F1 2007 Preview
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With less than 2 weeks to go before the starts of the season, here is an insight to what to expect this season.
From the Autosport forum:
Quote:
Gary Andersons latest testing impressions in Motorsport-Aktuell:
"Ferrari:
Barcelona is still very abrasive for the tyres despite its new chicane, and Ferrari is still the best when it comes to tyre degradation. It wasnt a surprise to me since Ferrari is working with BS for several years now. Ferraris advantage on the long runs is obvious which leads to the following conclusions: either Ferrari sandbagged and mislead the competition, or Barcelons magnifies the tyre-issue.I watched this car for hours in turn 3, 7 and the new chicane and it was clearly the best car there, it stays very stable, turns in very quick and isnt any nervous at all despite the drivers fighting with the harder compound. It caught my eyes that Massa knows how to handle tyres better than Kimi does, he sure learned a lot from Michael. It looks like Kimi still has to catch up there. So i think that Kimi and Massa will be equal on a fast lap, but Massa will be faster on a long run.
Renault:
Their car impressed as well, but its not as stable as the Ferrari. The rear is more nervous than the Ferraris but there is no other car that generates as much downforce as the Renault.
Laptimes are very consistent. Kovalainen and Fisicella shoule be happy.
McLaren:
I was surprised how Alonso handles the Mclaren. It seems he tries to enforce his Renault-drivingstyle on the cars front-axle and overdrives it there. This leads to a premature degradation of the front-tyres, something i could'nt see on Hamiltons car. I think its time for Alsonso to give up his Renault-thinking. Its like Räikkönen, fast on one lap, but worrying on the longrun. Hamiltons style, in contrast, is very smooth which amazed me. I thought he was all over the track to keep up with Alonso. His car looks more 'calm' then Alonsos, and i think its the driving-style that makes the difference and not the setup.
BMW:
The BMW is still very impressive. It embodies a simple but effective chassis with a very good handling in all sorts of curves. It was interesting to watch the two very different drivers. Heidfeld, beeing very unspectacluar, is already very confident with the new tyres. On the other side Kubica who finally tries to get rid of his aggressive turn-in style. In fast corners the BMW is as good as the Renault, and in slow corners the car is impressive as well. Im worried about their new gearbox which seems to be fragile.
Williams:
The new Williams is almost as good as the BMW. But Nico had to fight a lot of teething problems. Wurz drove a lot more than Nico. The car scores good for turn-in response and 'road holding'(? = Straßenlage), and traction out of slow corners. When i look at the longruns i think their 1 year of BS-experience must be worth a lot.
Honda:
Very disapointing. I heard of problems but didnt think that the grip-deficit was that dramatic. I cannot see that there is anything fundamentally wrong with car and im sure the wind-tunnel results are better than the ones of the RA106, but the competition made a bigger step. In highspeed-corners Button and Barrichello are not even close to their rivals. It lacks grip in the chicanes as well. If the aero-updates, planed for the Bahrain-test, dont work we can write them off.
Toyota:
While we are at the teams that should be at the front ... This will be thier sixth season and we are talking about the biggest car-manufactory in the world with unlimited ressources.
The front-axle just doesnt like any corners. Aweful. The front-suspension, in this setup, wont work in one million years. Im sure Toyoata will desperatley try to make the front-tyres work better and ruin the rear-suspension while they are at it ... The car lacks downforce as well. They wont score their first win this year that way.
RedBull:
Like Honda and Toyota, RedBull has much work to do. While the car looks good in fast corners, it lacks grip in slow ones. Or did they miss to adept to the new tyres? The car looks very nervous and difficult to handle when braking and shift of direction. I heard that the drivers feel uncomfortable in the car as well." -
dun noe how f1 will fare this yr without my fav micheal shumacher..sianz liao
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It will definitely make things less predictable. What to watch for 2007?Originally posted by citymax:dun noe how f1 will fare this yr without my fav micheal shumacher..sianz liao
1) Mclaren
- Will they finally produced a reliable car for 2007?
- How will rookie Lewis Hamilton fair against WDC Alonso
- Will Alonso hard driving style suit Mclaren and Bridgestone?
2) Ferrari
- Kimi will be under huge pressure fiiling MS shoe and testing timing has indicated that Massa is faster than Kimi. Will he succeed in 2007??
- With the lost of Ross Brawn and some restructuring it will be interesting to see how they fair in their race strategies
3) Renault
- Heikki Kovalainen, who has replace double WDC Alonso, is another rookie to watch. Likely to be under alot of pressure to perform and expect him to make some mistakes. Expect him to smoke Fisi too. Could this be FISI's last season?
- Interesting to see how they perform with Bridgestone tyres
4) Willliam-Toyota
- Running Toyota engine for the first time, so far test result is promising.
- Alex Wurz, the car testing veteran and one of the fittest driver on the grid, has finally got his race seat. Will he be faster than Nico Rosberg? (I think so)
5) BMW-Sauber
- Test timeing has indicated that they are one of the fastest and consistent team on the grid. Might be a darkhorse for the WCC??
6) RBR
- Finally we will get a chance to see the first Adrian Newey (who left Mclaren end of 2005 season) designed car the RB2 and they will be running the Renault engine for the first time. Testing timing has been below expectation.
- It will be interesting to see if Mark Webber has made the wrong decision to leave Williams for RBR.
- Could also be DC's last season if he dont show results
7) Honda
- Only interesting thing to expect is their new Green Livery
Toyota
- Let see if Williams will blow them with the same engine
9) Super Aguri
- Anthony Davidson, super quick test driver, finally get his chance on the race seat. Let see if he can translate his test pace to the race.
10) STR
- Will be running Ferrari engine, but using similar chassis and aero as RBR. (Let see if what they are doing is legal)
11) Tyres
- No more tyre wars, but team has to run different compound tyres during the race and it will be indicated by color code
12) Engine Freeze
- Limited engine development for this year and rev is limit to 17,000 rpm. Teams will be putting alot of effort on Aero development.
13) Race Track
- Spa is back
- New Fuji circuit (at the expense of Suzuka)