Trulli: "Ferrari sure to win 2008 title"

Before a single racing lap has been completed in 2008, Jarno Trulli has declared Ferrari as the near-certain world champions.

The Toyota driver last week spent six days testing alongside the Maranello based marque in Bahrain, where the performance of Ferrari's F2008 seemed ominous for the other team teams.

"In my opinion they are at least half a second faster per lap, even considering McLaren," Trulli told Autosprint.

"The championship already looks over to me before it has started," he added.

The 33-year-old said he marvelled at how Ferrari's 2008 machine is adapted perfectly to the new ban on traction control.

"When you watch their performance on the track your arms drop," Trulli said, also describing the pace of the F2008 as 'disconcerting'.

Trulli also said Toyota, with its 2008 car, the TF108, cannot hope to compete with either Ferrari or its closest competitor McLaren.

"Ferrari and McLaren are out of reach for us, so it is unrealistic to talk about podiums," he said.

Trulli said the Japanese team is hoping to challenge rivals including BMW, Renault and Williams this year, "but it's impossible to go any further."



Maybe a new career for him after racing, fortune teller?

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The Ferrari and Kimi in particular did look impressively fast at Bahrain. But who were they testing against? Toyota who only seemed to chase laptimes on the last day.

This is not representative of where McLaren are in relation to them, and no firm comparisons can be made until they test together again. And even then you can't really call the form until Melbourne and then the start of the European season.

Red Bull seem to have unlocked some potent pace at Jerez, again we can't really be sure how representative that is, but it's encouraging for them. Williams has had a good week, has seemed reliable and set competitive times compared to their immediate rivals. The wing problem seems to have been fixed, although I would wait until next weeks test at Barcelona to judge properly on that one. They seem to be in the mix at least, but again until the season starts proper we can't say for sure. I'm hoping that they will be ultimately best of the rest though. Nakajima looks like he will be pretty fast but I have concerns over his consistency once the season gets underway.

BMW seem disappointed with their new car, although they are reporting that the handling problems are being ironed out. They don't seem to have made much of a gain on Ferrari or McLaren, and are in more risk of dropping back into the clutches of Renault, Williams and RBR. Still, I feel that this is a team that should not be underestimated, they are an extremely efficient team, and BMW do seem to know what they are doing.

Renault, Not going to be a championship contender, but I don't doubt that Alonso will magically find his 6 tenths to a second, and pull a few results out of the bag that the car may not deserve. If the car is bad as they say it is, and Alonso wins a race, then it will be the mark of his champion calibre. I don't expect great things from Piquet, but he won't be shocking either.

STR look like they will be fairly competitive, though I'm not sure how well they will be able to integrate the STR-08 into racing mid season. I'm not sure their resources are big enough to make it seamless. It took them a while to get to know the STR-07 properly after all. Expect them to get good results when it rains though!

Honda look to have built another pup, whilst the team report that balance issues are being sorted, it is yet to show any kind of pace step over the unloved RA107, indeed that RA107 in the hands of Super Aguri dubbed as a SA07B, even with a lack of testing seems just as fast. But I don't expect Super Aguri to tearing up the midfield this year either. I think they would have been better off developing the SA07.

Force India seem to be revelling in a improved financial situation and are bolstering their technical resources. Fisichella seems to be rejuvenated in testing and could enjoy an India Summer in his career (sorry). I don't expect podiums but Fisi should beat his team mate properly for the first time since 2004 and could pick up the odd point when things go his way.

I think there will be 4 groups this season, that will go as follows. The midfield gap could be too close to call.

Ferrari
McLaren

Gap

BMW
Red Bull
Williams
Renault
Toyota
Toro Rosso

Gap

Force India

Gap

Honda and/or Super Aguri

IMHO...

Ferrari

Gap (which will only get larger as season goes on due to McLaren having fewer resources)

McLaren
BMW Sauber
Renault

Gap (I'm a realist, not an optimist)

Williams
Red Bull Racing
Toyota

Gap

Honda
Toro Rosso
Force India

Gap

Gap

...Gap

Super Aguri

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well after reading several sources and checking testing info....here is my list:

Ferrari

gap (at the moment 0,4 -0,5 seconds)will it get bigger with Ferrari's new radical aero parts? it's rumoured to produce 12% more downforce than the current one.

McLaren

gap (0,5 seconds)already testing their new parts .

williams

a small gap (quite even)

Renault
BMW
Red Bull


and not so far from those
Toro Rosso
Toyota (is making progress)

gap
force india (will have to see how is their new car)

gap
honda
super aguri

anyways next couple of tests and Melbourne will tell more

Autosport last week reported mclaren ahead by a tiny bit.

And in autosport ferrari said they dont know if the parts will be faster or not.

So we will see at the 1st race simple as that and even then it probably will not be until the 2nd race we know as the Australian GP is never really a good indicator.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2008 06:34PM by marcl.

Yes, a driver who won the Australian GP went on to win the championship only 8 times in the last 12 years.

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Ferrari

gap

McLaren

gap

BMW-Sauber

gap

Renault

gap

Williams

gap

Red Bull

gap

Toro Rosso

gap

Toyota

gap

Honda

gap

Force India

gap

Super Aguri

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Not looking forward to a very competitive season are you Neo?

Finaly some smart words from Jarno.

________________________________________________

Raymond Buijs - Thunder Design

Burn Rubber, Not your soul !

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Autosport last week reported mclaren ahead by a
> tiny bit.
>
> And in autosport ferrari said they dont know if
> the parts will be faster or not.
>
> So we will see at the 1st race simple as that and
> even then it probably will not be until the 2nd
> race we know as the Australian GP is never really
> a good indicator.


yeah but this weeks autosport says Ferrari ahed

Some info from autosport.

'While an analysis in last week's Autosport showed McLaren to possess a slender advantage over the Italian team around twistier circuits such as Valencia, Ferrari's increasingly impressive pace should put the F2008s comfortably at the front when the circus decamps to Melbourne-a street circuit that has traditionally favoured Ferrari.'

About development

There will be a new front end. Nose already discussed.' The team has also confirmed it will run a new rear wing, bargeboards and engine cover in the test.'

A spokesman told Autosport: 'Thsi new aero upgrade is going to be radical. Things are looking promising for us. If we had to evaluate the last two months of testing, I'd say we are right where we want to be.'

About the radical nose
It was tried at Stewart previously in the 1990's however it is tough to make it work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2008 11:20PM by vesuvius.

The only car we can be sure of being ahead everytime it goes on track, is the pace car

what's going on at Honda?,m they say they can't get any worse than last year, but i don't see them any better.. if anything they're even worse, no? i hope Super Auguri beats them with their last years car!

I'll be happy to have a couple of upsets and a tight middle of the field.

Red Bull has been showing some impressive times is testing. But it counts for nothing until the season starts. Don't forget that all the tracks are different. Honda are now just completely screwed.