IRC - Scuderia Ferrari

[Tim]

Scuderia Ferrari had once again entered a racing championship: The International Racing Championships. And internally it was clear: they were going to win races, at least one. The day before departing to Canada was the last day for the engineers to do major improvements before the first Practice Session, in which they wanted to focus on optimizing the car for the track. At Pista di Fiorano, Ferrari's private testing track located nearby their factory in Maranello. The drivers were both out on track in the Ferrari F300, the newest Ferrari racing care specially developed for the IRC. The previous testing days the car had not had its livery painted yet, being in primary development. Now that the first Grand Prix was getting very close the car was painted in it's 1998 livery. A group of Tifosi were present outside of the circuit to see the car on it's last day in Italy for a short while, and some of them would be following the car to Canada to witness the opening race.

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It not being the first day in the car for both drivers meant that they were slowly getting comfortable with it, the car having been slowly adjusted to their preference. During one of the hot lap runs Giancarlo Fisichella set a laptime of 0'59.00, a lap record for the circuit. A press release would be sent out in the evening regarding this:

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Pista di Fiorano, 1998 -- Scuderia Ferrari is ready for the Canadian Grand Prix on the 1st of April. During the last day of testing the F300 set a lap record of 59.00 seconds at the Fiorano Circuit, sporting the new livery that will proudly display the wonderful Italian companies that will be sponsoring Scuderia Ferrari this year: Ferrari, Fiat, Magneti Marelli, Telecom Italia. The drivers and team are confident that Ferrari will be able to perform well next weekend during the first grand prix.

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[Tim]

Scoring points on their first race back was an achievement of course, but all the mechanics could think about was the gear box failure. A post-race press release would be issued:

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Montreal, 1998 -- We are very proud of Giancarlo Fisichella for scoring points at our first race back in the International Racing Championship. We are very sad that a mechanical failure caused Jarno Trulli to lose two laps and finish last. Once the car arrives back in Italy we will be working hard to further develop it so we can improve before the US Grand Prix.

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With the car back at the factory they found that it was a mechanical failure, and that Fisichella could have had the exact same problem but luck made it so that he could finish the race. To fix this they installed an improved gearbox (acceleration +1). Back on track they did a lot of stress tests on the cars to see if they could find any other problems, and implemented fixes so that the car would be less likely to suffer another mechanical failure like this (endurance +1). With all these improvements, and after a week of post-race rest, the two drivers got back on track to test the car and make any adjustments that were necessary with the changes having been made to the car.

Naio90

 

[Tim]

It was race week again, the largest part of equipment was still in the continental US but on Monday the team prepared the car and team members for air travel to the Circuit of the America's in Austin. Arriving in Texas they tested the car and prepared their free practice time well, spending time on aerodynamics in Free Practice 1, ensuring the cars were set up properly. They then used Free Practice 2 to train with long stints to ensure the car would be able to drive at high speeds for long amounts of time without suffering mechanical failures.

After the practices the racers got some rest, ensuring they were well rested for the qualification and race.

Naio90

 

[Tim]

They were getting close, and could practically feel the victory already, but they weren't there yet. One of their cars showed it had the performance and endurance to finish fourth, however the crash with Barichello was an unfortunate side effect of the competetive wheel to wheel racing that was the main goal of this championship. The way it ended was however not how anyone envisioned it. During the post race interview Fisichella spoke about the crash. "I had more pace, I overtook him for some moments but when I steered to the inside line he was still there, it was unfortunate and I didn't see his car. It shouldn't have happened but it did."

Hours after the race had ended he had reviewed the recordings and calmed down and went to visit Barichello in the Antarctica Motor Racing area of the paddock. "I wanna apologize. I didn't do it with any intentions or clear knowledge that you were there but after reviewing the recording I see it was my mistake, I should have known you were still on the inside and I should not have attacked the inside line so aggressively." JakeDorent

Two races in they had also shown the sport what they were worth, scoring points with both their drivers and settling at P5 in the constructors championship, there was however much to do. The track side equipment would be shipped from Austin, Texas to Rio, Brazil after being packed up in a few days. The trip would take about two and a half weeks, giving them plenty of time to set up in Brazil. The car and most important equipment would be travelling back to Europe by plane where the cars would be sent back to the
factory for upgrades and adjustements to the different track in Brazil. Naio90

 

[Tim]

The last two Grand Prix' had shown that Ferrari was back strong, getting their first win in Brazil and a subsequent second podium in Germany, proving that they were able to fight in the front. With this both drivers had also shown their worth, but there were still a lot of unfinished races but that wasn't just a problem Ferrari had.

After the German Grand Prix the Italian motorcade went home to the factory in Maranello, where they were able to work fully on the car as they finally had all equipment after the period in the Americas. As part of a demonstration of the speed of their cars they would be sending a reserve IRC car to the Oval of Monza. The Oval, which had not been used in single-seat racing since 1961 Grand Prix because of its high speeds had been recently renovated for use in other (slower) racing series.

During the demonstration their car, driven by recent race winner Giancarlo Fisichella, set a speed racord in the early laps around the high-speed oval. The car going over 330 km/h (205 mph).


Ferrari F300 in the Monza Oval

Naio90​

 

[Tim]

The Norwegian Grand Prix had been disappointing for the Maranello based team, with one of their drivers ending just outside of the points and the other one lap down. They went back to developping the car and preparing it for the Korean Grand Prix. This would be their last time in the factory for a while as they would be going to Korea, India and Australia all in the span of one month. Because of this they spent extra time working on the car for all circuits, testing it in the wind tunnel in hopes to properly prepare.

There was still a chance, they were following not too far behind in the Constructors Championship but it seemed unlikely, but the team kept up hope. As for the Driver's championship, the season had been so chaotic that their driver in sixth (Fisichella) still had a chance to win the championship, if he manage to consistently drive the last 5 Grand Prix' of the season.

With the Grand Prix in Korea they already had to send over a ship two weeeks in advance with their motorhome, spare parts, equipment and the other things they had double. The car and the largest part of the team would be departing later by aircraft to fly to Korea.

Naio90

 

[Tim]

The Korean Grand Prix had gone by without much news, beside the nice fact of both drivers finishing in the points. The Indian Grand Prix was a great performance by Jarno Trulli which landed him on the third step of the podium, and Fisichella managed to also score some points. Fisichella's DNF in Melbourne was unfortunate, but did allow the team to make some more adjustments to the car than normally before the next race that would be the Argentine Grand Prix.


Naio90