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The Formula 1 2011/2012 Off-Season Thread |OT| The Year of the Red Bull

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B

brotkasten

Member
Btw, just because it's part of the chassis, it doesn't mean it can't be copied. The F-Duct was also part of the McLaren chassis, iirc and everyone copied it.

Dead Man said:
'Mate, this car is so ugly you will have to name it after your mother'.
Click to expand...

With that nose, he can call it Lady GaGa.
 
E

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
Q&A with Newey.
Q: Does recent success add to the pressure to maintain it or lessen it, as you have continuity?

Adrian Newey: The last few years have been really good, really successful; it’s been an incredible journey to get there. It’s the fourth evolution of the RB5 this year, so obviously the pressure is to try and stay there if we possibly can. It’s a difficult task, we have lost the exhaust technology with the restriction exhaust outlet position that we were able to develop and perhaps be ahead of the pack on in the last couple of years, that led to a big re think over the winter. Whether that will affect us more than other people is difficult to know of course. We designed the RB7, last year’s car, around that exhaust position and were probably the only people to do so, so it may be that we’ve lost more than other people through that. Only time will tell, it will be good to get out to do some testing and to see where we get to.

Q: Do you find that frustrating or more of a challenge?

AN: Regulation restrictions like the lost exhaust are a bit frustrating in truth, because they are exactly that, they are restrictions, they’re not giving new opportunities or revenues particularly, they’re just closing a door. Regulation changes I enjoy, regulation restrictions I rather lament.

Q: How have you coped with the removal of the exhaust blown diffuser for RB8?

AN: RB7 was designed around the exhaust, this year knowing that the exhaust position from last year would be taken away, we’ve had to go back and look at how we developed the car through the last one and two years with the side exit exhaust and try and, if you like, make sure that the routes we had taken that were only suitable for that exhaust position we now had to re-evaluate. Probably one of the key things there is the rear ride height. The exhaust allowed us to run a high rear ride height, it’s much more difficult without that to sustain a high rear height so we have to go back down and have to redevelop the car around that lower ride height.

Q: The other major change is the height of the nose. Did that present difficulties?

AN: The restriction nose height which is a maximum height just in front of the front bulkhead hasn’t really changed the chassis shape very much. We’ve kept more or less the same chassis shape, but had to drop the nose just in front of the front bulkhead, which, in common with many other teams, has led us to I think I’d probably say a slightly ugly looking nose. We’ve tried to style it as best we can, but it’s not a feature you would choose to put in were it not for the regulation.

Q: Would you say RB8 is still an evolution of RB7 or did you have to rethink many aspects?

AN: I’d say RB8 is the fourth generation of what started with the 2009 car, the RB5. So I guess this is the great grandson of that car.

Q: Do you simply hate to lose or is the thing that keeps you coming back the process of solving the design puzzle created by the regulations?

AN: I’ve been lucky enough through my career to have had a good amount of success and people often ask will I retire soon or whatever, the answer is that as long as I keep enjoying it then I’d like to keep going. What really fascinates me about it is the technical challenge, the fact that we’ve moved a very high, fast pace, so every two weeks we’re out being evaluated, which if we’re doing well is great, and if we’re doing poorly is painful, so at least you know where you are and you get to see the product of your work very quickly. So I really enjoy working with my colleagues, my fellow engineers here at Milton Keynes, with the drivers of course at the track and it’s a job that has many facets and many varieties that you always get that immediate feedback and that really motivates me about the job.

Q: In Sebastian Vettel you’ve got a driver who seems to be getting even better. What do you expect from this season?

AN: I think we have a great driver line up. Sebastian, obviously double world champion now, I think matured tremendously through last year. In 2010 he drove a great season, showed immense talent and thoroughly deserved to be world champion at the end of it. It was a rocky year, he was a very young lad, showed incredible determination and ability to learn from his mistakes. Like all people he made mistakes through that year, but he never made them twice and I think that ability to learn from his mistakes and to always be searching and trying to improve really showed in his driving last year. He really made no mistakes last year, he was aggressive when he needed to be, he was patient when he needed to be, he really showed incredible maturity and there is no reason to think that won’t continue.

