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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Ferrari problems linked to Windtunnel Data

I know that everyone is going on today about Murdoch trying to buy F1 - I doubt it's going to happen the way it's being reported (if at all) but I'm more interested in why Ferrari aren't on the pace.

Stefano Domenicali was interviewed by Autosprint Italy and, interestingly, said that they had a structural problem with the windtunnel at Maranello.  The data coming out of the Windtunnel is conflicting with the data being received when the car is on track.

This conflict means that upgrades being designed in the windtunnel are not performing as expected in on-track conditions.  Aldo Costa the Tech Director has said that "We started an investigation so we are doing correlation between the track and the wind tunnel, trying to understand why that should be."

A recalibration of the Maranello Windtunnel needs to be undertaken to resolve the problem.

In the meantime it would appear that Ferrari are intending to use a high spec windtunnel facility in Cologne belonging to Toyota.

This could explain why Ferrari have not responded to adversity as quickly as in previous years.  If this is the case then the criticism of Alonso and di Montezemelo may well be unwarranted.