A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
scuderiafan wrote:
In qualifying. Alonso was 5th fastest, 1.5 seconds off of Hamilton's pole time.
This is brilliant... So, based on this qualy session - Vettel is way slower than Dani?
Also, he was on a faster lap when he gave up, since he couldn't have jumped Rosberg and to risk it just for one position isn't really worth it...
I hope this was just a simple answer to MO8, simply stating one source (however realistically worthless it is) of information, without opening a debate of its usefulness or implying that its one and only credible relative-car-speed comparison parameter...
Dude, you're thinking too hard. The fact is, Alonso completed his fastest lap 1.5 seconds slower than Hamilton completed his.
"You're so angry that you throw your gloves down, and the worst part is; you have to pick them up again." - Steve Matchett
scuderiafan wrote:Dude, you're thinking too hard. The fact is, Alonso completed his fastest lap 1.5 seconds slower than Hamilton completed his.
We all saw that. And that still doesn't make that fact any more relevant in terms of comparison to other cars...
Thinking too hard? Glad to see that on a technical forum, dedicated to analysing complex problems based on a few pictures of car parts, with or without aero paint, and an occasional video...
Packaging of the car looks damn nice on the picture zioture posted...
While I am disappointed at the lack of raw speed displayed by the F14T in practice and qualifying, there are many factors that I think you guys are missing that might make the Ferrari more competitive on race day.
For one, both Hamilton and Rosberg complained over their radios that they had gone through their tires quickly in FP3 and Q1. Last year, Mercedes was lightning quick in qualifying, but lost out in long runs in race trim because it was very hard on its tires. This characteristic may have made it's way to the 2014 car as well, as no other team had issues with the harder 2014 compounds wearing out quickly.
For another, let's talk about the relative fuel efficiency of the top cars, which we don't have much of an insight in. It sounds like many of you are projecting that Merc's 1 lap speed will be possible on every lap in the race, but are forgetting the fact that at all races this year, and in Melbourne in particular, fuel consumption will dictate pace through some of the race. Unless the Merc is the most fuel efficient car on the grid as well as being the outright fastest, it is entirely possible that much of their raw speed will have to be dialed back in the race.
My point is, the race is run for a reason on Sunday - because anything can happen. No points are awarded for Friday and Saturday results. Let's wait and see what the race offers. While my money is indeed on Hamilton to win, I could easily see Alonso win tomorrow in a slower but more fuel and tire efficient car.
- Rob
Last edited by JaqDRipper on 16 Mar 2014, 04:20, edited 2 times in total.
The 1.5 seconds is painful, and it's far away enough to be very painful whatever the conditions, but it's not half as painful as the long run practice figures which some people obviously didn't like when I pointed them out.
This car simply needs a lot of improvement if it's going to challenge for the title. As things stand that will be between Mercedes and Red Bull, despite their problems, with McLaren, Williams and possibly Force India getting in between. That's going backwards.
tpe wrote:Well, with one race already finished, what I see is the following:
F14-T is 2 seconds slower than Mercedes in race trim
F14-T is 1.5 seconds slower than Red Bull
F14-T is 1 second slower than McLaren
F14-T is 0.5(?) seconds slower than Williams
F14-T is on par with Force India and STR.
What do you think?
I don't think the gap is that big (except maybe with MERC). ALONSO was one of the only 3 drivers below 1:33 today and he was lapping on par with McL and Red Bull while being 8-10 km/h slower than MERC and McL (and 8-10 faster than RB) on top speed. There's clearly some lack of power there, other than that, the car seems consistent. Whether they can recover some kW over the year or not... we can't say, I am afraid
You can't really tell about the gap to the front guys since they reported problems on the electrical side. The problems may be related to what was reported here http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... &start=705 and it would mean a limitation in how much energy they can actually recover and use.
Hopefully they'll be closer to Mclaren in Malaysia.
Ted Kravitz just said that there is a rumour that the Ferrari is 18kg overweight. Is there anyone that have heard more? That must be a massive disadvantage...
