F2005?

[twig]

I have to admit to not watching the testing progress as closely as I used to, but is the F2005 as quick as people expected it to be?

Relative to the opposition and the F2004M, how quick is it?
Will Ferrari have the same super-dooper car as they did last year? Or have they made a car which is quicker, but not by much, whilst other teams have made huge gains?

[Super Tourer]

The F2005 was out last week at Jerez with Badoer driving - comparisons in testing are not easy to make as we don't know what configurations the cars are runing in, but for the record.

Jerez 10/03/05

1. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:15.708 112
2. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.324 149
3. Montagny Renault (M) 1:17.324 109
4. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:17.418 58
5. Badoer Ferrari (F2005) (B) 1:18.155 74
6. Bernoldi BAR-Honda (M) 1:18.250 121
7. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:18.324 123
8. Kovalainen Renault (M) 1:18.327 86
9. Gene Ferrari (F2004M) (B) 1:18.378 63
10. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.592 76


Jerez 11/05/03
Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps
1. Montagny Renault (M) 1:18.258 93
2. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:18.550 105
3. Bernoldi BAR-Honda (M) 1:19.237 99
4. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.567 70
5. Kovalainen Renault (M) 1:19.980 84
6. Badoer Ferrari (F2005) (B) 1:20.677 32
7. Gene Ferrari (F2004M) (B) 1:21.319 64

Times from www.atlasf1.com

On the face of it the 2005 has been marginally faster than the 2004M, but it's very hard to judge much from testing - Ferrari are not noted for showing their hand in open testing anyway, so I doubt we will get a clear idea of the pace of the new car until it makes it's race debut.

[f1_carzy]

Just read that Bridgestone r very happy with the tyre degradation of thye F2005; it seems to be lot less than the F2004M. But i guess the Fiorano test wud throw more light

[Inigo Montoya]

Badoer was raving about it in an article published in gazzetta over the weekend. He mentioned its smoothness, speed, and that fact that it is very easy on the tyres.

[Logrence]

You can't make any judgements on it until it's in a race situation - the other teams already have updates and improvements on the way, Ferrari put themselves in a difficult position getting the car out this late in the year. Of course with their previous advantages it hasn't been a problem, but this year it could be crucial.

[f1_carzy]

I cud not understand one thing: instead of developing 2 cars - F2004M and F2005, if Ferrari had put in all their efforts into the F2005, cud they have not developed the one car ready for Melbourne? Or am I missing something?

[garcon]

By delaying the introduction of the F2005, Ferrari will be able to use the knowledge gained from the first two or three races under the new rules. As a result the F2005 will be a far better car than if they had got it ready for Melbourne. There maybe other reasons to delay, but my hunch is that this is one of the main ones.

[Super Tourer]

They could have produced a 2005 car in time for Melbourne but chose not too, preferring to start the year with the modified car - this gives them more time to look at the opposition and test and develop the 2005 car more fully before it's debut.

This has been a policy Ferrari has adopted with success in the past.

The F2004M was good enough to get Rubens on the podium, we can only guess where MS would have ended up on the grid had the weather not intervened and pretty much scuppered his race.

We have seen reports that they may introduce the 2005 car earlier than planned, perhaps that decision will be influenced by the weekends race.

Malaysia will be more of an comparison for them (weather permitting!).

[Adam43]

A particular aspect of the F2005 could well have taken longer than the rest of the car and so delayed it. Like the gearbox. They really wanted to have that on the new car so they delayed it.

[f1_carzy]

Then, why does only Ferrari do this repeatedly - delaying the release of the new car?? Why cant other teams follow the same? Is it because Ferrari has a huge budget? Sorry if my Qs sound naive

[Super Tourer]

Recently it's been a question of evolution over evolution - Ferrari have produced such good cars that their rivals have needed to make a big step up - we saw in 2004 particularly, that both Williams and McLaren went for radical cars in order to try and out think Ferrari.

Ferrari have essentially had such a good car at the seasons end, they have felt that a modified version of it will be sufficient to carry them through the early races of the following season.

Is it down to budget?

Toyota's budget (for example) is not far behind Ferrari, they have built a 2005 car and heavily reworked it over the winter. Ferrari have greater resources, in that they have a test track on their doorstep, which both eases and speeds up the development process - they can design new bits, make them, bolt them on the car and try them - all in a very short space of time.

[Gt_R]

By delaying the launch of the new car, Ferrari effectively gives itself about a month's time more R&D time to further look into how to explore the rules.

[Inigo Montoya]

Yes, but they started working on this car half way through last season!! What is taking them so long??

[chillibowl]

i wonder if the 055 engine had something to do with it. i heard it mentioned that the new engine won't fit in the F004M beacause of the engine mountings, but isn't this something that should have been taken into account when developing the modified F2004. Considering that they dropped the 054 engine because of the new regs, woulnd't a prioity have been to work on the new engine even in an intrim car rather then use the 053 which was presumably never designed to last more than one weekend.

maybe suaber's problems last weekend stemmed from their engines as they were using the 055

[pole2pole]

One of the most important factors for ferrari is how good are the bridgestones. Michelin confirmed there strong performance from pre season testing throughout the first race. During the first race Martin Brundle from ITV brought up an interesting point concerning the fuel tank capacity on the cars. I think he was pointing out that ferrari could not do the same amount of laps as Mclaren or Renault on a full tank and that the tank on the f2005 is not alot bigger

[Gt_R]

The Ferrari F2004 seemingly had the smallest fuel tank compared to main rivals, and the F2005 may be the same. However, look at last year and also Melbourne. Ferrari are usually one of the last to pit, and had the flexibility to run races with less pitstop than rivals. This suggest that perhaps, a smaller fuel tank, but also a far more efficient engine?

[Jordi]

Maybe, maybe not. We'll see...

[Logrence]

The fuel tank on the Ferrari (new one) is only about 110-115 litres - about 10 litres, 15 in some cases, smaller than the rest of the field. Ferrari have gambled on the fact that they will be better off running shorter stints during races - something I thought interesting giving that they had problems with the Bridgestones warming up during pre-season testing.

Speaking of Bridgestone, in Germany they are reporting criticisms of Ferrari by the tyre company because Schumi and Rubens went poncing off on holiday as soon as the race in Oz was over, leaving Gene and Badoer to do the donkey work. Bridgestone weren't happy because they say there were important issues to resolve and that either Schumacher or Barrichello should have been there.

[Inigo Montoya]

Do you have a link to this info regarding Bridgestone being unhappy with Ferrari?

[Logrence]

It was on teletext on RTL and N24 this morning - I'd be happy to invite you over for a coffee to have a look, though.

[Inigo Montoya]

Sorry, can't get away from work

[Logrence]

Perhaps some other time then. I've just bought one of those little espresso things.

[davester]

Un-named sources point to Ferrari electing to begin the year with the modified F2004 after discovering the "Minardi Season 2005" strategy booklet in the cockpit of one of the old racers at the Minardi F1 action.
Minardi elected to begin the season with the 2004 car after losing their "Minardi Season 2005" strategy booklet.
This clearly explains the tensions between Todt and Stoddart at Melbourne.