Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2012 Thread - Post season

Ah of course

 

So testing day 3 is about to begin, and so far, most of the cars seem reliable.
Red bull showed early pace (the merc being completely unrepresentative here), and Webber seems comfortable with it.
Button seems comfy int he McLaren as well, and Paddy Lowe says that the low nose is not an oversight, but a deliberate decision.

All in all, it's looking pretty level as far as we can tell so far.
All will be revealed once we hear fromt he Other testers this week (Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso), and other than that, It's going to be competitive sandbagging until Quali in Melbourne.

 

Alonso loves Chicken!

 

I love some heavy braking with my chicken.

Some interesting analysis of yesterday's lap times from Andrew Benson:

 

I'm really sorry for what I'm about to make you read.

He fell fowl of pronunciation!
Before I over egg it, I'll go sit in the corner.



Last weeks McLaren exhaust made me think of a flute, or if you prefer a bottle that is often filled or sometimes empty. You know - when ya blow across the top of a bottle at that special angle some people just don't seem to get. My favorite suggestion for the purpose is stealth, like the heat reduction stuff of jet fighters. At the next test it's going to either have a reed in the end or be baffled - I know, I just wanted to use those rarely heard words.

 

Autosport reckons Alonso's fastest lap today was a glory run and I'm inclined to agree. But I really hope Ferrari has a competitive car from the first race this season, it's going to be unbearable to watch another year of teams playing catch-up.

 

A nice comparison of 9 of the noses. Found this on JB's Facebook page.

 

Forgetting the Mclaren as they dont have the step, which team have made their car look the best?

I'm thinking the lotus is the best as it follows a smooth curve which hugs the lines of the front wheels.

 

Lotus or toro roso for me

 

Of the stepped nosed monstrosities the 'best' looking imo is the Torro Rosso, The RBR really is definitely the pig of the bunch though, its hideous!

I don't know if its the angle that the photos were taken but it looks like the McLaren has a much lower nose than all the rest, Obviously they've gone for a completely different approach which i hope pays off for them.

 

Let's hope it doesn't, I want to see Sebb battle with the rest of the front runners not just cruise off into the distance.

Not that I'll be seeing much of it as I dont have Sky.

 

I think he was saying he hoped the McLaren approach pays off for them?

The Lotus looks the best, but the Sauber is pretty striking technically; to make it that thin while getting enough material in to pass the crash tests is impressive.

 

the RBR is the pig of the bunch there... the Lotus and the STR are the best looking.
And yes.. .from that angle the McLaren nose seems SUPER low.

What's alos quite interesting to me is how closely some of the teams resemble the predictions that Craig Scarborough made (ScarbsF1). The Ferrari and force India, specifically with the wide vertical beams (no idea what they're called) that hold the wing, and then how for example Caterham completely didn't go that route...

Man, I am hoping for a tight season...

In other news, The Rumormill (a.k.a. PlanetF1) reports that the FIA is said to have cleared the McLaren and Ferrari exhausts.

 

That's where their designs over the last few years have led them, whether it's right or not remains to be seen.

Out of the stepped noses I think the Sauber is the best, maybe the STR 2nd, but the minger to my eye is the Ferrari; with its really short stub it looks crap. It'll all be forgotten once they start racing and more important things are happening.

 

If you or someone else wanted to know - they are pylons.

 

ah yes... Pylons they are... LOL. thanks.

 

Mercedes have updated their twitter background image to what looks like a teaser for this years car...it definitely isn't last years anyway. They've gone for an MP4-26 style piggyback oil cooler opening, not much else to be gleaned from it yet.

 

Looks like there's going to be a stepped nose. The entire chassis isn't as low as the sexy Macca.

 

Pirelli reveal tyre choices for first 3 rounds.

Australia (Melbourne) - medium, soft
Malaysia (Sepang) - hard, medium
China (Shanghai) - medium, soft

I hope Pirelli go back towards the way they started last year, closer to the end of the season things seemed to be heading into Bridgestone territory with crazy long life tyres (apart from the odd exception). The old rule of having a gap between choices should come back I reckon.

 

YES! Gap between choices - you can either have hard - soft or medium and super soft.