SF15T - Launch Articles/News

**vcs316** · 30th January 2015, 13:56

James Allison on what’s different on the Ferrari SF15-T

Ferrari technical boss James Allison says that the Italian team has made big steps with its power unit, which was a major weakness last season.

“The power unit has along with the rest of the car been an area of extremely high effort to improve,” said Allison. “We had a number of issues with last year’s engine and power unit. Early on in the seasons the power delivery was not particularly sophisticated, and it was quite tough for the drivers to get the type of throttle response that they wanted. It was improved a lot during the season and we take that a step further for the SF15-T.

“A definite weakness of last year’s car was that the amount of electrical energy that we were able to recovery from the turbo was not really good enough for producing competitive power levels during the race.

“That’s one of the reasons why Ferrari’s qualifying performance was relatively stronger compared with their race performance last year. That’s an area where we’ve tried to change the architecture of the engine to make it a better compromise between qualifying and racing performance.

“And then plain simple horsepower. A tremendous amount of work has gone into all aspects of our combustion efficiency to try and make sure that in this fuel limited formula where every team is only allowed to burn the same amount of fuel that every single compression stroke, every single ignition stroke, is extracting the maximum amount of horsepower and putting it on the road.”

The Ferrari car clearly represents a major step forward relative to its predecessor, at least in terms of appearance. As well as much more attractive front the car has a more tightly packaged rear, which is a characteristic of other 2015 cars seen so far.

“I think all the cars on the grid are going to be more appealing around the front, around the nose, because after a few years of trying I think we’ve finally invented a regulation that gets what we wanted from a safety point of view, but also doesn’t create the rather unappealing features of the last few years. So I think everyone will look a lot prettier at the front, and the 2015 Ferrari is I think nice in that regard.

“However the back of the car is something that it noticeably different from the 2014 car, where we have been successful in pulling the bodywork much tighter to all the stuff underneath the skin. And that’s been done through a lot of work, not just in the wind tunnel but also in the design part of the company to try to find radiator designs that were fundamentally more efficient, so that for every square centimetre of radiator we’re able to extract more cooling this year than last, and therefore are able to close the car down at the back as a consequence.”

Regarding whether the car will help Kimi Raikkonen he said: “We will only know for sure once we are running on the track, but I hope that the SF-15T will be much more comfortable for him with both a stronger front end in mid corner and more support from the rear under braking.”

**vcs316** · 30th January 2015, 13:57

'When it looks good it should be a pretty good car' - Kimi

Kimi Raikkonen is encouraged by the looks of the new Ferrari and is confident the team has learned its lessons from last year.

Raikkonen struggled with Ferrari in 2014, failing to finish a race higher than fourth and ending up 12th in the drivers' standings. He is hoping the lack of front end grip and feel that made life so difficult for him last year has been addressed, but without driving the car he said he could only form an initial impression from the way to looks.

"It looks nice," Raikkonen said It looks different to last year's car. From all the details, for me at least, it looks good and when it looks good it should be a pretty good car. We have to wait until we start testing to see how it really is, but the first impression is good.

"I think we learned a lot from last year with the difficulties that we had. Obviously we had some bad luck at a few races, but sometimes you have a year like that and everything seems to be a bit difficult and we understood a lot of things. Hopefully this year we can turn things around and be more strong, and as a team be more where we should be. We need to go little by little."

Raikkonen said there was no point in making predictions or setting goals at this stage.

"Obviously we want to be as strong as we can, but it's too early to say where we are going to be. As long as we do our things 100% and work as one team with two cars to push things forward and keep building from over the winter, we'll go from there and that will be the starting point. The results will come and there's no point from my side to put any goals yet. We'll start at the first test and go forward from there and see what we have and where we are. I'm sure the result will come."

**vcs316** · 30th January 2015, 13:58

Arrivabene makes Ferrari demand

New Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has put himself in the firing line by demanding two grand prix wins from the upcoming Formula One season from a car he has described as "really sexy".

