- F10 Rear axle area
The diffuser row, that hit the sport by storm in 2009 may very well make a re-appearance in 2010.
Ferrari, just two days ago released the F10, the car they believe will be a prime contender for the 2010 Formula 1 world championship. However it is now becoming more clear just where some of the Ferrari B-spec car rumors may be coming from.
In 2009, Formula 1 teams argued over the validity of the diffuser rule interpretations which allowed for multiple deck diffusers significantly increasing the cars’ downforce figures. The opening rounds of the 2009 championship were contested under court appeal and protests about the legality of the multiple deck diffuser concept overshadowing the opening rounds of the championship.
Many had hoped that the FIA, would close the loopholes associated with the design and clarity in the rules could once again be restored. The FIA however, chose to make no changes to the 2010 rulebook until 2011 leaving what some believe to be further exploits in the interpretation of the design for the upcoming year. There had been hopes that the subsequent clarity of the rules would help the sport avoid a repeat of the 2009 fiasco this time out. The situation though could turn out entirely different.
News is starting to circulate, that teams may have gone further in exploiting the rules in the area of diffusers, and there are now fears that there could even be another wave of protests.
Back to the Ferrari. Several weeks ago, an article in German publication Motorsport Aktuell written by (it must be said) a respected contributor to the Italian magazine ‘Autosprint’; Alberto Antonini who had uncovered many of Formula 1 teams’ technical secrets in years past has claimed that final windtunnel results of the F10 did not excite Maranello engineers and that the car was lacking aerodynamic efficiency coming short of achieving set design goals. The author added that a B-spec version of the car was in the works. No reason for the news was stated.
Now, just hours after the launch of rival MP4/25 McLaren more news that could lead to the origin of the rumor has started to emerge.
McLaren engineering director Paddy Lowe said at the launch of the MP4/25 on Friday that the McLaren design team had gone all out and pushed the diffuser regulations as far as they felt was possible. “How far is that?” Is the question many teams may be asking.
Lowe is fairly certain that they have not gone over the edge and that the rules have been clear enough. Of course, why would he have doubts!
“We think the interpretation is very clear,”Lowe said. “In certain aspects we have sought guidance from the FIA and they have come out with very clear interpretation, understanding and guidance – and we think that has been made available to all the teams.
“We are hoping for a much cleaner start to the season then we had a year ago in terms of the teams’ collective understanding of the basis from which we go racing.”
“This is the first car in which we have had a clean sheet of paper to really exploit the interpretation that was developed last year for a design of floors/
“You will see we have produced a fairly “extreme” incarnation of that but we won’t be alone in that. We believe you will see some pretty extreme solutions on our competitors’ cars as well.”
Ferrari however have been the first of the teams to once again voice concern that not every team may have the same interpreting of the regulations and that some may choose to go beyond what they would consider legal in exploring the boundaries of the 2009 loophole.
“We were and still are convinced that the double diffuser concept was illegal,” said Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa in speaking to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. “We feel there may still be interpretation over this, as the rules leave the door open to many possibilities.”
Ferrari believe, that the FIA may once again fail to set a bar on what is or isn’t legal allowing for beyond reasonable interpretations.
“It’s up to the FIA to supervise, but we are rather worried.” added Costa.
Piero Ferrari shared the same fears, suggesting that Ferrari have pushed the boundaries of what they feel is legal, but others may not have drawn the same line: “I expect a Ferrari worthy of the title, unless someone interprets the rules differently.” said Piero.
Could this be the source of the Ferrari F10 b-spec rumor? Ferrari’s sentiments are leading some to believe that Albero Antonini (the reporter that leaked the rumor) has somehow got wind of these Ferrari concerns before anybody else. Given Ferrari’s significant head start on the 2010 challenger, the Italian team may be planning a more radical F10b version of the car if it becomes clear that rules can be pushed beyond where Ferrari chose to originally draw the line on their F10 design.
A Prelude to the 2010 F1 Season
F1 Ferrari Pilot Preview
Ferrari Preview – 2010 F1 Season
Official 2010 F1 Grid
FIA Probing McLaren Wing Legality?
F1 Poker Faces
Loading ...
A friend of a friend works for the Scuderia. He tells me they worked every hour there was getting the car ready over New Years.
They finished it and sent it off to Maranello for engine and finishing. But about three weeks ago it came back for re-working because certain measurements had not been accurately adhered to.
Hi there. Nice site for dedicated Ferrari fans, even though I am a McLaren fan I enjoy browsing through your site.
I find it really dad when Ferrari term the DDD illegal just because their interpretation of it was not as successful as the others.Looks like they’ll take the matter to the FIA court if they are not on pace by Bahrain.
The departure of Todt-Schumi-Brawn trinity is hurting them very badly & Luca doesn\’t seem to have gotten over Schumi\’s departure to Merc.
That might explain LDM’s less than confident talk during the unveiling of the F10.
He was going on and on about
“Need for consistent regulations that are not misunderstood” and “the role of justice”
Both of which come in handy if the F10 turns out to be slow.
I hope for the sake of compitation its not true. I really want a Ferrari vs McLaren battle royal.
Cheers for the site
I completely agree Counter Strike, it seems to me as though Ferrari is trying to take what they believe to be the moral high ground in avoiding the double diffuser and then throw up a big fuss when the other 13 teams have double diffusers. They knew from Malyasia ‘09 (I think that was the final FIA meeting?) that double diffusers were legal so they have no reason not to develop one. So, what if other teams interpret the rules differently if the FIA says that is legal then its legal and Ferrari should just stick a double diffuser on
Jarred, Ferrari will be using a double diffuser or triple for all we know. They are not saying that they don’t have an extreme solution and were taking a nap all winter.
What they are suggesting, is that the limits of the rules were never fully clarified leaving room for even more extreme designs.
Just how extreme can we go, is what everyone is asking.
An easy answer to that would simply be “as extreme as the rules allow”, but it’s not that simple. We’re not talking about simple no bodywork within these plains rule.
The way the FIA has allowed for the interpretation of this rule leaves a whole lot of areas of the book open to similar understanding.
Ferrari said as have others that they have an extreme design but don’t know where the FIA will draw the line as the possibilities are very open still.
They likely have a plan as to just where to draw their own line and what to do if it is exceeded by others and approved by the FIA. Others will have similar plans.
i agree with (FerrariF1Forum.com)…..however testing is showing that ferrari is the fastest out there so dd and td go to hell as far as ferrari is winnning……………