Crash testing

[OVERSTEER]

The word on ITV-F1.COM, Autosport.com and on BBC Ceefax is that four teams including Benetton and BAR have failed crash tests on their cars, that means if that none of them pass the crash teats within nine days then we're going to have a grid of 14 cars come race day in Melbourne! Has anyone any ideas which are the other two teams not to have passed crash tests? I know for a fact this has nothing to do with Minardi!

[massifheed]

Forget about it. Those teams that have failed testing will have resolved the problem by Australia anyway. I don't know why this story is getting so many column inches. It's a non event. A similar thing happened last year with Williams, they failed some kind of safety test and there were rumours that they wouldn't be allowed to compete. These things always crop up, and they get sorted. It's just a case of race hungry media wanting a story.

[Bononi]

Exactly. It happens every starting season. It is like a novel, they want us to be anxious for what's going to happen... and nothing ! Every team will make the grid, even the poor Minardi.

[Gt_R]

True...while it is almost doubtless that all cars would be fielded on the grid in Melbourne, the competitiveness is in question here.

The problem lies in that the cars are built, and they perform brilliantly (ie record breaking performances) on the race track. However, they fail the crash test and that means they have to strengthen their car. This equals to heavier mass, and an unexpected change to the balance of the car/chassis, thus making the car perform less well than before, not only in the straights, but in the turns too. To overcome these weight problems, teams would in turn try to max horsepower and reliabilities suffer in return...Most teams like Ferrari and BAR had carried out a majority of testings before the crash test, and this could largely affect their actual performance in Australia should they have such a problem

The point i am trying to say is that i am worried that Ferrari might be one of the teams who failed the tests. Last year they flunk the first round of the tests too. And this year, some reports claim that Ferrari are one of the four that failed the crash tests conducted just 2 weeks before the start of the season ...after all the record breaking tests Ferrari had in Mugello and Fiorano. Does this mean a drop in performance in their cars for the first few races? Certainly, the last day of Mugello testing as well as Fiorano shakedown were less impressive than before...

i might be paranoid...but it is still a worry~ afterall, Ferrari is my favorite!

[Ralf's Girl]

I read today that BAR have passed all necessary crash tests. All this is just a fuss over nothing - anyone who hasn't yet passed will have done by next week.

[steve nielsen]

BAR and Benetton have both denied these reports, verstappen.nl said that Arrows have passed all tests with ease, the dutch F1 program reported that Minardi was 1 of the first teams that passed the safety tests, so that leaves:

Mclaren
Ferrari
Prost
Sauber
Williams
Jordan
Jaguar

as the canidates........