A completely new car from every point of view
Mugello, 24 January 2006 - The traditional press conference
held at the presentation of the new single-seater that will
compete in the Formula 1 world championship began with the
engineers who have developed the car over the past months:
Aldo Costa, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne. Byrne opened and underlined
how his role in the company was changing. He was progressively
filling a consultancy role for all the new House of Maranello
projects and, in particular, regarding the engineering of
the cars. Then came Aldo Costa, creator of the 248 F1, to
reflect on Byrne's role and the characteristics of the car
in detail. He declared that: "it was mainly to do with
the V8 engine and we imposed a radical change from both a
mechanical and aerodynamic point of view. The aerodynamics
are still at a preliminary stage and will be until the first
race of the season. As regards the chassis, this is totally
new, above all in the centre section. We decided on this in
order to optimise the weight distribution and lighten the
entire structure.The same goes for the suspension, especially
in the completely redesigned rear end. The transmission too
is all new (though constructed from composite materials) and
also the differeential. In building these two new elements
in particular, we had to pay close attention to the characterisitcs
of the V8. The greater vibrations generated by the engine
brought more initial problems". The gathered journalists
then asked questions to which Brawn replied that "from
the midway point of last season when we realised we could
not challenge for the top spots, we began concentrating more
on development, especially the blend of the aerodynamic configuration
and the characteristics of the new V8. Despite the progress
that the Bridgestone tyres have made with the reintroduction
of tyre changes, we expect to see lap times that are a second
or two slower than last year". In conclusion, and related
again to the tyre issue, Brawn responded to newsprint journalists
and emphasised how having Bridgestones this year would be
an advantage as they will supply four teams. Now the Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro would be able to compare development and
the progress being made with other Bridgestone teams".
|
