Massa: Ferrari Can't Match Brawn GP Pace

[iceburns288]

A stunned Felipe Massa has admitted that Ferrari are behind Brawn GP and that the rebranded Honda team are now the fastest car on the grid.


While it remains to be seen if Brawn GP will enjoy the reliability required to turn their incredible pace at the Barcelona test into race wins once the season starts, Massa has acknowledged that Ferrari are currently unable to keep up with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello regardless of fuel levels.


Asked point-blank if Ferrari could match the lap times that saw Brawn GP on top in Spain, Massa told the Formula1.com website: "No. And I think nobody can do.


"Many people were running on a low fuel load, not just them. I think their lap time is just much quicker than everybody else can do."


Brawn GP are currently running without the KERS device and one theory - perhaps made optimistically by teams shocked to find the Brawn GP car so fast straight out of the box - is that they may be running without ballast. Massa, though, believes that is unlikely.


"First of all I am not an engineer, secondly I never saw the Brawn car, so I cannot say if they have ballast or not. I believe they have because there's no point coming here and being quick and then going to the first race and being slow. But I would say that even if they have no ballast on board and they put ballast on in Melbourne they will be quick anyway. They are really surprising - and I can say for us, that if you take away the Brawn, we are very competitive."


There is, however, one consolation for Ferrari fans shocked to find the team apparently trumped by a car that has undergone just a handful of days of testing.


"To be honest, we have never seen McLaren so far back," observed Massa. "In many years I have never seen that."

[Mibz]

Kubica was quoted saying that the way he saw the BGP car running, they probably weren't running super low fuel loads either.

We'll see what happens come qualifying though.

[iceburns288]

They are running regular fuel loads but possibly no ballast. Massa says there's no reason for them to do that, but they need sponsorship.

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by iceburns288
They are running regular fuel loads but possibly no ballast. Massa says there's no reason for them to do that, but they need sponsorship.

Brawn has already been quoted, stating they are not there to post fast times just to get some quick sponsorship. They want partners that will be there for the long run.

I fully believe that the time they had to test in 08 with full scale wind tunnels is what has given them the edge over everyone this season..

[Mibz]

Originally posted by DJ Lazy
I fully believe that the time they had to test in 08 with full scale wind tunnels is what has given them the edge over everyone this season..

[sjaswal]

Originally posted by Mibz

Originally posted by DJ Lazy

I fully believe that the time they had to test in 08 with full scale wind tunnels is what has given them the edge over everyone this season..

do you need that quoted statement in your post explained?

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by sjaswal
do you need that quoted statement in your post explained?

I think he was agreeing with me..

[Mibz]

Originally posted by DJ Lazy
I think he was agreeing with me..

[962 kid]

Originally posted by sjaswal
do you need that quoted statement in your post explained?

[Rocky]

Ferrari will win the constructor's championship! Viva Ferrari!

<fanboy>

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by Mibz

Originally posted by 962 kid

[Supa Dexta]

Originally posted by 962 kid

How can you have a MAP link in your sig?

..PS they suck ass.

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by Rocky
Ferrari will win the constructor's championship! Forza Ferrari!

[962 kid]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta


How can you have a MAP link in your sig?

..PS they suck ass.

Free lanyard What's wrong with them? I've only ordered one or 2 things from them because their prices were nuts, but had no issues. 10X better than those idiots at slowboy

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by 962 kid
sig deleted by moderator, click here for info

Served.

[buh_buh]

Speaking of Ferrari, I wonder if Rubens even knows how to race someone if they actually are quick and Brawn allows them to race.

[Eleanor]

Why would you come out and say something like this? Seems like pretty bad PR.

I would hope the Ferrari whip is already cracking down on him.

[rage2]

I believe teams are starting to be a little more vocal because somebody (not McLaren, they already said they're OK with it) will be protesting the double stacked diffusers that BrawnGP, Toyota, and Williams run. It's a nice grey area right now, there's a specific "box" that the diffuser can reside in, and the 3 teams in question are using other areas shaped to help/expand the size of the diffuser. Flavio Briatore has already said that the double decker diffusers aren't within the sprit of the regulations. If I remember right, the other areas that expand on the diffuser are the floor, and the rear crash structure. Massa has also stated that it's up to the FIA to determine legality at Melbourne, hinting at a protest.

The alternate interpretation from the other guys is that at the end of the day, all 3 components make up the diffuser, and that it breaks the maximum size specified in the rules.

It is said that the double decker solution offers about 10% more overall rear downforce, which is why we keep seeing those 3 teams do so well. For the other teams to catch up, it's not a matter of just slapping on the same design. The floor of the car has to be modified to make it do the same thing, and changing the floor design where the whole aero package is dependant on the flow coming from the floor would mess other things up.

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by rage2
Flavio Briatore has already said that the double decker diffusers aren't within the sprit of the regulations.

Yeah, but isn't that what F1 and racing in general is all about? Staying within the letter of the law while exploiting every single loophole possible? Doesn't everyone do that?

[Mibz]

Originally posted by rage2
For the other teams to catch up, it's not a matter of just slapping on the same design. The floor of the car has to be modified to make it do the same thing, and changing the floor design where the whole aero package is dependant on the flow coming from the floor would mess other things up.

I was unaware of that. I figured that if the FIA said it was okay it'd just be a matter of them getting some photos, fabbing it up and being done with it. If this is true then, without in-season testing, it'd be insanely hard to copy the design and make it work.

Well, sucks to be everybody else.