8198 replies to this topic

[AFCA]

Now the 2007 season is over and work on the F2008 (if it's going to be called that) is well underway, some of you were keen to see a new thread started about this already.

So here it is, I guess we should all post Ferrari related stuff in here now from now on.

Let's indeed hope the Maranello magicians will again come up with a beauty and a winner !

[Hacklerf]

It will be interesting to see how Ferrari build the car now that they are more aware of Kimi's preferences

[kar]

And so we begin another, new, campaign

Next week the Scuderia go back to work in preparation for 2008, so I think we too should start looking forward to the new season and the new beauty from Maranello

I always find it so exciting waiting for a new car to come out, speculating what will and wont it be like. It's part of what makes being a fan of this sport so enjoyable.

[metz]

The team has stated that they already know what needs to change and be improved from the F2007.
Asside from the technical reg changes, where do the improvements need to be made?

[noikeee]

Originally posted by metz
The team has stated that they already know what needs to change and be improved from the F2007.
Asside from the technical reg changes, where do the improvements need to be made?

Mechanical grip in the slow corners, and better bouncing over kerbs? That's the areas where the McLarens seemed to be better this season.

But that's just my not-very-technical analysis.

[kar]

They have been working very hard to address their mechanical grip shortcomings and improve the way the car behaves over kerbs and bumps.

[zeppo]

I'd be surprised if the new car doesn't have a shorter wheelbase than the current one.

[zeppo]

Originally posted by AFCA

Let's indeed hope the Maranello magicians will again come up with a beauty and a winner !

With Mclaren ECU? No chance.

[SuperDaan]

I think that the new car will have a slightly shorter wheelbase than this years car.
Dont know the affect of no TC so maybe that requires a longer wheelbase who knows

Looking forward to the release already

[F1Champion]

My views on the design of the F2008.

Slightly shorter wheelbase, although this could go in any direction as Ferrari will analyse the best wheelbase for a non TC car as tyre wear seems to go up quite a lot. Nonetheless I think they'll go slightly shorter. It'll help in the short twisty tracks.

Whether it will help increase the tyre temps to help on a qualifying lap I'm not sure because prior to the season everyone thought a longer car with more weight on the axis' equalled an increase in tyre temp although Ferrari came out and said that the longer wheelbase was selected for its kindness to tyres, which looking back on what a very good move because the race pace of the F2007 was good and they could use the softs better in the race, although not so well in qualifying. Using their logic if longer was chosen for kindness to tyres a slight shortening should help raise the temps enough for qualifying whilst not sacrificing race pace too much. I'm sure they'll work on the suspension to ensure the trade-off is diminished even further. I know this analysis is rather simple and doesn't take into account of weight distribution, springs, dampers and suspension angles but we'll assume that they're not radically changed since the F2007 was pretty good. Either way they'll be working hard on the tyre chassis relationship because initial reports of non-TC driving seems to be quite hard on tyre wear.

Mechanical grip will be worked on to ensure better performances at street circuits and tight twisty circuits. Aero grip seems to be good but Ferrari need to improve the mechanical grip. Whether a by-product of this will be better kerb handling, I'm not sure, but like some have already said the performance of the Ferrari over kerbs needs to be improved. The Ferrari couldn't hammer the Monza kerbs or the kerbs are some other circuits as well as they could. Ferrari know the 2007 tyre wear so they'll probably revise the suspension and no-keel concept further as well as making the arms as aero efficient as possible.

Aero wise, I expect to see some of the Fuji update on the car that wasn't actually seen by any of us. I think we'll see more integrated aero parts like the sidepod wings flowing seamlessly into the radiator chimneys as one part. The sidepods might have some work done to them not just in their cooling but the way air flows around and into it because the cockpit wings were introduced this year to improve airflow into and around the sidepod when running higher front wing angles(?). Not sure about the airbox and whether it will remain as large as it did as it cooled the gearbox as well as providing air to the inlet valves. That might be revised or kept given the gearbox longevity of 4 races.

Finally there should be an even more tightly packaged rear end. Ferrari will work on the gearbox to make sure its reliable (4 races) as well as the hydraulics to even early season reliability.

[vroom-vroom]

They'll be red MP-4/22's.

