Scuderia Ferrari seven time Formula One World Champion, Michael Schumacher, and new Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa, were challenged to a race today at the Shell Australia media conference. The event, held at RMIT’s Storey Hall, featured students from Melbourne’s Trinity Grammar School competing against their Ferrari heroes. Fresh from success on the track in Bahrain and Malaysia, Schumacher and Massa took up the challenge to race the champion students, ‘The Stingers’, who earlier this year won the title ‘F1 in Schools World Champions’. The boys were thrilled to take on their Formula One heroes on the 12-meter racetrack featuring CO2-powered balsa wood Formula One cars of the future. Having spoken about what impact the rule changes have had on the 2006 season so far, the Scuderia Ferrari duo demonstrated their ability to adapt to new race conditions by competing against The Stingers after speaking about the impact the rule changes have had on the 2006 season so far. Racing for his eleventh year with Ferrari, Schumacher said despite the many rules changes over the years, the on-going relationship with Scuderia Ferrari’s technical partner, Shell, has provided stability and strength. “The work Shell does behind the scenes is pretty incredible. The expertise working alongside us to analyse and develop the new V8 engine has been invaluable, and will continue to play an essential role within the team this season,” said Schumacher With many new major technical changes to Formula One in 2006 — including new V-8 engines, the return of pit-stop tyre changes and knockout qualifying introduced — Scuderia Ferrari is expertly placed to face the new challenges in conjunction with Shell. “There are huge benefits and gains you make by having a totally open relationship with a company like Shell,” explains Ferrari’s Technical Director Ross Brawn. “They have total access to our engine, total access to our transmission, total access to any part of the car they are involved in. “Our people work with Shell to find the best solutions. There’s only three or four partners where we have this sort of relationship and in the long term, it’s the only way I believe we should operate.” Shell and Ferrari established their current relationship in 1996, a move that was a prelude to one of the most successful periods in the Scuderia's storied history. In 2005, Shell renewed its commitment to Formula One's most successful team through to 2010. Over the last ten years, the technical partnership has witnessed one of Ferrari's most successful periods in its long Formula One history, as well as one of the best reliability records in the sport. Shell has been beside Ferrari every step of the way during this time and has demonstrated that it is at the heart of Ferrari’s performance on track and on the road, with Shell V-Power fuel, marketed as Shell Optimax in Australia, and Shell Helix oils developed with Ferrari. Committed to the partnership, Shell provides a group of over 40 highly trained engineers, chemists and technicians to work as a team with Ferrari, along with a special Shell technical facility, the Shell Track Lab, which is an integral part of the Ferrari paddock support complex at every Formula One race. Inside, Shell has state-of-the-art technical equipment to ensure the quality and consistency of the fuels and lubricants used by the team, while Shell experts contribute to Ferrari's race strategy. Mike Copson, Shell’s Technical Manager explains that knockout qualifying adds a new challenge for the 2006 season: “The team at Shell had to assess what is the optimal level of fuel in the battle for pole position.” “Shell then had to discover how this level fits with our refuelling strategy for the race. Finding the right balance has been the challenge in addressing these two objectives, and our work on this project illustrates just how committed Shell is to supporting Ferrari in the quest for the right fuel strategy in 2006.” Shell’s dedication to Ferrari was also highly visible when it played a pivotal role in the V-8 engine development, in response to the announcement from the FIA last year that the V-10 era had come to an end. Developed in record time, the Ferrari V-8’s development began in May 2005 when Shell engineers worked alongside Ferrari. Designing the engine for the Ferrari 248 F1 was described by Copson as the biggest technical challenge that Shell has faced since renewing its technical partnership with Shell in 1996. “The engine format is inherently different from the V-10s in terms of breathing characteristics, fuel economy, lubrication demands and harmonics. It is not just a matter of scaling down a V-10. It is an entirely new engine with a whole new set of limitations and opportunities to explore,” said Copson. The Shell team has worked hard with Ferrari to create a lubrication strategy not only for the engine but for the gearbox, as well. “We didn't just focus on the engine,” Copson said. 'Instead, it was a systems approach that was intended to maximise the synergies of the car's systems while minimising system (power) losses. Small details down to optimising operating temperatures played a role in the development process.” Both Shell and Ferrari are looking forward to a strong weekend as this new era of Formula One competition continues in Australia.
| 
