Ferrari F14T

[f1316]

What's weird about the discussion of weight is that, from what I understand (it's been posted from AMuS, I think, in the AUS race thread) Ferrari cleared up the question of the 'turbo explosion shield' (for want of a better term) to the FIA's satisfaction and then voluntarily decided they would add one in a few races time.

If they're struggling for weight, why would they do this? My only thought is that, because this is a safety measure, it allows them to break the engine freeze and maybe improve something that's not working so well right now.

Or maybe they're not overweight at all and there are other issues.

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

Wow, at least, the car is very solid

[jmloa]

Hi all, this is my first post but I've been following the forum for a long time.


Ok, I'm spanish and Marc Gene and Pedro de la Rosa are commenting the races in the spanish TV and the spanish commentator is very close to Alonso and Ferrari, from some of their comments I have the feeling that one of the major problems with the F14T is the fuel comsumption.

Some of their comments were that they would have had to reduce the pace in some parts of the race to achieve the 100Kg limit, and they were saying that they don't understand how Mercedes has got that power difference with this fuel limit or something similar, don't remember exact words.

[basti313]

Seriously guys. Nobody knows the weight of the Ferrari, and they surely aren't going to tell us anytime soon.
...
If they are overweight, it's a matter of checking each and every single component and see if it can be made lighter. It's obviously not easy, as the engine components are homologated, and can only be modified when approved by the FIA, and that is only going to happen on reliability grounds.

Well, we can look at the laptimes. The weight disadvantage should show up at the end of the race. 18kg would mean that they have more than half a second disadvantage...
Looking at the times of the last stint:
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 29#p496529
No, no disadvantage...except you state, that the Ferrari is half a second faster, than the McLarens or RedBull going flat out the last 10 laps.

...
Ok, I'm spanish and Marc Gene and Pedro de la Rosa are commenting the races in the spanish TV and the spanish commentator is very close to Alonso and Ferrari, from some of their comments I have the feeling that one of the major problems with the F14T is the fuel comsumption.

Some of their comments were that they would have had to reduce the pace in some parts of the race to achieve the 100Kg limit, and they were saying that they don't understand how Mercedes has got that power difference with this fuel limit or something similar, don't remember exact words.

Sorry, but there is no evidence in the laptimes for that. Before the safety car Alo put pressure on Hulk and tried the same like last year in Japan: Drop back and safe tires, attack when Hulk stops. Unfortunately the safety car destroyed this and he had to do this in the second stint. The second stint was completely in DRS range of Hulk until lap 28 to safe tires for Hulk's pit stop.

I can not see anything related to fuel consumpion, but power:
After his second pit stop Alonso was constantly 10km/h slower at the speed trap in sector 2 than all the Merc powerdes cars. Only the Renault powered cars were round 5 to 6km/h slower than Alonso...
The Sauber top speed was rather in the RedBull region, so even worse than the Ferraris...so the top speed disadvantage may not only come from drag, but should be power related.

[diffuser]

What's weird about the discussion of weight is that, from what I understand (it's been posted from AMuS, I think, in the AUS race thread) Ferrari cleared up the question of the 'turbo explosion shield' (for want of a better term) to the FIA's satisfaction and then voluntarily decided they would add one in a few races time.

If they're struggling for weight, why would they do this? My only thought is that, because this is a safety measure, it allows them to break the engine freeze and maybe improve something that's not working so well right now.

Or maybe they're not overweight at all and there are other issues.

If they're struggling for weight why is it affecting Kimi only...Is he 18kg heavier than alonzo?

[aral]

so the top speed disadvantage may not only come from drag, but should be power related.

And not due to gearing??

[iotar__]

What's weird about the discussion of weight is that, from what I understand (it's been posted from AMuS, I think, in the AUS race thread) Ferrari cleared up the question of the 'turbo explosion shield' (for want of a better term) to the FIA's satisfaction and then voluntarily decided they would add one in a few races time.

If they're struggling for weight, why would they do this? My only thought is that, because this is a safety measure, it allows them to break the engine freeze and maybe improve something that's not working so well right now.

Or maybe they're not overweight at all and there are other issues.

Speculating (no data) in the opposite direction. They were over the weight and had to look for unorthodox areas to save, like turbo cover. Change itself would be weird but can be attributed to protests and safety. Source for clarity [speculation?]:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 92723.html

[turbof1]

I'm not 100% sure, but the engine has a minimum weight. The cover might or might not be included in that. If the former is true, there isn't a weight advantage.

[jmloa]

[/quote]Sorry, but there is no evidence in the laptimes for that.[/quote]


As I said it's just my feeling from some comments done by them and you are absolutely right, there is no evidence on this. I understood that the engine could have more power if no fuel limitation and that they did not have to reduce pace due to the Safety car period fuel savings.

Will see next races whats going on.

[Italiano]

Wow, at least, the car is very solid

http://autosprint.corrieredellosport.it ... eccia1.jpg

Remember that whack in 2010 I think? Barichello into Alonsos right rear tyre. He came in guns blazing and there wasn't even a scratch on the Ferrari.

[basti313]

If they're struggling for weight why is it affecting Kimi only...Is he 18kg heavier than alonzo?

Why do you think only Kimi is affected?
I just looked at the laptimes of Kimi...they look quite ok in the race: http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... k%C3%B6nen

so the top speed disadvantage may not only come from drag, but should be power related.

And not due to gearing??

No. Gearing is so long, that it should not play a big role. Especially not at the speed traps you can see in live timing, which are not necessarily at the point of highest speed. Maybe after Monza we will see shorter gearing which could play a role as the teams are allowed to change gearing once during this season.

Sorry, but there is no evidence in the laptimes for that.

As I said it's just my feeling from some comments done by them and you are absolutely right, there is no evidence on this. I understood that the engine could have more power if no fuel limitation and that they did not have to reduce pace due to the Safety car period fuel savings.

Will see next races whats going on.

Yes, the safety car sort of spoiled this...but there are races to come without lower chance of a safety car.

[infy]

Keep in mind that by saying they did not need to save fuel, he may simply have meant they ran using the NORMAL map. There is still the richer maps that use even more fuel. The Mclaren of Button for example was able to run a rich map for 20 odd laps, which I bet uses much more fuel than the normal map.

[infy]

If the engines are frozen, does that now mean that there's no way for Ferrari to improve on that front?

[Mr.G]

If the engines are frozen, does that now mean that there's no way for Ferrari to improve on that front?

No, they can improve, but not such easy.

[F1.Ru]

Ferrari - battery positioning



This year the FIA introduced rules requiring a single battery pack of at least 25kg. The same rules mean the pack pretty much has to be placed in a cavity inside the fuel tank underneath the chassis - something Ferrari did back in 2009, as shown here. This drawing highlights the difficulty of changing the battery pack - a lengthy procedure requiring access from the bottom of the car and hence the removal of the floor.

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