Ferrari F2012 Development News Thread

[NickEice]

Interesting also that Alonso's Pit times were 1.442 secs faster than Massa's. 0.7 per pit stop is quite significant

[ferrari4life]

i personally believe that this year is a done deal. Red Bull have it in the bad. With Ferrari's "wind tunnel" problems I think we have lost too much time chasing our own tail..
However Ferrari have surprised us before so fingers still crossed for a bloody miracle.

[Tifoso84]

Here is a cooler lap time site. It updates after every GP. You can click the flag of the race you want to look at and hit the drop down for the 2 drivers to analyze.

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...a#.UIFRK2_R6zk

Lap 37, Massa's first full lap after his last Pit Stop was the only time that he lapped faster than Alonso. The next largest was lap 41 where Massa was 0.65 faster.

Okay, so comparing lap times from this site, it seems that there really weren't any 1,3 -1,5 second gap between our drivers. If anything, it looks like Alonso was even a little bit faster during most of the race. I admit, I was wrong. But could somebody please explain why the international live television coverage clearly showed that Felipe's lap times were constantly over 1 second faster than Nando's at one point in the race???

This whole debate could've been avoided if only I had seen that lap times comparison earlier.

[anialonso]

So that seems to end the debate about the new exhaust..but lets wait and hope that we see the new exhaust in India which will make us faster..

[M.K]

That's better yeah, so this whole Massa was 1.3 seconds faster than Alonso was simply not true at all.

If we remember Fernando brings 0.6 seconds, then it's about right

[NickEice]

Maybe they weren't 1 lap deltas. Perhaps they were showing 3 lap Deltas or something. I can't speak since I didn't see the race though. But sometimes they show multiple lap total deltas, or perhaps it was sector times.

Regardless, it seems that Alonso didn't have to push hard as Greig said, and him just coasting knowing he was in no trouble of being passed by Massa and knowing that he didn't have the pace to overtake Webber set him into conservative lap times where as Felipe was more erratic with his times.

Laps 36 to 44 ALO had a total delta of 4 tenths. In that same time Massa had a delta of 2.3 secs.

Looks like ALO got bored on laps 45 to 52 and pushed the car and immediately picked up a second.

[NickEice]

I love that site though, really cool interesting stats. Numbers are fun! Lol (Dork Alert)

[Tifoso84]

It is quite interesting to see that Alonso's lap times dropped immediately after the first pit-stop compared to Massa. Not a lot, but around 0,2 - 0,4 seconds. Alonso's lap times seem so erratic at times. Looks like Felipe managed to preserve his tyres better than Nando.

[NickEice]

It is quite interesting to see that Alonso's lap times dropped immediately after the first pit-stop compared to Massa. Not a lot, but around 0,2 - 0,4 seconds. Alonso's lap times seem so erratic at times. Looks like Felipe managed to preserve his tyres better than Nando.

Where are Alonso's lap times erratic? He lapped in the 44's and 43.9's from lap 17 to 43...In that same time period Massa had a 3.2 sec Delta between fastest and slowest.

I don't think its fair to call Alonso's last stint erratic. The fuel was burning off and he wasn't really racing at the end, his 3rd place was a foregone conclusion. So maybe one lap he would push a bit harder then ease off and coast.

[NickEice]

Alonso's last stint had a delta of less than 2 seconds. Massa had a delta of 3.8. If anything Alonso was way more consistent and shows why he is the best driver in the world. He can do lap after lap, same speed after same speed without making a mistake.

[Tifoso84]

Where are Alonso's lap times erratic? He lapped in the 44's and 43.9's from lap 17 to 43...In that same time period Massa had a 3.2 sec Delta between fastest and slowest.

I don't think its fair to call Alonso's last stint erratic. The fuel was burning off and he wasn't really racing at the end, his 3rd place was a foregone conclusion. So maybe one lap he would push a bit harder then ease off and coast.

I meant the lap times in the second stint, after the first pit-stop. On lap 20 he's 0,6 seconds faster than Felipe and then on lap 21 he's almost 0,4 seconds slower. And on lap 26 Alonso is 0,457 seconds faster and on the next laps is again considerably slower than Felipe.

[NickEice]

Well that's because Felipe was erratic and Alonso was consistently hitting his target lap times.

[Tifoso84]

Well that's because Felipe was erratic and Alonso was consistently hitting his target lap times.

Yea, you're probably right

Can't wait for next weekend to come already! It's going to be very interesting and exciting that's for sure.