[GVera]

Does somebody now how the lack of TC impacts in the design of a car?

[quasi C]

Summary of what we know so far:

there's some early words on the 2008 from Costa in the other thread. The gist is: evolution of this year's car whilst improving reliability and slow corner/kerb performance. "The electronics are new so we need to think about how to address the dynamics and handling. We may consider different solutions due to that."

Launch: First half of January (read 10-17th).

People:
Costa (head of chassis)
Tombazis (Chief designer)
Iley (aero chief - was rumoured to join Honda but seems to have stayed put)

Some expectations: maybe a slightly shortened wheelbase but I don't think it's a given. Sidepods to remain roughly unchanged as engine heat reject figures will be the same. More complex front suspension as team has had good experience with no-keel now. Elmination of the hydraulics radiator from top of gearbox - most teams have seamless shift yet don't need this mini-radiator.

Winter 07: F2007 with MES ECU and new mechanical components relating to the project they've got going to address the kerb issue.

[quasi C]

Also I think they can design a car taking into account the removal of the infamous moving floor. I always felt the banning of it compromised the 2007 and they couldn't really work around it fully with the current car.

Worries: Difficult intergration with MES.
Wind tunnel problem may not be fully resolved..

[metz]

Originally posted by vroom-vroom
They'll be red MP-4/22's.

We know for a fact that ALL cars will have at least 1 MP-4 part...;)

[karlth]

Originally posted by GVera
Does somebody now how the lack of TC impacts in the design of a car?

My guess would be longer wheelbase(conditioned of course by good aerodynamics) to ensure stability in higher corners.

Ferrari suffered badly with unstability in higher corners during the 1997 season which lead to extreme tyre wear.

[512 TR]

AFCA, I'm counting on your great updates.

[ATM_Andy]

F1Champion

My views on the design of the F2008.

Slightly shorter wheelbase, although this could go in any direction as Ferrari will analyse the best wheelbase for a non TC car as tyre wear seems to go up quite a lot. Nonetheless I think they'll go slightly shorter. It'll help in the short twisty tracks.

Whether it will help increase the tyre temps to help on a qualifying lap I'm not sure because prior to the season everyone thought a longer car with more weight on the axis' equalled an increase in tyre temp although Ferrari came out and said that the longer wheelbase was selected for its kindness to tyres, which looking back on what a very good move because the race pace of the F2007 was good and they could use the softs better in the race, although not so well in qualifying. Using their logic if longer was chosen for kindness to tyres a slight shortening should help raise the temps enough for qualifying whilst not sacrificing race pace too much. I'm sure they'll work on the suspension to ensure the trade-off is diminished even further. I know this analysis is rather simple and doesn't take into account of weight distribution, springs, dampers and suspension angles but we'll assume that they're not radically changed since the F2007 was pretty good. Either way they'll be working hard on the tyre chassis relationship because initial reports of non-TC driving seems to be quite hard on tyre wear.

Mechanical grip will be worked on to ensure better performances at street circuits and tight twisty circuits. Aero grip seems to be good but Ferrari need to improve the mechanical grip. Whether a by-product of this will be better kerb handling, I'm not sure, but like some have already said the performance of the Ferrari over kerbs needs to be improved. The Ferrari couldn't hammer the Monza kerbs or the kerbs are some other circuits as well as they could. Ferrari know the 2007 tyre wear so they'll probably revise the suspension and no-keel concept further as well as making the arms as aero efficient as possible.

Aero wise, I expect to see some of the Fuji update on the car that wasn't actually seen by any of us. I think we'll see more integrated aero parts like the sidepod wings flowing seamlessly into the radiator chimneys as one part. The sidepods might have some work done to them not just in their cooling but the way air flows around and into it because the cockpit wings were introduced this year to improve airflow into and around the sidepod when running higher front wing angles(?). Not sure about the airbox and whether it will remain as large as it did as it cooled the gearbox as well as providing air to the inlet valves. That might be revised or kept given the gearbox longevity of 4 races.

Finally there should be an even more tightly packaged rear end. Ferrari will work on the gearbox to make sure its reliable (4 races) as well as the hydraulics to even early season reliability.

