what a differance a Wing makes

Sawtooth-spike · Post 01 Apr 2006, 14:01

So now the Flexi wing feasco is over and the dust is settled. Its time to ask the question how much differance did it make?

Ross brawn will have us belive its minor

Some poeple said it made a hell of a differance.

Athought qualifying pace and race pace are 2 totaly differant things the early exit of both the ferrari's (ok massas due to a Massa Moment) would suggest the loss of the flexi wing could be significant.

What do you guys think?

Minor Effect
or
Massive effect

(This topic is not about legality its all about how much of a differance the flex wing had on pace)

zac510 · Post 01 Apr 2006, 14:06

Still too early to call, IMO!

DaveKillens · Post 01 Apr 2006, 16:08

Good point Sawtooth. But we're talking about small percentages here, the gain or loss would be fractional in performance. But for the first two races of the season the Ferraris were competitive. Not quite up to Renault or Mclaren, but still up there. At Australia the best they could get in practice was 6th. And in qualifying they made uncharacteristic mistakes. Hmm, are they trying too hard because they feel a slight disadvantage?
Right now, based on qualifying, I feel Ferrari were forced a half-step backward, and felt it. Although I'm confused about BMW. I believe they too had to modify their rear wing, and yet they kicked butt in last practice, and managed respectable preformances in qualifying.

Sawtooth-spike · Post 01 Apr 2006, 16:20

Some of the Other teams felt that the rear wing gave them a few 100's down the straights.
but your right the BMW is holding it own, and they had to make a change.

all will become clear tomorrow

Scuderia_Russ · Post 01 Apr 2006, 17:03

I also think too early to say. Massa put it in the wall and some half wit left a brake cooler on Scheys car. Williams do seem to be making more use of their Bridgestones though.

manchild · Post 01 Apr 2006, 18:50

Scuderia_Russ wrote:... and some half wit left a brake cooler on Scheys car...

You want to say that Ferrari used illegal front wing again, this time with illegal cooling device attahced on it?

m3_lover · Post 01 Apr 2006, 19:59

I thought BMW had a 1-2 in practice because they timed it right when the rain let up in the second practice?

wazojugs · Post 01 Apr 2006, 22:03

with regard to the bridgestones are williams & toyota using a different tyre that was turned down by ferrari?

if this is correct how comes they won't try? maybe they cant adapt the setup of the car to fully exploit this new tyre.

captainmorgan · Post 01 Apr 2006, 22:16

-Ferrari didnt start to seem a threat until switch to short stint tires
-Toyota have been in hell trying to figure out how to get heat into the Bridgestones
-Albert Park is the 3rd race this year, under markedly cooler conditions, along with intermittent rain during quali

How do we know it isn't at least partly a tire issue? Bridgestone didnt get any in the top 5.

peroa · Post 01 Apr 2006, 22:36

wazojugs wrote:with regard to the bridgestones are williams & toyota using a different tyre that was turned down by ferrari?

if this is correct how comes they won't try? maybe they cant adapt the setup of the car to fully exploit this new tyre.

Toyota is using the softest tyre available from BS, made only for them.
Williams is a bit harder and Ferrari (according to Ralf) uses the hardest (conservative) tyre.

wazojugs · Post 02 Apr 2006, 17:48

Ferrari chose the harder Bridgestone compound this weekend.

That was a very conservative decision as they had not tested the soft tyre which Williams and Toyota picked.

kilcoo316 · Post 02 Apr 2006, 19:59

Despite their tyre problems, MS did get the 3rd fastest lap of the race.

I personally don't think it made a great deal of difference.

greenpower dude reloaded · Post 02 Apr 2006, 23:47

did anyone else happen to notice just how flexible the front wing on the Renault was today? cos i watched an onboard shot and it didn't seem too far off of how flexible the ferrari wing was last time out.

m3_lover · Post 02 Apr 2006, 23:54

MS did get the 3rd fastest lap, but it was close to a second away from Kimi's time, but I do expect a greated challenge from them in Imola.

DaveKillens · Post 03 Apr 2006, 00:52

From what I picked up, Ferrari had crappy and or rainy weather when they tried to test the soft compound, and didn't get any good data, so they couldn't trust the soft compound. Based on how Shu qualified, they started the race with a full tank and hard tires, with the goal of a one stop strategy. But their pace was so pathetic they pitted early, and got on a set of softer tires. Only then did Shu's lap times pick up and he became competitive.