Formula 1 - 2012 Season

[Kaotik]

 

[Kaotik]

Red Bull follows the usual trend with their nose, but have secret air in-take in the "bump"

 

[Bludd]

That looks weird. Regarding exhaust, RBR seems to go with Ferrari in blowing the rear brake-ducts.

Loading F1 2012 ... Building hype ... Reticulating spines ...

 

[Kaotik]

Kimi's back for real

1 K. Raikkonen Lotus 1:19.670
2 N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.219 +0.549
3 P. Di Resta Force India 1:21.526 +1.856
4 K. Kobayashi Sauber 1:22.112 +2.442
5 D. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:22.270 +2.600
6 F. Massa Ferrari 1:23.391 +3.721
7 P. de la Rosa HRT 1:25.535 +5.865

09:56 That's quicker than any time set in Jerez testing last winter, and puts him 1.7s clear of second-placed Rosberg.

09:55 Raikkonen sets a new fastest time - a blistering 1m19.670s."

10:16 @Lotus_F1Team: "That lap time from Kimi was set on medium compound tyres; it'll be interesting to see how he fares on the softer compounds!"

 

[Gerry]

Just to put that into persepective. Last year's fastest time in Jerez testing was Rubens Barrichello in a Williams. Don't get too excited yet.

 

[suryad]

Can someone explain the nose and why the cars are doing that? i read something about some regulations and what not that the cars now need to comply with...

 

[Gerry]

Can someone explain the nose and why the cars are doing that? i read something about some regulations and what not that the cars now need to comply with...

The teams are being forced to have a lower nose than in 2011. They have the choice of lowering the canopy as well and make the whole thing aerodynamic, or keep the height of the canopy the same and have a drop to the nose section, as we're (mostly) seeing. However if you lower the canopy you lose some space in that secion which is seen as a disadvantage, and the aerodynamic aspect of that area is a bit moot, since the air is about to slam into the driver anyway.

 

[Bludd]

see new chart

 

[Bludd]

I will be using Autosport as a source for these charts.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97392

 

[Dave Baumann]

IMO you shouldn't include HRT and Mercedes from this first test since they are curently using the 2011 car.

 

[Bludd]

IMO you shouldn't include HRT and Mercedes from this first test since they are curently using the 2011 car.

Ok, I'll fix it.

 

[Bludd]

Team        Testing laps 2012    
Red Bull     	   53    
McLaren            60    
Ferrari            69    
Mercedes     	    0    
Lotus              73    
Force India       101    
Sauber            106    
Toro Rosso         57    
Williams           25    
Caterham           28    
HRT          	    0    
Marussia     	    0*
Mercedes 2011 car  97    
HRT 2011 car       44    
        
        
* Did not attend first test Jerez

 

[Lightman]

Good first day of testing. No major dramas and weather was nice!

Now lets try and spot which teams are pretending to be fast and which are pretending to be slow. I doubt there is a single team showing true pace of the car this early in testing

 

[Bludd]

After Jerez test day 2
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97417

Team		Testing laps 2012
Red Bull		150
McLaren			145
Ferrari			164
Mercedes  		  0
Lotus			190
Force India		216
Sauber			174
Toro Rosso		157
Williams		122
Caterham		167
HRT			  0
Marussia	          0*
Mercedes 2011 car	229
HRT 2011 car		108
	
	
* Did not attend first test Jerez

 

[Lightman]

Old car and driver quickest today

Kimi did some long runs and Webbo quickest of new cars.
Most teams will run different drivers tomorrow, but Ferrari and/or McLaren managed it well. Felipe will not be on the track when Lewis enters !

 

[Bludd]

Force India has done a lot of laps, very impressive.

 

[Dave Baumann]

McLaren's Paddy Lowe confirms that the 2011 car met the 2012 nose / chassis rules at Autosport:

Q. A lot has been said about why you have gone down your route and so far no-one else has. Does it worry you when you see every other car doing something different?

PL: Well, I would put it another way. We have not gone down a route, we have stayed in a route that we were on last year. Our car last year met this new rule, because we followed a philosophy of having a lower chassis and having a lower and more swept nose. That suited the various things that trade against each other to get what we think is the best net gain.

This new rule came along and, like every year, you do revisit this stuff. So we revisited it, did our sums again and decided that we would stick with the philosophy we have got. Different teams will come out with different answers to those equations always, because they have different sensitivities. There is no good or bad way – so that rule has not affected us.

For those teams that went down that [high chassis] trend, which Red Bull Racing startedoff,pushing particularly the front of the chassis and the nose high, they have continued to pursue that policy. And being the quickest car, it is no surprise that it became fashionable as a direction. A lot of people have migrated in that direction now, although I don't think it was so true last year.

They, then, are the ones that have been affected by the new rules and have had to drop the nose and introduce a compromise to that concept because you have got a step. Some people have some interesting ideas around the use of that step, and we are looking with interest at all of that stuff.

 

[Bludd]

Interesting, thanks Dave.

 

[Bludd]

After Jerez day 3
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97450

Seems like HRT didn't run today. Also Bianchi crashed the Force India so they didn't get any laps in either.

Team		Testing laps 2012
Red Bull		246	
McLaren			225	
Ferrari			231	
Mercedes		  0	
Lotus			307	
Force India		216	
Sauber			222	
Toro Rosso		236	
Williams		247	
Caterham		241	
HRT			  0	
Marussia		  0*
Mercedes 2011 car	347	
HRT 2011 car		108	
		
		
* Did not attend first test Jerez

 

[Bludd]

First test over. Mercedes didn't run today.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97479

Ferrari had a hydraulic problem for most of the day so only got through 39 laps, but was Alonso managed to go fastest.

Team		Testing laps 2012
Red Bull		296 
McLaren			311 
Ferrari			270 
Mercedes		  0 
Lotus			402 
Force India		306 
Sauber			298 
Toro Rosso		286 
Williams		372 
Caterham		358 
HRT			  0 
Marussia		  0*
Mercedes 2011 car	347 
HRT 2011 car		108 
        
        
* Did not attend first test Jerez