I can't talk for others, but I humbly believe I am not making false accusations. I think Speed reporter did make them, lured by: A) Ron Denis stating this is the "testing the rules season" and B) previous reports that Ferrari used a flexible floor.
If some people bashes Ferrari, some others jump at the mention of anything that relates to Ferrari, don't you think? That's why my answer is soooo long, I am afraid of so many toes extended on the floor of this post...
I have a lot of respect for Ferrari. I quote myself, DEFENDING Ferrari of posts like this :
"F*kem they are doing the usual--- the skuzzy b*stards.. I Soooo hoped it would change , but it hasn't. Ferrari are cheating as usual and it sucks"
I replied with this, which is my "official position":
Ciro Pabón wrote:"... I also refuse to believe the people at Maranello is that stupid. They may be tricky, but they're not stupid. People that cheats, XXXX, and I know you agree, are fools, Enron style. They put their careers on jeopardy.
Don't be naive: Ferrari may be tricky but for a factory that produces barely 3.500 cars each year (2005 Figures: Toyota: 7.300.000, Mercedes: 4.800.000, Honda: 3.400.000, Renault: 2.600.000, BMW: 1.300.000 and the other smart guy of the class, Porsche: 98.000) they
compete pretty well. For example, all Ferrari 12 cylinders engines in the world are made by two people. They are tested for three hours, each one. These guys know their bussines the way no other car engineer knows.
Now, people that takes regulations to the extreme (no matter that makes XXXX's pressure a little higher) are good engineers.
... Are you going to tell me Ferrari doesn't read Technical Regulations? Ron may have a point, but he (also!) was clever enough not to specify which one. It was Speed's reporter who jumped to conclussions. Just wait and see.
I don't know, rev limit, one tire, aerodynamics almost impossible to improve and 15 seconds in 18 laps? Something is not adding.
I guess the only way to beat Ferrari is with a cannon, not with a car."
I imply Ferrari must have some kind of development, not some dirty trick.
Now, scarbs has a point: Dennis may be taking care of his own roof of glass.
Finally, going backwards in the thread:
Ginsu, (and I think this answers
jaho101 claiming that this device is illegal): of course BMW has it too. That's what Tifosi said, read what I quoted by him: "this feature is not unique to Ferrari and is known and accepted by the FIA".
Here you have the BMW splitter:
Gazzetta Dello Sport claims Ferrari uses MR dampers since China 2006. You tell me, ginsu.
http://mediacenter.gazzetta.it/MediaCenter/...
And here:
http://mediacenter.gazzetta.it/MediaCenter/...
In my italian pidgin: "Sul Ferrari para ottimizare le charatteristiche di apoggio e motricitate... Ferrari ha installato una nuova sospensione rheologiche di amortizatore del tipo rotanti" (or something like that, my italian spelling must be terrible!) Translation: "On the Ferrari, for optimizing the support and motricity characteristics... Ferrari has installed a new rheological suspension of rotating type". You'd say they solved the problems ginsu mentions: here you have an abstract entitled "Design Process of a Rotational Damper Based on a Magnetorheological Fluid" by four researchers: two of them work at FIAT.
http://actuator.de/contents/pdf/program ... etti_s.pdf
Of course this is just a theory of mine... Don't waste time on it until you read something solid about it, or everybody starts to use that kind of dampers. I like them, but you know that already.
Carlos: Lorenzo Bandini? That was ages ago. I was one year old! That's my point: I would like to see an italian there, but first line drivers don't grow in trees, I know. It's OK with me if they can't find one: they are in F1 to win, not to promote "italianity".
I look up for italian Ferrari drivers and found (the year is the first one they drove for Ferrari):
- 1950, Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi
- 1952, Giuseppe Farina
- 1954, Luigi Musso
- 1961, Giancarlo Baghetti (first driver to win in his debut)
- 1962, Lorenzo Bandini
- 1963, Ludovico Scarfiotti
- 1965, Nino Vaccarella (won Le Mans in 1964 for Mr. Ferrari)
- 1970, Ignazio Guiunti and Clay Regazzoni (yes, he was born in Switzerland, so what? After all
Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton marquis of Portago, was born in London, but he fooled no one with that name!
)
- 1971, Mario Andretti (yes, he is also american, so what?
)
- 1983?, Michele Alboreto
- 1992, Ivan Capelli y Nicola Larini.
I think Larini was the last italian to drive for Ferrari, in 1994, at the infamous San Marino GP, where he finished 2nd.
