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

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A

ANDY_098

Member
Myoclonic Jerk said:
you never know! pulling out completely means that they need full force to be back at Enstone to fix the huge fault.. I'm assuming its huge because of the decision..

as mentioned above, I can't even remember when was the last time a team decided to abandon testing because of a design flaw ..
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It's not a huge problem. They can't strip the paint off the car, apply more carbon fibre and put it in a giant oven in a pit lane. They just need both chassis back at the factory where they have the facilities to fix them.

There is no massive safety or performance loss either, Grosjean described it only as "strange".
 
Myoclonic Jerk

Myoclonic Jerk

Member
ANDY_098 said:
It's not a huge problem. They can't strip the paint off the car, apply more carbon fibre and put it in a giant oven in a pit lane. They just need both chassis back at the factory where they have the facilities to fix them.

There is no massive safety or performance loss either, Grosjean described it only as "strange".
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this is so frustrating.. I was really looking forward to Thursday, I've planned my whole schedule around the testing..
 
Myoclonic Jerk

Myoclonic Jerk

Member
Edmond Dantès;35338089 said:
There's still next week's testing sessions.
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True.. will be back home by then .. hopefully..

I really hope they fix this thing and produce a decent car.. cameras don't care about mid-back field
 
Myoclonic Jerk

Myoclonic Jerk

Member
K guys, I leave you with this funny translation of a french article

The Renault engine engineer seconded to Lotus, Ricardo Penteado, makes a first portrait of Kimi Raikkonen , who makes his comeback this season after two years absence.

The Brazilian technician is at the beginning of his relationship with the Finns, but on the eve of the Barcelona test patterns already described it very special. "It's very different from the other drivers I could find. It is very reserved. This is someone we will not say gross, but that just drive the car. This is a pilot to old. It would have been three or four times world champion in the 1970 or 80, "said Penteado in the Renault Sport F1 podcast .

"This is special not to work in the truck with a driver of ingestion. He does not spend much time with us. In any case he did not spend time with us. His feedback is still super interesting . This does not mean he does not give his feedback when he's in the car. "

http://fr.espnf1.com/lotusf1/motorsport/story/70755.html
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see you tomorrow
 
A

ANDY_098

Member
DieH@rd said:
Is there any way to see the article without subscribing?
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.
Mercedes presented its W03 to the press this morning in Barcelona – and in doing so became the tenth team to reveal its 2012 challenger. Ross Brawn explained during the launch that the team 'must move forwards' and that two seasons finishing fourth in the championship 'is not good enough', so the new car is a departure from the last two Mercedes cars.

The W03 was described by Norbert Haug as 'quite different' and it clearly sets out to rectify the faults of the past two cars by being 'aerodynamically stronger'.

Since acquiring the Brawn GP team, the fortunes of Mercedes's F1 team have wavered. In its sole year as Brawn, the team benefited from a car developed over a long period in the preceding year. This new car has benefited from a similar early switch in resources.

Perhaps due to the livery and general shape of the car, the W03 does at a glance look like a simple evolution of the W02. However in every area the car appears to be different from both its predecessor and many other 2012 F1 cars. From the all new front wing to the dramatic stepped nose and the sculpted sidepods with their top exit exhausts.

What is not immediately apparent is the first change to the car – its wheelbase. Last year's car had a short wheelbase in order to create a shorter sidepod to emphasise a less sensitive exhaust blown diffuser. This concept failed, partly due to the centre of gravity being too high. Having more length in the wheelbase has allowed the team to package these components in a lower and more efficient way.

However the lessons learned from packaging the radiators into the short sidepods of the 2011 car, paid dividends in creating a tiny sidepod volume for 2012. It is this packaging that sets the car apart from its rivals. The sidepods are tiny, they are deeply undercut and their volume appears to be both high and forward. Even the leading edges of the sidepods angle inwards to meet the airflow separating around the front of the chassis. How the coolers are packaged inside the bodywork has yet to become clear. To the rear of the sidepods the exhausts exit over the top surface and appear to blow over the rear bodywork and through the rear suspension. From spy pictures taken during testing, it's clear that the exhaust and cooling outlets seen on the launch car are only for the initial tests. Different pipework and bodywork will replace them before Melbourne.

