Matt Somerfield ‏@SomersF12m Ferrari's extra duct on rear of Sidepod has internal pipework likely leading back toward an oil cooler #OnlyOn1Side pic.twitter.com/cPqpzazdbH please log in to view this image Matt Somerfield ‏@SomersF11m This is likely a temporary fix for the Scuderia who've slightly misjudged the cooling required for a component
La Gazzetta also talks about big updates to the F14T, saying new front and rear wings, new bodywork and more powerful engine.
From Scarbs: please log in to view this image This may explain why Ferrari only did long stints on the final day, when they had extra cooling: please log in to view this image
So Ferrari were only using 60 out of 160hp (37.5%) and Ferrari's ERS is worth 3 seconds, which means Raikkonen would have done a 1:22.937 on day 2 if he had full ERS. The fastest time on day 2 was Button's 1:24.165. The fastest time in Jerez was Magnussen's 1:23.276 on day 3, where track conditions were much better and Magnussen's lap was rumoured to be the only time anyone turned the engine up to 15000 RPM). Forza Ferrari!
I imagine both Ferrari and Mercedes had another 3-4secs in them if they turned everything up. If Renault gets working they probably have half a day worth of lap improvement If I was Marussia I really would go for playing it safe for the early races, bound to pay off!
Ferrari ran tiny sidepods, although we saw them adding cooling in Jerez so they may grow a little: please log in to view this image Theres still many holes to vent hot air: please log in to view this image Ferrari one of the few teams whose nose doesnt go beyond the front wing: please log in to view this image Cameras do good job to manage airflow: please log in to view this image They ran a similar IR sensor to Mercedes: please log in to view this image
Someones Valentines day has been made (cough Forza). From the judge: How fast is the F1 4T Ferrari really? (GMM) Was Ferrari sandbagging at Jerez? Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport on Friday revealed that, having studied the data from the recent opening winter test, the top five places in terms of top speed were occupied by Mercedes-powered cars. Topping the lot was the newly Mercedes-powered Williams’ Felipe Massa, who tripped the radar at 286kph on the front straight, and 307 on the fastest part of the southern Spanish circuit. In contrast, the nearest Ferrari-powered car was the works F14-T driven by Kimi Raikkonen, with just 268 on the straight and a top speed of 289 — considerably down on the leading Mercedes-Benz machine. Auto Motor und Sport’s Michael Schmidt said Ferrari has admitted it did not deploy full power at Jerez, where the all-new and sophisticated V6 ‘power units’ were getting the first real running. Mercedes’ Niki Lauda, however, said there was no sandbagging in the silver camp. ”We went to the limit that we could, as it makes no sense to go deliberately slowly. You learn nothing (from that),” said the great Austrian and Mercedes team chairman.
Mercedes pushing to the limit, creating false perceptions, maintaining the hype and keeping the shareholders happy. Meanwhile Ferrari can get on with their own programme and use the later tests to explore performance.
How did Silver ever change from a Redbull fanatic to a Mercedes extremist? The transition was a weird one.