Ferrari F2012 Development News Thread

[Rob]

^ the cooling inlets will not be used in China due to the cooler air temps. Maybe just the picture of the side of the car, but the exhaust looks closer to the body of the car. Maybe wrong from the angle of the picture. The front wing is new, the winglets, i think will help channel the air over the top of the sidepods to the rear. Few small changes.

Forza Ferrari.

[scuderiafan]

the front wing may have looked like it had changed from that angle, but i am not so sure. the top part of the element curls up, which can't be seen from the pic. and the exhausts will probably, if changed be put on the car in FP, i doubt they will let that get out on the thursday.

[ferrari4life]

the fact that we had 3 weeks to make changes and we are still saying that we are struggling is very strange.. Either our car is so jacked up that it is hopeless or we have something so big planned for Spain that it will really put on a show.

I cant believe that we could not take some massive strides in 3 weeks and instead focused on small changes. What is up with this mystery.

[scuderiafan]

wow, these exhausts must be tough.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98727

Vettel is going back to old Redbull/current Ferrari style exhausts positioning. and this is the team that pioneered using the exhausts in recent times.
McLaren seem to be the only team out the big 3 that have got their's properly sorted. i can't wait for Ferrari to get their sorted, either.

[ferrari4life]

good to see red bull chasing their tail around.. wish it was us at the top but I would rather have McLaren than RedBull win this year if not us

[Forza 27]

F. Alonso: As I said, no big improvements for this race and I don’t think… No big improvements for this race and as I said, we’re working, we’re working on the car and I think we cannot say that for Barcelona there will be a big improvement because we don’t know. We are working day and night to do the work and to improve the car and I think we have some new parts for the car which we need to test tomorrow – maybe they are working fine, maybe they are not working and we need to come back with those parts. In Barcelona there will be more new parts which I’m hoping for. We need to test to see if they are working fine. For Canada there will do more, Monaco, so it’s nothing… as I said, Formula One these days doesn’t have a magic button where we change something, we arrive in China, we arrive in Barcelona, in Canada and you change one part on the car and you improve by one second. This will be constant work from the team, improving one tenth, two tenths, three tenths every step that we do and we need to do it quicker than the others because all the other teams will bring a couple tenths (advantage) to every race so we need to bring some more.

[Ferrari Man]

how after 3 weeks there are no big improvements??

[f300v10]

how after 3 weeks there are no big improvements??

Ferrari spent at least 6 months on the design/development of the F2012 doing everything they could think of to make it faster. If there was an obvious solution to make the car 1 second faster they would have found it in those 6 months. As Alonso said, they can't just change a few parts on the car and make it that much faster.

It has only been a little over 2 months since they first got to test the car on the track, and figured out what was working as designed, and what wasn't. In the mean time they had to go and run two races. To make the modifications they want to do for the exhausts involves a complete re-work of the entire sidepod and cooling system. That sort of major change takes time.

[Hombre B]

Hamashima: Ferrari must widen its tyre operating window

Ferrari needs to widen the operating window of its F2012 because it is only delivering its peak performance in selected conditions, says its tyre guru Hirohide Hamashima.

Although Alonso's form in the Malaysian Grand Prix showed that the Ferrari can deliver in low-grip conditions, the team is still working on improving how it performs in other situations.

"Honestly speaking, still we are struggling," said Hamashima about the tyre performance. "The car has potential, but so far we can't find the good point at the moment. In the winter, sometimes we could find the good point, but sometimes there was a big difference. And, at the same time, we have to find the good point and also make the car more robust."

Hamashima, who joined Ferrari after years working for Japanese tyre company Bridgestone, thinks that the F2012 performs better in race conditions than qualifying - but he reckons that it will be able to be strong on both single laps and long runs.

"I believe that currently our car is stronger in race conditions than in qualifying," he explained. "But only two races have passed, so I don't know for sure. But at least we can say wet conditions are maybe preferable."