Q: And in Mark Webber you have a driver with a point to make after a difficult 2011. Do you think Mark will find RB8 an easier task then RB7?

AN: Mark had a rocky ride last year. Through his 2010 he had a very good season and he was unlucky in many ways not to be world champion at the end of that year. 2011 he initially I think struggled a little bit to understand how to use the Pirelli tyres. It took a little bit of time for him to adapt to them. He’s had a great winter, he’s tremendously fit, he’s really looking forward to the start of the season and I think he’ll be one to look out for this year I hope.

Q: Is part of what keep you coming back the process of evolving this team? Is it still a work in progress?

AN: The team is still a relatively young team, it’s come a long way in a very short period and we had a great deal of success over the last two or three years but we still occasionally show our youth, we still occasionally make mistakes which hopefully is like the swan that looks graceful on the top but there is lot of action going on underneath. So we’re still learning, but I think the fact that we are a young team with tremendous spirit and determination is great, which means that we do learn and we do try to evaluate and to continue to criticise ourselves and see how we can improve. I would hope with the confidence of the last few years and our steady improvement, we can keep maintaining and keep learning.

Q: How do you approach that moment of first dropping the car on track? Are you quietly confident or is there a dread of what other teams will bring?

AN: People often ask just before the new car runs, what’s the expectation for this year and my answer is always, I have absolutely no idea. We know what we have done through the winter, we know how we have developed the car but we have absolutely no idea what everybody else has done, with the regulation changes and restrictions then it’s quite a different game to the end of last year. Have we made as much improvement as others, more, less? It’s impossible to know. There is always trepidation when we start preseason testing and preseason testing itself is very difficult to read from. If we are hopelessly uncompetitive to another team then we will probably realise it, if there’s two or three of us that look broadly similar then it will be very difficult to pick actually who is the quickest out of those. So it won’t be until we get to Melbourne qualifying that we’ll really get more of a feel for it.

Q: Finally, how does the OBE feel?
AN: To be recognised by the Queen with an OBE is very flattering, I’m particularly proud of the fact that it’s for engineering achievements. I think so often engineers in the UK are overlooked and that’s a shame given our proud roots through the Victorian area of developing industry and technology engineering. I feel real pride actually that I’ve been awarded that and a tremendous thank you to everybody who feels that’s been appropriate. I’ve had an enormously enjoyable career and to be recognised as an engineer gives a very good feeling.
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O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
You know how F1 teams have their crew stand around the rear of the car to hide it from curious onlookers & cameras?

I suggest Red Bull and Ferrari do the same for the front, lest their ugly cars scare off small children from the beautiful spectacle that is F1.
 
E

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
It certainly has the most refined nose hump so far.

i57G2bwAHiwWX.png


iFrz6uLGop63u.png
 
M

mil6es

Member
Q: How have you coped with the removal of the exhaust blown diffuser for RB8?

AN: RB7 was designed around the exhaust, this year knowing that the exhaust position from last year would be taken away, we’ve had to go back and look at how we developed the car through the last one and two years with the side exit exhaust and try and, if you like, make sure that the routes we had taken that were only suitable for that exhaust position we now had to re-evaluate. Probably one of the key things there is the rear ride height. The exhaust allowed us to run a high rear ride height, it’s much more difficult without that to sustain a high rear height so we have to go back down and have to redevelop the car around that lower ride height.
Click to expand...

hasnt Maclaren Raked their car up on its rear this year???? ala RB7 last year??
 
G

gutterboy44

Member
Ugly or not, I find the innovation of aero parts each season fascinating. The space under the nose of the Ferrari and RBR are insane. They just looks like they want to consume air like a whale does plankton.
 
N

NHale

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
So should Mclaren be worried? I would say so, with my zero knowledge of F1 car design!
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Who knows? Maybe it was McLaren that got it right and everyone else got it wrong. But if they got it wrong they are screwed because the entire car design philosophy is based on a lower chassis, so if it doesn't work they are screwed because they can't just put a Alain Prost nose on their car and expect the car to perform.
 
