are not just spending themselves out of a hole.Quote:
Originally Posted by CavallinoRampante
I still expect the Bulls to be the car to beat.chrisian Horner is saying everybody will be on par with them ,and Mark Webber,says in the Australian papers that the McLarens will be 30 seconds down the road,but when the 5 red lights go out on Sunday,i still expect the pack to be chasing the Bulls.
Yup, The sure thing in F1 is when these World Champions (Red Bull) are so sure they will be trailing it means they are likely to win the opener.
I can't wait......