Hi All,

Chassis:
A shorter car will indeed give better traction at the rear end, a by product will be increased tyre wear.

Aerodynamics
The Overall centre of pressure of the car will be slightly more reward than present designs, this will be to give additional traction at the rear at the high speed corners. The side pods will be slightly smaller, however expect to see more devices to pull a better flow into them. Most teams will run a cascade front wing, Id expect so see many combinations of the BMW (lower) and McLaren (cascade) wings, giving maximum ground affect and maximum flow management over the car.

Suspension:
Loosing TC will mean a lot of work on the suspension especially at the rear of the car, expect a much more aggressive geometry to manage longitudinal movement and get better traction. This will increase tyre wear but it is necessary for lap time. Dampers will be more stressed a very soft rebound be required whilst maintaining maximum stiffness.

General Characteristics
All of the 2008 cars will have more under-steer as a more stable platform is required due to the loss of TC.

[Red Rocket]

Originally posted by AFCA
Now the 2007 season is over and work on the F2008 (if it's going to be called that) is well underway, some of you were keen to see a new thread started about this already.

So here it is, I guess we should all post Ferrari related stuff in here now from now on.

Let's indeed hope the Maranello magicians will again come up with a beauty and a winner !

My concern next year not only for Ferrari but others is the ECU (Mclaren made). It will take time for the teams to work out the bugs. This will give Mclaren a major advantage, while others will focus on the ECU, Mclaren can focus on aero and other aspects of the car.

If Mclaren does not dominate next year it will be a real surprise.

[ATM_Andy]

The MES EUC is quite simple (a little over 100 I/O {inputs and outputs}) and shouldn't pose too muh of a concern for the teams, please refer to the my posts in the F2007 thread if youd like to see a more detailed breakdown of the MES ECU I/O list.

http://forums.autosp...=&pagenumber=51

post 2009

[black magic]

ferrari demonstrated towards teh end of the season they had got the supersofts working well come race.

the rear suspension seems to be where they figure they can offset the disadvatages of longer whellbase.

I guessing they'll stay long but continue to work at ways of getting more in qual.(?pressures)

[ex Rhodie racer]

Originally posted by black magic
ferrari demonstrated towards teh end of the season they had got the supersofts working well come race.

the rear suspension seems to be where they figure they can offset the disadvatages of longer whellbase.

I guessing they'll stay long but continue to work at ways of getting more in qual.(?pressures)

Agreed. No TC will place greater emphasis on tyre wear, and for that reason i can´t see a shorter car.

[Enzoluis]

It is possible to improve the engines or are still frozen?

[Danielg]

Their frozen from beginning of 2008, but theirs not much they can do to improve the engine performance these days, maybe they could find an extra tenth at best before their fully frozen at beginning of 2008.

[F1Champion]

Originally posted by ATM_Andy


Hi All,

Chassis:
A shorter car will indeed give better traction at the rear end, a by product will be increased tyre wear.

Aerodynamics
The Overall centre of pressure of the car will be slightly more reward than present designs, this will be to give additional traction at the rear at the high speed corners. The side pods will be slightly smaller, however expect to see more devices to pull a better flow into them. Most teams will run a cascade front wing, Id expect so see many combinations of the BMW (lower) and McLaren (cascade) wings, giving maximum ground affect and maximum flow management over the car.

Suspension:
Loosing TC will mean a lot of work on the suspension especially at the rear of the car, expect a much more aggressive geometry to manage longitudinal movement and get better traction. This will increase tyre wear but it is necessary for lap time. Dampers will be more stressed a very soft rebound be required whilst maintaining maximum stiffness.

General Characteristics
All of the 2008 cars will have more under-steer as a more stable platform is required due to the loss of TC.

I agree. What worries me is the amount of fairly major changes required to cope with a non-TC car, overall centre of pressure and suspension and possibly weight distribution(?) all to achieve better traction out of corners. One mess-up could be pretty expensive.
I get the impression that slightly different design philosophies from the various teams could have quite large performance ramifications. The balance between front and rear could have a big impact on handling.

