Poll Ferrari and McLaren: Who will get to the top first?

[siffert_fan]

C_A_T

Two questions regarding Mr Anderson's observations:

1. What makes him think that what they showed was the finalized configuration of the aero package.

2. Why do teams spends millions of dollars doing CFD and wind tunnel testing to develop their aero packages? Apparently they would be wiser to have Mr Anderson just look at the car and he could tell them if it is as it should be. Isn't that what he is implying?

 

[Il_leone]

I think Mclaren will come out on top once Honda unlocks the secret of the power trains like they did back in the 80s. With Ferrari you just don't know until they turn up at Melbourne as last year they were masking their problems

Barcelona will give a better indication of both teams

 

[cider_and_toast]

You'd have to ask Gary Anderson siffert_fan. I was just reporting his observations.

 

[The Pits]

I have little faith in Gary Andersons technical analysis based on two things.
1) he said that the 2012 mclaren did not look very strong or competitive
2) he was impressed with the 2013 mclaren.

Besides, he has little additional access to anyone, and certainly does not see wind tunnel data, or understand car philosophy, cooling requirement etc, and his knowledge is a few years out of date.

No, sorry, but I will not be taking what he says with any sort of regard, just another nipple.

 

[Il_leone]

The Pits

Mclaren were not very strong for period of that season and it was partly down to not adopting the platypus nosecone that everyone did

2013 season not sure what he based on it

 

[RasputinLives]

Speaking of strange, and getting us back on topic, Mclaren have always had a strange way of approaching testing. Last year they ran an illegal car at test 1 and this year they didn't do nearly as many laps as I thought they would do. Anyone tell me whether that was a pure mechanical thing?

 

[sushifiesta]

McLaren definitely didn't choose to do so few laps; they had gremlins to sort out with the Honda engine (like most people did with their new engines this time last year, and like Renault still seem to be having...) From what I understood from Jerez the main problem was some recurring electronics issue that was taking them a long time to fix as the packaging of the car is so tight it makes things difficult to access.

 

[teabagyokel]

You'd think they could manage to deal with the ECU, they bloody built it.

 

[Kewee]

There's a lot more electronics in a Hybrid F1 car than the ECU.

 

[sushifiesta]

Well, congratulations to the 27 of you who went for Ferrari as the first to win a race!

 

[RasputinLives]

I was not one of them! I was completely and totally wrong.

I could not have been wronger. I could have tried but I would not have been succesful.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I regretted my vote for McLaren about five minutes after I made it!

 

[cider_and_toast]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Honda have never got it right out of the box as a constructor or an engine builder.

That said, even the most optomistic of F1 fans wouldn't have said in the off season that Ferrari would win so soon.

 

[siffert_fan]

I really do wonder how much of the Ferrari reversal of form from last season is due to the presence of Vettel.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Agree about Seb. I think the unceremoniously-dumped Marco Mattiacci can take some of the credit too though Arrivabene seems to be doing a pretty good job too.

 

[Titch]

Well thats the first bit answered then. Very promptly.

 

[siffert_fan]

I think that this result shows that Seb's contribution to his 4 titles has been underestimated by more than a few. The Red Bull struggles at the moment may indicate that they miss him more than they had expected.

 

[Slyboogy]

Agree about Seb. I think the unceremoniously-dumped Marco Mattiacci can take some of the credit too though Arrivabene seems to be doing a pretty good job too.

I think this is key, Mattiacci was doing the right things before he got sacked.

People within the team were wondering why he did since he was making all the right moves and the team was taking the right steps.

It's a bit like Adam Parr from Williams in 2012.

 

[sushifiesta]

Some people are saying it was a planned good cop/bad cop situation and Mattiacci always knew his position would be temporary, i.e. he comes in and axes all the dead wood and then Arrivabene comes in, puts his arms around everyone and makes Ferrari feel good about themselves again. Mattiacci would have had to deal with some lingering resentment for all the changes he made, perhaps.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Arrivebene does actually look like an Italian Marlboro Man though so it's worth it just for that.
I get an urge to smoke just looking at him, and I haven't for 11 years.