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F1: Ferrari Perplexed by Grip Problem
Written by: Adam Cooper
RACER Magazine   http://www.racer.com/speedtv
06/17/2007 - 07:00 PM
Indianapolis, Ind.
 
Raikkonen was the quickest car in the final USGP stint but Ferrari's poor qualy performance left him battling slower cars in the race's early stages. (LAT Photo) » More Photos

Ferrari is still struggling to come to terms with a lack of grip over one lap in qualifying, a situation which is compromising its grid positions and therefore compromising its race form.

Kimi Raikkonen was quick in the latter stages at Indianapolis, but he had started fourth and had to use all his new soft tires to ensure he made it through to Q3. He thus started on new medium tires.

In recent races the team has struggled to get temperature into the fronts, something which didn't seem to be an issue at the start of the season.

"There's a slight correlation with the soft compound, with the soft new compound," said race engineering boss Luca Baldisserri. "So we have tried to investigate more in that direction what we are missing, and that's the main point of development. But I don't think that the improvement that we have done in the car, aerodynamically, mechanically, with the engine, that we have done after the first three races have had an effect on that.

"Everybody has the same tires, so the grip is there, because other cars are able to use the grip, that's the problem. The grip is there and you have to use the grip in the best way as possible, so that's the key point and the whole factory at home are concentrated on trying to understand this.

"Qualifying is important, the race pace is also important. The problem is that being behind in qualifying means that we will
have a difficult race, and especially if we lose position at the start. So being behind other cars, again, is the performance of the car tends to decrease even more and because you are behind slow cars, you lose the 10s in the first stint and it's nearly impossible to recover, even if you have better consistency in the car, in the tires.'"



Catch up on the developments in Formula 1 each month in RACER. Steve Cooper gets the scoop on the decline of the Renault F1 team this season, and its efforts to turn the tide in our July issue, on sale now.


The team is hoping to make progress at this week's three-day Silverstone test, although rain is expected to reduce meaningful running time.

"'We have a completely different aerodynamic package to try at Silverstone, so hopefully we can have another step aerodynamically. We hope that the weather will be with us to… At the moment we have quite a lot of rainfall [expected].

"If we can find, with the setup, the two or three tenths that at the moment we are missing, they will be welcome and it would be a straightforward solution. Unfortunately I don't think they are all there. We have to understand, investigate all the areas: aerodynamically, mechanically but on the engine as well."