HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Ferrari F2002 was a racing car used by
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in reference to their logo. I ...
as its entry for competition in the
2002 Formula One season The 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 56th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 3 March and ended on 13 October after seventeen races. In the Drivers' Championship, Michael Schumacher finished first or second in eve ...
. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa,
Marco Fainello Marco Fainello (born 12 September 1964) is an Italian engineer. Early life Born in Verona, Fainello graduated in Mechanical Engineering at Polytechnic University of Milan with a thesis on tyre dynamics. Career After graduating, from 1990 to 1 ...
,
Nikolas Tombazis Nikolas Tombazis ( el, Νικόλαος Τομπάζης; born 22 April 1968 in Athens, Greece) is a racing car designer who has worked in Formula One since 1992 for the Benetton, McLaren, and Ferrari teams. Tombazis graduated with a degree i ...
and
James Allison James Allison or Jim Allison may refer to: * James Allison (pirate) (fl. 1689-1691), pirate active near Cape Verde and the Bay of Campeche * James Allison Jr. (1772–1854), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania * James W ...
and Paolo Martinelli, assisted by Giles Simon leading the engine design and operations, under the overall leadership of
Ross Brawn Ross James Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director. He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams. Serv ...
who was the team's Technical Director and
Jean Todt Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive offi ...
the team Manager. It won fifteen Grands Prix, from a total of nineteen races in 2002 and 2003. It is widely regarded as one of the most successful
Formula One car A Formula One car (also known as an F1 car) is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formul ...
designs of all time, as Michael Schumacher drove it to a then record-equaling fifth world drivers' title in 2002, while easily clinching the 2002 constructors' title with as many points as all other teams put together.


Overview

The car was much lighter than its predecessor, the F2001. It was powered by the 3.0-litre ''Tipo 051''
V10 engine A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been prod ...
which initially produced @ 17,800 rpm. In qualifying mode, however, the engine developed up to at 19,000 rpm. To ensure durability and reliability, the engine performance was reduced during the race where it still produced at a maximum 18,600 rpm. The engine had a very low
centre of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...
, which ensured excellent handling. The new ''051'' engine was not the strongest engine of 2002, only being beaten out by the BMW ''P81'' engine used by the Williams team (which produced ); but the ''051'' was lighter, more compact, very fuel-efficient, and very driveable. An innovative and very small clutchless gearbox allowing ultra-quick changes had been designed, and because the unit was so small, the rear end aerodynamics were extremely tightly packaged into the honeycomb structure..
Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japa ...
developed special tyres, suited specifically for the car. Aerodynamically, the Ferrari was well ahead of the contemporary Williams- BMW but perhaps a little down on power, and on a par with, or slightly ahead of the 2002 season's
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formu ...
car. Williams in trying to solve their 2001 car's reliability problems were forced to "play it safe" for 2002, while McLaren's deficiency was due to the decision to stick with Michelin tyres as well as Mercedes struggling to design a beryllium-less engine for 2002. Using the Pomeroy Index system,
Motor Sport ''Motor Sport'' is a monthly motor racing magazine, founded in the United Kingdom in 1924 as the ''Brooklands Gazette''. The name was changed to ''Motor Sport'' for the August 1925 issue. The magazine covers motor sport in general, although from ...
magazine recently determined that the F2002 is the fastest Formula One car of all time. However, the Ferrari F2004 achieved better qualifying lap times at 12 of the courses which were raced by both cars (only the
2002 French Grand Prix The 2002 French Grand Prix (formally the LXXXVIII Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France) was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on 21 July 2002. It was the eleventh race of the 2002 Formula One World Championship, last race on the original la ...
,
2002 Belgian Grand Prix The 2002 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 1 September 2002. It was the fourteenth race of the 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari. Schumach ...
and 2002 Japanese Grand Prix was faster than the 2004 races, with two of these being due to rain). In terms of single lap performance while not as dominant as the McLaren MP4/4 in 1988 nor the
Williams FW14B The Williams FW14 is a Formula One car designed by Adrian Newey, used by the Williams team during the 1991 and 1992 Formula One seasons. Overview The car was born out of necessity, as the 1989 and 1990 seasons had proven competitive for Willia ...
in 1992, both cars which each scored 15 poles in their respective season, the Ferrari F2002 scored 10 poles but was more reliable as well as relatively faster on Sundays than the MP4/4 and FW14B.


Team personnel behind the F2002

The majority of the conceptual design work for the Ferrari F2002 was by Ferrari's legendary
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
n chassis designer Rory Byrne and the engine design by Ferrari's Paolo Martinelli. The project was overseen by the team's technical director
Ross Brawn Ross James Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director. He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams. Serv ...
. A vast army of other team personnel oversaw the running of the team and the project.


