V8s and V10s

I'm sorry if this sounds a bit like yesterday's post. But I've just looked at the times from the third day of Ferrari's test in Bahrain and I'm not happy. Ferrari are testing with the new V8 engine in a hacked about 2005 car, and even a 2004 car for that matter. So I'm guessing we're not looking at an optimal set-up. And yet the lap times they are recording are already good enough to be halfway up the timesheet for the first practice at this year's Grand Prix.

So it seems safe to assume that come March, the new generation of V8 F1 cars, replacing the current V10s, with their engines reduced from 3.0 to 2.4 litres will be just as quick as this year's cars. The FIA will no doubt claim this as a victory, saying that "if we hadn't made changes they'd be even faster now". But it just isn't good enough. The FIA have forced through changes resulting in massive costs, but haven't managed to achieve their goals. I'm really beginning to think that having the GPMA in charge of setting rules might not be a bad thing after all.