Whilst the 2008 cars might have more understeer I think that Ferrari are going to have to listen to Kimi and Massa's regarding how they want the car to be. Kimi isn't too keen on understeer is he(?) although I've read that he can cope with it. Massa can cope with understeer. Ferrari are going to have to think about driver preferences against having a naturally understeery car to protect the tyres which will be paramount in 08. Quite a big decision to make no? Or can driver preferences at the front be achievable with setup?
(Ferrari are going to have to make sure that if the car is naturally understeery that they can run heavy angled wing at the front of the car and be sure airflow over the rest of the car isn't disturbed too much, it was an issue in 05, and a slight issue in 06 and 07, although the aero upgrades in 07 helped alot in this area.)

[AFCA]

Translated Q&A with Dyer:

Q: How does it feel to once again be the leader of the worldchampionship ?
Dyer: ''It's something incredible, a dream becoming true. The most amusing thing is that we were leading the championship again at the right moment, the last race that is, after having been behind for basically the entire season. Indeed, Kimi was the leader only once, after the inaugural race in Australia !''

Q: You've already 'tasted' this kind of joy when you were responsable for Schumacher's car, does this victory has a special significance ?
Dyer: ''For Kimi it is obviously his first world title and subsequently this is something special. When I joined Ferrari, Schumacher had already won worldchampionships, some of those already with our team. It's clear that the feeling is different when you obtain a similar result with a guy that is in his debut-year with the team.''

Q: Did this fact emply you had to change your working method ?
Dyer: ''Oviously yes, because Kimi is a very different person to Michael and therefore we've had to change the working method a bit. But the approach of the team has remained the same.''

Q: What is Kimi's best quality ?
Dyer: ''He's fast. And this, naturally, represents the best quality a driver should have.''

Q: Is there some sort of segret behind your operation ?
Dyer: ''Perhaps the fact to not having had any pressure on us: we've gone to Brasil with the knowledge of winning not being enough, as well as needing some help from others. For winning the championship a miracle was needed. In fact, telling the truth, after Japan (Kimi - 17 p) two miracles were needed. The nice thing is that they actually happened.''

Q: Be honest, the 'war' between Alonso and Hamilton was a bit of a help...
Dyer: ''I don't think so. It's clear they took away points from each other at the races, but we've let Felipe and Kimi drive freely also, until it was necessary to focus on just one of them.''

Q: What happened after the race in Indianapolis ? After that moment Kimi's performance went upwards..
Dyer: ''I think there was an improvement even before Indy. In Canada we we're also a bit unfortunate, while in Monaco a mistake cost us our race. Let's say till Magny-Cours, for various reasons we'ven never been able to show our true potential.''

Q: Did Kimi also change his driving style during the season ?
Dyer: ''No, he drives like he has always done. He certainly had to adapt to the characteristics of the car, but I wouldn't say that now he's become a different driver.''

Q: Now Kimi has won the worldchampionship, will the 2008 car be designed around him ?
Dyer: ''No, our tendency remains the same as always: we exclusively think about constructing fast cars.''

[F1Champion]

Originally posted by Enzoluis
It is possible to improve the engines or are still frozen?

The rule changes make it hard to alter the engine. The FIA really only allow changes for reliability purposes only, although you can make a few efficiency changes to improve combustion and gain a few hp etc.

How many engine changes did Ferrari conduct in 07? I know of two upgrades.

We'll probably find out at the launch how much development has gone into the 08 engine. Hopefully the engine designers are still working hard to look for little efficiency improvements.

[ATM_Andy]

I agree. What worries me is the amount of fairly major changes required to cope with a non-TC car, overall centre of pressure and suspension and possibly weight distribution(?) all to achieve better traction out of corners. One mess-up could be pretty expensive.
I get the impression that slightly different design philosophies from the various teams could have quite large performance ramifications. The balance between front and rear could have a big impact on handling.

Whilst the 2008 cars might have more understeer I think that Ferrari are going to have to listen to Kimi and Massa's regarding how they want the car to be. Kimi isn't too keen on understeer is he(?) although I've read that he can cope with it. Massa can cope with understeer. Ferrari are going to have to think about driver preferences against having a naturally understeery car to protect the tyres which will be paramount in 08. Quite a big decision to make no? Or can driver preferences at the front be achievable with setup?
(Ferrari are going to have to make sure that if the car is naturally understeery that they can run heavy angled wing at the front of the car and be sure airflow over the rest of the car isn't disturbed too much, it was an issue in 05, and a slight issue in 06 and 07, although the aero upgrades in 07 helped alot in this area.)

