Judging from 2005 I am more inclined to think that the advantage enjoyed by Renault and McLaren were not particularly due to their suspension design. Since both run Michelin, which for all intends and purpose are going to be similar, 2 vastly different geometry were used between Renault's V-keel and McLaren's Zerokeel, and both were received with good results. As such, from a tire point of view in which tire should drive how the suspension is designed, we can somewhat conclude that suspension wasn't the primary factor for their competitiveness. Rather more likely, is that their tire is superior in general. Now their individual design difference is going to play a role in how the rest of the area in the car were developed, and the suspension package may have helped them in those area.ginsu wrote:After 2005, I think we can make some conjecture about v-keel, no-keel, vs single keel performance. We cannot say for certain that the performance level of the R25 or Macca were due to their suspension designs, but it's hard to say it wasn't either.scarbs wrote: Simply saying a keel-less design is best and a single in conservative is over simplifying the issue.
We have to make conjectures about why Ferrari were down last year. Yes, I think primarily it was the Bridgestones, but it doesn't seem like Ferrari attack the issue with innovation. I know that Ross Brawn said last year that they don't really know why they're so slow when they're slow, and they don't know why they're fast when they're fast (This was when Schumi got his one legitimate pole position). This probably breeds some conservative thinking at Ferrari which seems to stifle their innovation.
If we truly examine Ferrari, we might find a mediocre car with an incredible driver with a huge tire advantage (custom compounds from Bridgestone, etc).
I guess I used to think that the Ferrari was the class of the field in all respects, but in recent years I'm not so sure about that car.
Now to say Ferrari failed to tackle their tire issue with innovation is a null point IMO. As really you can't make an informed change on suspension design, if your tire is not up to scratch or consistant enough, we've seen enough time for Ferrari last year that they are sometimes competitive, sometimes way off the pace, and it'll be hard to judge if they were to make any changes, that it was due to their tire on a "off" day or the changes were actually doing anything. And that point also largely play to why really there is very little one can do, if your tire is really not there for most of the year. It is more than likely that you can throw some update on the car, fully expecting it to work out to be certain margin better, and was left wondering why its not working as the tire is not there.
