Ferrari (F1-2005) F2005

[Ford_boy88]

Just wondering what does everyone think of the chances of Williams more particulary Webber on winning races this year or even the championship

[Coventrysucks]

Wonderful....how much horsepower does it kick out? Obviously somewhere in the 900+ range, but I am curious for an exact number.

Unless you work for Ferrari building F1 engines you will never know I would think.

[Cotterik]

Ferrari may introduce its new F2005 earlier than planned after admitting it is concerned by the pace of some its rivals in testing.

The world champion team, which launched its new challenger in Italy on Friday, conceded that it could race the car earlier than its scheduled Spanish Grand Prix debut if the interim F2004M does not prove competitive enough.

“The logical race to do it is Bahrain because of the engine regulations," said Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn. "It would not be easy to do it in Bahrain and it would be a very tough decision, but technically it is possible but it depends on how the interim car is going.

“If we are competitive with it (the F2004M) I would much rather do it in Barcelona. In Bahrain we would not have the spares and infrastructure to support it as well as we would like.”

Ferrari's F2004M has not impressed in testing and there have been suggestions that it is less than an ideal solution to the new regulations which have cut down aerodynamic downforce and require cars to use one set of tyres in a race.

The car is said to have handling issues and be hard on the latest generation of Bridgestone tyres, leading to concerns that it may be vunerable to the ultra-fast Michelin-shod McLarens and Renaults.

“If the 2004M is not competitive then we can bring it forward," said Brawn. "We plan to introduce the car in Barcelona but depending on how it tests, it (an early introduction) could be anticipated.

“It is a heavy compromise. We did the minimum possible to make it comply with the new regulations.”

World champion Michael Schumacher warned against writing off Ferrari on the basis of early season results however: "Over a season development goes very quickly, as we have seen before with ourselves."

"Don't take what you see as the start of the season as what will happen at the end of the season," he added. "It's a long, long year with many races, a lot of things can happen.

"We always want the new car as quickly as possible. The new car should be quicker than the old car so the old car gives us less opportunity to win, particularly because the competition is very strong."

[Birdman]

Think of it this way. They can gauge the old car against the new vehicles from the other teams. Then they can compare it to the new car and find out where they stand.