Maybe, according to F1blog.com
Ferrari working on B-Spec car after double diffuser controversy?
Posted by Jack Sargeant on Jan 30th, 2010 and filed under Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
According to The Times newspaper, Ferrari have already started work on a ‘B’ spec car. The newspaper referred to rumours “sweeping the Italian media” about the early performance estimates for the new single seater.
The report said it is feared the car is “not as good as the team were hoping for”, despite Ferrari having stopped developing the F60 mid last season in order to focus on the 2010 F10.
However, could it be that Ferrari have started work on a B-Spec car after yet another diffuser row?
It seems an argument which sparked up early last year about the legality of so called ‘double-diffusers’ may come back to haunt us again this year, only in the shape of ‘triple’ and even ‘quadruple’ diffusers.
McLaren’s engineering director Paddy Lowe said:
“We’ve got a fairly extreme incarnation (of double diffuser), but we won’t be alone in that — we believe we will see some pretty extreme solutions from our competitors as well.
“We think the interpretation is very clear. 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 ‘fairly extreme incarnation’ of the diffuser was kept under wraps at the launch of the McLaren MP4-25 yesterday with a ‘No photographs please’ sign. This has clearly worried Ferrari, who seem to have missed out on the diffuser trick once again.
“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.
Despite the diffuser only seeming like a small part at the lower-rear of the car, it is the single largest generator of downforce, and to design a new one is a huge task and requires a full redesign of the back end of the car.