One major step forward with this car is the new front wing. The 2011 car's wing was derived from that of the 2009 Brawn. The new wing is far more contemporary however and the three elements curve down to form the endplate and the wing is tipped with a pair of curved vanes.

The wing also conforms to current thinking with the cascade elements. Mounted near the endplates are a large winglet and a very narrow aerofoil placed next to it. Then further inboard, near the neutral centre section, there are a pair of 'R' shaped flaps. All of these cascade elements are there primarily to divert flow around the wheels, rather than purely to create downforce.

It's been rumoured Mercedes have an F-duct solution developed for their front wing. Hints that the F-duct is to be used can be seen in the large wing mounting pylons and the way these join to the front wing. As a passive system, the F-duct set up would be legal, but as yet the benefits are not clearly understood.

EoIue.gif


In order to meet the 2012 nose regulations, Mercedes were able to use its 2011 experience to create a distinctive package. Its W02 used a very shallow rounded nose cone, only widening to meet the rectangular interface with the chassis. This nose shape has been carried over, the near oval section nose tip creates a large step with the curved top of the chassis.

Elsewhere on the car, Mercedes continues to sport the reinforcing struts below the inlet and an auxiliary cooling inlet behind the roll hoop.

Naturally the car carries the Mercedes AMG Power Train Engine and KERS developed in Brixworth, although the gearbox package is developed by the race team in Brackley.

Last year the car sported a rear suspension that used hydraulically linked elements, potentially with the front and rear systems interlinked to provide a means to prevent the car diving under braking. Mercedes was also one of the teams linked to exploiting a similar front ride height compensating solution to Lotus (nee Renault). With the latter system now banned, there is still likely to be a clever suspension system.

Like Ferrari, Mercedes has gone with a very different car concept this year. With this comes risks, but the late unveiling of the Mercedes has given the team an extended design period and the private testing before the launch means it is close to rivals on track time. It now remains to see if these design changes also bring quicker lap times.
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A

ANDY_098

Member
Shaneus said:
Petrov?
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Heikki

Septimius said:
Awesome. Thank you for the insight. Cautiously optimistic over here! :D
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I think optimism is right. Ross Brawn has been talking about wins a lot lately and seems fairly confident. We won't know for sure until Melbourne, but at the moment everything seems okay.

-----

Analysis: What's wrong with the Lotus?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97620

AUTOSPORT's technical correspondent Gary Anderson suspects that an engine mount problem could be behind Lotus's decision to abandon the Barcelona test.

...

Speaking to AUTOSPORT about the Lotus situation, Anderson said: "The aerodynamic loads on the car are higher in Barcelona than in Jerez, so that could explain why the problem didn't manifest itself at Jerez.

"Reading between the lines, I would say it was likely to be something to do with an engine mount rather than a front suspension, as if it was a suspension problem you could have a good go at patching it up at the track with a glue injection and fastenings to hold it in situ.

...

"It's the kind of thing that you can fix, ideally back at the factory in a controlled environment. But you could do that in one day so if they aren't going to run this week, it suggests that they maybe need to do more than just inject glue and put fasteners in. So it could be a more dramatic problem and maybe it will need new chassis.

...

Anderson adds that he feels the problem is more likely to be a manufacturing fault than a design error.

...


"The problem isn't a huge safety issue, but if the car feels strange, as Romain Grosjean says it did, then it's only going to get worse.

"It's a dramatic enough problem to wipe the test out, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens from here."
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Best of luck to them.
 
D

dubc35

Member
It looks like it's too early to tell if it's going to be a couple day setback or worse. I hope they're able to figure it out quickly otherwise our 25% WDC grid is in jeopardy!
 
A

ANDY_098

Member
dubc35 said:
It looks like it's too early to tell if it's going to be a couple day setback or worse. I hope they're able to figure it out quickly otherwise our 25% WDC grid is in jeopardy!
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They would have built 1 new chassis for Australia anyway, so if the worst comes to the worst they will only enter one car for the first race or two until they can complete a second chassis.
 
D

dubc35

Member
Yeah, good point.

e*
I'm really loving Twitter for these testing sessions. I wake up in the morning and bam, tons of updates on testing. Looking forward it will be painful though. I don't have cable or anything so I have to wait to watch the races. In addition to avoiding this thread, I will have to avoid Twitter now too. :(
 
N

navanman

Crown Prince of Custom Firmware
Maybe we could have some competition this season then...

