Gentleman's agreement - will it last?

[Blake]

The gentleman's agreement, an agreement whereby teams may test for only 30 days during the season, an agreement signed by Williams, McLaren, Renault, BAR, Sauber, Red Bull Racing, Toyota, Jordan and Minardi. However there is one name that is noticeably absent from this list, Ferrari.

Ferrari are well known for owning two tracks, and they aren't willing to give up what they have worked so hard for by limiting their testing.

Ferrari's absense from this list was putting enough strain on the agreement before Imola, even when Ferrari were not scoring big points. But Ferrari put their tracks (and unlimited testing days) to good use in the weeks between Bahrain (where Michael's Ferrari retired to do a hydaulics failure, the first technical failure for Michael in 58 races) and after 18 days of testing (over half allowed per season under the Gentleman's agreement) put on a stunning display in Imola, with Michael going from 13th to second, and only losing the race by .2 seconds. That in itself is impressive, but the fact that Michael was consistantly lapping close to 2 seconds faster than everyone else on the racetrack was even more so.

This huge increase in pace will continue if the other teams stick to this agreement, and the 'group of nine' know it. Due to Ferrari's performance at Imola there has been alot of strain put on this agreement, and it is likely that it will break down.

John Howett of Toyota has given the warning "Either (Ferrari) join the ... teams or we need to find some sort of compromise. Otherwise people will start to test remorselessly" (source: F1Racing.net)

Howett said the limit, adhered to by every team except the Italian champion, is succeeding in saving money. ''But I don't think (everyone) can ... accept Ferrari driving off into the distance. We have to consider what we need to do to ... remain competitive.''

There is also the ongoing arguement as to whether V8 tests are counted as test days under the agreement, some teams say they are, some say they aren't - argueing that it is not testing for this season.

However, although it seems Ferrari have many more testing miles than anyone else, the combined forces of 7 teams allows Michelin to get alot more km's per day of testing compared to Bridgestone.

Tyres: total km covered in race, test and practice
(22.11.04 - 06.03.05)

1. Michelin - 153,307
2. Bridgestone - 36,515

(Source: F1Racing magazine)

As you can see, more testing or Ferrari does not mean more data for Bridgestone (than Michelin) - though most of these kms were before the Gentleman's agreement really counted. So I feel that if other teams start testing with no regard to the agreement than Michelin may get well ahead of Bridgestone in the tyre war.

How long do you think the gentleman's agreement will last? Who will be the first to quit? Who will be the winners in the end?

Blake

 

[snypa]

Here is what I posted a few days ago about this (grooved tires thread).

About Ferrari's intentions, of course they differ from the others, and this is due to the situation. In the nowadays F1, tactical and political moves count for 50%.
As a defending champion, Ferrari try to keep the rules as conservative as they can. As challengers, other teams have to push in order to change things and create a situation where everybody starts from 0. (its still better for them than trying to reduce an existing gap)

The teams also made differents choices for the future. Ferrari has always based his working on field testing, whereas other teams try to simulate as much as possible. That's why they try to limit the private tests, while ferrari doesn't want to hear about it. Ferrai is also stuck as the only top team equipped with bridgestone (which is a big mistake to my mind, and bridgestone should have avoid that by treating BAR as a real top team, now it's too lates, they're gone). So they are obliged to do a lot of tests, as simulation is not a good solution for tires testing.

On the other side, michelin takes profit of a considerable amount of datas from renault, Toyota, Williams, etc. Even if they say the team don't share datas, Michelin is able to get some kind of a synthesis of this, which allow them to improve dramaticaly. If I admit the chassis differs all from the others, there is a common base for sure. A good tire for renault should not be too bad for the others.
You may also consider that the challengers ultimate goal is to beat the 7year reigning champion, whatever the price - even if another challenger finally does it first. This alliance is based on circumstancies, and should change after Ferrari will be beaten. It's also well-known that English teams (Mac laren, Williams) always did these sort of alliances against Ferrari (Ron just hates what Ferrari is).
Generally speaking, I would say that ferrari made the mistake to let everybody going in the other camp (even Sauber). Their main problem is Bridgestone efficency. When the tires are good, they can win, but other teams, all equipped with Michelin can still earn 2nd or 3rd places (the best of them get the best places). On the other side, when Bridgestone is out of the target, Ferrari is forced to fight for a 8th place (all Michelin team in front). Here is their real problem, as tire manufacturers can sometimes be wrong, especially this year, as the rules concerning tires changed dramatically.

This is my opinion about this.
I doubt Ferrari will change his tactic. As for the others, they surely will let down the agreement soon, and then accuse ferrari of course.....but remember, this "gentleman agrement " is not based on any valid rule.

Regards,

Snypa

 

[Blake]

Of course it is not based on any current rules, it is just an agreement.

And there was an interview with Ross Brawn and Hisao Suganuma a week or so ago which discussed the field testing that Ferrari does and the simulation that the other teams concentrate on. It is well worth a read if you haven't already and disucsses some of the stuff you mentioned. Very interesting stuff, some good points by Brawn too. 👍

Blake

 

[snypa]

Thanks for the link, that was interesting.

Ross Brawn brought some facts I had discussed about. As he said, the trick is to improve yourselve, but also try to weaken the others.
It's a tough competition, there is no place for complaining or mercy. Each competitor tries to turn things and rules in his way. As for now, several teams allied against ferrari, but it's just based on cirumstancies and I think it will change, soon or late.
It's very easy to say that ferrari try to block the things, because they are alone on their way (field testig instead of simulation), but hey, they won't dig themselves their tomb bye following unvalid rules provided by the others ! (and not the FIA).

Nevertheless, I would appreciate the competition to be less based on political moves.

 

[Blake]

Well, the agreement did last—it seems, now, that all teams are in agreement.

It seems incidentally that Ferrari has now agreed to a testing limitation of 36 days, bringing to an end the unbalanced arrangement last year.

 

[X-Othermic]

But, because Ferrari have two tracks to test on AS WELL as the tracks the other teams are on, won't they be able to cover more milage?

 

[Mt. Lynx]

That depends on how many cars they have running.