F1technical.net

I saw this posted elsewhere and thought it was interesting. It's a bit of a rant, but it's a side of the auto press that I haven't read about before...

http://ca.jalopnik.com/5760248/how-ferrari-spins

To those of us who've dealt with Ferrari in any way, shape or form, and not just over their cars, this comes as absolutely no surprise. There are umpteen layers to the organisation all trying to get their fingers in the pie, all convinced of their own self-importance.

If McLaren wants to be successful and take it to Ferrari then all they have to do is concentrate on the engineering and get rid of this nonsense.

segedunum wrote: If McLaren wants to be successful and take it to Ferrari then all they have to do is concentrate on the engineering and get rid of this nonsense.

They have. It's called MP4-12C...

@Pup

I was amazed to read about Ferrari's insistence on having two cars for a test - one setup for drag racing, the other for handling. Also, insisting they're informed about the proposed test track so they can set the car up for that track.

I don't understand why the motoring press puts up with it; all they have to do is say "I don't think so pal" in one voice and Ferrari will either have to stop having cars featured in the media or they'll have to play fair.

As Harris says in the piece, the cars they make are excellent anyway - they don't need to mess around like they do but they seem to have this thing about 'winning' road tests. Which makes it all the more funny when they don't...

It does also point to a certain mind-set at Ferrari that probably extends in to the F1 team too. Indeed, we know it does - they've played the "we're Ferrari, treat us differently" card so very successfully for a long time.

Just_a_fan wrote:I don't understand why the motoring press puts up with it; all they have to do is say "I don't think so pal" in one voice and Ferrari will either have to stop having cars featured in the media or they'll have to play fair.

I guess the motoring press is afraid that some of them will not join the 'one voice' and rake all the hits on youtube so to say.

That's why Michael Schumacher's lap time on Top Gear was binned, the car wasn't street legal, let alone in retail condition. Fortunately that programme takes delight in that sort of thing.

The boys in red also stopped him doing "star in a reasonably priced car". I suspect the PR machine said he is only allowed to do PR work in a Ferrari, they'd had seizures if he'd done a turn in a Daewoo

richard_leeds wrote:That's why Michael Schumacher's lap time on Top Gear was binned, the car wasn't street legal, let alone in retail condition. Fortunately that programme takes delight in that sort of thing.

I don't think that's related to the topic. TG don't allow any non road legal cars on the board be it Ferrari, Pagani or Aston. They even refused to put some of the road legal cars due to them being to hardcore do deal with speed bumps and such.

richard_leeds wrote: The boys in red also stopped him doing "star in a reasonably priced car". I suspect the PR machine said he is only allowed to do PR work in a Ferrari, they'd had seizures if he'd done a turn in a Daewoo

Probably didn't want him to be beaten by some young kid. Shame Button and Webber's handlers didn't do the same thing. Hamilton was as quick in the wet as Button was in the dry. And he was singing as he drove...

I feel its just more Ferrari basing by the British press. Customers who can afford a Ferrari, can definitely afford getting a small team of racing engineers to set up a car for them if they intend to go racing. I believe, the sports car division of Ferrari has an equivalent organisation like Corsa Clienti to set up cars for racing performance for special customers.

Nothing incorrect IMO

Yawn
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . . . . . .

Sounds quite consistent with their campaign in F1 to get stuff like 3 cars per team etc... Personally I don't care cos the thing I dislike most about Ferrari, by far, is their hiring Alonso. I still love their cars, particularly the 458 which *finally* looks drop-dead gorgeous.

n_anirudh wrote:I feel its just more Ferrari basing by the British press. Customers who can afford a Ferrari, can definitely afford getting a small team of racing engineers to set up a car for them if they intend to go racing. I believe, the sports car division of Ferrari has an equivalent organisation like Corsa Clienti to set up cars for racing performance for special customers.

Nothing incorrect IMO

You miss the point. Customers might well buy the cars based, in part, by the views of various media reviews. The car they buy will not be as capable as the reviews state because the reviews were written based on specially set up cars.

It's not about setting up race cars, it's about lying to customers.

And it's not the "British press" that are bashing Ferrari, it's one journo relaying his experiences of dealing with Ferrari. The British media love Ferrari - you only have to read group tests that always use the fact that it's a Ferrari as an excuse for faults in the car and thus elevate it above "lesser" (but usually better) cars.

There is probably a cultural thing going on here. When US reality TV is shown on UK TV, they often have to give warnings that scenes are "simulated". There's a culture that documentary style TV has to be objective. People have lost jobs because of it.

The journalist is comparing Ferrari with Lamborghini. Similar price bracket, similar performance. So its not a complaint about super cars or nationality. Its simply someone external to you placing onerous conditions on your ability to write a story.

Well, people, then let's not get carried "Ferrari style". If the story complains about nitpicking by Maranello, well... do not nitpick here, at least. Thanks, Pup, interesting article. Whining about the leader always give you readers. In a race, the guy ahead always has all the arrows sticking out of his back.

True, Ciro. But you know I can't let that keep me from putting a little fuel on the fire...

Chris Chilton wrote:"No 12C group tests in this issue of Car I'm afraid - or any of the other mags this week/month. Ferrari locked down the press fleet just to make sure..."

Hey, but if the 12c is thrashing the Nurburgring in 7 minutes dead like they say, who can blame them?