If you have a naturally understeer compliant car and try and change it to a more neutral handling car your overall flow performance will suffer, we suspect this is the problems McLaren suffered with their MP4-19 that they raced at the beginning of 2004, later in the year they introduced a B spec car that solved many of their issues. The Renault R25 (2005) was very understeer'y yet it was very successful. I wouldn’t worry about driving style, the drivers will adapt to the cars pretty quick, thats why they get paid more than us engineers ;-) (not that I'm bitter or anything)...

There isn't really too much you can do with lateral sliding TC or no TC, the hurdle to overcome is putting the power down onto the tarmac, the starts will be good to watch, we could end up with 1 or 2 teams having a car like the Renault R24 (2004) where they sacrifice race pace and tyre wear for amazing traction at the starts { }. It'll be a good balancing act, your quite correct though if a teams wind tunnel is not set up quite right (like Hondas unfortunately was at the beginning of this year) you could get it all really quite wrong. It's good that everyone will be in the same boat, I'm looking forward too see what everyone’s different solutions will be, maybe someone will come up with something quite radical??

[kar]

Given what happened to Honda when they tried to be radical I think largely the cars in 2008 will be evolutionary.

I do worry about the Renault though, I have a sneaking worry/suspicion they will come out with a rocketship.

[HansMoleman]

Originally posted by kar
Given what happened to Honda when they tried to be radical I think largely the cars in 2008 will be evolutionary.

I do worry about the Renault though, I have a sneaking worry/suspicion they will come out with a rocketship.

Haven't they been quite noseheavy and tend to under steer, so loss of TC will make them to change their car perhaps more than other top teams?

[ATM_Andy]

I do worry about the Renault though, I have a sneaking worry/suspicion they will come out with a rocketship.

Kar, I agree, Renault are a great team, they have a lot of experience and expertise especially in traction and mechanical grip, also their aero department is strong too. BMW, Ferrari, Honda, McLaren, Renault and maybe even Red bull and Williams are all very capable of building a very dominant car next year. Personally I hope for very close racing, it would be nice to see a season similar to 2003 where several cars were capable of winning.

Given what happened to Honda when they tried to be radical I think largely the cars in 2008 will be evolutionary.

I agree with you Kar, and this is a shame I miss the revolutionary builds, the Williams FW26 was pretty cool, it did win a race too but not with their funky nose/wing assembly. I wouldn’t totally count out a revolutionary car however. Some of the teams cars on the grid are based on pretty old concepts/philosophies, loosing TC might give some teams the chance to have a play. Also it's easier and quicker to do simulations on the computers now than it was 4 years ago. It's all fun and games in the end...

[AFCA]

Great example of how Ferrari transfers its state of the art F1 technology to their other cars, this car is brutal !!!

---------

FXX programme extended for further two years thanks to new evolution kit developed with assistance of Client Test-Drivers

The innovative FXX programme, based on the eponymous prototype car and launched by Ferrari in June 2005, is being extended to 2008/2009. The FXX, which is the most advanced GT ever created at Maranello, has been updated with an evolution package aimed at further improving its handling and performance. The package was developed as a result of Ferrari's collaboration with its Client Test Drivers and with the invaluable support of Michael Schumacher. The FXXs equipped with this package will also sport a new livery in addition to new rear wing profiles.

The FXX is not homologated for road use and there are no plans to compete with it either. In fact, the FXX prototype is designed exclusively for track driving as part of a specific R&D programme agreed with a selected group of just over 20 clients involving 14 group test sessions and 14 private ones in the last two years. Thanks to readings taken over the 16,500 kilometres of tests carried out in 2006 and the 18,500 kilometres covered in 2007, the modifications made to the car have focused on honing its aerodynamics, running gear and electronics. Seven-times Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher also joined the ranks of the client test drivers and gave the programme the benefit of his vast experience on several occasions.

