How strong is the Ferrari?

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Originally Posted by DonJippo

Ferrari had seven full GP simulations during the winter test season, in three of them they had problems so they have had reliability issues even before OZ GP. Some of these problems are related to heat so would not be a surprise to see similar engine or other component failures due to high temperature in coming GPs in Malaysia and Bahrain as they don't have time to test and find a solution for the problem(s).

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remember all the problems Red Bull had cooling the Ferrari motors......

.....before Newey insisted they switch to Renault......?

What does Adrian know about the Ferrari motor that Ferrari don't?

People - it's only one race! I believe something like this happened last year and look how that turned out....

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

remember all the problems Red Bull had cooling the Ferrari motors......

.....before Newey insisted they switch to Renault......?

What does Adrian know about the Ferrari motor that Ferrari don't?

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It's not like RedBull is beating STR either! :p :

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

People - it's only one race! I believe something like this happened last year and look how that turned out....

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'06 was a bad start for Ferrari, with I think some piston issues, but they managed to take the championship to the wire that year, so all is not lost....

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Originally Posted by ioan

You mean that id the SC is out they can't refuel, but they can still change a broken nose cone?
If that's right than the rules are even stupider than I thought they are. I thought that the pit road is either closed or open, not that it's open for certain activities but not for others. These rules are so stupid it's difficult to imagine how did they come up with them.

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That is exactly the case, unless my understanding of this rule is totally wrong.

It is indeed utterly stupid.

EDIT — I ought to clarify that, of course, refuelling CAN take place under the safety car but only after the race director has permitted it. When Massa came into the pits for the first time after his first corner accident, refuelling wasn't permitted but a repair was. Then, as far as I understand it, permission for cars to come in and refuel was given, so he came back in. Someone please correct this if it's wrong, but I don't think it was a Ferrari error.

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

What does Adrian know about the Ferrari motor that Ferrari don't?

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Maybe Ferrari should ask Mike Coughlan and Nigel Stepney to find out! ;)

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

That is exactly the case, unless my understanding of this rule is totally wrong.

It is indeed utterly stupid.

EDIT — I ought to clarify that, of course, refuelling CAN take place under the safety car but only after the race director has permitted it. When Massa came into the pits for the first time after his first corner accident, refuelling wasn't permitted but a repair was. Then, as far as I understand it, permission for cars to come in and refuel was given, so he came back in. Someone please correct this if it's wrong, but I don't think it was a Ferrari error.

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As far as I know you're right. It's the reason that Barrichello got the stop-go penalty. He had no choice but to refuel under the safety car as he would have run out of fuel. Honda chose to take the penalty instead of the DNF. It turned out to be academic as Rubens ran the red and got DQ'ed.

I can't see why they have banned refuelling under the safety car. I think it has something to do with not wanting the pits flooded with cars when the SC is called but what's the big deal with that?

As for Ferrari, three things have been questioned:

1. Strategy - On the face of it I'd say that they should have stopped Raikkonen under the SC but I think the stupid SC rules played a part in this one. Without being able to refuel straight away maybe the timing wasn't right? They certainly got the 1 stop strategy for Kimi right and made the correct call on switching Massa to an effective 1 stopper after his spin. The car is way easier on it's tyres than anything else out there and they took advantage of it.

2. Reliabilty - Definite problem here. Three of the six Ferrari engined cars DNF'd due to engine problems, including the two works cars. The other 3 retired due to accidents so we don't know how they would have fared. Hopefully it's something ancilliary to the engine and not a fundamental flaw with the unit.

3. Drivers - This area is easily fixed. The drivers simply have to stop throwing the car at the scenery. Errors are forgivable but making the same mistake twice? Not so much, Mr Raikkonen, not so much.

I know it's hard to tell from the way the race played out but the F2008 doesn't appear to be as quick as the MP4-23. The McLarens were over 0.4 seconds quicker on fastest race lap than Raikkonen and even further ahead of Massa. That's a concern. Traffic played a part and the Ferraris were on differeing strategies to the McLarens but it's something I'll be keeping a close eye on in Malaysia.

The overwhelming positive from the weekend was the way the F2008 used it's tyres. From memory the Ferraris were the only cars to start the race on the softs and they used them for more than half distance. Compare that to everybody else who went for two stints on the hards and a short final stint on the softs. This could be a huge advantage for the Reds as the season progresses.

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Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

The overwhelming positive from the weekend was the way the F2008 used it's tyres. From memory the Ferraris were the only cars to start the race on the softs and they used them for more than half distance. Compare that to everybody else who went for two stints on the hards and a short final stint on the softs. This could be a huge advantage for the Reds as the season progresses.

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Which is as it was last year. Compared to the Ferrari in '07, the McLaren ate its rears.

Now, they will have worked on this for '08. Clearly, they can get the heat in tyres for qually, which Ferrari still seem to have a big problem with.

If their drivers are having issues keeping on the road when coming from behind, they really might struggle if other teams can show better qually performance.

Ferrari will be further hindered if they have to run lighter to make up the defecit.

One thing I noticed from Oz, was that Massa was using his fronts much quicker than Kimi, so they might have put the weight too far forward this year.....

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

Which is as it was last year. Compared to the Ferrari in '07, the McLaren ate its rears.

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That was only on Lewis' car.

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

One thing I noticed from Oz, was that Massa was using his fronts much quicker than Kimi, so they might have put the weight too far forward this year.....

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It didn't look like that to me.
They both had the left front tire with more wear than the right one, but other than that it was pretty much the same.
And given that they went half +, of the race on the softer tires compared to the McCheats using them only for the last stint for not even half as many laps, I would say that the Ferrari have the bets balanced cars and this will be obvious as soon as they stop stuffing things up like kids.

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

Which is as it was last year. Compared to the Ferrari in '07, the McLaren ate its rears.

Now, they will have worked on this for '08. Clearly, they can get the heat in tyres for qually, which Ferrari still seem to have a big problem with.

If their drivers are having issues keeping on the road when coming from behind, they really might struggle if other teams can show better qually performance.

Ferrari will be further hindered if they have to run lighter to make up the defecit.

One thing I noticed from Oz, was that Massa was using his fronts much quicker than Kimi, so they might have put the weight too far forward this year.....

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Talk about reading too much into ONE race.....