Myoclonic Jerk

Myoclonic Jerk

Member
Lucius86 said:
I think I heard a mechanic say "Kimi's a bit shit, isn't he?"
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:| .. did you start saving for my Bluray review?

brotkasten said:
Looks uglier than on the press shots. That nose kills everything.
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Actually I like it more now.. but still its ugly :p

Osiris said:
Overheard at the track:

"Shit, we should have called ourselves Slotus".
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HAHAHAHA.. . well, I'll be happy if they are regularly in the points, but I doubt even that.. EB is aiming for 4th meaning that they know their car isn't that good. Unless they're sandbagging? or Plastic-exhausting? :p
 
R

RomanticHeroX

Member
That Red Bull is probably about as good as a duck bill car could be expected to look. Certainly when you put it beside the Sauber. I wonder what the mood is like at McLaren right now.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
It's a bit of a shame that the US will start its new GP with so ugly cars like the RB8, Lotus or the Caterham. I don't think it will help the reputation at all.
 
mclaren777

mclaren777

Member
brotkasten said:
It's a bit of a shame that the US will start its new GP with so ugly cars like the RB8, Lotus or the Caterham. I don't think it will help the reputation at all.
Click to expand...

All of the teams will have adopted Mclaren's elegant nose by then so I wouldn't worry about it too much. ;)
 
F

Foliorum Viridum

Banned
NHale said:
Who knows? Maybe it was McLaren that got it right and everyone else got it wrong. But if they got it wrong they are screwed because the entire car design philosophy is based on a lower chassis, so if it doesn't work they are screwed because they can't just put a Alain Prost nose on their car and expect the car to perform.
Click to expand...

I hope they got it right!
 
mclaren777

mclaren777

Member
2011 flex test: 100kg applied to both ends at the same time, with a max movement of 20mm

2012 flex test: 100kg applied to just one side/endplate, with a max movement of only 10mm
 
A

Ark

Member
I hope McLaren dominate this year just so everyone is forced to go with their low-nose solution next year and we can purge these silly platypus noses from the sport all together.
 
G

Gareth Bale

Member
Do we really think McLaren are looking at the other cars now and thinking, "fuck, why didn't we think of that!"...?

Surely they looked at the step and decided that the solution they went for would be the most effective... right?
 
A

Ark

Member
Gareth Bale said:
Do we really think McLaren are looking at the other cars now and thinking, "fuck, why didn't we think of that!"...?

Surely they looked at the step and decided that the solution they went for would be the most effective... right?
Click to expand...

It shocks me that people honestly think McLaren didn't already consider this nose and run it through the simulators.
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Gareth Bale said:
Do we really think McLaren are looking at the other cars now and thinking, "fuck, why didn't we think of that!"...?

Surely they looked at the step and decided that the solution they went for would be the most effective... right?
Click to expand...


Well, given the events in the past of McLaren and other teams, I'd say they probably now go out of their way to ignore other teams secrets ;)

But in all seriousness I don't think there's any panic, they'll have the data from simulations of various options available to them and will have gone with what they think works best for their package, if anything it's good to see a little diversity.
 
S

S. L.

Member
mclaren777 said:
2011 flex test: 100kg applied to both ends at the same time, with a max movement of 20mm

2012 flex test: 100kg applied to just one side/endplate, with a max movement of only 10mm
Click to expand...

just makes it harder for non-RBR teams to come up with legal flex-wings :p
(and i only mean that in half jest)
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
More Scarbs on McLaren nose vs others following the RB8 and STR7 reveals:

fivelights said:
@ScarbsF1 so is there an advantage to a lower centre line for the chassis a la MP4-27 or has everyone else got it right with ugly noses?
Click to expand...

ScarbsF1 said:
@FiveLights Lower nose less space for airflow, but lower CofG, better suspension geo, it could pay off with better laptimes
Click to expand...

Less than 40 days...

Cannot... fucking... wait! :D
 
G

gutterboy44

Member
Poor Sauber, didn't even bother hiding their rear diffuser. Like a when you are depressed and can't even be bothered to put on pants before answering the front door.
 
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