There are now just five
races to go in 2011, starting with this weekend’s
Japanese Grand Prix and, while remaining determined to
try and win one or some of them, Scuderia Ferrari’s main
focus is now squarely on next year’s championship. As is
always the case at this time of year, whatever the
situation in the current season, work is well underway
on the Prancing Horse’s 2012 car, as its Chief Designer,
Nikolas Tombazis explains. “We are currently at the
stage of finalising the main components, the larger
parts with a requirement for the longest production
time. That means the chassis, the general layout of the
car, the suspension and gearbox. Some of these
components are now at the production stage, while others
are at the final part of the design process. We are
right in the middle of development for the aerodynamic
elements and it’s fair to say we are now totally
concentrated on the new car.”
Next year’s technical regulations are not that different
to the present ones, so five more races represent five
solid opportunities to test out new ideas for 2012.
“Having accepted for a while now that this year’s
championship titles are beyond our grasp, our main
effort is aimed at next year,” admits Tombazis. “The
technical rules have not changed that much, with general
stability prevailing, apart from the area involving the
exhaust system. Therefore there are areas on the 150º
Italia that are relevant for next year. That means in
the remaining races, we will be experimenting with this
in mind. For example, we could try a new front wing that
represents a different approach in terms of how it
works. We can therefore try and learn as much as
possible right away. Clearly, we also hope it will be
beneficial for this year’s car too in the races that are
left. Even on the exhaust side there are lessons to be
learned from what we have done so far, because any in
depth study also brings benefits. Our rivals were ahead
of us in developing this area and that gave them a big
advantage. The lessons we have learned from this and
other similar situations in the past, always have a
benefit for us in the end.”
There has been a lot of talk about a new more aggressive
approach adopted by the Scuderia when it comes to design
and development and Tombazis explains what this means in
practice. “I hope the results will speak for themselves
when we launch the car and more importantly, as we
tackle the first few races on the calendar,” he says. “A
more aggressive approach has come about as the result of
the analysis we carried out of the defeats we suffered
over the past few years. We realised we had been a bit
too conservative and had closed our minds to some
strands of development. So for next year’s car, we have
sanctioned a much more aggressive approach on the aero
front, which has required a much closer working
relationship with those developing the structure of the
car. It might make it harder when considering other
aspects of the car, but it allows more room for
aerodynamic development. The other element of the new
approach is in how we make use of the wind tunnel: it
involves not just developing and optimising what we
have, but also introducing to every wind tunnel session
some new concepts, which sometimes might not work, but
sometimes can produce interesting results.”
Tombazis is rather coy when asked to describe what the
2012 Maranello challenger might look like, although he
does offer this taster: “I think that visually, the new
car is fairly different to its predecessor but if it has
a wow factor, as our team principal Stefano Domenicali
thought, when he first saw the model, then I hope the
wow factor will also be evident from the results. We
have set ourselves ambitious targets, which we intend to
maintain and so, on this front, I am quite optimistic.”
The first of these five opportunities to prepare for
2012 comes at one of the most impressive race tracks on
the calendar and, if testing is on the Scuderia Ferrari
agenda this weekend, then it is appropriate, because
Suzuka was originally designed as a test track for Honda
cars. This means it is incredibly challenging and
demanding for the drivers, engineers and the cars. Of
the 22 times the Japanese GP has been held here – on
four occasions it was staged at Fuji – a Prancing Horse
car has been first past the flag seven times. Fernando
Alonso is the only driver to have won at both venues, in
2006 at Suzuka and 2008 in Fuji, although neither time
was at the wheel of a red car. As for Felipe Massa, his
best result here came in 2006, when he started from pole
and finished second to…Fernando.
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