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After the
always popular North American interlude in Montreal, the
European season now gets into full swing, with the
remaining seven Grands Prix on the Old Continent all
running concurrently through to the Italian event in
September. This weekend’s European Grand Prix takes
place at the newest of those seven venues, the Valencia
street circuit, which will be hosting its fifth Formula
1 race on Sunday. When the track was opened, it was
touted as a “Spanish Monaco” with its harbour setting
and even has competitors running over a swing-bridge,
which is as unusual a feature as Monaco’s tunnel, while
the team garages location is located in a former fish
market. However, the track characteristics are quite
different: the barriers are further from the track side,
some corners have run off areas and cars run less
downforce, while being a new venue, the track surface,
although abrasive, is much smoother, with fewer bumps
than in Monte Carlo. However, the street circuit staples
of slow corners and the need for good traction are found
here in abundance.
Not long ago, traction was in short supply on the F2012,
but as was clearly seen in Montreal, a circuit that
should not have suited the early-season Ferrari package,
progress has been made in this area. “It’s all down to a
huge amount of work, from a large number of people, with
particular emphasis on aerodynamics, design and
production,” said Nikolas Tombazis, Scuderia Ferrari’s
Chief Designer. “It’s been intense over the past few
months resulting in a big improvement in car
performance. We have worked with determination to deal
with all the negative points we picked up right from the
first test in the winter.”
One of the most obvious changes to the F2012 in Canada
was a return to an exhaust configuration that resembled
the one seen on the car when it was first launched. “The
exhaust layout in Montreal was a cousin of the one we
tested in Jerez at the launch,” was how Tombazis
explained its design. “The former one was more
complicated and created various problems for us which
meant it did not contribute much in terms of lap time or
making the driver feel it was a benefit. We therefore
abandoned it, while addressing other weaknesses on the
car, until we reached the first major change which came
in time for the Spanish Grand Prix. That had a
different, central exhaust configuration, at a point
when we had effectively reviewed the entire car, from
its front wing, the diffuser, the rear wing and turning
vanes and brake ducts, producing what was in aero terms
effectively a new car. However, we kept working on the
exhausts to develop a more robust and simple system, but
it still related to the original one and that is what we
introduced in Canada.”
The progress from a car with which our drivers struggled
to get into Q3 to one that now seems capable of
challenging for the front row of the grid and the top
step of the podium has been dramatic, but Tombazis still
wants more. “At the moment, we are reasonably satisfied
with the point we are at now, given where we started
from, however, we cannot be totally happy, as we are not
in a position to dominate races, or indeed to win all of
them, which is always one’s objective,” affirmed the
designer. “We have very strong competitors who are also
continuing to develop their cars and we feel this
technology race will continue to the end of the season.
Our work is continuing at the same intensity and, our
plan is to introduce developments at every race,
starting with Valencia: this weekend we will be
experimenting with the front wing and the floor, while
having further evolutions of the exhausts. We already
have other updates in the pipeline for subsequent races
and I believe this will continue right through to the
very last race.”
Top speed is not a priority at the Valencia track, but
nevertheless it is an area that was a weak point for the
Scuderia and one on which it continues to work to
improve. “Top speed in F1 is now more complicated than
in the past, because of the DRS system, as it has
changed the optimum level of drag for a car for any
given circuit” explains Tombazis. “Therefore it’s not
just a case of producing a wing that generates a bit
less downforce and drag to deliver higher speeds. We
have had to work on the DRS itself and the drag
generated by the rest of the car body. We have made
improvements in this area, but not yet quite enough to
close the gap completely to the best in the field in
this area.” Tombazis and the rest of the Ferrari
workforce have never been afraid of hard work, but the
designer admits that recent progress has made their jobs
easier. “Rightly or wrongly there is an expectation
that, as Ferrari, we must be winning every race and
always be competitive,” he maintains. “At the start of
the season we were in an uncompetitive situation, which
was a big shock for me personally and for my colleagues.
It has been a hard few months, but we put our heads down
and tackled the problem calmly and I think the last few
races have been a morale boost for all of us: it has
made us believe we can get the job done.”
In the very early days of the Formula1 World
Championship, existing rounds of the series would be
nominated as the European GP, as an additional honorary
title. Since it became a race in its own right, it has
been held twenty one times, starting in 1983, with
breaks from ’86 to ’93, after which it missed 1998,
before running every year to the present day. Valencia
is its fifth home, following Brands Hatch, Nurburgring,
Donington Park and Jerez. The Scuderia has a good
record, with a Ferrari driver having hoisted the
European trophy on six occasions, which is more than any
other team. Ferrari's current drivers have also gone
well in this event, as Fernando Alonso has won it twice,
with other teams at the Nürburgring, in 2005 and ’07.
Felipe was victorious at the wheel of a Prancing Horse
car, starting from pole here in the maiden race at
Valencia in 2008. The Brazilian has repaid the hard work
of everyone in Maranello, by getting to grips with the
F2012 and delivering much more competitive performances
in the last couple of races. The Valencian event has
established itself as a fixture on the calendar, with
many spectators coming not just for the racing, but also
for the Summer Solstice festival that sees everyone
flock to the beach near the track to celebrate the
longest day of the year. Inevitably though, even with
the arrival of a new Spanish F1 team, the main
attraction is our own Fernando Alonso. The man from
Oviedo can be credited with making what was previously a
minority interest sport on the Iberian peninsula into
one of the most popular and it’s not by chance that the
Valencia street circuit was built the year after he
secured his back to back world championships in 2005 and
’06. Having finished second in his first home race in
Barcelona just over a month ago, Fernando will no doubt
be hoping that a more competitive F2012 will allow him
to stand on the top step of a Spanish podium, whatever
the actual name of the Grand Prix.
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