F1: Pre-season


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melvin

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Ferrari first to debut as F60 is unveiled

Ferrari have become the first team to officially launch their 2009 car after unveiling the F60 online. It is the machine that will be driven by Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen as they defend the Italian squad's 2008 constructors' title.

In line with revisions to the Formula One regulations for 2009, the F60 features a lower, wider front wing and a taller, narrower rear wing. Its name commemorates what will be Ferrari’s 60th F1 campaign.

The F60 is the 55th single-seater produced by Ferrari to contest the world championship and it will make its track debut on Monday afternoon at the team's Mugello circuit, with Massa behind the wheel.

The new car has far fewer aerodynamic appendages on its bodywork compared to its predecessor, due to the rule changes designed to cut downforce and promote more overtaking, with the driver now able to make minor front wing adjustments from the cockpit. The F60’s suspension and layout has also been completely reconfigured as a result, in order to maintain optimum weight distribution.

The F60’s design also takes into account two other major rule changes - the return of slick tyres and the option to use a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). Ferrari’s KERS has been designed in collaboration with Magneti Marelli and is centrally mounted on the engine under the rear part of the chassis.

The car’s seven-speed transmission has been redesigned to optimise its aerodynamic efficiency, while Ferrari’s Type 056 V8 has been modified in accordance with the new ruling that requires engines to last for three Grand Prix meetings from 2009, with rev limits cut from 19,000 to 18,000 rpm.


Click hrer for new F60


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ROME, (AFP) - - World Championship runner-up Felipe Massa vowed to learn from his past mistakes after taking the new 2009 F60 Ferrari for it's first test spin.


Brazilian Massa lost the 2008 world title on the final bend of the final race, his home Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, to Britain's Lewis Hamilton.

Massa won that race and as he crossed the line he was the de facto world champion but McLaren's Hamilton passed a slowing Timo Glock on the final bend to snatch the point he needed to overhaul his Brazilian rival.

That is in the past, though, and having tasted his first experience of the changes made to the Ferrari car following a spate of new International Automobile Federation (FIA) regulations, Massa is feeling positive ahead of the new season.

"Next week in Portugal we'll work on the little problems we had," he said after his first run out at the famous Mugello circuit just outside Florence.

Most of the design changes imposed by the FIA have been aimed at increasing overtaking in a sport often lacking in excitement due to the difficulties in passing the car in front.

A shorter front wing, a thinner but higher and more compact rear wing and standardised central chassis are all modifications introduced by the FIA's Overtaking Working Group (OWG).

Other changes include an improvement to the suspension to make handling in difficult conditions easier, while slick tyres will be re-introduced this year.

The Kers system to recuperate kinetic energy has also been installed on the engine while the transmission has been redesigned to improve aerodynamic efficiency.

The new Kers system was one that provoked some concern before testing but Massa revealed that it was in full working order.

"It was a test to see if everything was working and it went well. Everything went well, the engine, the changes, aerodynamics, suspension," he said.

"Even the Kers, there wasn't even a single little problem with it and that's important.

"The Kers works. We started off carefully, picking things up as we went along and everything worked."

Massa also looked back on his agonising defeat to Hamilton.

"The worst days help you learn. It was a great day because winning at home in Brazil was important because I think certain things happen for a reason.

"And that has motivated me to work harder to fight and to improve. I always look to the future and I don't want to look behind me.

"I believe that with myself and Ferrari we'll be fighting for the title again this season."

The 2007 world champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen did not take part in the testing but he too is looking forward to the new season after a disastrous 2008.

He won only two races and took only two poles in 17 races before finishing the season 23 points behind Hamilton.

"The F60 is different to previous cars due to the new rules but it's a beautiful car," he said.

"Last year didn't go as I wanted it to but that's in the past now. Right now there's lots of questions surrounding the new rules.

"We've a lot of confidence in the new car and our aim is to win both titles (drivers' and constructors').

"The races are the most important things. Trying out the car will be electrifying but racing at Melbourne (in the first race of the season) will be something altogether different.

"I can't wait for the start of the new season."



Sources
 

Reliability is the factor most likely to determine when Ferrari race a KERS-equipped car for the first time, according to team principal Stefano Domenicali. It follows the track debut of the Italian squad’s new F60 machine at Mugello on Monday.

Ferrari have made no secret of the fact that their KERS development program has fallen behind schedule. Nevertheless, Domenical expects the new system - optional for 2009 - to provide a significant performance benefit, assuming it performs reliably.

“We can decide if we want to use the KERS in our car and when it's clear that the system will effectively improve the performance, which it seems to do in simulations, it will be our task and technical challenge to push on with it,” he said.

The new car completed its inaugural installation lap at 1035 local time at Mugello, with Felipe Massa at the wheel. It was the first time Ferrari have ‘live’ tested their KERS system and Domenicali confessed he was expecting teething troubles.

“Today is a very important day also as far as this system is concerned and we're testing the new system on the track. I don't expect any surprises; but we'll definitely see the problems when it's used on the track,” he said.

