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Ferrari Italian GP Preview - Monza, Temple of Speed |
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Thursday, 11 September 2008 |
Monza, 10th September - The European part of the 2008 Formula 1
season comes to a close this weekend with Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's
home grand prix at the Monza circuit. Ferrari should benefit from the
boost of racing in front of a big crowd of its home fans and, as is now
traditional, the staff of the Gestione Sportiva, who will watch from
their reserved grandstand.
Current form and the results of the test session held at this track two
weeks ago suggest they will get to see a very close contest. In terms
of performance, the three days running at Monza confirmed that the
Italian Grand Prix could be the toughest assignment of the remaining
races for the Scuderia, as it's clear our opponents are extremely
strong. Last year here, Ferrari struggled, especially in terms of
dealing with the kerbs but, as has been seen at other races this year,
this is one problem that has been solved, as the car's behaviour over
kerbs has been improved through work on the suspension package.
However,
with the circuit affectionately known as the Temple of Speed, it is no
surprise that engines are very much a key to this weekend.
"Undoubtedly, with Monza coming hot on the heels of Spa, this is the
toughest pair of races in terms of the engine cycle," reckons the
Gestione Sportiva's Technical Director for Engines, Gilles Simon.
"Monza is the hardest circuit on engines and Spa is not far behind it,
so this means the engines used here will have endured the highest
stress levels of any throughout the season." Pushing the engine to its
limits was therefore a major priority at that test. "From the engine
side, we pushed very hard to test reliability and the results were
successful, as we completed two race distances," continued Simon. "And
also in terms of car performance we made good progress at a circuit
where, in 2007, we were not that strong. So overall it had been a very
positive test."
Life was made more complicated this year for
the engine specialists with new regulations demanding that all teams
use a standard electronic control unit. "We have had a partially
positive result and we devoted a lot of time and effort into starting
the season with a reasonable understanding of the system," says Simon.
"From then on, we had had to go deeper into the details to understand
all the possibilities offered by the common ECU and to follow its
evolution. Today, we still do not feel we have fully exploited all the
functionalities of this system."
With just five more races
remaining and both Drivers' and Constructors' championships very finely
balanced, the Scuderia is working hard to ensure the F2008 is as
competitive as possible right down to the final chequered flag of the
year. However, Simon and his staff cannot neglect the future and there
are several new challenges for next season that are already taking up a
lot of their time back in Maranello. "The Kinetic Energy Recovery
System is a complex subject, which finds us dealing with a lot of new
and complicated areas, while ensuring that we still devote all
necessary efforts into continuing our usual development programme on
the current year car," revealed the Frenchman. "It will be really
challenging to run this system next year. We are learning every day,
but we are struggling and I think that all teams will struggle to run
the new system reliably right from the opening race of the 2009 season.
Next year, with KERS as well as the other rule change allowing the use
of an electronic front flap adjuster (on the front wing,) electronics
will play a very big role and the common ECU will have to be fully
understood in order to operate these new elements successfully."
However,
for the next few days, the focus will be on the 59th running of the
Italian Grand Prix, which along with the British event, is the longest
running GP on the calendar, with all the but the 1980 race being held
at Monza. The Prancing Horse has won seventeen of those races, the last
victory coming courtesy of Michael Schumacher in 2006.
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