Arrivabene was appointed at the end of last year on the back of Sergio Marchionne's vow to "kick some ass" following his arrival as Ferrari chairman in October.

Marchionne ousted Marco Mattiacci after just seven months in charge, with the former car salesman seemingly out of his depth after he was taken on in April as replacement for the axed Stefano Domenicali.

Marchionne is determined to end Ferrari's miserable lack of success as the fabled marque are now without a title for six seasons.

Worse still is the fact it is almost two years since Ferrari last won a grand prix, stretching back to the 2013 race in Spain when Fernando Alonso was at the wheel.

Whilst Arrivabene appreciates Ferrari will not be challenging Mercedes for the championship this season, he is expecting to see one of his drivers in newly-recruited Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen standing on top of the podium.

"I'm just realistic," said Arrivabene.

"Nobody has the magic to change things when things are unchangeable.

"We applied certain modifications that in our opinion are quite interesting.

"With that I don't want to say we are going to win the World Championship, but for sure we are committed at least to win two races."

In revealing the SF15-T on Friday that will make its debut on Sunday on the opening day of the first pre-season test in Jerez, Arrivabene remarked: "Enzo Ferrari said a long time ago the best car is a winning car.

"Last year we had an ugly car and it was a non-winning car on top of this.

"I like this year's car in terms of aesthetics. I don't know about the performance, but it's really sexy."

Arrivabene has made it clear what he expects of four-times champion Vettel and Raikkonen as he said: "They have to work together as team-mates, they have to work with the team.

"Things I want to avoid, talking about the overall team and not only about the driver, is that everybody is pushing and working together in the same direction. I'm expecting the drivers to do the same."

Like Arrivabene, Vettel recognises any upward progress for Ferrari will take time.

The German, who left Red Bull at the end of last season following a difficult year when he became disillusioned with the change in rules that affected his car, said: "I am confident we are going in the right direction.

"But it would be wrong to think a lot of us because we are coming from a 2014 season where there was one team very dominant.

"It will be difficult to be right there from the beginning, but the main target is to really work together, make progress and catch up more and more.

"Clearly if the situation is like last year it will be difficult to fight for victory, but it is our goal - we are not here to finish second."

Raikkonen is convinced he and good friend Vettel can work together to push Ferrari back towards the front of the grid.

"It will be interesting working together for the first time, but we have a good understanding which will help," said 2007 world champion Raikkonen.

"The main aim is to get the team moving forward. Then we will try to fight against each other, in a good way, to push each other on to do better things.

"Sebastian has had a great career so far, and he has a few more trophies than I do.

"He still has a long career ahead of him and I'm happy for him to join. We'll both try to do well and put the Ferrari at the front."

http://sport.bt.com/more-sport-hub/m...1363958671315?

**vcs316** · 30th January 2015, 13:59

Vettel: Don’t expect too much, too soon from Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel has moved to cool expectations ahead of his maiden season with Ferrari.

Vettel replaces the McLaren-bound Fernando Alonso at Ferrari for 2015, but joins a team in the midst of an overhaul following a miserable 2014 season, in which the Scuderia failed to win a race all year.

While Vettel believes the team is making progress, he says people should not expect too much too soon from Ferrari.

“There is a lot of change going on, new people in new positions – including myself,” Vettel said at the launch of the team’s 2015 car on Friday. “So, it always takes a bit of time to settle in until you really start to make proper progress.

“I am confident we are going in the right direction but it would be wrong to immediately expect a lot [from] us.

“We need to remember we are coming from a 2014 season where there was one team very dominant, so it will be very difficult to arrive there from the beginning.

“For us the main target is to start to really work together, start to make progress, hopefully catch up more and more as the season progresses.”

New Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene believes the team should aim for two wins in 2015, an ambition Vettel agrees with.

“I think we would be happy with that,” he said. “But of course we would be happy if we win more.

“We have to be realistic. There is a lot of change that’s happened over the winter.

“I think the most important thing is we start getting into the groove quickly in winter testing and then we start to make progress.

