Originally Posted by
nani_s23
FERRARIS TIRE SECRET
The key to the world title
This can be the key to the world title. Ferrari brings the tires better into their working window than Mercedes. But what is the secret of the SF70H and why is Mercedes so hard with it?
At GP Russia, we learned that we have not learned anything. All predictions were thrown over. All explanation attempts, on which tire types and under what circumstances Mercedes In difficulty. There were new problems that were not before.
Suddenly, Mercedes was better on the soft tire than on the hard tire. The tires did not overheat, but did not come to temperature. In all the question marks, there is only one constant. Ferrari is fast and fast. This is what the Mercedes engineers admit. "Ferrari has a car that can get a lot more out of all tire types than we can."
This can be the key in the World Cup duel between Mercedes and Ferrari. Mercedes has under favorable conditions The faster car. Ferrari has a car that always drives under perfect conditions. That is why it was so annoying from the point of view of the Italians that the GP Russia went to Mercedes. Because Ferrari in Sochi was better on the bottom line.
Ferrari turns weakness into a strength
Although Sochi did not fit into the first three races, a rule was confirmed: Mercedes has to top the first pit stop if they want to win the race. The happiness in Russia was that Valtteri Bottas Won the start, and that Mercedes with the Ultrasoft tires in the working window managed. To this end, the engineers needed three training sessions to teach at home.
In the search for the best vehicle tuning for the Ultrasoft tire, the work with the Supersoft rubbers went under. The second half of the race was promptly turned into a trembling part. "No chance we could have driven Ferraris Supersoft times. It was already clear on Friday that Ferrari would be fast on both tire types, "says Mercedes-Benz.
Ferrari has this year the turn out, every tire type under the respective conditions to work to bring. Exactly that was 2016 still a weak point. It was precisely when a tire type, whose working range did not match the asphalt temperatures, was used, Ferrari stood next to the shoes. This year it does not matter. The tires Ultrasoft, Supersoft and Medium work on the Ferrari even in heat, even though their rubber mixes are more suited for cool weather.
At Mercedes, exactly the opposite phenomenon is observed. Understood in the past 3 years the tires better than the triple world champion. Suddenly, the silver arrows always fall out of the tire window or do not enter at all.
A car in the golden center
How can this be explained? The simplest answer would be: Pirelli has built completely new tires, Mercedes and Ferrari New cars. New cards, new game. This is partly true. Pirelli technician Mario Isola, however, denies that the tire window is too small, as some chassis engineers claim. "The concept of rubber mixtures is different. All our new tires behave just like the hard tires. They have a longer warm-up phase. But if the grip is there, he stays. And if the tire overheats, it can be quickly returned to the window. "
According to Isola, the key is in the preparation of the tires and in the vehicle tuning: "As the tires are more stable and more durable, small things make the difference. They react more sensitively to changes in the setup. "Mercedes-Teamchef Toto Wolff suspects the same:" Depending on the track, it can have to do with the setup, the aero-balance, the outside temperature and the driving style. "
Ferrari's advantage is probably the fact that you have a car that is based on the predecessor in its basic features, but has all its weaknesses. It is now paying off that Ferrari has declared the second half of the season 2016 to a large-scale test drive to the deficits of the SF16-H on the track. Now the downforce is stable, traction and braking stability good, the weight below the limit, the engine significantly stronger.
The basic data are in the golden center. The wheelbase is not as long as the Mercedes and not as short as the Red Bull. The back clearance is not as low as the Mercedes, but not as high as the extremists in the field. All in all, the Ferrari SF70H has fewer question marks for drivers and engineers than the Mercedes W08. That makes the vote easy.
Long wheelbase carries risks
Mercedes has gone an extreme way with his long car with a complex aerodynamics and a smaller employment to Ferrari. It is clearly not yet understood in all parts. And so it is so hard for the engineers to use the tires to the best. Because every race track, every race is different.
There are certain indications for this theory. Niki Lauda said in Sochi: "Sometimes we have a car that consists of two parts. As sawed in the middle. With a tire window in the front and a rear. "This is no new realization. "We were able to observe this in some cases already at the test in Barcelona."
The long wheelbase is a handicap in tight corners. Since the gearbox housing is mainly stretched, it may lead to distortions in the rear. Even minimal erosion can affect the use of the tires. Length is definitely weight. Mercedes will have the weight limit of 728 kilograms with the upgrade for GP Spain. Savings must be made at the rear. "It makes no sense at the front," say experts. In order to have a completely free hand with the weight distribution, Mercedes would have to reduce yet another 7 kilograms. This is the mass of ballast, which gives the rules to the rules.
Less freedom in voting
The aerodynamic window is bigger with the Ferrari. The SF70H obviously reacts less extreme to the impact of the front wheels, to bumps, to disturbed inflow. This can be observed well in traffic. The Ferrari can follow other cars more easily than the Silver Arrow. Ferrari drives on the rear axle significantly higher than Mercedes. This gives you more freedom in the spring travel.
In the last three years Mercedes has been through with a relatively hard chassis tuning. The first start row and therefore optimal inflow were almost guaranteed. In the race everyone had to drive like on raw eggs, because otherwise the tires would have been sent to the heat death. This year, there are again tires that can be used to drive quickly over a longer period of time. It avenges itself when the Aero balance changes, or the car springs too little.
It is difficult to assess the role of the absence of certain functions of the hydraulic undercarriage. Mercedes claims that the influence is low. This is hard to believe. One does not develop such a system over 4 years, if it brings nothing. We hear that Mercedes was able to adjust the rolling behavior of the respective ground clearance with its chassis. So soft in slow, hard in fast corners. This means that the tires are always optimally positioned on the road.
The stupid from the point of view of Mercedes is that this function would also be permitted according to the new interpretation of the rules. In the event of an accident, Mercedes could not convincingly demonstrate to the sports commissaries that their chassis can not do the opposite function because of the complexity of the system. So align the ground clearance with the roll stiffness. That would be forbidden.
Mercedes knows that the tire problem has to be solved quickly. Nevertheless, the engineers are not nervous. "It is positive that in Sochi we have understood a bit more about how to treat the tires. Ferrari is still ahead of us, but our team is good at understanding, learning and drawing conclusions from it. It could take some races, however, until we get fully behind it. Some of the problems are probably due to the car. To understand this, we need more clues. "
------------AMUS f1
Bookmarks