Dear Heretic,
Blessed with the hind sight of the Austrian GP, I think some light has been
shed on F2003-GA. As for your original question :"how good is the new
Ferrari?", I think it is fast, its bloody fast. I am of the opinion that
if Ferrari says it is 1.5 seconds faster, you'd better believe it. I mean MS's
fastest RACE lap was only ,255 seconds off last year's pole position and some
,35 seconds BETTER than his own qualifying time for last year. Now that takes
some doing!
His fastest lap in the race was more than a second faster than Kimi's.
As for Rubinho, well maybe his race was compromised by his tyre choice by his
own admission?. The fuel rig problem he suffered cost him a whole lot more. He
wiped Kimi's lead in the latter stages (Seven seconds in as many laps?)
Granted, Kimi was suffering with severe understeer but that was only later on
in the race. Had Rubinho not had those DAMN fuel rig problems, he would have
been in front of Kimi. And even then, I think you are quite right when you say
the car was short revved in Spain. I think it was short revved in Austria as
well. I mean why push it to the skies if you only need to go to the clouds and
I am sure the Ferrari engineers knew what was required.
I think the revs will be opened up a bit when the new McLaren sees the tracks
and proves to be a threat. My humble opinion is that we have not seen the real
potential of F2003-GA yet. As a matter of fact, my humble opinion goes even
further in that I don't think we ever saw the real potential of F2002. The
amazing stuff happens when you are pushed to the limit and I cannot remember
when F2002 was pushed to the limit.
Good ol' Max even had to change the rules to get somebody to push the Red
ones.
One question: What the HELL can be done about those fuel rigs. This surely
must be very embarrassing to anybody remotely connected to the process, from
manufacturing right up to dumping the fuel into the car. Wow, this HAS to
stop!! This has been a problem for a number of years. Regards Johan M
- South Africa (Reference Heretic
5-07 - How good is the new Ferrari?)
The Heretic replies:
Johan,
Yes, I agree. The Ferrari is fast and it looks good too.
Working on the assumption that there is no reason to go any faster than
just fast enough to win the race, I also tend to agree with you. The new
Ferrari can go much faster and will as the season rolls on.
If the new McLaren is very fast too we may get to see how much Ferrari
has in reserve.
Ferrari’s problem is those Bridgestones that seem to perform
inconsistently, or should I say are consistently letting them down. I know
that Michael always remembers to sing their praise when he wins but I wonder
how much faster he would be on Michelins.
I can absolutely not get my head around the fuel rig problem. I have
lost count of how many races have been spoiled as a result of refuelling rig
malfunction. Why does it not get fixed?
The solution is not to standardise the rigs but to standardise on a flow
control device. Then you can allow teams to build their own rigs providing
that they have the in-line flow control. At least then they are in control of
their own destiny rather than this stupid random race spoiling crapshoot.
If they do not want to do that why not make something that works
reliably? Even if it flows slower.
In fact if the fuel flow is slowed down it could even add an interesting
aspect to the race as it would mean that pit stops will be even longer. Fewer
cars will qualify light as they would not be able to make up the time in the
pits and qualifying order may reflect race order.
Anyway. It is seriously frustrating to have to watch. I cannot believe
that it is that difficult to fix. Give it to another manufacturer, another
designer BUT fix the problem! As you say it has been years!