Maranello's engineers studied the wealth of information gained to develop a kit which will cut the FXX's Fiorano lap time to under 1'16'' (previously it was 1'18''). The FXX's 6262 cc V12 engine can now punch out a massive 860 hp at 9500 rpm. Gearshifting takes just 60 ms, a drop of 20 ms on the previous time, and the gear ratios have been adapted to make use of the extra 1000 rpm now delivered by the engine.

The car's new traction control system, developed in close collaboration with the GES Racing Division engineers, gives the driver a choice of no less than nine different settings (plus the off position) which are selected using a switch on the central tunnel. This means that the driver really can modify the car's behaviour on the track from corner to corner, just as the Formula 1 drivers do to maximise performance and reduce tyre wear. The FXX's traction control is also now less invasive and more flexible, adapting more efficiently to the individual driving style of each driver - a requirement pinpointed when this very extreme car was being driven on the track by non-professional drivers.

The FXX's special 19" Bridgestone tyres now last longer too thanks to a new car setup and new front suspension geometry, while the Brembo brakes, which boast large Composite Ceramic Material (CCM) discs, are more efficient with the result that the brake pads last twice as long. Thanks to the drivers' feedback the Ferrari engineers have also developed new aerodynamic solutions aimed at increasing downforce over the rear axle. The FXX now sports a new rear diffuser, nolder and rear flaps which have combined to increase aerodynamic efficiency by 25% overall. The active front spoiler control system settings have been adjusted to take these modifications into account too. New telemetry monitoring of the steering angle and brake pump pressure will further boost the interaction between Client test drivers and the company's engineers also. From next year onwards, it will be possible for drivers to have two extra video cameras mounted on their car in addition the existing rear-facing one. This will, of course, give the drivers excellent rear visibility without having to impinge in any way on the car's aerodynamics.

The FXX evolution package includes participation in a series of track events that Ferrari is organising at international circuits for 2008/2009. Six events are planned for each year (two in North America, two in Europe and two in Asia). In addition to these, the FXXs will also be participating, as per tradition, in the prestigious end-of-season Ferrari World Finals.

As happened in 2006/2007, the cars will be backed up at each event by a 15-member official team made up of engineers, electronics experts and mechanics capable of providing complete assistance to clients. Needless to say, the latter will still be able to organise their own private individual track sessions in their car as well.

[quasi C]

That's awesome. Engine revs to 9500! I gotta hear that. Apparently this car is being used as a basis for the next road supercar so the bad news is that it won't appear until 2010 at the earliest, the good news is that it will be a beast!

Today is the finali mondiali day at Mugello.

[kar]

Originally posted by ATM_Andy
It's all fun and games in the end...

Interesting thoughts there, just this last bit got me thinking. Max Mosley rather takes exception to engineers having fun and playing games in a sport that blows annually over a billion dollars.

This coming year may well be the last major opportunity for the aero engineers to enjoy fun and games before more draconian restrictions come in to force.

[hello86]

There was a press conference for the Finnish press already.

Kimi has followed the fuel controversy from papers and talked with his team and it shouldn't affect his championship in any way but he said that he might be wrong, too.

Then he said that he was happy to win the championship with Ferrari. According to him Ferrari listens to their drivers and you don't have to be talking to a wall.

Then he said a little about his parents and that he doesn't want any big celebrations in Finland. He just wants to party with his friends.

About McLaren's situation, Kimi said that he knew that something went wrong there but did not want to comment any further. He thinks that McLaren controls their drivers sometimes too much. In Ferrari everyone is like in a big family and they understand individuals there. Kimi hadn't spoken with Dennis at all in the whole season.

Kimi will enjoy a long holiday now and will probably not test before January. He intends to win the championship next season as well, but said that it's going to be difficult with the new TC rule and so on. He's pretty sure that Ferrari and McLaren will be the strongest teams next season, too.

[quasi C]

Kimi will enjoy a long holiday now and will probably not test before January.

hmm..bad decision IMO. With no TC it is vital to get to grips with the car asap, he even says himself how difficult it's going to be. It's not like previous years, he should be there at Barcelona on November 13th. If it's just Massa and Badoer I think he could lose out a bit and so would Ferrari in their development.

[AFCA]

Originally posted by AFCA
The package was developed as a result of Ferrari's collaboration with its Client Test Drivers and with the invaluable support of Michael Schumacher.

