unitn. n°72 honoris causa 25 years in Formula 1 interview by Francesca Menna to Rory Byrne 25 years of working in Formula 1 car design. How did this kind of work develop over the years and how did, therefore, change your job description? The most important thing that affected my job in F1 over the last 25 was firstly the number of people in the team: when I started with Toleman 25 years ago, there were 42 people in the team. My job was, therefore, quite wide ranging, from overseeing the design and actually designing parts of the car myself, to overseeing testing at the circuit, oversee the races, oversee the wind tunnel test programme and actually attending wind tunnel testing. Now, at Ferrari, we have about 20 times that many people and my job is now much more specific. As Chief Designer, I have five groups reporting to me: Aerodynamics, Research & Development, Vehicle Dynamics, Structural Calculations and the Design Office. My job now is mostly a managerial job as I need to co-ordinate the activities of these groups to make sure that they are all working together towards producing the most competitive car possible. So, it is fundamentally different to how it used to be. The other thing that has made a big difference is the power of the tools that we have. When I started in F1, all the parts of the car were drawn on the drawing board and we did not use any CAD as such. We did use some programmes to do stress calculations and so on. Now, in Ferrari and throughout F1, there is nothing drawn on the drawing board anymore, it’s all done using CAD. What have been your most significant and rewarding work experiences? The most rewarding experience has been seeing the results of the cars that I’ve designed. If I choose three of the best cars I have designed, I think they would be the Toleman TJ280 F2 car which won the European Formula 2 championship in 1980 with the drivers finishing 1st and 2nd, then the Benetton B194 with which Michael won his first drivers title in 1994, and the Ferrari F2002 which won 15 out of the 17 races that year. Which elements are needed to make a Formula 1 car a winning car? How important are materials? The fundamental elements affecting F1 car performance are (in order of importance) the tyres and their interaction with the car and the road, the aerodynamic characteristics, the engine characteristics, then the chassis, the suspension and the transmission. In terms of importance of materials, for all of these elements (with the exception of aerodynamic development) the materials are fundamental. The development of composite materials of tyres has lead to a revolution in tyre performance. The stiffness properties of various composite materials is certainly important for the aerodynamics. The material development in the engine design has meant that there has been a revolution in terms of power and max. revs the engines can achieve. And things like chassis and suspension, there has been a revolution of performance, safety and functionality of those items and the advance in materials has really been one of the key reasons for this progress. Materials are vital in F1. Which are the, more or less foreseeable, external factors that can influence the result? What will influence the result is how much progress we have made compared to the other teams. We will obviously always produce a better car from one year to another but sometimes our competitors might make more progress. It's their progress compared to ours that is the most important factor. That's in the whole package: the engine, the tyres, the transmission, the aerodynamics, everything. The rule changes can also influence the result but normally rule changes affect most people equally. This year, the tyre rules have really made it more difficult for us than for the other teams because Ferrari is the only top team on Bridgestones and we are competing against five or six top teams on Michelins. What effect did it have on you to receive an honorary degree? First of all it was a great honor to be nominated for the degree and the day I received my degree is a day in my life I will never forget. I am terribly proud and extremely honored.