iSport F1 Pitstop: Ferrari were second best behind the Red Bulls in Saturday’s Qualifying of the Chinese GP. iSporter Maharshi Vaishnav believes it is the F-duct that worked in their favour.
Post Malaysia, there were speculations that Ferrari may take a leaf out of McLaren’s radical design component around the rear wing and create something of their own. After watching yesterday’s qualifying session, it was clearly evident that Ferrari’s design team has burnt a lot of midnight oil and created their version of it.
They displayed their new rear wing which has a blown flap in a similar manner to McLaren. McLaren have been utilizing the now infamous F-Duct to their advantage. This uses a duct controlled by the driver to alter airflow around the rear wing to stall it at high speed to gain more top speed. Ferrari’s version although not entirely controlled by the driver seems to have benefited them as Alonso managed a comfortable 3rd and Massa a decent 7th.
Red Bulls as usual were flying with Vettel storming to his 3rd pole of the year with teammate Webber a distant 2nd. While they have opted not to use new engines, this design amendment is a welcome change. However, I was sort of relieved because Ferrari’s new modification seems to have given them the pace that they sorely missed in Malaysia.
Quite intriguingly though, unlike the McLaren package, the Ferrari F-Duct does not appear to have the driver controlling it. It seems that the wing is fed with airflow coming from an inlet high up on the engine cover,
which is not controlled by the driver. Now an additional ducting inside the car may allow the driver to control airflow through the duct. But from what we saw on televisions, it didn’t look as if there was a driver controlled the inlet around the cockpit.
Alonso too confirmed this when he mentioned, “I had nothing inside the cockpit because the system is not complete. We tested the engine cover to compare it with the standard one. I didn’t notice anything. I guess there will some new numbers from an aero point of view.”
And while Alonso was the best amongst the non Red Bulls, he voiced his concerns with the weather again expected to play spoilsport. Meteorologists are forecasting heavy rain showers for Sunday, although we have seen a predominantly dry Friday and Saturday.
Ferrari has traditionally been very good at the Chinese GP having won here 3 times out of 6. Alonso has won it once with Renault and Massa has managed a podium in 2007 & 2008. So it’s an ideal setting for the team and the drivers.
The F-Duct has helped Ferrari with the qualifying. Lets us see if it leads them back to the podium in the longer version.
They displayed their new rear wing which has a blown flap in a similar manner to McLaren. McLaren have been utilizing the now infamous F-Duct to their advantage. This uses a duct controlled by the driver to alter airflow around the rear wing to stall it at high speed to gain more top speed. Ferrari’s version although not entirely controlled by the driver seems to have benefited them as Alonso managed a comfortable 3rd and Massa a decent 7th.
Red Bulls as usual were flying with Vettel storming to his 3rd pole of the year with teammate Webber a distant 2nd. While they have opted not to use new engines, this design amendment is a welcome change. However, I was sort of relieved because Ferrari’s new modification seems to have given them the pace that they sorely missed in Malaysia.
Quite intriguingly though, unlike the McLaren package, the Ferrari F-Duct does not appear to have the driver controlling it. It seems that the wing is fed with airflow coming from an inlet high up on the engine cover,
which is not controlled by the driver. Now an additional ducting inside the car may allow the driver to control airflow through the duct. But from what we saw on televisions, it didn’t look as if there was a driver controlled the inlet around the cockpit.
Alonso too confirmed this when he mentioned, “I had nothing inside the cockpit because the system is not complete. We tested the engine cover to compare it with the standard one. I didn’t notice anything. I guess there will some new numbers from an aero point of view.”
And while Alonso was the best amongst the non Red Bulls, he voiced his concerns with the weather again expected to play spoilsport. Meteorologists are forecasting heavy rain showers for Sunday, although we have seen a predominantly dry Friday and Saturday.
Ferrari has traditionally been very good at the Chinese GP having won here 3 times out of 6. Alonso has won it once with Renault and Massa has managed a podium in 2007 & 2008. So it’s an ideal setting for the team and the drivers.
The F-Duct has helped Ferrari with the qualifying. Lets us see if it leads them back to the podium in the longer version.
Set as favorite
Comments (1)
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
a guest
said:
 |
... errr.... ferrari only testing f duct on friday at china... not using in the race..or qualifying fr that matter.. just so u kno.. |
Write comment
Show/hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
