Binning cars...can it slow development

[OZ_HCR32]

Of course it would be great to have two cars finish a GP, as the volume of data would have to be a benefit, especially early in the season when you are assesing and lifing components etc.

But if a chassis is heavily damaged, or even several chassis' damaged etc...how much of an effect would that have on a modern F1 team?

Do they have enough resources to roll out another chassis and keep on updating the car and go testing..or is still a drama for the major teams?

[Knowlesy]

It certainly doesn't help development.

It depends though.....it probably wouldn't hurt your big budget manufacturers so much, but it could compromise a small outfit.

Chassis' take ages to manufacture in comparison to other parts.

[OZ_HCR32]

So would you expect the development at Ferrari to be hampered by what transpired at the Aus GP???? Williams with Rosbergs acco????

[Knowlesy]

Not really, no, to be honest.

The only thing hampered in those situations is Rosbergs F1 race experience and perhaps a little knowledge about race weekend strategy with the 2006 car.

In terms of real develooment, that is all done at tests.

[avsfan733]

but at the sametime they do have a finite lifespan so the teams already plan on manufacturing more

[Born Racer]

Does anyone know how many chassis different manufacturers have ready at any one time during the season?

Again, I imagine it varies massively depending on the team. Do Super Aguri really have only 2 chassis at present?! If so, in the event of one of their drivers completely binning it they wouldn't be able to race at the next event. That in turn, is supposedly worth a financial penalty I believe, though perhaps they would give special dispensation.

[BootsOntheSide]

Super Aguri may only have one truly raceworthy chassis - Ide's had been used as a show car for some time.

I think binning a car is more damaging to development in testing, if particualr parts are beign investigated and it becomes much ahrder to know for sure whether they have a performance benefit before a race weekend. Most teams would have at least 3 chassis ready to use, and since they can't test in the week before a race they will have time to construct another if need be.

As knowlsey commented, Nico's development of race stamina and strategy will have been hampered by Melbourne (and Malaysia for that matter). You can run race simualtions in testing, but you can't recreate the exact positions of cars on crucial laps, the behaviour of backmarkers or the effect of suddenr ain fall or safety car deployment.

[WebberForWDC]

Certainly this is interesting. By no means do they have as many chassis as NASCAR teams, but do most works F1 teams wind up with 5 to 10 or even up to 15 tubs per year? Whilst Yoong, Verstappen, Baumgartner at Minardi may have all driven the "same car" for example?

Finite lifespan? Interesting, certainly there are still people running around in possession of very old Formula cars 10-15 years old and they seem to be sound? Certainly those cars at club level would not be driven anything like as hard as they would have been originally!

[ASCII Man]

Yeah, unlike that Ferrari F199 that broke in half!

[Seoigh]

Originally Posted by WebberForWDC

Certainly this is interesting. By no means do they have as many chassis as NASCAR teams, but do most works F1 teams wind up with 5 to 10 or even up to 15 tubs per year? Whilst Yoong, Verstappen, Baumgartner at Minardi may have all driven the "same car" for example?

You are correct. In fact, NASCAR is probably the cheapest professional series from an equipment standpoint, even relatively low-level open wheel development series likely spend more.