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

For those that don't know (as if): Live commentary from Barcelona here - http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/439

An observation so far is that Last year's race-lap times around Catalunya circuit were around 1:26, and the fastest time in testing was set by Schumacher: a 1:21
So far, on day 1 of testing at Catalunya, we have had Hamilton and Vettel posting 1:24's, and we know that everyone is saying this year's cars are slower than last year's.

 

Fastest time posted at Catalunya last year was a 1:21.540 during quali, but that was only the 5th race of the season so there's a hell of a lot of development went on with the 2011 cars after that.

I reckon the times this year will be about the same as last year all-told, maybe a touch faster on faster circuits where the EBD loss makes less of a difference (like Catalunya perhaps? Quite a lot of sweepers there)

 

No real surprises with the Mercedes W03, the stepped nose is relatively elegant though I think. Not particularly tight around the coke bottle and hard to tell what the exhausts are doing, although the heatshielding on the suspension components suggests it'll be heading towards the brake ducts. Hopefully it'll be a step forward.

 

Most, if not all of the top teams will be sandbagging. Only they will know how much fuel they are carrying on specific runs.

 

Of course, all top teams will be sandbagging. Showing true pace now already would be stupid of them.

That ebing said, the times we are seeing so far (and the FIndia speed) seem close to last year's. That means laptimes should stay about the same as last season, as Krikkit says.

 

That nose on the Merc doesn't look too bad - rounded on the top and some nice swoopyness around the step. Otherwise it doesn't look very special, quite an early exit for the exhausts, I'd like to see the headers for that!

 

Serious problems for Lotus; they've abandoned the entire test after just seven laps after identifying a chassis problem. No news on exactly what it was, but that they're modifying both of the chassis they currently have built suggests that it's a big issue.

 

I think sandbagging is a bygone activity, teams have sophisticated audio processing to listen to the other teams engines. Detecting labour and acceleration give them a good understanding of the weight and how hard the driver was pushing. So in recent times when teams have talked about the comparative performance, it's been very accurate.

The Lotus things not funny, either the engine and the back of the car was going to fall off or, something else just as bad. Now that would unsettle me.

 

Well, Autosport did a speculative bit about the Lotus issue, saying it's either the long turn or the bumps at Barcelona that casued the issues. It's also unlikely to be a suspension mounting issue (as some sources have speculated), as that wouldn't take that long to fix.

PF1 is reporting that Chris Horner says they have something up their sleeves:
http://planetf1.com/driver/18227/7535301/RBR-have-something-up-their-sleeve
This being PF1, take it with a pinch of salt, especially since this is also F1, where people bluff, lie and try to distract attention all the time... a statement like that could be trying to lure competitors away from what they're doing and focus on spotting something on the RBR that might not exist.

 

Sounds a bit nasty if they're taking the testing chassis home rather than flying out the spare.

As far as RBR goes, who knows?! They're a tricky bunch, I'd say they could be hiding something or just bluffing, neither is particularly unlikely, but their launch does make sense if they're trying to keep some innovations secret.

 

Sounds a bit nasty if they're taking the testing chassis home rather than flying out the spare.

As far as RBR goes, who knows?! They're a tricky bunch, I'd say they could be hiding something or just bluffing, neither is particularly unlikely, but their launch does make sense if they're trying to keep some innovations secret.

 

Yeah... but then - we all knew that photographers would swarm all over the car after the last 2 years if they showed it "in the flesh".

has anyone else noticed how FEW pictures of the backsides of the cars there are... I think the only one I saw was the one shot of the Merc publsihed by Autosport yesterday. The teams are probably buying those shots in bulk to keep their secrets at present.

as for RBR being a tricky bunch - so is every front running team, no?
I think it's safe to say that Ferrari, McLaren, Red bull and various others will have parts standing by that will be first shown at FP1 in Melbourne.

 

2012 comparisons from first test. There you go mate, clear shotws of the ass-end of all but the Merc and HRT. I have to say there's something a bit crazy about all the fins on the RBR rear braking housing/ducts/area, they all have something on there but the RBR seems to be a tad more extreme. Meh, if there is some trick they have, you probably can't even see it.

 

There seems to be two types of rear diffuser from what I can see on the pictures.

Some seem to have two layers (pic 20 shows it clearly on the McLaren)

Some don't (pics of Toro Rosso, and Williams)

Ferraris looks different again almost like its an additional flick up on the end of the diffuser.

 

Thanks... Why didn't I get the idea of looking on formula1.com???

 

They're not twin-layered, that's a small gurney flap allowed around the edge of the diffuser (with a small gap inbetween itself and the diffuser on some cars, direct attachment on others). Have a look at ScarbsF1's Monza RB7 diffuser analysis for a bit more explanation on how they work.

RBR seem to be using much greater amount of fins coming off their rear wheel cowling than McLaren and Ferrari, to my mind indicating that they're maybe not blowing them, but working the air that gets to them extra hard to gain more downforce at the wheels and reserving the exhaust for the rear wing endplates? Maybe I'm looking at it all wrong and it's completely the opposite way!

 

Zooming in on the pics I don't think they are flaps..... Unless they actually attach further down the diffuser and don't have holes to allow air through which makes more sense reading the article you linked.

 

More photos on BadgerF1 for you to peruse at - rest assured they are just gurney flaps, double-level diffusers are now totally banned (although you could run one at testing, but no-one would waste time with it).

RE: My ideas on RB8, Williams and Force India have adopted the same style or brake ducts/wheel cowling, and their exhausts look to be blowing the rear wing.

 

Rather interesting rig their running on the back here:


Clearly not legal so testing what?

 

Probably a sensor array for measuring something ? Temperatures, vibrations, whatever ?