“If the situation is like last year, it will be very difficult to fight for victorys. But that’s our goal, we’re not here to finish second.”

Kimi Raikkonen will partner Vettel at Ferrari, and the Finn says he is excited to be working alongside the four-time champion.

“I’m looking forward to working with Sebastian this year,” Raikkonen said. “It will be interesting working together for the first time but we have a good understanding which will help.

“The main aim is to get the team moving forward. Then we will try to fight against each other, in a good way, to push each other on to do better things.

“Sebastian has had a great career so far and he has a few more trophies than I do. He still has a long career ahead of him and I’m happy for him to join, we’ll both try to do well and put the Ferrari at the front.”

**vcs316** · 30th January 2015, 14:00

Ferrari counting on tokens to cut gap to Mercedes

Ferrari admit it will be difficult for them to reduce their performance deficit to Mercedes from the first race of 2015, but expect to get closer as the season progresses.

Mattia Binotto, who took over as the team’s power unit director last month, said Ferrari has a lot a catching up to do after the team revealed its new SF-15T for 2015.

“The engine was clearly not enough performant [sic] compare to our main competitor,” he said. “This was one of the weakness of last season.”

“We don’t the believe the weight was a real issue. The power unit for the Australian Grand Prix will represent a clear improvement, but we believe there are still significant further steps during the season.”

“The gap was such that it will be very difficult to challenge Mercedes from the first race,” he added. “Our objective is clearly to reduce the gap during the season.”

Ferrari will use their new 2015 power unit from the first race of the year and take advantage of the opportunity to introduce upgrades during the year which has been granted by the FIA.

“The use of tokens for power unit development during the season is clearly helpful in this respect,” said Binotto.

“Our objective, in term of tokens, is really to spend only few at the start of the season, to maintain a significant opportunity of developments during the season,” he added. “The current 2015 power unit has already gain a significant amount of performance, and we will keep pushing during the entire season.”

**S1000RR** · 30th January 2015, 14:32

Originally Posted by vcs316

Ferrari counting on tokens to cut gap to Mercedes

Ferrari admit it will be difficult for them to reduce their performance deficit to Mercedes from the first race of 2015, but expect to get closer as the season progresses.

Mattia Binotto, who took over as the team’s power unit director last month, said Ferrari has a lot a catching up to do after the team revealed its new SF-15T for 2015.

“The engine was clearly not enough performant [sic] compare to our main competitor,” he said. “This was one of the weakness of last season.”

“We don’t the believe the weight was a real issue. The power unit for the Australian Grand Prix will represent a clear improvement, but we believe there are still significant further steps during the season.”

“The gap was such that it will be very difficult to challenge Mercedes from the first race,” he added. “Our objective is clearly to reduce the gap during the season.”

Ferrari will use their new 2015 power unit from the first race of the year and take advantage of the opportunity to introduce upgrades during the year which has been granted by the FIA.

“The use of tokens for power unit development during the season is clearly helpful in this respect,” said Binotto.

“Our objective, in term of tokens, is really to spend only few at the start of the season, to maintain a significant opportunity of developments during the season,” he added. “The current 2015 power unit has already gain a significant amount of performance, and we will keep pushing during the entire season.”

This article is really interesting, but it also means they still have a lot of tokens left, allowing McLaren to develop their car even more.

My guess is Ferrari wants to keep its tokens, awaiting the AVL bench

**hogo** · 30th January 2015, 15:09

oh dear tough times ahead... 2 wins only... Even teams like Force India or Sauber could do it during certain circumstances. But I guess if Ferrari wins 3 times, then everyone will be extremely pleased cos that means we beat the odds.

**Nero Horse** · 30th January 2015, 16:15

**tifosi1993** · 30th January 2015, 16:43

http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/askmaurizio

Joseph Weggoro

Will you seek advice from Marco Mattiacci and Stefano Domenicali?

Hi, Joseph
Stefano is a good friend.
I am listening to him, to Briatore, etc.., then I do what I think it makes sense to win.

