Old Cars, New Cars...What's Going On

[strad]

Ferrari says they will take both cars to Malaysia, Jag is toying with the idea of running the R2 the new one is so bad...What the heck is going on?

[Inigo Montoya]

For the first time in ages, they didn't significantly change the regulations. This means they can get away with it.

[paulzinho]

And lets be honest the R3 is AWFUL!!!

Maybe we'll see the R4 this year as well!!!!

[strad]

Paulzinho;
This is a question I asked last year.
They produce new chassis through out the year for various reasons including wiping out the ones on hand, yet last year Jag kept crying as to how they just had to make do with the R2. Why?
Why can't there be changes in the chassis when they are producing the new/extras?

[strad]

In other words why didn't we see the R3 or at least a R2.5 mid season last year?

[everett brown]

I think that Jaguar will go for a complete re-design before mid-season. The economy being what it is, Jaguar F1 with the huge cost says there heads on the chopping block. No results will at this point shut down the whole deal.

[Red Dog]

With Ferrari it's psychological warfare. With Jaguar it's ......just plain incompetence. Their management must be in a bad state and not working well as a team. They might all be very competent individuals but without a cohesive and skilled management organisation they will not succeed. I hope they get it together.

When Schumacher went to Ferrari, things didn't go that well until they got the whole management team in place.

Williams were in the doldrums a while ago for a number of reasons not all to do with Newey defecting but the leadership stayed focussed and got back on track. Of course, they already knew what it took to win.

[Super Tourer]

As correctly mentioned previously - with Ferrari its mind games - they have the advantage of an upgraded 2001 car that has proved to be significantly faster than their rivals 2002 cars, plus an even faster 2002 car waiting in the wings to be wheeled out when they start to get closer to the current car.

With Jag its just another saga in their on-going shambles they call an F1 team. The R3 was supposed to be the answer to the R2's myriad of problems - so going back to the R2 is more than a backwards step its a leap.

Plus Ferrari had all winter to fettle up the 2001 car for 2002 action, Jag have under 2 weeks to Sepang and under 4 weeks to Brazil......

In Autosport they alluded to the fact that the R3's problems could be fundamental enough to put it out of action for some time - but Jag don't have the luxury of an or else really as the R2 is just as awful as all the other cars they have designed. They are stuck in the 'BAR' rut of being incapable of improving their designs.

I've said this before (and I'll say it again) this will be Jags last year - Ford won't sit through anymore agony - plus all this fiddling with the car, re-designing bits, modifying the R2 is bound to put them over budget....

[strad]

Well this you see is my point...why is it so hard to whip up an R4? Why when Ferrari can produce improved chassis as the season progresses ( this so called F2001 is really an F2001½). With all their resources why can't they realise the need and just dive in and do it?
They didn't do it with the R2 and I don't expect they will do it with the R3. :confused:

[Super Tourer]

With Jag the main part of the problem is that they don't know what to do to improve the car. The R3 was supposed to be an improvement on the R2 and isn't and despite Lauda'a assurances (for Ford's ears no doubt), that they do know where the problems lie - I doubt they do otherwise they wouldn't have designed them into the car in the first place.

Another point, its always easier to turn an already good car into a even better one through minor development. Its virtually impossible to turn a fundmamentally bad car into a half decent car through development. This is the position Jag find themselves in - they don't have the time or even the resources to re-design the R3 or even an R3 plus and they obviously can't develop the R2 for the same reasons and it was a truly awful car anyway.

Frankly, they are stuffed!