Ferrari in search of top speed boost

2014 F1 season

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Finding more straight-line speed from the F14 T is a priority for Ferrari, according to the team.

Deputy chief designer Simone Resta, described the conclusions the team drew from the first race of the season in Australia.

“Our car reliability was good, as was that of the power train, not just for the Scuderia but also for our customer teams,” he said. “Another positive aspect that emerged from the Melbourne weekend is that we found the F14 T performs well in terms of cornering speed.”

“However, we also saw that we were lacking a bit of top speed, which made it difficult to overtake other cars on track.”

Fernando Alonso spent more than half of the race stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India and commented on how difficult it was to make a pass.

However Resta stressed that at this stage in the season it is important to ensure the car continues to reach the chequered flag.

“Reliability is always the most important factor for us: without a reliable car you cannot win titles,” he said.

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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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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33 comments on “Ferrari in search of top speed boost”

  1. I wonder how effectively they’ll be able to do that, given the in-season freeze on engine development?

    1. I guess it’s just down to reducing drag without losing downforce.

      1. Exactly, just modifying some elements in the car so it can go faster.

        1. im not sure. this year there seems to be top speed differences that will not even out at all. the engines are the final factor.

        2. easy peasy.

          1. It might have something to do with the moronic fixed gear-ratio rule, but that’s just a guess. I doubt their engineers would have gotten in horribly long. Malaysia, and Bahrain with their monster straights, should show if it was a unique data set from Aus

    2. Shouldn’t be a problem.. They can’t get the ERS working effectively with the ICE so once that’s working properly that will make up a large chunk of the deficit

  2. I think someone should tell Simone he has had enough reste and should design a better car :-)

  3. I wonder how many teams have made a slow reliable car fast compared to making a fast car reliable.

    1. That’s a great question, mate.

      Seems like reliability is the easier of the two to make up throughout the season. Ferrari haven’t been very consistent about improving performance throughout the season in recent years, but at least they have a great reliability record to build from (should it carry forward to this new formula, which so far it appears to).

  4. good around corners but slow down straights, sounds like car needs to reduce drag

    1. That is likely their only option if engine development is frozen now. It could be that Ferrari have actually designed a very good chassis, but it is the engine letting them down.

      In fact, bearing in mind the performances of the RedBull (ok fuel flow etc) and Torro Rosso in Australia, it occurred to me that actually the Ferrari engine might be the worst on power, rather than the Renault as most had assumed. Although there were electrical problems for Ferrari in the first race so not jumping to conclusions just yet.

      1. Very wise not to jump to conclusions about a PU’s potential before the bugs are ironed out.

    2. easier said than done!

  5. And that horrible looking nose they got glued on that thing might want a look at

  6. Lewisham Milton
    25th March 2014, 12:28

    I thought Kimi’s problem was with the brakes…it’ll help if it can stop when it reaches the end of the straight.

    Anyway, my suggestion’s a Ferrari-Mercedes.

  7. Aren’t gear ratios fixed for the year now? I wonder how that might limit their quest for more top speed.

    1. They are indeed fixed, however teams can use a “joker card” this year to change the ratios just once.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        25th March 2014, 13:00

        @jh1806 – Didn’t know about that. If they change the ratios, do they revert back for the following race or do they keey the changed ratios for the rest of the season?

        1. @petebaldwin The change is kept for the remainder season. I suspect it’s there in case a team got their ratio choices badly wrong.

          1. Knowing how much Ferrari value winning at Monza I seriously doubt that they would have under-geared the car, more likely it’s drag or “shock horror” their PU is a little under P.

  8. i think the horse is tired

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      25th March 2014, 15:46

      Get more hay to get the boost

      1. Oh, the old gray (Red) mare, she ain’t what she used to be,
        Ain’t what she used to be, ain’t what she used to be.
        The old gray (Red) mare, she ain’t what she used to be,
        Many long years ago.

  9. Excuse me but I think that if their car is faster on corners then isn’t it normal that it will have a slightly lower top speed? Maybe the Australian track did not allow them to take advantage of that characteristic but I bet it will pay off on other tracks!

  10. Its hard to measure Ferrari PU: Sauber and Marussia sucked, Ferrari is the works team and had electrical issues in Melbourne.

  11. Message from Luca;
    To the design team, “Many congratulations on overcoming all the problems we have had with the wind tunnel and at last designing a car with superb downforce, unfortunately…………….

  12. It seems as if Ferrari have a decent base in terms of downforce and without the electrical issue they may have challenged for a podium, but the ultimate pace compared to the Mercedes’ just wasn’t there. We all think the seasons going to be one on who develop the quickest and harness the potential of these cars. Ferrari in the last few years haven.t done that. Still Vettel and Hamilton didn’t score where Alonso and Kimi did. So that is a positive. But Ferrari have got work to do.

  13. I just cant help but read F1 4T as FIAT… ;)

    1. johnny stick
      26th March 2014, 4:34

      Fix It Again Tony

      They missed the win by a nose

      need more p in PU

      OK enough puns couldn’t resist:-)

  14. I can’t help it, but when I see F14T I always read FIAT.
    Because of this, it strikes me as no surprise the electrics are a bit ‘dicky’

    1. My fiat 500 is ok lol

  15. Mr win or lose
    26th March 2014, 20:13

    It seems that the engine is the weakest link in the whole Ferrari concept. Fuel efficiency is paramount in this F1 era, as the fuel efficiency effectively determines the maximum sustainable engine output. Unfortunately the Ferrari engine is very thirsty, which makes the power unit even less useful than the (presumably more efficient) Renault engines. Not only the Ferraris were driving at half power, so were the Saubers. The Ferrari-powered teams have a huge problem this year.

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