Korea 2011 - GP Preview - Ferrari

This year’s event is the second running of the Korean Grand Prix, one that has good memories for Scuderia Ferrari, because the inaugural race was won by Fernando Alonso with Felipe Massa joining his team-mate on the podium in third place. However, the Prancing Horse and the other eleven teams will in some ways be facing a new challenge: last year, heavy rain throughout meant there was little very dry running time, with Sunday’s race ending in almost darkness, having been delayed by 45 minutes and then run for much of the time behind a Safety Car. Factor in a new tyre supplier, Pirelli and, assuming it is dry, Friday will therefore be very important as a test day. Currently, the forecast is for mainly dry weather, although Mokpo’s coastal location means it can have something of a micro climate. The venue is meant to be a part-street circuit, with some normal roads used in making up the track layout and on the subject of tyres, Pirelli will be bringing what could be described as its “street combination” of Soft and Supersoft, usually considered to be the pairing that works best for the 105º Italia.

Certainly, Fernando’s Japanese podium has been a shot in the arm for the Scuderia, as Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali confirms. “I think in terms of performance, the race in Japan was very good. We fought well and this second place showed we were really competitive. This aggressive approach is the right one and we need to maintain it, not just for Korea, but for all the remaining rounds of the championship. Our objectives remain the same: to maximise our points score, to focus on bringing home another win where possible and to fight to get Fernando into second place in the Drivers’ Championship, because it is important in terms of it being a motivational goal, not just for the drivers, but also for the entire team.” Domenicali had just two words to begin his description of Fernando’s drive on Sunday in Suzuka: “fantastic, perfect. He remained focussed, always doing what he needed to manage the tyres.” Felipe Massa also had a good weekend, until the contact with Hamilton. “It was a shame that what had been a very strong weekend for Felipe was spoilt by this incident,” said Domenicali. “The collision damaged parts of his car, which made it hard for him in the second half of the race to match the pace he had shown, not only in qualifying, but in the opening laps, when he was very fast. He deserved to finish in a better position.”

The targets set by Domenicali for the last moments of 2011 are not just aimed at boosting morale and securing more points and podiums. “The learning curve we faced this year with the effect of the exhaust plus the behaviour of the new tyres, is something our engineers need to make sure they understand fully, so that we get the most out of next year with a much clearer situation,” he said. “With this in mind, for the Korean weekend, we will try and run some new components that will help up develop a better understanding of the 2012 car.”

Before getting to Korea, the whole team faced a different type of race. When you have two races outside Europe, as is the case with this current double header from Japan to Korea, the logistical implications of ensuring the journey goes smoothly are very complex and getting ready for this Sunday’s sixteenth round of the Formula 1 World Championship is a race in itself.

“The first task is to ensure that the race cars are fully checked over after the first of the two races, because the most important thing is that the team knows the cars are in a fit state to be operational,” explains Diego Ioverno, Head of Track Operations and Car Assembly for the Scuderia. “Every component of the two cars was inspected carefully in Suzuka on Sunday night and if it’s found that some parts need to return to the factory in Maranello, they have to be packed up and shipped separately. The cars themselves have to be packed in a special way, as there is an agreement with the transport company that race cars must always be transferred on four wheels.”

The actual transportation from one venue to the next is organised by Formula One Management and in the meantime, part of the Scuderia Ferrari crew has gone on ahead to the Korean facility at Yeongam, to start all over once again, building up the garages, the team offices and the catering facilities. Once the bulk of the team has arrived, the race cars and equipment which have been delivered to the teams is then unpacked and the mechanics, having carried out a basic re-preparation of the 150º Italias in Suzuka on Sunday night, now begin the real race preparation for the Korean GP.

This system applies to all movements in between races, where cars and equipment do not return to Italy in between. However, when we have what is known as a back-to-back, with two races on successive Sundays, the work has to be compressed into a much shorter space of time and the operation is therefore more challenging. “It is important to start thinking about the second of the two races even before the first one, for example having components on the car that can be used for both races in terms of their lifeing,” says Ioverno. “After the first race, everyone in the team – mechanics, truckies and engineers, helps to prepare the cars to a good enough state to be packed, while the garages and offices are stripped down. Once everything is ready on the special pallets used for air freight, then the team personnel themselves can travel to the next venue. The journey, the flight is often the only time the personnel can get some rest! If they are lucky, they get some time to sleep when they arrive at the next venue and the following day, the preparation work starts all over again. In Korea, the work will have got underway on Tuesday and the race cars must be ready for their usual FIA pre-race inspection by Thursday evening at the latest.”

The numbers involved in Formula 1 are always impressive, in terms of the horsepower the cars produce and the speeds at which they can accelerate, but equally impressive are the numbers relating to the weight of material that is involved in moving from one race to the next. “On average, an F1 team sends between 20 and 30 tonnes of cargo to each race,” continues Ioverno. “That is the equipment that travels to every race by air freight, but in addition, to save costs, we will send between 10 and 15 tonnes of less technical equipment, much further in advance, by sea freight. Around 40 to 50 people per team are involved in unpacking and packing and building up the infrastructure at each venue, so effectively every member of the personnel moves one tonne of equipment!”