Tompazis and Ferrari

[tpe]

Hallo everyone,
I would like to ask your opinion about the return of Tompazis to Ferrari. As a Greek I am very proud of him, of course, but I would like to hear a non bias opition (as well as an expert one?) about his abilities. Here in Greece, Tompazis is (at least to most of F1 funs) a very good engineer, if not one of the top 3. Since I am not an engineer I cannot judge his work, bit definately I have to admit that MP4-2x was a very impresive car (at it's looks of course...).

So, the question is simple: Will he be the Ferrari's weapon for the championship?

I am waiting your answers....

[jezzwa]

Well you have to admire is track record with ferrari and Mclaren. McLaren had Newey but McLaren dealt with the new aero regs better than most teams and that in itself says something about Tompazis skill. I think his return to Ferrari well defenitely help.

[Guest]

never heard of no tombazis. tombaz was one of about 140 engineers who desined the mp4-20. first he left ferrari because he got better money from mclaren, then he left mclaren because he got better money from ferrari. a man with great loyalty as you can see. and this is the man the greeks are most proud of? please tell me about some of the ones you are ashamed of, im curious

[Guest]

No need for that "Mr Guest". Tombazis is a well repected aero man. If he was just one of 150, we would not know anything of him.

[bernard]

Very classy comments from Guest again.
But I agree he was only one of the 150 highly skilled designers. I bet that is why Ferrari only hired him as their head designer. Design God would have been the title of a true engineer.
And what about the crap aerodynamics he designed for Mclaren last year? All the other teams, including Renault and Ferrari brought major design changes to their aerodynamics during the season, but this Thombazis asshat made them so good at the beginning of the season that they were still the best at the end of the season too, with very little updates at all. He broke Mclaren's tradition of making a crap car first and then spending millions to make it good. Now that he's gone it's nice to see Mclaren is back to it's good old ways.

[Guest]

He managed to keep the tradition of showing up at the first race od the season with a crap car the previous years, maybe last year was an off for him

/ Fx

[bernard]

He managed to keep the tradition of showing up at the first race od the season with a crap car the previous years, maybe last year was an off for him

/ Fx

Last year was the first year he worked for Mclaren. The past 4-5 cars he has worked on for ferrari were a pretty decent statement of his aerodynamical skills.

[dumrick]

He managed to keep the tradition of showing up at the first race od the season with a crap car the previous years, maybe last year was an off for him

/ Fx

Last year, the McLaren WAS crap in the first few races. Only after suspension revision it became the car to beat.
And I don't really know which tradition is Bernard referring to. A team that already had championships where won all races but one can't do it with a bad car...
Isn't it rather the other way around?

[Scuderia_Russ]

The car wasn't "crap". It simply couldn't get enough heat into its tyres during qualifying which meant it started the race behind cars it struggled to get past. Once it did make its way to the front the Renault's were already thirty seconds down the road meaning they were uncatchable.

[Guest]

Last years Mclaren wasnt bad at the start of the season. It had a problem with the qualifying in the first few races but was always very quick in the races.

Compare Mclaren with Williams in that respect and you will find that Williams has a nasty habit of finishing the season with a really fast car only to start the next with an awful one.

/ Fx

[Mikacouli]

Last years Mclaren wasnt bad at the start of the season. It had a problem with the qualifying in the first few races but was always very quick in the races.

Compare Mclaren with Williams in that respect and you will find that Williams has a nasty habit of finishing the season with a really fast car only to start the next with an awful one.

/ Fx

Hmm, the end of last year wasn't that great either for Williams. But you're right if were talking about 'the last couple of years'. They've always lost it at the beginning of the season.
I think McLaren are heading a year like that. A bad start to the season but coming better when the end is nearing. We'll see. There's still a month to test!
Maybe that new engine next week will be a great improvement. Let's hope.

Right now I think Renault will blow them all away in the coming season. Yesterday a very fast time en meanwhile he completed 144 laps with the R26. Kovalainen also did almost 120 laps I think. It's incredible what Renault are doing for the moment.

[Guest]

It certainly looks good for Renault at the moment but they are still only testing that said I dont think that many people are going to bet against Renault in the season opener.

/ Fx

[bernard]

Last year, the McLaren WAS crap in the first few races. Only after suspension revision it became the car to beat.

The car was great from the beginning, they didn't do a suspension revision, they just found a better setup in testing. The car was good all along, they just didn't set it up optimally.

Oh, and please tell me what is this magical suspension revision that turns a crap car into the car to beat. I'm sure Aldo Costa would have loved to hear that little secret last year.

[dumrick]

You know, a crap car can be an excellent car with a single flaw. If that flaw is big enough, the car won't perform.
From what I remember (I may be wrong) there was some kind of a rear suspension revision to make it effective with the specific aero balance of the MP4/20. It could, in fact, be a rear tyre temperature issue.

What I was contesting was your notion that Tombaziz "broke Mclaren's tradition of making a crap car first and then spending millions to make it good". That makes no sense. In the last few years:
- the MP4/17 was a competitive since the start of the season.
- the revised MP4/17 that started 2003 - same thing. Only the effort on the failed development of the MP4/18 possibly prevented McLaren from taking top honours.
- The MP4/19 was average all season. They could have spent millions, everyone was light-years away from Ferrari that year.

Do you want me to go back in time? Maybe to the Hakkinen's years? Or Senna's years?
There is no such tradition and there is no single element in a technical team (except maybe the director) that can do the miracles you recognize to Tombaziz...

[bernard]

You know, a crap car can be an excellent car with a single flaw. If that flaw is big enough, the car won't perform.

But were talking about a setup direction here. Not a design flaw.

From what I remember (I may be wrong) there was some kind of a rear suspension revision to make it effective with the specific aero balance of the MP4/20. It could, in fact, be a rear tyre temperature issue.

The suspension revisions came in later in the season. Why are we even discussing suspension here, btw, when Thombazis is in charge of the aerodynamics?

What I was contesting was your notion that Tombaziz "broke Mclaren's tradition of making a crap car first and then spending millions to make it good". That makes no sense. In the last few years:

That was a sarcastic remark, relating to the last years of Mclaren car designing, which includes making four cars in two years- one of which never even raced, the other one had a b-spec being planned before it hit the track for the first time.
Again, that was an offtopic sarcastic remark from me. I apologize if I caused you some kind of trauma by trying to be funny. Clearly I was out of line. It will not happen again.