It sounds like Merc will be untouchable and we're just aiming for a podium finish tomorrow.
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It sounds like Merc will be untouchable and we're just aiming for a podium finish tomorrow.
Banned
This looks like being a confusing early season. Three world champions didn't make it into Q3. Magnusson, in his first ever F1 race, qualifies 4th while his WDC teammate misses out on Q3. Ricciardo nearly grabs pole while his teammate, 4 time WDC, misses out on Q3. A 19 year old Russian rookie in an STR starts ahead of Massa and 3 WDCs. What is going on!!!!!
How much of the shake up is driver, how much is setup, how much is software. It looks like either you have the setup right or it is very, very wrong. In the morning Red Bull say the new software has made the car "undrivable", then Ricciardo goes P2. Turns out that it was only Vettel's RB10 that was undrivable. Do the drivers really know what happens when they put their foot in the accelerator or the brake pedal? Who has more influence on how a car drives, the driver or a software programmer?
Tomorrow is likely to be as confusing as today was!
make it happen
haven't you noticed yet, in RB it's Vettel who's opinion counts, if Vettel's is undrivable it's undrivable as wholeOriginally Posted by Kiwi Nick
not gonna change my profile picture
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I think it's as someone else mention, the old drivers will have to reprogram their driving style to suit this, but newbie like Magnusson doesn't have the old driving style burned into their mind. Maybe they already comes from racing series where they have to control torque
In a pre qualifying interview I saw today, Button said the F1 cars "have torque" now while in the past they were always driving in the high RPM range, so drivers have to adept to it now. Better drivers like Alonso and Lewis probably finds it easier to quickly adept while other veterans probably need more time.
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That's assuming that the reliability/economy/weather plays to their strengths, Hornet, and Fernando is being realistic, I know it hurts that we're seemingly on the back foot again, but you never know.....have faith!
Naughty Word Mod
CAVALLINO RAMPANTE PER SEMPRE
Naughty Word Mod
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"In terms of race pace, we’ve seen some teams are faster than us, but I think the first race of the year could throw up some surprises, hopefully in our favour.”
These are Fry's words after qualifying. Doesn't make good reading. We can no longer count on our race pace like in the previous recent years. Is this going to be more or less impossible to overcome? If the PU package is inherently not as competitive as the Mercedes and the Renault within the boundaries of the current regulations how are we going to be suddenly the strongest team now or later? We can only hope the FIA offer some leniency in the engine homologation rules so that we improve our weak points. This is a huge slap in the face of Ferrari when we've been constantly asking for more emphasis to be placed on the engine but we turn up with possibily the worst one compared to the competition. The situation has vastly changed with the Renault PU and it appears it is better than ours. We may indeed win or get podiums but not because we are the fastest but because we are the most reliable.
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It's certainly disheartening to read Fry's comment. I certainly hope it's not down to the power unit, as that would be very difficult to work around.
That's true, I hope reliability and luck will be in our favor. At least until we fix our performance problems.
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Our PU may really be third best performace wise...rumours before pre season that it was and looking at quali, it maybe so, especially considering Renault did jack all running but still had a good performance level...and will have the most to improve. Slap in the face like u said!
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Frys comments almost a sens of yh where not quick, ohh well, no fight! Lets hope where not thirsty!
Vincere e Vinceremo!
Why so negative? I see may positives so far, the car seems to be 2nd only to the Merc's in dry qualifying pace we shall see what sort of race pace and fuel consumption this in comparison soon enough.
Naughty Word Mod
Australian GP – Domenicali: Improve the car
Stefano Domenicali: “The first race of the championship has provided a clear picture of the hierarchy at the start of season. It’s also shown which teams appear to have done the best job of dealing with these new regulations. Today, we achieved our objective in terms of reliability, but the gap we need to make up, especially to Mercedes, was clear to see. The information we have gathered this weekend clearly points to the direction we must take and what areas need the most work. It will be important to catch up as quickly as possible and react in the way this team has always proved capable of doing. Our engineers know what the priorities are and which areas need the most immediate attention.”
- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/aus....55qtxTjf.dpuf
Australian GP – Fry: Reliability is not enough
Pat Fry: “Going into this race, getting both cars to the finish seemed like the most difficult task, but in the end, we managed it. Today we saw how reliability can never be taken for granted: it caught some people out and it also affected our performance at some stages of the race. On both the F14 Ts, we had some electrical problems, especially on Kimi’s car, which meant he couldn’t use all the car’s potential. Fernando found himself behind Hulkenberg for many laps and he was only able to show what the car was capable of once he got ahead thanks to a spot on pit stop strategy. Kimi got a great start, but then for much of the race he suffered with graining on the front tyres and thus found himself having to defend, without being able to attack. There is much work ahead if we are to improve the car’s performance. We are up against several very strong opponents, but we have all the right tools to get the job done of closing the gap between us.”
- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/aus....0iPRzIE3.dpuf
Australian GP – Alonso: Contrasting feelings.
Fernando Alonso: “I’d have liked to start the season with a podium, but getting both cars to the flag is a good result, which can give us confidence, especially on the reliability front. I had some problems with the electric motor at the start and had to make a few changes from the steering wheel, but after the first ten laps everything went well. When I managed to pass Hulkenberg after the pit stop my pace was definitely better, although it was impossible to overtake. 35 seconds down on the leader is too big a gap and to work out what we need to do to close that gap, we will need to analyse the race, work out what are the strong and weak points on the car and with that in mind, the laps I did behind Nico can provide very useful information. We are a great team and I have total faith in our guys, because they did a great job today. We still have lots to learn about this new Formula 1, as the race was very strange and very difficult. But it’s only the start. We must concentrate on doing better in Malaysia.”
- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/aus....DwliPWzI.dpuf
Australian GP – Raikkonen: Difficult weekend
Kimi Raikkonen: “That wasn’t a straightforward race. At the start, I managed to get away well and even though I was hit from behind by another car at the first corner, my car was undamaged. The speed was good, but at one point I was suffering with graining on the front tyres, I had very little grip and a lot of understeer. From then on, the car’s handling was not the same. When it was time for the first stop, we had to do a double stop and that cost me a place. It’s definitely too early to make any definite judgement, because even if at the moment we don’t seem to be in great shape, we still managed to finish the race, scoring valuable points. We can’t be pleased with this result and we know there are many areas where we need to improve. But I’m sure that analysing the data from this first race will give us a clearer idea of the direction to work in.”
- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/aus....QS1ZhVn6.dpuf
Old, not obsolete
I'd say rather constructive words from the team.
Have they mentioned what the electrical problems were?
"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
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Mercedes producing 900hp?
Mercedes' new field-leading turbo V6 engine could be producing much more horse power than was earlier believed.
Before travelling to Melbourne, team chairman Niki Lauda revealed that the basic 1.6 litre Mercedes unit is producing "about 580" hp.
As it is known that the sophisticated energy-recovery or 'ERS' side adds 160hp to the equation, then Mercedes' 2014 'power unit' equates to about 740hp at present.
However, the German newspaper Bild reports that Mercedes' competition believes the 'monster' Mercedes unit is actually producing "up to 900 horse power" when operating at full tilt.
Asked about the 740 versus 900 figures, Renault-powered Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko said: "For sure the engine has more power than they are saying."
The Austrian was speaking on Saturday, where despite Daniel Ricciardo's surprising feat of splitting the two Mercedes on the grid, world champion Sebastian Vettel failed even to make the top ten.
"We tried some new software but it did not work," said Marko.
"Mercedes is having no problems with the engine and has power in excess. They are able to do a strategic race."
Old, not obsolete
But how long will it last?
"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."
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