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Ferrari's
Formula One design chief Rory Byrne has confirmed that the
World Championship winning team's new chassis will arrive on
the scene up to five Grands Prix into the 2005 season.
Rory Byrne told
Gazzetta dello Sport this week that while the new
car, expected to be dubbed the F2005, will be ready to test
by the end of February.
The South African design chief, responsible for the recent
string of title winning cars from the Italian stable,
commented that, "We could bring it out from the first race
of 2005 but we are not in such a hurry because we want to go
deeper into research and design so it is almost perfect when
it does appear. We expect its debut to be between the third
and fifth races."
The
all-conquering Ferrari F2004, which has claimed no less than
fifteen wins this year, will now have to be significantly
modified to meet the revised 2005 F1 regulations.
Next year sees
new aerodynamic rules adopted which aim to significantly
reduce downforce, while an extended engine life, hey will
have to last for two meetings instead of the current one,
will see all-new powerplants being adopted. Ferrari will
also be developing a new gearbox.
With most of
Ferrari's rivals aiming to be on the grid in Melbourne for
the season opener on 6th March with new cars, Ferrari hope
to play the reliability card by using a much 'modified'
F2004.
This is a tactic they have used to suberb effect in recent
years, most notably when the 2001 F1 World Championship
winning F2001 chassis, was carried over to 2002, where it
won the opening race of the season, the Australian Grand
Prix.
Byne's comments
that the new car's debut will come between the third and the
fifth race means that the new F2005 chassis may well first
appear in anger on their home soil during the San Marino
Grand Prix at Imola, provisionally pencilld in as the fifth
round of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship. Round
three is at present scheduled to take place in Bahrain,
while round four is likely to be the French Grand Prix.
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The 2001
F1 World Championship winning F2001 chassis, was
carried over to the next year, seen here on its way
to winning the opening race of 2002 in style, the
Australian Grand Prix |
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The
championship-winning Ferrari F2004, seen here on its
way to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, will
continue into early 2005 in a much modified form |
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"The new car will represent another big step forward,"
continued Byrne, "But its success will depend on our rivals.
It will be different to the F2004, but in an evolutionary
sense. Some areas will be very different, the engine will be
new, not interchangeable with the current one, as will the
gearbox."
Bynre said that his design assistant Aldo
Costa, was playing a much greater role in the design and
development of the F2005. With Byrne expected to retire when
his contract end in early 2007, this move is part of the
process of 'grooming' Costa to take over his job.
"I could stay involved in a different
manner," commented Byrne, as he reiterated that he will not
be renewing his contract in its current form. "From 2007 I
will certainly spend most of my time in Phuket, in Thailand.
"My wife is from there. I have bought a 7,000 square metre
plot by the sea and will build a holiday village with
cottages for tourists."
Meanwhile an interesting case will come
to court in Italy next April when two former Scuderia
Ferrari employees will stand trial, charged with stealing
the firm's secrets.
The two, Mauro
Iacconi and Angelo Santini, stand
accused of taking CD-roms and selling them to the
Cologne-based Toyota F1 team.
Modena public prosector Fausto Casari has also indicated
that Aerolab, a high-tech firm located near Ferrari's
Maranello HQ, as also being involved in the allegations of
'serious foul play'. Iacconi, who left Ferrari at the tail
end of 1999, was a manager of Aerolab, before he went on to
become a consultant to Toyota.
Much comment was made at the time of the
striking similarities between the Toyota TF103 and Ferrari's
title-winning F2002. Toyota for their part strenuously deny
any involvement in wrongdoing.
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