F1: Ferrari New Steering Wheel Key To Superfast Starts

F1: Ferrari New Steering Wheel Key To Superfast Starts

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Ferrari’s superfast getaway at the Australian Grand Prix was Key to its early victory challenge, and may be the result of a unique approach to new start restrictions.

Although MercedesAMG owned the front row of the grid in Melbourne, it was a sensational getaway from Sebastian Vettel that helped him fly into the lead by the 1st corner.

As team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said: “The start was super. I have to say both of the drivers, they start like two rockets. After that they were able to take an advantage, and that was good for us.”

Such great starts from Ferrari are nothing new, but the team may well have taken things to an all-new mark in ensuring it does not miss any detail in this area.

In pre-season testing, rivals had been alerted about what Ferrari was capable of by monitoring data

Even ahead of the race, there were rumors that Ferrari knew it would excel in this area. Its decision to not do a 2nd run in Melbourne’s Q3 was mainly fed by its desire to save a set of super soft tires for the race.

But another suggestion emerged, that the Scuderia knew just how good its starts were so securing the 2nd row of the grid was good enough for it to believe it had a shot of the lead on the 1st lap.

A comparison of Ferrari’s Y’s 2015 and 2016 steering wheel arrangement shows, the team has been the most aggressive in changing its clutch configuration for this year.

New rules mean that drivers can only use a single hand on a single clutch paddle for the race start – even if teams choose to keep a double-paddle arrangement for emergencies.

Ferrari has opted for something totally different to its main rivals by abandoning a double paddle arrangement. Instead, it has a single ‘rocker’ paddle that stretches all the way across the back of the wheel.

Investing in such a dramatic design change points to it having unlocked a marked performance advantage, in that it may be that it allows the driver a greater feel for the clutch bite point, and means he is better able to judge how to deliver the perfect start.

Adding that to Ferrari’s known behavior of being aggressive with race start engine maps the combination could put is clear of the competition.

It will be interesting to see if Ferrari can repeat its Australian GP superfast start in Bahrain.

Speaking earlier this week, MercedesAMG executive director Paddy Lowe said that there was not a simple explanation for why Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had not been a match for Ferrari off the line.

“There’s not some single disaster that went on that we need to go analyse,” Mr. Lowe said.

“I think it was probably a number of things combining to create some fairly poor starts. You have to say the objective of the regulation change, or reinterpretation in fact, is to make the starts more variable.

“And that’s what we’ve seen. So that was something that was well considered in advance.”

The Gulf Air Bahrain schedule, Sunday, 3 April: https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/races/2016/Bahrain.html

Have a terrific weekend.

Paul Ebeling

HeffX-LTN

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