In Monaco it is not the Downforce which really counts. There is all about how good traction you have and how does your car act with ultra-low speed corners.

I hate when people who haven't got a clue about F1, want to say something big.

Like Alonso says, if Red Bull don't make a mistake this weekend, they will be uncatchable.
"Well, regarding what they showed today in the second practice, yes," said Alonso when asked if Red Bull was untouchable. "They have been very, very quick and it is very difficult for all of us to aim for those times. So fingers crossed we can find something in our cars to be closer to them, and hopefully then they can hopefully do a mistake somewhere in the set-up or whatever and we can close the gap. In normal conditions we know it is going to be very difficult to beat them this weekend."



Both Ferrari and McLaren are struggling a bit with the set up (Ferrari lacking grip). Whoever fixes it will be ahead I think. Right now, Ferrari looks to be a bit faster still.

Good 'ol downforce is good everywhere , including Monaco , but what really matter most in Monaco is to have a good mechanical grip with the most downforce possible and cars with shorter wheel base tends to be very good at Monaco
Anyway , Monaco for me is a place where anything can happens , you don't have to have the best car there to win , it is usually a lotery ...

Grand Prix of Spain – 7 May 2010

It was a very busy day for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. There were many new components to be tested by Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, including the new management system for the blown rear wing, as well as the usual comparison of the two types of tyre brought here by Bridgestone for this Grand Prix. The overall outcome was positive: the programme was completed and now it falls to the engineers to draw the conclusions and define the configuration and set-up for the F10 for the rest of the weekend. There was also something really new on both cars: the logo of the committee organising the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of a United Italy. “It is an honour for us to have on our cars this logo which marks such an important date for the Italian people and for our country,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “We wanted to honour this event on behalf of the whole company. Back to the daily work on the race track, we can claim to be reasonably satisfied with what we saw today. It is always difficult to draw conclusions after the first two free practice sessions, but I think we can be in the hunt in both qualifying and the race.”

Fernando Alonso: “It’s always nice to race in Barcelona, in front of so many fans, even on a Friday morning: it is definitely a source of extra motivation for me to do well. We worked with different fuel loads, both for qualifying and the race. We are reasonably happy with how things went and with the performance of the updates we tried on track, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to really understand where we stand compared to the other leading teams. As for the new rear wing, we will decide this evening whether or not to also use it in qualifying and the race: the system worked well but obviously, despite the fact we have tested it on various occasions, we still lack a bit of experience before we can get the best out of it.”

Felipe Massa: “The updates we brought here have definitely allowed us to make a step forward in terms of performance, but other teams haven’t been sitting around twiddling their thumbs. We still have work to do to find the ideal balance on the car, because today it was not as good as on the last two days of the test we did here last February. Probably the track conditions are very different to what they were then, as is always the case on the first day’s running, but clearly we have to study the data carefully to understand which direction to go in, in terms of setting up the car.”

Chris Dyer: “We are very happy with the work we did today. We had a very complicated programme to run, with many new technical elements to test, both for this race and for the more long-term future. We managed it, which means we now have a lot of data to analyse. On top of that, we also worked through the usual preparation of the cars for qualifying and the race, including the comparison between the two types of tyre available. From what we have seen, we can expect the usual very close battle, both in qualifying and the race.”

source

Quite optimistic statements I say.
Of course Red Bull is another case hopefully their advantage isn't that big at other tracks.

Apologies if this has already been spotted, but I think I can pretty accurately say why there is a big black (guessing rubber) patch on the drivers gloves! I was watching the onboard footage of alonso in practice 2, and on the straights he angles his hand - ever so slightly - off of the wheel and places it against something on/in the left hand side of the cockpit. I'm assuming that instead of a knee/leg operated f-duct, ferrari's is operated by the back of the hand... could be massively wrong though.

What i don´t understand is, what air is blocking the driver with its hand? There is no "snorkel" in the Ferrari, the air intakes are behind him
Anyone has figured out how this system is working??

From the press conference with Aldo Costa:

- We had modifications on the front wing, brake duct, diffuser and then we had our version of rear stalling wing.

- We were doing a different test on a different wing setting, with a different system, standard versus the new system, so we have to put altogether the picture this afternoon, understand the data and then decide for tomorrow. (Explaining the differences in the straight line speed of FP1 vs FP2)

- We need to be very, very careful in the use of the engines for the following part of the season.


EDIT: Someone already found a picture of the back of the F10, e.g. the diffuser?