Speaking about the tyre warm-up problems that Ferrari faced in recent history, Hamashima said: "We at Ferrari have solved the warm-up problem. But in terms of the different positions of the compounds by Pirelli, the car helps so much to fix the warm-up problem.

"Of course, in race conditions it is a compromise. If you warm up well, the degradation will be greater than previously, but once we can make the balance of the car right, I believe that we can get good warm up and good durability. So currently, we have to find a good balance."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98747

[Brad-Ferrari]

[FER]

Greatly selected pics, thank you.

[scuderiafan]

Good news boys.

Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali admits the Italian team are still off the pace as they prepare for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso won last time out in a rain affected Malaysian Grand Prix and heads to China leading the Drivers' Championship.

Domenicali says that whilst the win gave everyone a boost, they are under no illusions that they need to improve.

"I would say on that Sunday in Malaysia we did a great race," he told Sky Sports.

"We did the perfect race with the strategy, with the team, it was all very, very good so that was a special Sunday for us.

"But that doesn't change our approach because we know we are behind in terms of performance. I am not happy at all with the performance we have now.

"But it is better to be leading the Championship with a bad car, rather than to be behind with a bad car, so at least it is a positive thing for the guys at home. But nothing has changed, our feet are on the ground."

Domenicali, 46, did take comfort however from the F2012's race pace, even if Saturdays have been a disappointment.

"I think that what we have to do is maximise what we can do on the track," he added.

"We will see what we can do on Saturday, we have seen in the first two races that race pace was not too bad so let's wait and see."

Exhaust development has been a key area in 2012, with teams trying to recover as much downforce as possible after the blown diffuser was banned this season. However, Ferrari have had to re-evaluate their design and will not be running their preferred specification again this weekend.

Domenicali said: "At the moment the exhaust we have is the one we had in Malaysia. So we will just have to work with it and see if at the next race we are able to swap back to the other one."

Massa

Felipe Massa has been coming under intense pressure this season, with speculation mounting that he is set to be replaced at Ferrari.

But Domenicali thinks it is important that the team get behind the Brazilian to help him rediscover the form that nearly won him the 2008 drivers' title.

"I think that what is important at this moment is to stick close to Felipe," he said.

"As any driver knows you have difficult times and there is pressure from the outside and I said to him not to watch any kind of media report otherwise you kill yourself, unless you are strong enough to know that these kind of comments are irrelevant.

"He has to feel that the team is close to him, we will try to give him all that he needs, but what I really hope is that he will have a smooth weekend to show to everyone what is the true value of Felipe.

"It is a mental fight and he has to prove to himself first, but we all really believe in him."

Acer ducts in Bahrain ??

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/...l-off-the-pace

[Jas]

the exhaust looks like such a bodged jo....can not wait to see the new exhaust in the next race or come spain!!!

[Forza 27]

Pat Fry: “There’s never a golden bullet…”

Ferrari’s chassis technical director Pat Fry says that the team has no easy way out of its current problems – and admits that the Italian outfit is reviewing the way it does things as it seeks to get back on course.

“I think we have a reasonable understanding of them and the areas we need to be working on,” said the Briton today. “It’s like all these things, there’s never a golden bullet, it’s not a light switch you can turn on. You might have the idea of, ‘OK, that’s the problem’ but it’s hard work to try and fix it. And you’re not going to change it around in a week. Everyone is working very hard to fix all those issues and then get back on a sensible development curve.

“I think there’s a number of different issues that we’ve had, the most obvious one from the early testing was the exhaust system where we were struggling with what that was doing to the rear tyres. I think we now understand that and are on top of that – though we haven’t run that style exhaust system since the first Barcelona test.

“The other areas have come to light where we knew we had the problems [but] we didn’t know where and we were really learning that through the last Barcelona test. And then to fix problems it’s not the work of a minute. Here there are quite a few new parts on the car. There will be another set of updates, bigger updates, coming through for Barcelona. It’s a race of upgrading.”

