Jaguar Racing boss Niki Lauda says the aerodynamically-unsound R3 will struggle at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. And even BMW motorsport boss Gerhard Berger believes the Bavarian firm’s partner, Williams, will battle to compete with the rampant F-2002 Ferraris at Barcelona.
Jaguar Racing boss Niki Lauda says the aerodynamically-unsound R2 will struggle at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. And even BMW motorsport boss Gerhard Bergers believes the Bavarian firm’s partner, Williams, will battle to compete with the rampant F-2002 Ferraris at Barcelona.
The 2002-spec Jaguar R3, which Lauda described as a “bad car” earlier this year, is due to undergo drastic aerodynamic modifications. But the emergency measures will come too late to make a difference this weekend – at a track where teams believe it is essential to have a good aerodynamics package.
Jaguar’s new wind tunnel has been in operation for the last two weeks at Milton Keynes, and has been operating for 16 hours a day but, given the time required to generate significant aerodynamic improvements in Formula One, Jaguar Racing is working diligently towards a longer term, mid-season target.
According to , Jaguar has also recruited two more aerodynamicists – Mark Gillan from McLaren and Peter Matchin from Arrows.
“Windtunnel work is extremely scientific in nature and the results from this meticulous work take time to generate. Our new Head of Aerodynamics, Ben Agathangelou, starts next week and, in addition, we will have two new aerodynamicists joining us within the next fortnight,” said Lauda. “Dr Mark Gillan will be joining us from McLaren International and Peter Matchin will join us from Arrows. Both men will bring with them a new and experienced technical dimension to Jaguar Racing that will help accelerate our development path."
Despite unsubstantiated claims that the F-2002 was generating extra downforce due to its “flexing barge boards”, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello are still expected to dominate the Spanish race due to the aerodynamically efficient Ferrari chassis (designed by South African Rory Byrne).
Berger says he expects Ferrari to set the pace at the Spanish GP, leaving Williams to fight for second place.
"It’s absolutely a Ferrari circuit, I think," Berger told Autosport.com this week. "Were going to have some circuits where we’re really struggling, and that’s Barcelona, Budapest, places like that."
Williams-BMW has taken one victory, in Malaysia, and finished a strong second, in Brazil, so far this year. However, the team had no answer to Ferrari last time out at Imola, a track where BMW’s fabled horsepower advantage was supposed to come to the fore.
"In F1 you always have a team having a high performance in a certain area," Berger added. "At the moment it’s a big Ferrari era, and after 21 years we’re happy to see them achieving wins again. All that we are trying to do is to see that the next era comes to us."