Ferrari F2012 (pre-launch speculation)

[Coefficient]

http://soundcloud.com/567-capetalk/rory-byrne

Byrne is back with Ferrari

Rory Byrne: "I'm working on the design as Technical Advisor along with all the mechanics and engineers in Maranello"

Rory Byrne: "I'm convinced that next year Ferrari will have a very competitive car."

Should we consider it as good news or not? I hope we see some more competition for next year. Vettel in RB7 made the season absolutely boring for me this season.

Byrne only has an advisory role. He retired years ago to go and run a diving school in Thailand. He designs F1 cars on his lunch break.

I have to wonder how up to date the guy is with the latest thinking in F1. If he hasn't led a project since the Schumacher era, which I believe he hasn't, he must be a little bit behind the times in some aspects.

[godlameroso]

From my experience, being an independent contractor exposes you to more variety of experience, than say a strict specialized role. True you might not be as good at one thing like someone that micro-specializes, however, your ability to think laterally, and tie concepts together holistically might be enough to lead the specialists you're consulting, in the right direction, so to speak.

[FrukostScones]

possible lauch date friday 27th january. source: autosprint.it

[italian]

possible lauch date friday 27th january. source: autosprint.it

Now they start speculating about launch date as they do every year. I think the only problem that Ferrari has in this moment is making a winning car for next year.

[Mr Alcatraz]

I think that there may be a little gamesmanship going on here

[italian]

Little OT: http://translate.google.it/translate?sl ... l-&act=url
Not bad!

[yener]

Correct me if im wrong but i think that Ferrari dont know what they are doing.
They did copy a lot of the RBR cars but it didnt work out.
And i honestly think they wont in 2012.

I have a reall pasion for Ferrari and i love the team. But without Fernando (don't like him at all) they would lose more points to the top team than they already did last season.
Fernando is a real fast driver and his speed makes the Ferrari looks faster than it actually is.

Im curious for the next season and all we can do is speculate.. But cmon what did they show last season? Nothing. They could not make the hard tyres work, made a horrible copy of the RBR front wing, the updates didn't work out right and many more.

Compared to McLaren and they know exactly what to do, they are going to have a hard time.

[scuderiafan]

Correct me if im wrong but i think that Ferrari dont know what they are doing.
They did copy a lot of the RBR cars but it didnt work out.
And i honestly think they wont in 2012.

I have a reall pasion for Ferrari and i love the team. But without Fernando (don't like him at all) they would lose more points to the top team than they already did last season.
Fernando is a real fast driver and his speed makes the Ferrari looks faster than it actually is.

Im curious for the next season and all we can do is speculate.. But cmon what did they show last season? Nothing. They could not make the hard tyres work, made a horrible copy of the RBR front wing, the updates didn't work out right and many more.

Compared to McLaren and they know exactly what to do, they are going to have a hard time.

Without Fernando, of course they would lose more points to a top team. Alonso is one of the best drivers in the field, arguably the best.

Everyone knows that Alonso's speed flattered the F150. That's not a secret.

Ferrari copied a Red Bull front wing to test it for next years car. It was not optimised for the F150, so I doubt it worked as well as it "should" have. It may work brilliantly on the F2012.

If there is one thing I know about Ferrari, it is that they cannot stand to lose, and they'll do most everything to win. Expect them to be back in a big way for 2012.

[Gerhard Berger]

possible lauch date friday 27th january. source: autosprint.it

I think Domenicalli already announced it will be launched in early February.

[FrukostScones]

possible lauch date friday 27th january. source: autosprint.it

I think Domenicalli already announced it will be launched in early February.

yes, now they (autsprint) say it is 3rd or 4th Feb we will see the new car

[Gerhard Berger]

Correct me if im wrong but i think that Ferrari dont know what they are doing.
They did copy a lot of the RBR cars but it didnt work out.
And i honestly think they wont in 2012.

I have a reall pasion for Ferrari and i love the team. But without Fernando (don't like him at all) they would lose more points to the top team than they already did last season.
Fernando is a real fast driver and his speed makes the Ferrari looks faster than it actually is.

Im curious for the next season and all we can do is speculate.. But cmon what did they show last season? Nothing. They could not make the hard tyres work, made a horrible copy of the RBR front wing, the updates didn't work out right and many more.

Compared to McLaren and they know exactly what to do, they are going to have a hard time.

Only the update for Spa didn't work. They showed decent progress up until Germany/Hungary, though apparantly these were all Costa's updates (which is worrying).

Will be interesting to see what the effect the new staff will have. Major change is of course Fry becoming what is effectively the technical director. In addition, Hennel replaced De Luca as chief aerodynamicist, whilst Pat Fry has said that he has moved Tombazis into a more aero-heavy role, which makes sense. There have also been a few more appointments by Fry in less senior roles (alot of them poached from Mclaren).

I also think the periscope exhausts will play into Ferrari's hands. Ferrari had their most successful era when the periscope exhausts were prevalent, whilst Newey never designed a truly dominant car with periscope exhausts (he was the last to switch to periscope exhausts, and was the first to switch back to the EBD). At the beginning of 2010 Ferrari was the best non-EBD car.

[dren]

Those Ferraris also had a splitter that doubled as a mass damper. I think that helped lots also.

[raymondu999]

I think it's hard to say though. Ip to 2008, Ferrari's key strengths were kind on tyres as it is now and aero grip, while it lagged behind the McLaren in mechanical terms. Since 2009, they don't seem to have that same mastery of aero as it did back then.

[munudeges]

Byrne only has an advisory role. He retired years ago to go and run a diving school in Thailand. He designs F1 cars on his lunch break.

Unless Byrne is the Technical Director here, which he quite clearly isn't, I don't understand who is doing what there to be perfectly honest.

[Pierce89]

Those Ferraris also had a splitter that doubled as a mass damper. I think that helped lots also.

That was outlawed after the first race of 2007, when Mclaren turned them in.(Wonder how they found out... oh yeah )