Balint Treuer
Leo Turrini, an italian journalist, said that Rory Byrne’s main task for this year is to help and work with James Allison in the F1 project. Is it true or has he kept his old job as an advisor in the F1 project and as teacher of the young engineers?

Hi, Balint
It’s not that way.
Leo, driven by his enthusiasm and admiration for Rory, has forgotten one detail: Rory will act as a mentor for Simone Resta (Chief Designer) on specific project details and he will not work on the whole car project. Anyway, his enthusiasm and the energy he shows have really amazed me. He still wants to win !

Michele Terminello
With all the great signings and a complete technical reshuffle with some promotions from within do you believe now the team has the right ingredients to become a dominant force once again?

Hi Michele
It’s too soon to be able to say that. I will have a clearer idea after the first months, but for sure this is what I want.

Ian Alan
Are you going to keep your team together without any changes and alllow them to grow together?

Hi, Ian
This is the intention, but based on result and meritocracy!

Yogi Maini
What physical & mental fitness programmes do ferrari provides drivers & technicians to keep them de-stressed during non-racing & racing weeks?

Ciao, Yogi
Drivers and mechanics have a very specific training programme, including physio sessions to keep them always at their best, and when need it, mental too…

@Daniel7Muniz
What can you do on your part, to ensure the boys actually have a contender and not a pretender?

My role is to provide the Team with the best organization, the best tools, the best people in order to make our drivers able to equaly compete at the proper level.

@TonyAlvarez32
What can you say to the “Tifosi” Boss?

Hi, Tony – We need you now more than ever! Keep the Ferrari flags up !

**PURE PASSION** · 30th January 2015, 16:52

Originally Posted by tifosi1993

http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/askmaurizio

We need you now more than ever! Keep the Ferrari flags up

We allways are!!!We never stop!!!!

**Hornet** · 30th January 2015, 17:18

Briatore

**Brembo** · 30th January 2015, 17:37

It looks great , much less white still too black for me.

**Nero Horse** · 30th January 2015, 22:15

We need you now more than ever! Keep the Ferrari flags up!

Always, Mr. Arrivabene, ALWAYS...

**fratelliferrari** · 30th January 2015, 22:18

Originally Posted by Nero Horse

Always, Mr. Arrivabene, ALWAYS...

http://forum.ixbt.com/post.cgi?id=attach:15:45670:64:1 http://wapf1.net/smileys/user/88/ferrari.gif http://www.animated-gifs.eu/ps-smili...rands/0073.gif http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/20...1c-d37h9so.gif

Forza Ferrari Forever, Maurizio

**Wildcat** · 30th January 2015, 22:20

Seb looks unwell and pale. Is he sick ?

**cokata** · 30th January 2015, 23:31

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Seb looks unwell and pale. Is he sick ?

No he shaved

**DIEK** · 31st January 2015, 11:19

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Seb looks unwell and pale. Is he sick ?

Some say him don't eat from the day he tested the F2012 and compare it with the RB8...

**Hombre B** · 31st January 2015, 11:29

**F1 Dream Team** · 31st January 2015, 11:53

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117520

Ferrari expects its 2015 F1 car to suit Kimi Raikkonen better
By Jonathan Noble Friday, January 30th 2015, 14:27 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen

Ferrari technical director James Allison is confident that the team's 2015 Formula 1 car will suit Kimi Raikkonen better than last year's.

Raikkonen struggled throughout 2014 with a lack of confidence under braking and on corner entry, which left him unable to regularly challenge team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen's terrible year analysed

But with Ferrari chiefs now having a better understanding of what the Finn needs to be successful, the team has made tweaks to the concept of its 2015 F1 challenger.

Technical director James Allison said after the launch of the new SF15-T on Friday that Raikkonen should be better off this year.

"We will only know for sure once we are running on the track, but I hope that the SF-15T will be much more comfortable for him with both a stronger front end in mid corner and more support from the rear under braking," said Allison.