With in-season testing now banned and the annual testing limit slashed, Domenicali admitted it was now more important than ever to prove the reliability of new components before risking them in a race environment.

“As you know tests are limited to 15,000 kilometres this year and there's no possibility to test after the start of the season,” he said. “I expect that test stands and simulations will be used much more.

“As I already said there will be many more problems, but our main objective is reliability. Last year we paid a high price; this year, with a new system as complex as the KERS, our main objective is the verification of the reliability.”


Sources
 

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has published the official entry list for the 2009 world championship. After winning his first world title last season, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton will take charge of the number-one car, with team mate Heikki Kovalainen running number two.

The former Honda team, which is currently for sale, is the only team yet to confirm either race driver, while Toro Rosso still have one race seat up for grabs after announcing Sebastien Buemi last week.

The full entry list of constructors and drivers is as follows:

McLaren Mercedes
1 Lewis Hamilton (GB)
2 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)

Ferrari
3 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)
4 Felipe Massa (BR)

BMW Sauber
5 Robert Kubica (PL)
6 Nick Heidfeld (D)

Renault
7 Fernando Alonso (E)
8 Nelson Piquet (BR)

Toyota
9 Jarno Trulli (I)
10 Timo Glock (D)

STR Ferrari
11 Sebastien Buemi (CH)
12 TBA

Red Bull Renault
14 Mark Webber (AUS)
15 Sebastian Vettel (D)

Williams Toyota
16 Nico Rosberg (D)
17 Kazuki Nakajima (J)

Honda *
18 TBA
19 TBA

Force India Mercedes
20 Adrian Sutil (D)
21 Giancarlo Fisichella (I)

* The Honda Motor Company announced their withdrawal from Formula One on December 5th, 2008. The Honda Racing team has not withdrawn its entry from the 2009 Formula One World Championship. The FIA understands the team is now for sale.


Sources
 

Former world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen are no strangers to the pressures of Formula One racing, but the Finnish pair are preparing to sample a different motorsport challenge later this month, after agreeing to compete in this year’s arduous Arctic Lapland Rally.

For Ferrari driver Raikkonen this year’s rally will be his first and for his debut the 29 year-old will race a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000, alongside co-driver Kaj Lindstrom. Hakkinen, who contested the rally in 2003, 2004 and 2006, will be at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9, together with Ilkka Kivimaki.

This year's staging of the annual event, which sees top drivers tackle freezing weather conditions as they race around Northern Finland in the heart of the Arctic Circle, will take place from January 22-24. Previous winners include former world rally champions Marcus Gronholm, Tommi Makinen and Hannu Mikkola.

:sweat:

Sources
 

FIA President Max Mosley has suggested that embracing the use of moveable aerodynamic devices could be the best route to increasing the amount of overtaking in Formula One racing.

For the first time this season, drivers are to be able to make minimal front wing adjustments from the cockpit. However, Mosley believes that taking the concept much further may be one way to improve the spectacle of the sport.

“We intend to seek FOTA's help to investigate the use of moveable aerodynamic devices,” he says in a letter to the Formula One Teams Association. “If sufficiently radical, these could give a car following another car a performance advantage by virtue of being behind.”

Mosley likens the concept to Formula One of the 1960’s, when a car would get a ‘tow’ and lose lift and thus be faster in the wake of another car: “The result was wheel-to-wheel racing at the so-called slip-streaming circuits, for example pre-chicane Monza.”

Mosley admits that achieving similar results in the 21st century would require significant - and possibly automatic - moveable aero devices, but believes that modern technology could be used to give a car more downforce and less drag whenever it was in turbulent air.

“This would produce wheel-to-wheel racing on all types of circuit,” he concludes.


Sources
 

From 2009 onwards, Formula One teams can choose to make use of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), which harness waste energy generated by the car under braking. As a result, over the past few months several have been hard at work developing the technology for their ’09 challengers.

In a letter to the Formula One Team’s Association, however, FIA president Max Mosley has revealed that he believes mechanical flywheel systems to be preferable to the electrical battery systems currently being devised by several teams.

“We are increasingly of the view that the use of chemical storage (in particular batteries) should be prohibited in Formula One owing to the unsuitability of the batteries currently available,” said Mosley in the letter.

At present, regulations state that KERS systems can convey a maximum of 60 kilowatts and store up to 400 kilojoules of energy, which can then be used to boost acceleration. But in the long term Mosley believes these regulations could be relaxed, and if so, battery systems would no longer present a realistic solution.

“Formula One would benefit from systems with more capacity than the present, (for example maxima of: 2MJ stored, 150KW in, 100KW out) but still very small and very light, as is essential in Formula One,” explained Mosley. “These figures are theoretically possible with mechanical devices, but not feasible in the foreseeable future using batteries and/or capacitors.”

Mosley believes that such non-chemical devices, if successfully developed, could have a far more significant impact on road transport and other applications than battery-based counterparts.

