Interesting figures, showing the difference in top speed DRS activated or not. 10 km only for Mercedes, 20 km for Ferrari, but 29 km (18 mph) for Red Bull which seems enormous !! Ferrari fastest among the 3 leading teams, and Mercedes the slowest overall. It makes you wonder how Mercedes gets its lap times.
My guess is that Ferrari were not exceeding fuel flow but burning oil from the intercooler which was a bit of a grey area. Rules say it can be done but not intentionally...???
That would be more palatable for me especially considering Mercedes were first to be suspected of this. Which would beg the question of why the FIA didn’t dig deeper into those allegations - just changed the rules and closed their eyes on the possible infractions and vaguely stated settlement details.
Also probably why FIA don’t want to disclose the details before they find a proper way to close the loophole, for which they’ve enlisted Ferrari’s help it seems Btw no teams were this “angered” when Renault last year were found to have been using GPS based brake balance adjustments for quite some time. That was definitely against the rules and they got off very lightly. Ferrari has always got to be the pantomime villain
This is where it's all wrong. If a competitor tries something outside the rules and the FIA finds out, they should disclose all the details. Keeping a technical infringement secret, but imposing a fine on its author without much explanation is highly suspicious, in my book. More than plea bargaining, that smells racketeing and corruption, and it's a strange way to lead a sporting federation. To me, the spotlight isn't on Ferrari, but on the lack of transparency at the FIA, an organisation that likes to dish out heavy financial penalties.
Don't get the binotto argument about the lack of top speed. Huge downforce is always better as Red Bull and Vettel demonstrated by winning almost everything in 2011 ( always last in top speed charts ).. W11 with its hugely detuned power unit is an another good example of this. Contradictory claims from binotto in two weeks time led me to believe they're sandbagging a lot this year. Wait and see ..
During tests at Barcelona, the Ferrari was the fastest with DRS activated, 8km/h faster than Mercedes, and only losing 2km/h on them without DRS. So, top speed doesn't seem a major problem for them. But I have noticed that since Binotto became team principal, top speed is often quoted as very important in their consideration. I would have thought that corner speed is equally important, with overall balance .
Right about RBR. I posted this in another thread, speeds from last day of testing. Check the RBR’s speed without DRS: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Press on multiple sources are saying teams were angry. The timing of the announcement was completely suspect yielding no opportunity to challenge. Another FIA mess potentially lol
FFS, at this point we can expect what, a top ten as a target? https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/148501/ferrari-2020-engine-not-as-strong-against-rivals
Look no further back than the last few races last year for the beginning of this. The now new settlement now. They had to alter this motor. Add downforce etc so more drag. Another less than perfect concept to start this season. Hope it can be updated swiftly
IMO Ferrari showed their hand to quickly last year regarding engine performance. Just do enough to win like the Merc team but keep plenty in reserve when needed. It amazed me how they (Mercedes) always won by the skin of their teeth but in reality it was a breeze. Had SF not been handicapped by removing the "development" with their engine upgrade mid season i think they could have seriously dented the Merc's aspirations to win the 2019 WCC An update is possible for Oz 2020 but i feel for them as the spotlight is firmly on the team all the time. Tony
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/146633/ferrari-engine-under-scrutiny-as-rivals-chase-fia Using oil in the intercooler, which Ferrari is thought to be alone in utilising, is permitted by the regulations, although rules demand that such systems "must not intentionally make use of the latent heat of vaporisation of any fluid with the exception of fuel for the normal purpose of combustion in the engine".
Thanks - i see that last bit in sect 7 but struggling to find that oil is allowed in the inter cooler? Regards Tony
Smartest thing to do at this point. And let the drivers race to see if Vettel is really worth a renewal or he’s only there for his own good. If not get Giovinazzi on and Leclerc WDC in 2021: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-switch-focus-2021-car/4709351/ Ferrari could abandon 2020 early if gap is too big Ferrari says it could make an early switch to focus on its 2021 car if the gap to the front of the field is too big early in the season. Jonathan Noble The Italian outfit has admitted that it is behind its rivals as it heads into the campaign, and it is having to work on both its engine performance and aero package in a bid to recover. Read Also: Ferrari admits 2020 engine "not as strong" as last year Analysis: What the FIA didn't say about Ferrari matters most The effort to catch up comes against the backdrop of teams having to carefully balance how much resource they devote to this season and how much they want to throw at 2021. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said for now the team's focus remained on recovering lost ground this season, but hinted at turning off the 2020 development push early if the situation looks bleak after a few races. "How much will the 2020 catch-up affect the 2021 [project]? - that's certainly a good point," he said as pre-season testing came to a conclusion. "I think it's a compromise that we need to find out. I think we are very early in the season, and you cannot compromise the entire season itself. "So at the start of the season, we certainly keep pushing on 2020 as much as we can, because it's time for us to understand the car and the weaknesses. And hopefully, it is things that we can address as soon as possible. "If I see after a few races, and we will still understand that the gap is too big, then maybe it's a considerations that we can take into account. "But it's early stage right now. I think it's just few days of testing. I think there are things that we can address on the car, hopefully quite soon. So at the moment, we should keep our plan as it was for 2020/2021." Ferrari's rival Mercedes believes that teams need to be very careful in not switching their focus to 2021 too late, because doing so could result in them falling well behind. Team principal Toto Wolff said: "There's such a massive regulatory change for 2021, that balancing your allocation of resource will be crucial in terms of how much of your resource you're switching into the 2021 car. "Obviously, the learning and development slope is much steeper at the beginning. So if you get it wrong and you're months behind, you might be half a second behind. And this is a challenge which we have embraced in the past through two regulatory changes, and we love that one."