Concept and design

Prior to the introduction of the F2002, Ferrari had used a revised version of their championship-winning
Ferrari F2001 The Ferrari F2001 was a highly successful Formula One car that the Ferrari team competed with for the 2001 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James Alli ...
for the first few races of 2002. The F2002 was not only a development of the championship-winning
Ferrari F2001 The Ferrari F2001 was a highly successful Formula One car that the Ferrari team competed with for the 2001 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James Alli ...
, but a completely revolutionary model involving many technologies not seen previously. Since the late 1990s, Ferrari had been using the same basic concept and design of gearbox and although this had been used to win drivers and constructors titles from 1999 onwards the technical team pushed ahead with a new version instead. The new replacement gearbox casing was made of ultra-lightweight and higher strength titanium, thus reducing its weight by as much as 15% and lowering the car's centre of gravity. The new compact design allowed for great advancement in the bodywork and increasing the car's aerodynamic efficiency at the rear. However such was the extent of the gearbox casing redesign that the aerodynamic work was left behind schedule and initially did not represent the same performance gains as the mechanical engineering. Thus Ferrari continued its design for another two months and only started used the F2002 from the third round of the 2002 season onwards, in the interim using the previous year's F2001 chassis, albeit with many alterations and the inclusion of the Ferrari 051 2002 engine. Other advancements on the car include the clutchless ''direct-shift'' technology within the gearbox, a new
fluid In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that continuously deforms (''flows'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shear ...
traction control system to replace the previous 2001 traction control system and upright aerodynamically shaped periscopic exhaust outlets at the rear. The latter technology was incorporated both to use the hot exhaust gases for aerodynamic effect and to raise these gases higher and out the way of the rear suspension. On the previous occasions, Ferrari's non-chimneyed top exiting exhaust outlets had caused the rear suspension and other elements at the rear of the car to overheat or even melt when minor cracks occurred.


Race history

At its first race in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the F2002 was victorious, being driven by
Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
and continuing Ferrari's trend since 1999 for its cars to win on their debut. Michael Schumacher clinched second on the grid and after a first lap altercation with
Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech ...
, took a somewhat easy win from his brother Ralf's Williams. There was some controversy surrounding tyre allocation because the team only had one F2002 chassis at the race. Therefore, Schumacher's spare car was an F2001 chassis, and because the two chassis used different wheel rim designs each required separate wheels and tyres. It was thus argued that Schumacher had in-effect twice the allocation of tyres as any other driver. The controversy was managed by Ferrari agreeing to aggregate their tyre usage between the two cars, ensuring that Schumacher used the same total number of tyres as all the other drivers. What followed was a season of domination, the likes of which had not been seen since McLaren's 1988 season. Between the two drivers, the F2002 brought the team nine 1-2 finishes, including five in a row. With the F2002, Schumacher scored 10 more victories, bringing his total for the season to 11 wins, setting a then-record for most in a season, while
Rubens Barrichello Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 T ...
scored four. The only race that the car failed to win was at
Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, while the F2001 did not take the Malaysian GP. Furthermore, Schumacher finished every race on the podium, never finishing lower than second with the F2002. The German won the world championship in record time, clinching the title at the 11th race of the season in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The two Ferrari drivers were comfortably first and second in the Drivers' Championship, and Ferrari scored as many points (221) as the rest of the teams put together. Such was Ferrari's dominance that Ferrari did not evolve the car further after the Belgian Grand Prix and was still significantly ahead for the rest of the season. Schumacher and Barrichello were criticized for swapping finishes at Austria and the United States - an event that would provoke a ban on 'team orders' for the following seasons, and would be raised again in 2010 when Ferrari was fined after appearing to instruct
Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one point ...
to allow
Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
to win the
German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in Rh ...
. The F2002 (renamed the F2002B) was still competitive at the beginning of 2003, and Schumacher took the car's last win in the San Marino Grand Prix before it was replaced by the F2003-GA for the next race. The F2003-GA was not quite as successful as the F2002, and Schumacher only won the title by two points over McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen. Ferrari used 'Marlboro' logos, except at the British, French and United States Grands Prix.


Complete Formula One results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * 207 points with the F2002
** 32 points scored with the F2002B


Sponsors

*
Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...
*
Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...
*
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiar ...
*
Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...
*
Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japa ...
* AMD *
Magneti Marelli Magneti Marelli S.p.A. () is an Italian developer and manufacturer of components for the automotive industry. The firm is headquartered in Corbetta, Italy, and includes 86 manufacturing plants, 12 R&D centres, and 26 application centers in 19 c ...
* SKF * OMR *
Brembo Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy. History Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 196 ...
*
Mahle GmbH MAHLE GmbH is a German automotive parts manufacturer based in Stuttgart, Germany. It is one of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide. As a manufacturer of components and systems for the combustion engine and its periphery, the company is one ...
* Alena


References

*Hughes, M. 2007. ''Over-ruled?''. Motor Sport. LXXXIII/3, p. 44 *


External links


Technical details for the Ferrari F2002
{{F1 cars 2003
F2002 The Ferrari F2002 was a racing car used by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro as its entry for competition in the 2002 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Rory Byrne, Ignazio Lunetta, Aldo Costa, Marco Fainello, Nikolas Tombazis and James Al ...
2002 Formula One season cars 2003 Formula One season cars Formula One championship-winning cars