Fry didn’t want to elaborate too much on the problems: “As I said, the exhaust is one of the more obvious changes that we’ve made, but that’s quite a small part of the problem that we’ve got. I don’t really want to go into where all the problems are – it’s not just a case of us trying to build a quicker car, we need to fundamentally be changing the methodologies that we use to select, design and manufacture so that we are competitive long term.

“There’s work on all fronts, not just work going into what we’re taking to Barcelona, there’s also a huge amount of work in just trying to change the fundamentals of what we do so we can actually take a step forward and be competing with everyone else.”

Asked about where Ferrari was losing out Fry made it clear that as ever, aerodynamics was at the heart of the matter.

“The biggest performance differentiator is aerodynamics. We’ve got some issues there that we’re trying to resolve. The areas you need to be working on is everything from the way you run the wind tunnel, the accuracy of your wind tunnel, the simulation that you use to decide what components to take forward, so we’re not leaving any stone unturned.

“We’re actually trying to review and revise our methodologies through the whole process and that carries on into the design office for trying to get weight out of various parts, make other bits more durable, so there’s work going on absolutely everywhere within the company, on the basic fundamental methodology as well as just trying to upgrade the car.”
Link

[Kingdom Hearts]

Everytime Fry speak, a kitty dies, this man knows how to demoralize the fans. Kidding apart, that sound like we are in the same point as last year, clueless.

[scuderiafan]

“I think there’s a number of different issues that we’ve had, the most obvious one from the early testing was the exhaust system where we were struggling with what that was doing to the rear tyres. I think we now understand that and are on top of that

as for the rest of the interview, it is not great reading, but surely all that stuff is his job? it is not news to me, Ferrari have been struggling with the lack of testing, so they need to get the simulation tolls working better, and i think that is what he is talking about. i still think putting the original exhaust will be a good boost.

but why is this guy such a downer???

[Kyss4k]

Basicly what Fry said is, that the car is bad all around. Good to know...

[FerrariF60]

Basicly what Fry said is, that the car is bad all around. Good to know...

i have a feeling it's gonna be a long, long season for US fans, but also for Ferrari too...
i feel bad for Alonso that Ferrari have NOT yet provided him a championship winning car, and that he has to drag that DOG of F2012 across the finish line every time and make it SOMEWHAT look good, even though we know is a true DOG, so far... (for that all someone has to do is look at Massa's performance in the same car).

but i'm still a hopeful Fan and still keep telling myself that Ferrari will change all this around, and if they do, i hope it's QUICK.

[stefa]

Basicly what Fry said is, that the car is bad all around. Good to know...

Nicely said

[Kiwi Nick]

"...it’s not just a case of us trying to build a quicker car, we need to fundamentally be changing the methodologies that we use to select, design and manufacture so that we are competitive long term...there’s also a huge amount of work in just trying to change the fundamentals of what we do so we can actually take a step forward and be competing with everyone else.” - Pat Fry

So, the real problem, in Fry's eyes, is that the Scuderia cannot do what they need to do until they learn how to do what they need to do. Don't expect any significant changes in the short term. Sounds like Fry is shooting for 2013 for some significant improvement and 2014 to be back on top when the big changes kick in.

[Hornet]

Maybe last season we did not start developing for "next year" early enough, so now we're starting from the 3rd race!

I dare not think how it would be like if we fail to turn the F2012 into a winning car. We sacrificed a good part of last year to get a head start on the F2012.

[f300v10]

Basicly what Fry said is, that the car is bad all around. Good to know...

The part I have trouble understanding is how did this happen. The F150 last year was basically a competitive car. It's main issue was it could not warm the tires, so they qualified poorly. On race pace the car was close to or the equal of RB or Mac at many of the races. The year before that the F10 could have/should have won the WDC.

