Expert: Adam - 8/10/2003

Question
Dear Adam,
  I am a major Ferrari and Michael Schumacher fan. I would like to know what is happening with the team. Is it the F2003-GA or is it the Bridgestone tyres?
Regards.

Answer
Thanks for the question Hamza.

You are right not to question the drivers, MS and RB are as good as ever.

Yes, Bridgestone's dry tyre is worse than Michelin's, and this is definately holding Ferrari back. The summer testing ban won't help and it will probably be next season by the time Bridgestone sort it out.

The new Ferrari is clearly not the step forward from last year's model that the team were expecting. Recalling how great last year's car was, and that the technical regulations are the same, they had less room for improvement than other teams and may have pushed their thinking as far as it can go without a fairly radical new approach. It seems that some of the radical elements in the new car are not giving a significant performance advantage.

The main reason is the massive improvement at Williams and Renault and the steady improvement at McLaren. All 3 had to work pretty hard at recovering the performance gap to Ferrari from 2002, and had plenty of room to manoeuvre, both in terms of engine and chassis. Renault's chassis is clearly superb, but the engine not too special, wheras with Williams both elements are performing excellently.

So there you have it, tyres AND the relative performance step up from the competition.

Hope this answers your question,
Adam