Ferrari chassis director Pay Fry says the team have taken “more risks” with their new F1 car.
Fry described the Ferrari F2012 as “quite a step away from where we have been.”
He said: “It’s certainly taken a few more risks on the basic car layout and things like that. All in all everyone’s done a good job. Now we just need to knuckle down and start pushing again for all the upgrades for the first race and through the year.”
The first upgrades to the car will arrive in time for the start of the season: “We’re working on upgrading the aero, mainly,” said Fry.
“There will be an update for the third test and the first race. And then, in reality, it’s just a constant aero development all through the year.”
He added: “The biggest differentiator is aerodynamics, still. I think there’s a lot less you can do now with engines affecting the aerodynamics.
“The engineering side of engine performance moves back to actually producing horsepower and making it fuel-efficient, rather than the opposite that we had been doing.
“I think it is just going to be a constant aerodynamic development all through the year, really.”
Chief designer Nikolas Tombazis described the demand for results at the team following the 2011 season, in which they won just once:
“As chief designer I feel even more pressure than normal this year because we are really all very keen and very eager to get back to being competitive and hopefully winning again.
“That pressure I believe is felt by everyone from the very upper levels of the company to the lower levels, this pressure is very tangible. It’s something that we’re all working to hopefully get a good result and relieve that pressure.”
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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Steph (@)
3rd February 2012, 14:21
It’s interesting just the difference in tone between Ferrari and Mclaren. Both say they’ve taken risks but Ferrari seem under pressure, not talking up anything and just mentioning working hard and how they’ll keep pushing while Mclaren seem a bit more confident about the speed. I guess it just runs over from last year and how Ferrari know they’ve had a lot of catching up to do.
Mike (@mike)
3rd February 2012, 15:13
I agree, I think part of it comes from the boss, Luca hasn’t really had the success others around him, and indeed he himself would expect.
I suspect if they don’t win, or get very close to it this year we could see some heads fly.
I just hope someone can beat Red Bull.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
4th February 2012, 10:03
I think you’re right @mike LdM won’t stand for it but the question is, is there anyone or any group of people out there who can do a better job? There is.
They’re in Milton Keynes though.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
3rd February 2012, 15:39
It seems that Ferrari have been forced to take more risks than McLaren due to the performance gap. With something so radical it would be hard for them to feel confident. I just hope both are competitive and we get some good racing!
Klaas (@klaas)
3rd February 2012, 18:31
Just because Ferrari chose to sound more reserved doesn’t mean their car is slow. Too many times the McLaren boys were upbeat about their chances and then had to stick their nose in the a..se.
Solo (@solo)
3rd February 2012, 22:25
More reserved. In what parallel universe to you people live.
That’s a lot more than Mclaren claimed.
ivz (@ivz)
3rd February 2012, 14:35
Ferrari were looking good in testing last year, and then went backwards. They would be hoping if anything its the other way around this year.
BBQ2
3rd February 2012, 14:45
ofcourse they were fast cos they laid all their cards on the table, while RBR was practicing with full tank all the time or at least trying to hide some of their performances….. clever guys I must admit ;-)
Eggry (@eggry)
3rd February 2012, 14:39
We will see…
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd February 2012, 14:48
I remember the 2010 Mclaren had been launched with a lot of aero tit bits on the car while Ferrari had launched a relatively simple looking car. 2012 it seems to be the other way around.
Klaas (@klaas)
3rd February 2012, 14:55
You must mean the 2011 McLaren.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd February 2012, 15:39
Nope. The 2010 Mclaren was launched with way too many things on it already.
Maybe its just Pat Fry’s style of working.
SeanG
3rd February 2012, 15:55
I agree. That’s one reason I thought the Ferrari would improve significantly over the course of the year. It seemed like a platform for future development.
The new Ferrari looks loaded to the gils/nose.