“This is a subject we should like to explore in depth with FOTA,” he added. “In particular we should like to examine how Formula One's outstanding engineering capacity could be used to develop KERS without incurring significant costs for the teams.”

During the final track sessions of 2008, BMW Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Toyota and Williams are all understood to have tested KERS-related technology, but the specifics of each team’s system remain closely guarded.



Sources
 

With BMW Sauber well advanced on their development work for the new season, test driver Christian Klien is one of the few men to have amassed significant experience of both the 2009-spec aerodynamics and KERS - and the Austrian believes the changes are good news for Formula One fans.

Revised regulations for ’09 call for a lower and wider front wing, plus a taller and narrower rear wing. Having spent several days behind the wheel of BMW’s interim car over the winter, Klien says the new rules should have the desired effect.

“It looks like the new aero regulations will bring more overtaking,” he told Formula1.com. “We have noticed that you can follow our car more closely.

“This is mainly down to larger front wing we have now which brings a lot of stability to the front axle. In addition to that, the smaller rear wing should significantly reduce the dirty air when you follow another car.”

Klien admitted that the new designs could also bring some problems, however, with the added width making the front wing particularly vulnerable to damage.

“One of the downsides is the start of the race,” he added. “With these massive shovels on the noses we may well see a few clipped front wings in the first corners.”

Klien is also lucky enough to have sampled a fully-functioning KERS system, which takes waste energy from the braking process and converts it into additional power available to the driver via a boost button on the steering wheel.

“You must press the boost button as early in the corner as possible to have an advantage on the straight,” he explained. “I feel that you will probably have to start the procedure when you are, for example, in third gear in the middle of the corner. That is when those 60 kilowatts come in immediately, so it does require a little extra attention from the driver.”

There have been suggestions that the added weight of the KERS system could penalise heavier drivers, leaving them less ballast with which to adjust the car’s weight distribution. However, Klien played down its impact.

“There is a small advantage for lighter drivers,” he said. “10 kilos less of body weight gives you 10 kilos more to play with your weight balance. But it does not have a dramatic effect. As much as I myself would love to have an edge over bigger drivers, I doubt KERS will be the end of the story for them. The difference is quite marginal.”

BMW Sauber will roll out the new F1.09 on January 20 at Valencia in Spain.


Sources
 

Finally F1 is coming back, can't wait to watch the new season!
 

Btw, that new rear wing is so... can I say cute? :sweat:
 

arr, at least it does not look as bad as the BMWs..

I love the new sidepods as they dont have the shark gills anymore, they look so shiny now!
And the carbon fibre floor looks really good.

Unfortunate tho, for the disproportionate front and back wings, still cannot get used to it yet.

And watch for more cars going to pit in the first lap to replace their front wings, theyre just asking to be snapped off at that lenght..
 

Wah say Melvin....you laying the ground work for the next F1 frenzy in CS har? heheheheh

Hahaha... Just trying to update our fellow F1 n Ferrari Fans! Although abit early as the new season start in March... In the meantime its FAN FARE TIME!!!:bsmilie:

So let the party begins!!!

GO FERRARI GO!!! GO MASSA GO!!! GO KIMI GO!!! PRANCING HORSE RULEZ!!! :cool:


Lets Party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bsmilie:
 

arr, at least it does not look as bad as the BMWs..

I love the new sidepods as they dont have the shark gills anymore, they look so shiny now!
And the carbon fibre floor looks really good.

Unfortunate tho, for the disproportionate front and back wings, still cannot get used to it yet.

And watch for more cars going to pit in the first lap to replace their front wings, theyre just asking to be snapped off at that lenght..

Yeah the shark gills are ugly lor.........front wing is also way too long and the have readjusted the height (higher) of the tail!:confused:
 

The new Ferrari is really ugly and look inbalanced. Ultra wide front wings with tall and slim rear wings that suppose to make the car less relient on aerodynamics during cornering so as to allow more overtaking. Really ugly.

Massa said it felt like a toy car. :bsmilie: Features new technology: KERS (kinetic energy recovery system)
 

The new Ferrari is really ugly and look inbalanced. Ultra wide front wings with tall and slim rear wings that suppose to make the car less relient on aerodynamics during cornering so as to allow more overtaking. Really ugly.

Massa said it felt like a toy car. :bsmilie: Features new technology: KERS (kinetic energy recovery system)

Well...we will see how it goes at the first race man heheh.... Things could be worst. Like scrapping the F1 race for 2009 altogether heheheheh.....
 

Here is a little pic of the new car

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7825750.stm

Looks like a spade. The rear wing the spade handle and the wide front wing the blade.

heheh ya..saw it this afternoon heh... well hope to see how well it will do lah....looking out for more You Tube previews of it before the race if possible.


For sure if we don't rework some portion of our F1 track with those big bumps you remember when Massa complain that they use to line the Chichane...it can take chunks off your body work and now your wings too hehehehe...
 

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