F1 : Ferrari to stick with pull rod in 2015

Image shows the push rod suspension in the F150 (2011) & pull rod suspension in the F2012 (2012)

Ferrari is sticking with its unique pull-rod front suspension layout for a fourth consecutive season

Ferrari has been using the pull rod suspension since 2012, which had not previously been seen at the front of a F1 car since Minardi in 2001.

A pullrod layout can mean a lower nose, suspension and centre of gravity, but it is also known to be difficult to tune and less responsive to setup changes.

There are two main disadvantages to front pull-rod suspension. One is that the the upper wishbone must transmit more load, some of which would otherwise have been carried by the push-rod. 

The second disadvantage is it takes longer tune a pull-rod. This is important given the limited testing time in F1 today. Teams need to rapidly tune spring and damper settings and if the components are hidden away this is trickier and potentially reduces valuable track time.

Raikkonen had a season to forget last year and had been constantly complaining about the lack of precision at the front, which is a characteristic of pull rod suspension.

Vettel talks about his first 'fairytale' Ferrari experience

Sebastian Vettel continued his introduction to Scuderia Ferrari during the weekend when the German F1 driver met with his new team principal Maurizio Arravabene and company chairman Sergio Marchionne, as well as James Allison and the rest of the engineering team.

The meeting was followed by 100 laps in the F2012 at the Fiorano Circuit and a few sessions in the F14T simulator.

Vettel remembers his childhood days when he used to dream of working with Ferrari. He said “Obviously it’s been a fantastic day to come here,”.
“I remember I’ve been here a long time ago as a little child, driving through Maranello and trying to look over the fence, so to be here officially as part of the team felt fantastic.

“The possibility to drive the car and get to know the team was a unique experience. Obviously it’s a very different colour for me, everybody is dressed in red, everything is red, but it’s really something special and I’m very much looking forward to the challenge that we took on for the next years.”

Regarding the test, “Obviously, its already winter time so it was quite cold doing some laps but it was a great feeling, it is always enjoyable to be in the car and, again, looking back to the years when I was 11 or 12, trying to look over the fence and trying to see a glimpse of Michael running on the track, well, today I was the one running and saw the tifosi around."

Vettel tests Ferrari F2012

Sebastien Vettel, who will replace Fernando Alonso at Ferrari for the 2015 season got his first taste of driving for Ferrari when he tested the F2012 today on Fiorano test track. Vettel was also spotted at the Ferrari garage during the Abu Dhabi testing last week.

The F2012 is the most recent Ferrari Vettel is allowed to drive outside of an official session under F1’s stringent testing regulations.

According to FIA's F1 regulations Article 22.2 states that :

‘Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) shall be defined as any track running time, not part of an Event, in which a competitor entered in the Championship participates (or in which a third party participates on behalf of a competitor), using cars which were designed and built in order to comply with the 2010, 2011 or 2012 Formula One Technical Regulations.

‘TPC may only be carried out with cars built to the specification of the period and only tyres manufactured specifically for this purpose may be used.’