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
3rd February 2012, 18:52
@Todfod with the previous McLaren arrangement the 2010 car was Paddy Lowe’s design though. Pat Fry handled the “odd” years, Paddy Lowe handled “even.” 2007/9/11 were supposed to be Pat Fry designs.
topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown)
3rd February 2012, 15:14
Quite risky to release a car that looks like it’s made of Lego. Still: Alonso has a Lego-man haircut, so maybe he’ll like it.
http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/2556-1.jpg
sam pooley
3rd February 2012, 15:38
i think the key to ferrari getting back where they should be, at the front, is getting felipe massa back to what he was before hungary 2009, if the ferrari f2012 is as good as ferrari say it is, and massa recovers this season form his bad form then ferrari are easily the favourites, however, i hate to say this but i think ferrari will strugle this season. i dont think ferrari will be back at the front for a while yet but who knows maybe vettel might have a bad season.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd February 2012, 15:43
Vettel having a bad season seems like the most unlikely outcome.
I would have to agree with Ferrari having a tough time this year. They seem to have changed everything on the car and if this car is extremely fast and reliable straight out of the box, it would be nothing short of a miracle. I expect Red Bull and Mclaren to fight for wins straight away, while Ferrari plays catchup for most of the season
bosyber (@bosyber)
3rd February 2012, 17:41
Still, if they can keep playing that, it’s better than last year where they just couldn’t keep up and were never on the pace, safe in Silverstone.
Klaas (@klaas)
3rd February 2012, 18:24
Funny to hear that Massa could be Ferrari’s saviour. Since he joined them it was Alonso who gave the team decent results.
I can’t see why Ferrari would have to play catch-up, just because they were 3rd last year doesn’t mean it’s gonna be the same this season. Remember how most F1 pundits were tipping Kubica for the title in 2009 pre-season based on how BMW fared at the end of the previous season. And what happened? – Not even a podium.
Don’t forget Mercedes could be a major player too this season.
OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
4th February 2012, 10:56
Well Kubica scored 1 podium in 2009, in Brazil ;)
macperks
3rd February 2012, 16:30
I am bookmarking these comments, so I can read it again after Melbourne. F1 bosses should hire some of you, as you can “see” how fast a car will be, just with some photos of it. That would save them lots of money in windtunnel and CFD!
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
3rd February 2012, 16:44
I honestly think that the Ferrari is quite an interesting design. It looks far more aggressive than last year’s iteration, and you can see that by the change in the sidepods alone.
What does concern me though, is that the rear of the car doesn’t look quite as tightly packaged as the MP4-27 does, and I’m sure how the RB8 will be. Perhaps Ferrari have abandoned thinking about the flow to the diffuser so much, and have focused on another part of the car? Maybe the front pull-rod suspension is something that may give Ferrari a small edge over the others (or at least help in closing the deficit from last year).
Fixy (@)
3rd February 2012, 17:50
I really hope the risks will pay off, I won’t stand an ugly and slow car.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
4th February 2012, 10:06
There isn’t really an air of confidence from Pat Fry, but I guess he’s not employed to be a spokesman!
He’s right about their starts in 2011 though, Alonso was spot on.
pi
6th February 2012, 8:52
it is certainely not good looking, but two explanations come to mind : did they interpret the rule too literally (like they did with the 1996 huge driver side protections) or is it well calculated, because overall I think it far less conventional than the mclaren, in its look at least.
-this nose is extremely thin/flat and short as well as very high.
-the position of the fake cameras at the front is quite interesting
-the front suspension is pull rod, with the arm at a very horizontal angle
-the side air intakes appear to be significantly smaller than those of the mclaren
-the heat extraction is done differently than most others : at the end of the side pods and not on the centre, with the exhaust invisible so far
-the car appears to be very tighltly package around the gearbox
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
6th February 2012, 14:29
I was looking at the F2012 side shot today and it just struck me what they’re actually doing with the sidepod, the winglet ahead of it, and the exhaust. It seems what they’re trying to do is accelerate air above the sidepod. The air is going fast over the sidepod and exhaust cover, and what that does is push the exhaust plume down, onto the brake duct winglets.