I don't know how Button came to this conclusion, but he believes that Ferrari have a huge advantage on the long runs. Button said; "And the Ferrari on the long runs seem to be two seconds quicker than everyone else." http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/6769983/-Ferrari-Has-The-Best-Consistent-Pace- That is a huge gap to be ahead - and if this is true, then Ferrari look very good for the championship, even if others are better on low fuel runs. Talk in the paddock has been about Ferrari being very gentle on it's tyres. Williams' technical director Sam Michael said: "Red Bull would make a mistake to underestimate Ferrari.The car looks pretty fast on the long runs," According to Sarah Holt (who finally gave information that I want to read), Mark Webber picked Ferrari as his biggest rival. The reasons being: "'Fernando works for them and he's pretty handy. Ferrari finished the year very strong and they've come out of the gates very strong; the car is running, it's always out there, they aren't hanging around when they are out there, they're pretty quick and the team are always organised.' In the last few seasons, one of the strong points for Ferrari has been working well with the tyres, and this year is no different. The Pirelli tyres degrade much quicker then we expected, meaning the way the cars handles its tyres could be just as important as aerodynamic upgrades. Any thoughts on Ferrari's pace?
TBH I dont think the Ferrari is the dominant faster car but will be a championship contender along with Red Bull. As for Mclaren they are either Bluffing or have built another dog as from what is being said in the paddock reminds me when Mclaren had problems with the rear wing in 2009 that took them half the season to catch up. MB - "McLaren looks shocking as if on cold tyres". maybe at the last test we shall see a better picture before the first race (where ever that will be)
You can't read much into the lap times, but you can tell a lot about a car when watching it track side - and those people are all saying that the McLaren is seriously lacking grip and understeering a lot. Also, an unnamed McLaren engineer said that they were 1 second behind Red Bull and Ferrari. McLaren can sort these issues out, and be very competitive, but I think it will be a while before they can unlock the potential of the car.
Those comments by Button have been taken waaaaay out of context. He was highlighting the fact that testing times are misleading. Ferrari do look fairly rapid though, you have to wonder where their pace is coming from because their car looks like such a conservative effort.
I like Ferrari's approach - they've kept most of the car the same, and made great improvements to the car, like their extreme pull rod. Sure the design looks conservative, but the speed comes from underneath the bodywork.
oops meant push rod - I was talking about their extreme solution which allowed them to keep the push rod suspension. They said they'd looked at both solutions and push rod was the right move - which is surprising since most of the teams have gone for a pull rod. I honestly have no idea what benefits each one brings (apart from pull rod having a lower cog)
Pull rod achieves a lower centre of gravity which is why most teams have gone for that solution this year given the reduction in downforce levels. It was difficult to achieve last year because the double diffuser got in the way. Ferrari apparently have an ultra tight back with a neatly packaged gearbox which means it's not getting in the way of the push rod which is situated higher.
