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Ferrari 2010 Season Preview: Conclusion
By Jay & Tifosa
March 8 2010
With all these innovative designs introduced by Ferrari and having covered the most mileage than any other teams in the pre-season testing, we conclude the following on the F10 challenger for the new season:-

PROS:

Design:

The innovative engine design and mounting has given a clear edge to the F10 against its competitors.

Reliability:

The long stints done on the F10 proved that the Ferrari engine is reliable and the tire-wear minimal compared to other teams.

Drivers:

The pairing of Alonso and Massa, on paper, looks to be a strong combination and seem poised for success.

Strategy:

In the Barcelona tests, Ferrari did stints in short-long-short patterns, with an indication that they might go for the softer tire option for qualifying, and rely on a longer stint with the harder ones.
 

With Q3 teams having to start the race with the tires used in Q3, and F10 being kind on its tires, this seems to be a good strategy, the only hitch being the lap times with the harder tires, which as mentioned above, seems to take much longer to lower. 

CONS: 

Technical

The Ferrari does have some problems at hand regarding the mechanical and electronics parts of the car, which might crop up in the initial races.

Pace

While Ferrari looks rock solid on long stint pace, it is not completely clear how good the F10 is on shorter distances. Thus, there are some questions about quali pace. Also, a closer-look at the timings in the long stints showed that the F10 took a while to get into low lap times, as compared to Mercedes and Mclaren (link – lap times of Barcelona testing stints)

 

CONCLUSION

All in all, the Ferrari team looks good on reliability and consistency, with optimum tire usage compared to other teams. With more distance covered than by any other team, and with one exception, all problems were solved quickly, this shows that the team got more experience of the car behavior and is in a better position to handle any issues that can crop up.


 

Other Teams:
 

Mclaren seems to be on par with Ferrari with good pace (the rear wing awaits clearance though) and consistency. They are however a bit on the back-foot considering tire management, as there were reports of Button’s car stalling due to tyre wear.
 

Red Bull, had reliability issues, however is good on pace and seems to be fuel-efficient. They are look to be just behind Ferrari and McLaren. 

Mercedes have consistently improved and at Barcelona were just a few hundredth of a seconds shy from the above three, and with Ross and Schumi combo, they would be soon on par with the above three. There are still concerns regarding the weight balance, which could be resolved by the first couple of races.
 

Other teams that come just after these four are Williams, Sauber and Force India, followed by Torro Rosso, while Renault seems to have fallen behind, with no real pace to match the top guys.
 

Of the new teams, Lotus seems to have an upper-hand over Virgin, and lastly Campos (HRT). 

That’s it for the pre-season preview from our team. The season kicks off March 12, with free practice, followed by the quails on the 13th and the main event on the 14th.

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