No idea. Aldo Costa only mentions the following in the press conference:

The new F-duct of Ferrari has changed the rear diffuser; are you using another duct to
blow some air to the rear diffuser, and how is it working for the drivers to use their left arm
to block or increase the airflow to the new F-duct?
In our case, the modifications are on the bodywork, linked to the rear wing, so there is a direct
link with the behaviour of the diffuser itself. It’s a system that has been studied to improve the
performance of the rear wing in some conditions. In terms of driver practice; drivers, as you know,
are trained to use several systems in the car. They normally use the front flap adjuster, they
normally use brake balance. Last year they used the KERS system, so they can also use the Fduct
with no big issues.

How it works? That I can't say. But watch the onboard of Alonso and it shows something is going on with his hand.

That is one short guy and one hot babe in the middle

I've seen that onboard too and it's unbelievable to see him putting his hand on the left side of the cockpit right in the middle of turn 3 with the car suddenly developing snap-oversteer he has to correct with one hand.

I'm honestly starting to think that these kind of F-Duct (hand operated ones), are pretty damn dangerous!

Here you can see Alonso using it on every bit of straight there is

[Img] http://i44.tinypic.com/fwiex.jpg/ [img]


[Img] http://i40.tinypic.com/21ec7ch.jpg / [img]

Well if they win they can say they did it one handed

But seriously, in that video he has to change the brake balance (which is on the left also) with his right hand. The left hand is already covering the hole so he is going full speed with no hands on the steering wheel. What if there is a sudden danger? And the McLaren system is not much better, it could get covered because of the G load in high speed right hand corners.

I guess FIA will ban this system when Virgin and HRT introduce it .
But it can be dangerous in some situations.

Thanks, Lunas.

Another one (Chinesse GP):

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9338/f1...wiseslotaye.jpg

"ducto-f" homemade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAQVIICLdVY

I can see an accident about to happen...

Have both drivers used the new system or just Alonso?

Both. Also Massa had an odd left glove which was totally black in contrast to the white right one. Apparently it's covered with some rubber to help blocking the hole.

I don't understand, they were all races close to the RedBulls, now with the new updates they fell back... WTF Ferrari?

Me too.
They drive one-handed way too much throughout a lap. As someone has already mentioned, they have to operate some switches with their right hand too, which leaves them with no hand on the steering wheel. I know these drivers can react to a dangerous situation very quickly, but still, it's more difficult if you have one or zero hand on the wheel instead of two... And they mainly use it on the straights, when their speed is the highest - but even in some corners, and driving with one hand in a corner is not the safest way either.

Red Bull has updates too...

well, wait until new parts are assessed and fixed properly to see the real results don't you think?

They don't really let the steering wheel go with left hand, do they? They don't hold it as firmly as normally, but then again these cars have power steering and I'm confident that they can handle normal situations with zero problems. In some weird cases it could be a problem, yes, but you can also get hit by a spring from opponent's car being able to do absolutely nothing about it...

If you watch Alonso through the final corner he lets go and steers with his right hand only. Not ideal.

Did you find Alonso too optimistic?

alonso's never been upbeat in front of the cameras, just cautious, red bulls will be aheah again? sure, but by a tiny margin, not those 8 tenths we saw this morning

From your lips to God's ears.

I also think the gap must not be that big and any minor mistake can change positions.

OMG! What happens if he forgets to unblock?

The Mclaren system works with the foot right?

When he 'forgets' or fails to sufficiently close the hole, the rear wing will act without downforce and drag reduction. So nothing safety issue.

McLaren drivers use their left elbows.

that makes more sense then it working with the foot

Hands are faster and it is easier to maneuver with them.

Depends what you're trying to achieve.. have you tried tap dancing on your hands?

(BTW... booooo! on the photographers... still no decent pics of the Mac system, much less the Ferrari one.. don't quit your day job!)

If their day job is being a photographer you're encouraging them to stay!

But yeah I agree, lack of decent pics is disappointing

No, those pictures are existing, just don't go to public. They sell it directly to teams for good money.

Well, it still boggles the mind in this information age that those don't end up on the net... personally I'm not sure those picture exist...

We need a F-Duct car to break down and someone to actually do a Mark Webber on the car and stuff... or we need an adventurous photographer.. but I guess if we had one we'd already been discussing the pic..

F-duct still on the car

VirginRacing: "On the pit wall you can tell the ferraris from the other cars without looking. The vibration through your body as they pass is incredible"

Ferrari changed on-board camera position so that we can no longer see how the F-duct is operated

the danish commentator, previous F1 driever Kiesa, says the ferraris look terrible to drive. I dont know

No they didn't. Just depends which camera is shown; the one on top of the engine cover or the one mounted on the left side of the engine cover

OK, my bad then. Would make sense to do that though, even if it is a bit late now.

I think top 6 would be a great result for qualifying going by what we've seen in practice!

So it's a hole in the cockpit, who would have expected that!

What's that supposed to mean?

that the engine has the grunt ?

Don't think so. Great result is 2nd row. And I think it's possible.