A nice quote from Raffaele De Simone, a testdriver of Ferrari's roadcars about Schumacher: ''What's surprising about him, is that he never acts like a seven time world champion. When he steps into a production car, it's as if he steps into the shoes of a customer, perhaps making suggestments about the comfort or the sound of the car. When he's about to test a car, he listens carefully to what's being said to him before trying it out himself. He has fun doing this kind of work, which he does with the seriousness we know him for: he's the first to arrive in the morning and the last to go in the evening.''

[ingegnere]

Originally posted by AFCA


which he does with the seriousness we know him for: he's the first to arrive in the morning and the last to go in the evening.''

Wonder if he would be at the first test for 2008. I think he would be there to set the baseline then go away for the winter and only come back to test the new car. Kimi should do the same.

About wheelbase and weight distribution with or without T/C, even with T/C you need to have good traction or all you'll accomplish is testing the T/C software.

So long wheelbase is probably the way to go for better stability at high speed (also because more area under car = more downforce). For low speed and starts more rear weight distribution. This will come down to a very detailed trade-off study.

[jokuvaan]

hello86, I dont know where you picked those but according to finnish paper, Kimi said that his aim is to win again next year and there are plenty of new challenges with new TC rule .(not more difficult.)

Also 08-car should be easier to get familiar.
-----------------
Kimi also said this fall something like that there's no point to go testing brand new car when you spend most of the day at the pitlane while car is being fixed.

Personally I think that Kimi doesnt miss anything major during those two testing sessions when they basicly just run "old" car with some new parts like spec ECU.

[hello86]

Originally posted by jokuvaan
hello86, I dont know where you picked those but according to finnish paper, Kimi said that his aim is to win again next year and there are plenty of new challenges with new TC rule .(not more difficult.)

Also 08-car should be easier to get familiar.

hmm got this from kimi´s official site. a finn translated it.

[AFCA]

Luca di Montezemolo: "Team spirit and creativity, the strength of a great company"

Numerous national and international journalists where present at the press conference of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Jean Todt started the meeting with the press, saying: "I wouldn't have placed a bet to be here today with the success of the driver's championship with Kimi Raikkonen in his first season as a driver for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. This means that this is a demonstration that our mentality, never to never give up and to believe for as long as you can believe. The last race was incredible: We knew that we had to finish 1st and 2nd and Kimi had to finish before Felipe in order to keep Alonso back and Hamilton had to be in the best hypothesis 6th. And this is what happened. All these factors had to come together and this is what happened in the end; our capacity to reach an extraordinary double-win."

"We lost the 2006 championships at the last race because of problems with reliability. This year we had more or less the same problems, but we dedicated some thought to that and we analyzed everything. We changed the organization of the racing division after men like Ross Brawn and Paolo Martinelli went to look for a different philosophy of life. This year 2007 was a transition, so it is even nicer that we can celebrate both championship wins today. We suffered and there were many unhappy moments." But Ferrari CEO Todt remembered the six victories by Kimi and the three by Felipe, with his six pole positions over the last season. Obviously Todt also spoke about the spy affair, which was a surprise for everybody. "I wouldn't have expected this betrayal from one of ours," Todt said. "Who for personal reasons wanted to help another team and I didn't expect them (McLaren) to accept his help. But that is what happened. We cried and they cried worse."

The final result of the driver's championship is not really a final one, because there is an appeal, which will be judged on the 15th November in Paris. But what's important for us that is the result on the track," Todt said. "The truth lies in the middle between the two," Todt said, when asked if it was one person (Ron Dennis) or a whole team (McLaren), having committed the sin. "It's a group of people who have accepted to receive information from someone. But you have the same level of info as we had, too. Ferrari never thought about any other measures than on the race track. Just like Enzo Ferrari did 20 years ago, when he built a car for the Indycar racing series," Todt said. "Those were different times. Still in the 90s in Formula One Ferrari was the only team building chassis and engine, all the other teams built chassis and used the same engine, the Cosworth, and there was no legal agreement between the teams in the championship either. We do have many other programs for your clients. Yesterday we celebrated with them the win in the FIA GT championships with the 430 and the victory in the ALMS."