Raikkonen could also be helped by stronger rear tyres from Pirelli - which will help improve confidence when cornering.

"It will be the rear casing that is the most significant," explained Allison.

"It allows the car better support under combined loading conditions and gives the driver more confidence through the corner as a result."

STIFF CHALLENGE TO WIN

Despite optimism that the new Ferrari has addressed many of the weaknesses of last year's car, Allison admits that it will not be straightforward to deliver the wins that the team is targeting.

"No one ever said Formula 1 was supposed to be easy," he said.

"It will be a very stiff challenge to win races in 2015, but we have made good steps forward over the whole car and we hope that this work will translate into a notable step forward in our fortunes."

Allison also confirmed that Toni Cuquerella, Robert Kubica's former race engineer at BMW, would join the team as chief race engineer.

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**F1 Dream Team** · 31st January 2015, 12:30

NOTES ON BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE FERRARI F1 LAUNCH SCUDERIA FERRARI BACK TO PREVIOUS
Ferrari F1
POSTED BY: JAMES ALLEN | 31 JAN 2015 | 10:01 AM GMT | 21 COMMENTS
This post could not be called “notes from the Ferrari launch” because no-one was invited to a launch for the first time in living memory. Instead we had a series of videos and statements. It’s a hands-off approach, common among all F1 teams now as it gives them more time to develop the car, gets the same coverage on the internet as they would have done with a three-ring circus in Maranello and avoids anyone asking any awkward questions.
Ferrari’s new car has always been an event, especially for the last 23 years with Luca di Montezemolo taking centre stage. He has gone now. Hence the change of tone.
The fact is that Ferrari didn’t want to put on a show, because there wasn’t much to say beyond the obvious promise to the tifosi that they will aim to return to respectability this season after last year’s “disaster”. They didn’t use the term “respectability” but it’s what I would apply here.
Sergio Marchionne, who ousted Montezemolo last Autumn was very conspicuous by his absence from any videos or statements yesterday. Apparently within Ferrari, the joke is that the “S” in the car’s title SF15-T stands for “Sergio”, because he has certainly made his presence felt in the background. He has said that a “Ferrari that doesn’t win isn’t a Ferrari”. Last year’s car went beyond that. It was both slow and ugly, which is as bad as it gets for Ferrari. This year’s car is at least much more beautiful.
Alfa Romeo logo on Ferrari

One key Marchionne touch was the replacement of FIAT on the engine cover with Alfa Romeo. Marchionne has big plans for the revival and growth of Alfa under the new FIAT Chrysler Automobiles project and so why not use the global billboard of F1′s huge audience to begin showcasing that brand? It’s odd that the Alfa logos are many times bigger than any Ferrari brand on the car, but the same was true for FIAT.
There is a history to this, of course, as Enzo Ferrari started out as a team manager running Alfa Romeo cars until he could raise the resources to start building his own. The money that got him started after WWII was a severance payment from Alfa Romeo.
Ferrari F1 2015