Allan: the floor raises or so it's alleged.
kilcoo316: again, I'm no expert but everybody and his dog is saying that stalling the floor
on the straights improve your speed. I repeat:
on the straights. I don't believe the claims but I still think is possible, unless you give us a more ample explanation. What seems elementary to you it's not for the aero-impaired here, me included.
dumrick: if these allegations were made, other teams should have (I allegedly argue...
) tried it, don't you think?
mx_tifosi, Allan, AeroGT3, Captain Morgan and everybody: finally, even after alleging Ferrari must be doing something well, I left you with the complete quote from Autosport that Scuderia_Russ resumed (emphasis mine):
Autosport.com wrote: It seems no new season can take off in Formula One without new allegations of technical infringements or illegal devices -
especially when the winning car is a Ferrari.
Last year it was the flexing wings; this time around, it's the F2007 floor that is being looked at, with some rivals suggesting the Italians are benefiting from improved aerodynamics as the floor moves at high speed.
McLaren specifically have raised concerns about the legality of some cars - though not naming Ferrari specifically -
but a post-race FIA inspection has cleared all teams. Still, team boss Ron Dennis believes some rule clarification could be issued soon by the FIA.
"We will see how things are in two or three races," Dennis told speedtv.com. "There is a whole range of things that come to light in the first race and you go and you say what is legal, and what is not legal.
"Most teams are given that current race to enjoy the benefit of the doubt. I think there will be a rationalisation of some aspects of some cars that would close the gap if no one did anything.
"You look at people's cars, you are not always of the opinion that rule interpretation has been strictly adhered to, and you get into, 'Hold on a second, what are we allowed to do and what are we not allowed to do?' and that always takes place at the first event.
"So it takes a race or two to know what is or isn't permitted."
Last Sunday, after the race,
McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh was seen having a heated discussion with Ferrari team principal Jean Todt, and while many believe the conversation was about Ferrari's floor, neither men would divulge what they were talking about.
Nevertheless, Whitmarsh made it clear his team must focus on their own performance.
"I went to congratulate Jean on the race weekend, and we had a discussion about a number of things," he told autosport.com. (Ciro's note:
)
"The reality is that we should concentrate on our own programme. That is what we are going to do. We are not going to get involved in any of the skirmishes going on currently in F1. We are trying to win the championship for ourselves."
But what is this new controversy all about?
Both Ferrari and BMW Sauber use a sprung device to mount the front section of floor on their cars. In Ferrari's case, at least, this part was already in use at the end of last season, as pointed out in autosport.com's 2006 Brazilian GP Technical Review.
All F1 cars must have a shadow plate to meet the stepped floor regulations. With the high-nosed F1 car, this results in the so-called splitter at the front of the floor.
Before 2000, when the front wings were allowed to be lower, teams tried to run the front of the car as low as possible to make the wing work better.
When even lower ride heights were stopped by the floor rubbing on the ground, the teams introduced
flexible floors that would bend up, allowing the car to run lower.
The FIA stepped in and introduced a deflection test on the floor. This test uses the scrutineering rig in the first pit garage, where a hydraulic ram pushes the floor up from under the car and detects how much deflection is measured for a given load.
As with wings, if the part passes this deflection test it is deemed legal, even if the part may flex under a greater load.
Since 2001, front wings have been progressively raised and flexible floors have not been required to allow low ride heights.
But with the increased amount of ballast located in the floor, the FIA has allowed the teams a degree of freedom in mounting the exposed floor, so that it won't be damaged over kerbs. Despite this degree of flexibility allowed, floors are still subject to the deflection test.
The recent allegations, following the Australian Grand Prix,
suggest the Ferrari floor could lift at high speed leading the diffuser to stall. This could either increase straight-line speed through a loss in drag, or improve the car's balance by reducing rear downforce.
To do this, the spring could allow the floor to pass the FIA test and still move when at higher speed.
Other teams mount their floor with a thin metal strut or cable, however these solutions are just as prone to flex at speed, as the support could bend under the pressure of (air) passing under the car.
The various teams' methods of mounting the floor have been known to the FIA scrutineers for some time.
The Ferrari floor, for one, has passed scrutineering in every race it was used so far, at least since the Japanese Grand Prix last year.
However, as with the flexi-wings controversy last year, the team could still be required to make changes to their device, and the FIA
may indeed issue a clarification outlining what is acceptable for mounting the floor - or even make changes to the deflection test.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble
