Ferrari to run closer to race pace at final test

2014 F1 season

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Ferrari will get closer to the true potential of their F14 T in the final four-day test in Bahrain this week, according to technical director James Allison.

Rivals Mercedes conducted a performance run on the final day of the previous test which left Nico Rosberg over three seconds quicker than either of the Italian team’s drivers.

But Allison said they will push their car harder over the final four days of running before the first race of the year.

“For the last four days, our programme will see us attempt to operate the car ever more closely to the way that it will run in a race, providing invaluable practice for the drivers and subjecting the car and all its systems to the full rigour that it will need to withstand throughout the season,” said Allison.

The team had arrived in Bahrain with a “huge list of actions that we must complete”, he said, and achieved largely trouble-free running apart from an interruption on Friday morning.

“We worked on learning how to get the best from the 2014 clutch and on tuning the new brake by wire system,” Allison explained. “We looked in detail at balancing the temperature of all the cooling fluids, a key part of this year’s rules, and we began gradually expanding the operating window of the new Energy Recovery System.”

“We have been able to start to open up our understanding of the handling characteristics of the car and to begin to learn what sort of set-up parameters the tyres respond to. Continuing with this work will be an important part of the programme over the last four days here in Bahrain.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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46 comments on “Ferrari to run closer to race pace at final test”

  1. The best looking Ferrari since like forever.

    1. I don’t know about that. I prefer dyson’s design when it comes to vacuum cleaners… And they come with V6 motors too ! http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/dyson-dc59-digital-slim-vacuum-unveiled-with-v6-motor

      1. You beat me to it!!!! LOL

    2. How? Don’t you remember F2008?

      1. +10 – and 248F1, and predecessor of F2008 – the F2007, also F2002 and F2004… The list goes on.

        But yeah, it’s not exactly very ugly. Much better than the previous 4 cars.

      2. 2008? Ugly as helll. The last pretty Ferrari came in 2001.

    3. Those early 90s Ferraris…

    4. It’s probably my favorite post-2009 Ferrari, even though that would be the F60 if it had more sensible front wing mounts and the 2008 style no-tobacco livery.

      The F300, F2004, 248 F1 and F2008 have a special place in my heart, though.

      1. The F138 was arguably the most aesthetic IMO.

    5. You’re kidding, right?

      1. @JCoost @ironcito
        Oh, don’t be silly. This is the best looking Ferrari since 2001. And that is the FOREVER that I was talking about.
        All XXI century cars look like excrements compared to the early 90s’ Ferraris, that’s not up to debate guys.

        1. I have to agree with you @damon.

  2. again, worrying for Renault powered cars… if Mercedes barely started doing this, and Ferrari didn’t because of other check lists to complete first, then that COULD mean real trouble for the Renault PU (even if they’ve got some data from the Caterham, funny enough).

    Think of the amount of check lists that they need to cover during the next test period BEFORE doing what Ferrari and Mercedes will be doing

    1. Yep that was what I thought too. The sheer complexity and amount to do this year means running time is crucial. Compared to other teams it sounds like Red Bull have barely started! Australia is going to be very interesting.

      1. interesting indeed… I haven’t looked forward to the season start as much in a while!

    2. great avatar! abe

      1. yeah, a good oldie!

        1. @dr-jekyll ‘Hello,’ ‘hello,’ ‘follow me,’ ‘okay.’

          Never gets old.

    3. If the events of the past month is any indication, the first time I am hoping to see a Red Bull finish a race is either in Bahrain or China. They might start scoring points probably in Spain.

      Red Bull 2014 = Ferrari 2005 :)

      1. +1, spot on.

      2. @tmax

        I’m not really sure I agree with that. F2005’s problem, were the Bridgestone tyres and the ridiculous one-set-of-tyres-for-the-whole-race rule. Granted, on balance the R25 was the faster machine. But I’m sure Schumi and co. would have been a lot more competitive, if the tyre rules had been like 06.

        Red Bull 2014 worryingly, is literally on all fours at the moment.

        1. Oh no, the Mclaren MP4-20 was _the_ fastest car of 05, and R25 from 1/3 of theseason and onwards always +/- some 0.3s behind.
          Sure, in the beginning of 05, iirc R25 was ahead of MP4-20, speed-wise and reliability-wise.

          1. @il-ferrarista

            While the Mp4-20 was the fastest, it certainly wasn’t the ‘best’ car of 05. Mclaren’s late season assault was too little too late. Red Bull can’t rely on a similar strategy. The R25 was reliable and fast. To succeed in 2014 that’s what you need.

  3. People at the track have been reporting the Ferrari seems a bit twitchy and unstable at the rear. Through development, this should be quickly resolved. Whats much more important is that Ferrari seem much more in control of themselves this year. The windtunnel is said to give reliable data now, and Ferrari are going through their test schedule as planed. This is very positive news from them.

  4. closer to race pace, not qualy pace unfortunately. So im not expecting their lap times to be as representative as mercedes ones were last week.

    1. I´m guessing he meant the pace they will be using or working with in Melbourne!

      1. I was thinking the same thing. And considering how many cars may not even finish the race, people getting out of whack with fuel limits, safety cars from dead cars on track…I’m thinking that being on pole for Melbourne will be interesting for the record books, but not that important to who wins the race.

  5. Once again, with so much to learn and improve upon, AN ENGINE/PU DEVELOPMENT FREEZE BEFORE THEY HAVE DONE EVEN 1 RACE IS STUPID and counterproductive.

    1. I thought the freeze is going to be bought in over a number of years?

      1. It is so logical to expect that, but as I understand it the only developments allowed after Feb.28 are for reliability, cost and weight savings. Trying to get more power per cc of fuel or from the ERS will be outlawed, I wish I were wrong but I keep reading that that is how it will be.

        1. @hohum It’s not that stupid, buddy. If all three PU manufacturers were having a nightmare, I’d agree. But two of the three seem to be doing just fine.

          They had the same time line, and the same regs/guidelines. Renault messed up, that’s not the regulations fault.
          P.S. With costs as high as they are, having free engine development for much longer, would be a monetary nightmare for some teams. These PUs already cost an arm and a leg.

          1. @timi, it’s racing that improves the breed not testing, the 3 engine manufacturers can not only afford to continue development but without it they will have made a huge investment without the opportunity to follow on and complete the potential of the PUs that they have designed and built.
            PS; the new PUs would be a lot less expensive if they didn’t have to design them to be bulletproof for 5 race weekends before they had the chance to race-test them and cure weaknesses as they arise.

          2. @timi I have to agree with @hohum : This just makes no sense for F1 as a whole. To have Renault SO far behind and to possibly end up with 4 teams that are not even competitive will not be good for the sport.
            I’m not saying open it up for development for the entire year, but there is clearly a problem right now and it would probably save costs for all involved to let them have another month before locking in the engine specs this season rather than force them to spend the time, resources and money to work around these issues the rest of the year. Feb 28th is an arbitrary date so is March 31th. Why not do that date?.
            Believe me, I do NOT like RBR and I’ve hated seeing them dominate these years. But I don’t think it’s any better for the sport to have 4 teams not competitive than it was to have Vettel running away with it and making it SO predictable.
            I’m a Silver Arrow guy, so I’m going to enjoy watching them have a chance to dominate for a while…but is it good for F1 not to have all the Renault teams in the mix? And I certainly would welcome the chance to see all three manufacturers have a chance to wring a little more performance out of these units before they are set for the year! I’m very excited about this season!!!

          3. I take both your points @Hohum @daved, and agree to some extent, but they’re kind of mute points. The facts are that there were new regs set, with a time limit. This is nothing new, and the teams and PU manufacturers are used to it.

            The problem is that you are only making this point because Renault are behind. I’m assuming if they were up there with Mercedes and Ferrari at the moment, there would be no complaints about the regs?? Which leads me back to my original point – the regs were the same for everyone, but one team flopped. Sad but that’s how it goes, it’s their own fault and their own problem. We can blame the rules and regulations all we want, but two thirds of the manufacturers managed it pretty darn well if you ask me…

          4. @timi No, actually, if there was one team I wanted to fail this time it was Renault LOL But I still don’t think it’s good for the sport which is simply my opinion and no more valid than me telling you that blue is a better color than red. Just my preference.
            Of course, Renault may catch up and be great…but I really doubt it :-)

          5. @timi, this comment was a response to Ferraris talk about pressure and so many things to do in so little time, I started it “Once again” because I have been making the same point since well before testing even started. It has nothing to do with Renault having problems and everything to do with F1 getting back to what it is best at, the ultimate driver of technology in cars. The FIA introduced this formula to make F1 relevant again to the motoring industry and the formula of more power for the same amount of fuel is a great challenge that needs pursuing and fine tuning and testing by racing, a development freeze means no further information or research will come from F1 and F1 will lose its attraction to further investors from the motor industry.
            Further, like @daved, I am glad that the RBR dominance train is looking a little less likely to appear this year but I don’t want Renault to be lampooned as total failures either, we need them more than they need us.

  6. ok so I’m no engineer but I’m just wondering since Ferrari seem to be struggling with grp, if you look at their front wing it seems very outdated, lacking the layers of mini wings the other teams have (ie: mercedes). It just seems its much less aggressive then the other teams. I think I read they will be binging new aero for the last test and actually test the full potential of the car, but at this point it seems they are still at least 3 sec behind mercedes works team.

    1. A factor in wing design this year will be reduced drag in order to save fuel, a possible scenario is a team sacrificing corner speed for straight line speed useing less fuel overall, imagine a high downforce car trying to conserve fuel while being attacked by a low-downforce car going 20kph faster down the straight useing the same amount of fuel.

      1. @hohum With that in mind, Red Bull could be utterly screwed, even if the Renault engine were functional.

        1. Newey will have done the math.

      2. good point hohum, never thought of that, guess it would be great for monza, but not the higher down force courses. although guess there is a fine balance with down force to strait line resistance, so I hope ferrari got it right.

        1. and also I don’t expect anybody bought their best aero-package for everybody else to look at, but the drag versus fuel use permutations are endless.

        2. @mpmark They will have the Monza spec wing for the Italian GP, these are just for testing

    2. The front wing is the default basic wing that Ferrari use because they understand that wing the most. They use it so that they know what will happen to the airflow further down the car and if it matching with what they are expecting. A new front wing design will come for Melbourne.

    3. With reference to the front wings – James Allison mentioned in an interview with Ted Kravitz on Sky Sports F1 that the Ferrari front wing isn’t necessarily of the same design as the one they’ll be using in Melbourne – and I think the same goes for the rest of the grid – I believe the thinking behind this is that they take a wing they already understand as a known quantity so they can glean better data about their car’s handling characteristics. That, and also they tend to keep front wing designs under wraps until they have no choice but to show the design off to their competitors on FP1.

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