New team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was featured yesterday, speaking in English and saying that his target is a modest one for 2015; to win at least one race. In Italian he was more candid and said that, “It’s more likely we will be competitive in 2017 than 2016,” a rather bleak outlook for the tifosi. He didn’t wear a tie with his Ferrari blazer, he spoke a lot more about the revolution that needs to come in how F1 presents itself, with sexy cars, loud engines and getting closer to fans. One senses that this is is key strategic goal for the next 12 months.
The real “punto debole”, or weak point of the 2014 car was of course the power unit, which was poorly conceived by the Ferrari engine men and they face a long road to catch up. The Gazzetta dello Sport’s Pino Allievi, whose finger is closer to the Maranello pulse than any other F1 journalist’s, says that Ferrari PU has 80hp more than last year’s, due to new layout, better combustion and a more efficient MGU-H, recycling heat energy to maximise the turbo. This power gain is encouraging, but Allievi notes that the gap was 60hp last year and Mercedes is understood to have added 50hp with its 32 tokens spent over the development phase. So that puts the Ferrari still around 0.5s to 0.7s a lap behind the Mercedes when operating at the maximum. Ferrari’s engine people implied that the lion’s share of the tokens have been used up already, so there will be some updates during the year, but not any game changers.
Technical Director James Allison looks lean and very determined. He is a fascinating character, the son of the former Head of the Royal Air Force, he grew up in a military family with a passion for engineering. He flies a stunt bi-plane as a hobby. In the F1 paddock he is regarded as the next best thing if you can’t get Adrian Newey; a combination of technical leadership like Paddy Lowe or Ross Brawn, but with a hands-on aerodynamic and mechanical sensibility like Newey or Rory Byrne. It’s no co-incidence that Byrne is in the background of this new Ferrari in his role as consultant. But Allison is a strong man and Ferrari has to keep faith with him, because he’s entering the peak of his career now in his late 40s, with the experience he has from Lotus, Renault and a previous stint at Ferrari in the Schumacher era with Byrne and Brawn. He knows how they did it last time, in other words.
Screen Shot 2015-01-31 at 08.47.55

His message yesterday was that he has addressed all the major weaknesses of the 2014 car. One of them was that Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t drive it.
Allison says that the two main problems as far as Raikkonen was concerned are now sorted; the way the car turns into medium speed corners and the stability of the rear end under braking. We should therefore see a more typical Kimi Raikkonen this season. He’s about to become a father for the first time. Enzo Ferrari used to say fatherhood slowed drivers by a second a lap, but the cars were very dangerous in those days. One suspects that Raikkonen will not be thinking much about paternal duties when he’s in an F1 car.
There has been much upheaval and there is more to come; Ferrari is still hiring staff, but more significantly it has a factory move upcoming. The entire Gestione Sportiva is moving from its previous premises, which grew and spread over the last 20 years, to a purpose built campus on the other side of Maranello. It’s a factory fit for the 21st century, but the logistics of moving from one to the other will take something out of them while it is going on. Nevertheless, this is a transitional period, so better to get it out of the way now.

**Nero Horse** · 31st January 2015, 14:58

Well I sure hope that this year's car will suit both drivers and there won't be any excuses or complaining, but only pure racing. I definitely believe in the capabilities of James Allison and with him at the forefront of our car's development I really think we're gonna make some good progress during this season. And if we could sort out the PU issues as well then we could be back to our winning ways quite soon...one can only hope.

**IulianFerrari** · 31st January 2015, 15:07

All positive stuff, but it is clear we won't be nowhere near Mercedes at the start of the season. It will be interesting to see the differences between the PU manufacturers Merc,Ferrari, Renault and Honda. I think this will be crucial. Our drivers are up there with any pairing on the grid so it is up to Ferrari to make the car fast and according to both of their needs.

**fratelliferrari** · 31st January 2015, 16:04

Originally Posted by Hombre B

http://youtu.be/7ZOAvpXHPnI

Thanks for posting Hombre!

**Brembo** · 1st February 2015, 10:51

Originally Posted by cokata

No he shaved

Shaved and he's on the Felipe Massa diet !

**Nero Horse** · 3rd February 2015, 16:07

**Brembo** · 3rd February 2015, 23:33

Originally Posted by Hombre B

http://youtu.be/7ZOAvpXHPnI

Thank you Hombre ! The questions were great and Seb's answers were great. What a nice guy, I already forgot about the #1 finger. He's cool !

**Nero Horse** · 4th February 2015, 21:27

**PURE PASSION** · 5th February 2015, 06:45

Originally Posted by Hombre B

http://youtu.be/7ZOAvpXHPnI

Seb in the FXX-K!!!!!!!!I wonna see a hot lap in THAT!!!!!!!!!!

**NenoX** · 5th February 2015, 15:58

Just wanted to share this to you guys.
This is a launch analysis for the SF-15T.
The front camera mounting seems to have been changed from the launch spec.

http://somersf1.blogspot.com/2015/01...-analysis.html