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Old 14 Mar 2003, 12:27 (Ref:535974)   #5
golem
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golem should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
But if you mean tactic wise, the differance appears to be fairly pronounced in cars but also, very expensive. At Williams they worked over the winter on one car, but it was a more rushed effort and they can't respond to other designs. Still, only one real development goes on.

Meanwhile, the others are testing parts more thoroughly in one car and while testing the hybrids they also spend time developing the new car. So the work is more complicated but ultimately those two have far more testing time to make sure the new chasis is responsive, a real advance etc etc. They have less chance of a dud because at each stage of design they've been able to think harder and simulate and test longer.

It's mostly a time and testing thing since they come back from the new year. The dev team spend longer on each chassis and therfore they hope it has higher limits.

The same could be achieved by say, starting on next years car now, and having THAT ready by August or something and testing it later in the year, then trying it out on only USA and Suzuka, and using the off season to do some tweaking in simulations and then refine it over winter testing. But introducing it early gives people more time to analyse and try themselves. So later than the majority is usually better, and because of the gentlemans holiday agreement, it also means trying to start testing it earlier means there's a big break in the program which is bad for efficiency. So, they start design before the break but don't start doing major testing until afterwards I guess.

Again, this is all guesswork but I think it's mostly to do with the testing ban / holiday agreement or whatever it is, and the need for LONG development now to make sure each chassis is damn good.
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