Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
the long wheels base is a hinderance at the tight twisty circuit of monaco, plus massa has not got to grip with the circuit yet. Sticking my neck on the line kimi might have done a beeter job but he struggled with underster all gp so....
OK, when you turn the front wheels the car rotates around the rear ones, this increases the turning circle and in this case also means the car must turn in later to avoid clipping the inside of the corner with the rear, this is why lorrys and long vehicles swing out at a junction before turning in.
Murphy's 9th Law of Technology:
Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
Oh ffs a slightly longer wheelbase isn't an issue. Longer wheelbase is certainly better for braking, which happens frequently at monaco.
For a longer wheelbase, geometrically you need more steering angle to navigate a given radius turn. This is true of low lateral accelerations, not necessarily of GP racing.
Without knowing steered vs slip angle correlations, slip angle curves, cg location, etc, you can't really say if a longer wheelbase is better or worse. It may be that in a heavy reverse Ackermann setup, as is the case at Monaco, the lateral force vector from the outside tire comes close to intersection the cg of the car, and making the wheelbase longer gives it a bigger moment arm to act on yawing the car into the turn.
Suffice to say I'm sure the Scuderia knows what its doing!
Grip is a four letter word. All opinions are my own and not those of current or previous employers.
I can't find it on wiki but the basics of convensional ackerman steering is that when you turn the wheels of your road car the wheel on the inside turns more than the wheel on the outside. F1 cars use anti-ackerman which means the outside wheel turns more the inside wheel. Don't ask me why.
Murphy's 9th Law of Technology:
Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
that. 