As far as the main factor is concerned, that brought the team to win the title in this difficult season, Todt said: "This year was especially difficult. But the result is the result of the team working together. It's teamwork and we had a good team. And in the end, even with problems concerning the reliability, we made it. The best driver without a good car can't do anything. Its teamwork and we had a good team."

Answering the question if he had already digested the bitterness, Felipe said: "I am not someone who looks back at what has happened. I look ahead. I look at the future. It's important to look forward. We have the whole winter to produce a good car, to have the most competitive car possible." Todt added that "Felipe is happy with Ferrari and Ferrari is happy with Felipe. And his contract has been extended until 2010."

As far as the next season is concerned Kimi said: "Next year should be easier not just for me but also for the team. This year we had some difficulties to get the car right, as I wanted. We'll see what we do for the new car. It's very hard to say at this point how good the car will be. But we have great expectations. We'll see what happens next year. But we have a good feeling." About the new regulations, that from next year on traction control will be banned from the cars, Kimi said: "When I came to Formula One we didn't have traction control. There are so many things coming up. I think it'll be good fun and more challenging, too. And taking the traction control away will give us more opportunities to overtake." But Felipe said that he had never worked under these conditions. "It's difficult to say. Like as Kimi said. It's too soon. We haven't yet driven cars without traction control. It's just a habit. We'll see if we need to change our driving style or we need to change the car."

At that point Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo showed up and said: "I really have to congratulate Kimi. We have the best drivers in the world," expressing his admiration also for the other drivers fighting in the championship. But "this victory shows the level of our drivers." After wishing Bernie Ecclestone a happy birthday, who, Montezemolo said, has a great passion for Ferrari he spoke about Max Mosley ("I would like to express my respect for president Mosley.") and the team spirit and creativity of the group, the basis of a great company, which he is proud to represent for "many more years." "As always with Todt we will announce the structure of Ferrari at the end of the year. But the strength of the company is the stability of its men, the growth of our people, our technicians, our engineers, the whole team, inside the sports management and the company itself. The revolution, I hear you talking about very often, we'll leave to your imagination."

[pac]

Thanks for posting these updates AFCA.

I'm embarrassed to admit that Todt's Enzo Ferrari & Indycar reference largely went over my head. A search turned up a good overview in the Atlas F1 archives, "50 Years of Ferrari at Indy".

[kar]

Quite forthright comments from Todt who has been fairly circumspect (in public at least) over the Spygate bruhaa.

In the end the better 'team' won, and as Michael said in 2003 after taking a tough title at Suzuka, 'we're always there, we always fight.'

That, is indeed the great strength of the Ferrari team...

Still giddy over last weekend

[AFCA]

The four drivers with the testteam (though a number of raceteam mechanics out there as well)...

[kar]

Judging from the marks on the tarmac, messers Raikkonen and co were enjoying themselves... :-)

[AFCA]

I don't know what this is meant to indicate but apperantly Ross Brawn vacated (taking all the furniture out and so on) his house close to Serramazzoni ten days ago...

[Tigershark]

Originally posted by AFCA
I don't know what this is meant to indicate but apperantly Ross Brawn vacated (taking all the furniture out and so on) his house close to Serramazzoni ten days ago...

To save others the trouble of figuring out where Serramazzoni is: it's about 20km southwest of Maranello.

[gerry nassar]

Originally posted by AFCA
I don't know what this is meant to indicate but apperantly Ross Brawn vacated (taking all the furniture out and so on) his house close to Serramazzoni ten days ago...

Would that indicate he is not going to work for Ferrari? Or maybe he is just moving closer?

Thanks for the pic. Who is the 4th driver (after the race drivers and Badoer)??

[wrighty]

Originally posted by gerry nassar

Thanks for the pic. Who is the 4th driver (after the race drivers and Badoer)??

difficult to tell from the pic, but wasn't Marc Gene 4th driver for Ferrari?

[Rinehart]

With the loss of TC next year I am sure that all teams will approach the solution with an even greater emphasis on downforce and traction.

So Ferrari will probably go more in the direction of McLaren.

And ironically they found out an awful lot about McLarens design philosophy during the Spygate hearing...