[Greig]

I think this debate has gone way off the thread topic now

[Tifoso84]

I think this debate has gone way off the thread topic now

Yea but I admit that there really weren't any 1,3 - 1,5 second gap in lap times. Congratz, you were right after all
Hopefully we can bury the hatchet now?

Just wish I could've seen that lap times comparison site earlier

[anuragiyer8989]

While you guys debate on who's slow and by how many-tenths, I just got my grandstand ticket n paddock pass for New Delhi!!!
Woohoooooo!!!!

I'm gonna see Fernando win, that too right before my eyes! yeah!

[stefa]

I am not sure if we (tifosi) and Mr. Domenicali are watching the same races... Personally I think we need at least 0.5 to be on a safe side.

[anuragiyer8989]

i don't really trust what Stefano says....
i'd still like us to have atleast five-tenths, if not more......

[Tifoso84]

While you guys debate on who's slow and by how many-tenths, I just got my grandstand ticket n paddock pass for New Delhi!!!
Woohoooooo!!!!

I'm gonna see Fernando win, that too right before my eyes! yeah!

Congratulations mate!

I'm so jealous Enjoy it!

[eddie]

Two tenths is quite alot in formula 1. So I am confident, if we can find two tenths consistently, we will have a shot at WDC.

[SoumyaBanerjee]

I am not sure if we (tifosi) and Mr. Domenicali are watching the same races... Personally I think we need at least 0.5 to be on a safe side.

0.5 would make us dominant,even in 2010,with a car that was usually 0.3-0.6 off the Red Bulls on most occasions(barring a few such as Turkey and Hungary,where we were much slower,and Monza and Canada,where we were a bit quicker),alonso came within a faulty pitstop call of winning the WDC. I would be more than happy if we were able to make up 0.2 on the RB's...

[eddie]

Exactly, 2 tenths will mean, prob front and rear wing aero improvements or something in the similar capacity. Not those small bits.

[khizerk]

I think he's being a tad optimistic but not without reason. With 0.2 seconds, you would be able to push the bulls. They wont be able to cruise to victory...and when pushed, thats when mistakes happen - thats when you have to push your engine and other components developing issues

[Red passion]

is 2 tenths hard to find since Korea or will we have to wait until Abu Dabai.

[SS454]

We need Vettel to not qualify first or second. He's nearly unbeatable when starting at the front. Put him back in the back and he's struggled at times.

[DIEK]

Comparative F2012 Gif (Alonso vs Massa in Korea) by El_Abuelo, forocoches forum member.

[Alessandra]

We need Vettel to not qualify first or second. He's nearly unbeatable when starting at the front. Put him back in the back and he's struggled at times.

Well this is a good point, but unhappily I don’t see us getting pole.
Basically Fernando has to finish ahead of Vettel, 4 times, almost, no matter where they finish but the most points difference is that between 1st and 2nd (7 points) so that’s what we really need to go for.
We can beat Vettel but can we beat Newey?

[Tifoso]

Shut up and develop/drive.

Repeat 500,000 times.

At this point, I am resigned to not winning the WDC. If we do, I'll be the happiest man ever to be proven wrong.

[dmkevin]

Alonso is fighting for the title, Massa isnt!!! so maybe the team had some concern regarding tyre degradation and FA was just managing his tyres, whilst massa found some speed and went it, maybe track temp change and his set up got his car to work the tyres better or felipe was just faster on the day... look at vettel, the team was telling him to slow down but he still could put on some really fast laps!!! I support Ferrari, therefore support both FM and FA. For me although alonso is a top driver, felipe can be outstanding provided he gets a car that suits him!!! Remember 2008, he was way faster than Kimi, who had the reputation of being the fastest driver out there... so please stop this none sense about the drivers within the same team... Whoever keeps on with it, is not a real Ferrari supporter- and that comes from Luca mouth himself - we work as a team and win as a team!!! I want ferrari to win - although i do have a slight preference for alonso, i dont put down felipe!!! he has been a fantastic servant for ferrari, we should not forget that. and i am sure a lot of you guys were jumping up and down and probably praising felipe as top driver when he nearly won the WDC in 2008...

[ferrari4life]

Shut up and develop/drive.

Repeat 500,000 times.

At this point, I am resigned to not winning the WDC. If we do, I'll be the happiest man ever to be proven wrong.

Yeah I agree. I feel like Ferrari have had to many excuses in the recent few years. Fire this person hire this person blah blah blah.. This is not a new sport. If you cannot innovate and your parts dont work then you are going to loose. The excuses of the wind tunnel, lack of testing and the over dependence of aero are getting old.

Once again I look forward to a Ferrari surprise but I am not going to bet the house on it.