Ferrari bulletproof, Red Bull more reliable than McLaren

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, an opinion leader in F1 circles, has published a table reviewing the finishing record of the Formula 1 teams in the season to date.
Ferrari comes out well on top with an astonishing 1471 racing laps covered, out of a maximum of 1474! Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in [...]

What the FIA should do about team orders in Formula 1

A day on from the furore over the Ferrari team orders row in the German Grand Prix, it seems to me that there has been a bit of an overreaction, with some sections of the media calling them ‘cheats’ and others calling for them to be banned by the disciplinary arm of the World Motor [...]

German Grand Prix tech- Ferrari updates in focus

The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim will be remembered for the team orders row which blew up after Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso through, but it was also notable as a confirmation that Ferrari has made great progress with its car after a period in the first third of the season where it fell behind in development.

Unlike Red Bull and McLaren, Ferrari has been obliged to copy both of the key technical innovations of the 2010 season; the F Duct rear wing and the blown diffuser. McLaren invented the former and Red Bull the latter so both have had half the work to do compared to Ferrari in overall incorporation of new tech.

Ferrari worked first on the F Duct and got bogged down with it, then the blown diffuser was introduced later. The signs were clear in Montreal that Ferrari had taken a step forward and then in Valencia they introduced the blown diffuser. In Silverstone the step in performance was confirmed with Alonso being barely a tenth off the Red Bulls through practice and the early part of qualifying, but at Hockenheim it all came together and Fernando Alonso qualified on the front row, with Massa just behind. In the race, Ferrari had better race pace than Red Bull, indicating that they are contenders for the second half of the season.

Ferrari updates get them in the game
Hockenheim was the third outing of the blown diffuser introduced in Valencia and detailed changes to the exhausts and floor optimised the solution together with a refinement of the F-duct system. Ferrari have modified the side channels of their diffuser. This one now sports a wider and diagonal opening compared to the standard perpendicular one seen in Valencia when the solution was introduced the first time.

Ferrari also had a step on the front wing, which improved the overall downforce and stablity of the car, leading both drivers to talk of greatly improved grip and driveability. Another big step from Ferrari is due at the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, where heavily revised back end aerodynamics will be brought out.

Mercedes rear wing
Mercedes, for its home race brought an array of small developments, the main one being to the rear wing main profile, now featuring two big slits in its central section, to increase the efficiency of this element producing a slightly increased downforce load. The main feature is a double large opening, placed in the middle section of the main profile, mimicking the effect of an additional flap. This solution helps in terms of increasing the downforce load generated by the wing. Mercedes do not have the full active F Duct system operated by the drivers, as used by its rivals, they have a more passive system. It was useful in Germany, although the car is still short of the pace of its rivals and will be even more useful in Hungary.

McLaren blown diffuser
McLaren ran the blown diffuser all weekend in Germany, although their deficit to Ferrari and Red Bull in qualifying and at the end of the race indicates that there is still work to be done to optimise it. In Silverstone they removed it after Friday practice because it was overheating components in the rear suspension and the on-off nature of the exhaust gas pressure, combined with the bumps in the Silverstone track was causing instability.

In Germany they introduced modifications to reduce the overheating problems and now the exhaust pipes are in a more external position , sporting a diagonal cut instead of the perpendicular one adopted previously. This is still a work in progress and McLaren now need to add the next step in performance to stay with the Red Bulls and Ferraris.

Alonso wins German Grand Prix as Ferrari tell Massa to move over

Team orders returned to the top of the agenda in Formula 1 today as Fernando Alonso took the win in the German Grand Prix thanks to his team mate Felipe Massa letting him through in the closing stages, despite leading the race from the start. It is a tough moment for Massa and a hard [...]

Ferrari fire back with details in Alonso penalty row

The row over Fernando Alonso’s penalty at Silverstone for overtaking Robert Kubica illegally and failing to give back the place has moved on a step.
Ferrari sporting director Massimo Rivola today released a minute by minute account of Ferrari’s actions during the period after the disputed overtake. He reveals that Ferrari was on the [...]

Pat Fry and Ferrari

It has been confirmed by Ferrari that Pat Fry, formerly one of the two chief designers at McLaren, is to join the team as assistant technical director.

He is latest in long line of engineers to move between Maranello and Woking. It is a well trodden path for engineers, especially for aerodynamicists. This year John Iley [...]

Ferrari boss attacks new teams as “too slow”

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has attacked the new teams in the aftermath of Fernando Alonso losing the Canadian Grand Prix.
“In modern F1 races cars with GP2 levels of performance shouldn’t participate,” he said in Gazzetta dello Sport. Montezemolo may have been referring to Jarno Trulli’s Lotus and perhaps the Hispania of Karun Chandhok, which [...]

Ferrari in a fix as rivals move ahead

The controversy over the Red Bull collision on Sunday has taken attention away from what was a very painful weekend for Ferrari, as it celebrated its 800th Grand Prix.
Not only has the team fallen further behind Red Bull and McLaren, it has also been passed on pace by Mercedes and Renault. In the last [...]

What Felipe Massa has to do this weekend

This weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix a lot of attention is likely to fall on Felipe Massa.
A three times winner of the Istanbul race, this is a weekend when he needs to show that he still has it in him to take Ferrari to the winner’s circle and to run his team mate [...]

Montezemolo forgives Alonso mistakes

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has given a series of interviews lately, as Ferrari celebrates 800 Grand Prix starts and the most recent one is in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport.

In the interview he deals with Alonso’s recent mistakes, hints at some possible changes in the team and says that Ferrari wants to go back to [...]

keep looking »

1	L Hamilton	1:29:04.260
2	M Webber	+00:01.571
3	R Kubica	+00:03.493
4	F Massa	+00:08.264
5	A Sutil	+00:09.094
6	N Rosberg	+00:12.359
7	M Schumacher	+00:15.548
8	+00:16.678	K Kobayashi
9	V Petrov	+00:23.951
10	J Alguersuari	+00:29.457

1	L Hamilton	182
2	M Webber	179
3	S Vettel	151
4	J Button	147
5	F Alonso	141
6	F Massa	109
7	R Kubica	104
8	N Rosberg	102
9	A Sutil	45
10	M Schumacher	44

1	Red Bull Renault	330
2	McLaren-Mercedes	329
3	Ferrari	250
4	Mercedes GP	146
5	Renault	123
6	Force India Mercedes	57
7	Williams Cosworth	40
8	BMW Sauber	27
9	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	11
10=	Lotus F1	0
10=	Hispania Racing F1	0
10=	Virgin Racing	0