QUOTE (raiseyourfistfor @ Jan 28 2010, 22:11)

the 2008 cars had roughly the same aero efficiency the big difference was that the ferrari was really kind on its tires and the mclaren really worked them. from a downforce stand point they were not separated by much (if any)
Both Ferrari's dominated at Barcelona in 2008, a track where aero performance really shows. A good place for winter testing because of it.
QUOTE
and that will be one of the very interesting variables to watch this year, both brawn and ferrari were kind to its tires, while red bull and mclaren worked their tires harder. Both have advantages, although i think Mclarens were almost spot on. No problems getting temp, on qual lap, no prob getting temp during wet conditions, but still no problem using soft compound. Brawns was perhaps to soft. Problems during qual, especially.
You loose more if you cant get the tires into optimum operation temp, then if it uses them a little to hard i think.
It's not like both Ferraris and Brawns suffered from low tyre temps, that was more on Button and Raikkonen's side of things, Massa and Barrichello coped much better and proved how quick the car could be in both qualifying and the race. Too many times in 2008 did we see the McLaren's fade from the Ferrari pace when Ferrari weren't having any troubles.