Ferrari dashing hopes early? Slow and steady something something not podium. FERRARI TO USE CONSERVATIVE ENGINE IN MELBOURNE Ferrari is reportedly travelling to the Formula 1 season opener in Australia with a few less horse power in their power units than expected. The Italian team was arguably the surprise of the 2015 Formula 1 pre-season, with much of its improved pace credited to a much better turbo V6 ‘power unit’. But the authoritative La Gazzetta dello Sport reveals that Ferrari ultimately decided to take a “more conservative” version of its 2015 engine to Melbourne. That is because, although clearly better, question marks about the reliability of the fully-upgraded new engine remained ahead of the first two races. “The SF15-T may therefore have slightly less performance (in Melbourne) than what was seen in the last hours of work in Barcelona,” the Italian report claimed. In 2015, each driver is limited to just four ‘power units’ for the entire season, down from five engines last year. La Gazzetta added: “Telemetry from the tests raised a few doubts about the latest version of the (works) Ferrari engine, while there were no such concerns with the ‘customer’ version.” Ferrari’s ‘customer’ engine was tested throughout the pre-season period by Sauber.
So Ferrari openly stating publically that their customer power units are a lower power than the factory units! That's nice of them!
Weren't Merc doing something similar with their customer engines, not letting their customers run certain mixes? Would need to dig it up but I'm sure I read it somewhere last season, could well have been on here..
Now you remind me I do remember Merc not allowing customers to run certain mixes although I can't seem to remember if Merc themselves used the non customer 'mixes'.
Good point, it maybe that Merc themselves didn't run certain mixes for fear of "over doing it" and breaking the engine.. But if they themselves ran it and didn't allow the likes of McLaren (not that it mattered in that do of a car), FI and Williams, then thats not on, spirit of the sport and all?
Cant wait for F1, the season might suck balls again towards the end and finish on a wrong key with Hamilton just walking all over Rosberg but that's not a problem there are many other things to watch for this season. Even though Mercedes will likely dominate again, I think the fight for 3rd will be intense and the real focus point of the season. There will likely be some good close racing and battles with at least 4 drivers fighting it out week in, week out. Williams Vs RBR Vs Ferrari Yummy! Lotus vs McLaren who will end on top? Very interesting... Force India Vs Manor Payback might be a bitch? Verstappen Vs Sainz jr Who is F1's next top driver?
Now we know why the 2014 engine Ferrari supplied was Code for "yeah, we were actually just showboating in the tests on low fuel and now you'll see our actual pace isn't that hot, but we think most of you are too thick to notice that so if we tell you we're just downgrading our engine again....reliability and shizz....y'know..... that can explain why we suddenly look slower again"
Historically I can’t think of too many times when a defending world champion has been beaten by his team mate. In fact normally after another year, feet firmly under the table and a number 1 to rally around, they tend to display more dominance. In short I think this is an easy win for the WDC for Lewis.
Senna-Prost Schekter-Villeneuve Vettel-Ricciardo Lauda-Prost Kimi-Massa Piquet-Patrese Andretti-Reutemann Jones-Reutemann The most I could bother to find in the last 40 years.
Will VDG race in Australia? The courts say yes, Sauber still don't want it to happen. What a mess to the start of the season already. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117991
You might not believe this but I believe that Grosjean in the Lotus will be fighting for 4th behind one of the Williams and Ricciardo close behind. I think Grosjean with a better car and a great engine will be the surprise driver this year.
I've been saying to all my friends that know anything about the sport that Lotus are the dark horse this season, and i actually have a bet (with two friends) that they are going to beat Williams and Ferrari this year. Grosjean proved at the end of 2013 (the only time him and Kimi had equal cars, the part that everyone conviently forgets) he's a world class driver able to beat anyone. Maldonado, albeit stupid is a race winner and can also be stupidly quick (it's worth a punt on him winning Monaco, as he's really quick at street tracks) when his brain isn't thinking of crashing.
