Ferrari’s 2009 F1 car F60 illegal, say team chiefs
Toyota’s technical directors have questioned the legality of Ferrari F1 car for the 2009 F1 World Championships, the F60.
Photo: Ferrari F60
The Ferrari F60 has undergone several changes for the upcoming season according to new rules imposed by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). BMW, McLaren, Toyota and Ferrari are the F1 teams that have launched their challengres for the 2009 season so far. FIA’s Overtaking Working Group (OWG) decreed a vast number of changes in cars for the 2009 season – they include allowing the driver to tweak the front and rear wings, smaller rear wing to create less turbulence behind the car, changes in testing rules and the optional introduction of a KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System).
Whereas slick tiers are yet to be re-introduced in 2009, the KERS system has been installed in the engine of the Ferrari F60 – for now – to recover kinetic energy from braking.
Ferrari made several modifications modifications to the transmission system. Body shapes have changed for all the 2009 cars as designers try to eke out maximum possible aerodynamic efficiency.
True to form, Ferrari turns out to be the first car to get into a controversy. According to Toyota and the chiefs of two other teams, the Ferrari F60 is not legal. McLaren Mercedes’ Norbert Haug and BMW’s Walter Riedl have joined hands with Toyota’s technical director Pascal Vasselon in protesting that the F60 design is illegal. The Ferrari F60, which was launched just last week, featured exterior rear exhaust outlets which contravenes the technical limitations put forward by the FIA, according to the three teams.
Mercedes-Benz ‘racing activities’ in-charge Norbert Haug, as per a German News Agency, said that the ‘Italian team’ is well-informed of the norms, and would take necessary measures to change the offending features of the Ferrari F60. He also said that covering the exhaust pipes is very obvious as per the new 2009 rules, and that Ferrari is yet to release their championship version of the car and this could be just a launch version.
Similarly BMW-Sauber’s managing director Walter Riedl also said he assumes the launch version of Ferrari F60 to be merely provisional.
It is very likely that Ferrari was testing the waters with the exposed exhaust pipe design in the F60. It seems there is some vague language in the regulations, and if no one objected, Ferrari may have continued with it. In the face of the objections voiced so soon after the launch of the Ferrari F60 2009 challenger, it is unlikely Ferrari would continue with the design.
Recently the Ferrari racer Felipe Massa tested the machine completing 104 laps and posted a best time of 1min 33.535 sec, half a second better than Kimi Raikkonen’s best of 1:33.92sec. Testing with slick tiers has been postponed to the time the weather is suitable for testing needs. There are also some reports that Ferrari faced problems related to the front wing, and therefore have moved their testing to their base in Maranello, Italy.