With the decreased importance of the EBD this season several teams are now much more competitive than they have been in years (Lotus, Mercedes, Sauber, Force India), which implies to me that building a competitive car this season was a simpler task, not harder. Just how Ferrari managed to produce such a DOG is a mystery to me. Its like they just forgot how to design an F1 car.

[scuderiafan]

The part I have trouble understanding is how did this happen. The F150 last year was basically a competitive car. It's main issue was it could not warm the tires, so they qualified poorly. On race pace the car was close to or the equal of RB or Mac at many of the races. The year before that the F10 could have/should have won the WDC.

With the decreased importance of the EBD this season several teams are now much more competitive than they have been in years (Lotus, Mercedes, Sauber, Force India), which implies to me that building a competitive car this season was a simpler task, not harder. Just how Ferrari managed to produce such a DOG is a mystery to me. Its like they just forgot how to design an F1 car.

that is what i have been thinking. and why do they have to change everything, they were winning races while being like this.
but, still, there is good news in that the exhaust is working again, and could be raced in Bahrain. and this kind of stuff happens in the background, and they are working in the right direction to solve the problems they know. he implies that the so called 'fixes' are arriving in Barcelona.
they better work.

[Dino]

Nicely said

I get the hint that Fry is preparing us for an ugly reality next Sunday.
When it comes to Sector 1, where we need mechanical grip and traction we have only the 7th. best time!! [0.224 BEHIND]
.........................Sector 2, which is all high speed turns and aero we are even worse........11th. best time.[0.524 BEHIND]
.........................Sector 3, nearly all high speed straights we have so much drag we are.... 9th. best time.[0.621 BEHIND]
Up to now we already have 6 Mercedes powered cars ahead of us,and we don't have nowhere near their speed at the DRS zone.
Maybe i am missing something but really cannot see us enjoying this China GP.
In the mean time let's hope they will come up with a better set up for tomorrow.....

[Rosso Corsa]

I'm becoming more and more concerned too. Many key personnell in our team are ex-Mclaren, and we're not talking about staff from a successful Mclaren era either. We're talking about a particularly gloomy era, of cars that out of the box were just terrible. The Ferrari still doesn't look like a true Ferrari to me either. It looks like a Mclaren painted red. It's so fussy for the sake of being fussy. It's certainly not for the sake of performance, because we don't have any.

When was the first Jerez test when the team discovered we'd built a boob? 7th February? 2 months down the line and we're still scratching our heads? I'm Ferrari to the end, but individuals in the team don't yet give me confidence. We need results (Alonso is winning by miracle). I'm one step away from asking joseluisf1 for inspiration

[scuderiafan]

well, Pat really does know how to make us feel like ****. let's wait until the race is over before we go crazy though.

[Red_Diamond]

First Domenicali's statements are too PR and now Fry's statements are too pessimistic.

[scuderiafan]

First Domenicali's statements are too PR and now Fry's statements are too pessimistic.

well yeah! i was having a nice day, thinking, Ferrari might just have made some good progress, and with news of original exhausts being fixed and ready for even Bahrain test, it was nice.
then this comes on us, and lo behold we are dooming and glooming, which we probably should as, what else do we do after reading that???

ah who cares

[FrankAlfa]

Even with all of my strong words about Aldo Costa not reaching far enough in his Design Management as Ferrari Technical Director, I think we are seeing some bigger problems with the Fry / Tombazis Design Direction! I voiced very early on that "What if Ferrari kept the last years design but just changes the rear suspension to Pull Rod?", would be leading or at least closer to the front of the field??? Time will tell if this season will be a bust or will they be able to make this car gain huge downforce in a short time frame???

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[Jas]

good read ladies and gentlemen have a look, may not be the most positive read however! http://trap.it/#!traps/id/9b66c1cb-2...19D002q6IUb2Ft
give it a sec to load and it will automatically take u to the page regarding pat fry!!