Sebastian Vettel has singled out McLaren as the rival team that he thinks is in the best shape at the start of the second pre-season test at Barcelona in Spain. The double world champion made clear that while it is still too early to divine a pecking order from what had taken place so far in testing, he felt that McLaren appeared to have got an early handle on its MP4-27.
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Autosport
 
D

Dilly

Banned
Vettel is impressed with everyone's pace it seems.

Except Ferrari's, no one has been impressed by their pace for years.
 
R

Risgroo

Member
I'll just take it for granted that the red bulls are going to crush everyone again, so that I might get pleasantly surprised come Melbourne.
 
N

navanman

Crown Prince of Custom Firmware
KaizorPenguin said:
I'll just take it for granted that the red bulls are going to crush everyone again, so that I might get pleasantly surprised come Melbourne.
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I expect the same but I'm cautiously optimistic. Next week will tell I'd guess as its traditionally the test where the teams show the true potential of their cars.
 
A

Ark

Member
All that matters is how the car handing looks when it's going round the track. Times aren't really too important, mileage and handling are better benchmarks to use imo.

Regardless, McLaren are due to build a decent car anyway, it's been too long since 1998 & 2008.
 
oipic

oipic

Member
For any Australians out there that may have missed Martin Brundle's tweet earlier, he confirmed that Ten are taking Sky's race commentary audio feed this season.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
oipic said:
For any Australians out there that may have missed Martin Brundle's tweet earlier, he confirmed that Ten are taking Sky's race commentary audio feed this season.
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So who does that mean we're getting again? I haven't been paying much attention :(

Plus, I suspect that Sky coupled with far too many fucking ads will be almost unbearable.
 
F

fogberto

Neo Member
Hey guys! I've been lurking here for a while without making any posts, but I thought I'd drop by to share my excitement over purchasing tickets to the Australian GP!

I live in Tasmania so I'm flying up thursday night, and I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Can't wait. I only started following F1 about five races into last season, so this will be my first live Formula 1 experience :D
 
E

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
fogberto said:
Hey guys! I've been lurking here for a while without making any posts, but I thought I'd drop by to share my excitement over purchasing tickets to the Australian GP!

I live in Tasmania so I'm flying up thursday night, and I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Can't wait. I only started following F1 about five races into last season, so this will be my first live Formula 1 experience :D
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Welcome.

Don't be put off by some of the more heated discussion in F1GAF, it's just harmless banter.
 
D

dubc35

Member
mclaren777 said:
Austin Timelapse
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I still hate the name of the track, utter crap.


fogberto said:
Hey guys! I've been lurking here for a while without making any posts, but I thought I'd drop by to share my excitement over purchasing tickets to the Australian GP!

I live in Tasmania so I'm flying up thursday night, and I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Can't wait. I only started following F1 about five races into last season, so this will be my first live Formula 1 experience :D
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Welcome and congrats! I'm jealous. I decided to pass this year on Austin with the hopes of talking the wife into Montreal, Austin or NY next year. We just booked a trip to Ireland for later this year so I doubt we could afford an F1 trip this year...also considering she has no interest in motorsport, lol.
 
Myoclonic Jerk

Myoclonic Jerk

Member
fogberto said:
Hey guys! I've been lurking here for a while without making any posts, but I thought I'd drop by to share my excitement over purchasing tickets to the Australian GP!

I live in Tasmania so I'm flying up thursday night, and I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Can't wait. I only started following F1 about five races into last season, so this will be my first live Formula 1 experience :D
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If you have a 3 days ticket you can go to the pit-walk on Thursday, try not to miss that :)

Welcome
 
D

Dead Man

Member
fogberto said:
Hey guys! I've been lurking here for a while without making any posts, but I thought I'd drop by to share my excitement over purchasing tickets to the Australian GP!

I live in Tasmania so I'm flying up thursday night, and I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Can't wait. I only started following F1 about five races into last season, so this will be my first live Formula 1 experience :D
Click to expand...

Welcome to the thread. Quite jealous, I have been following F1 for about 20-25 years and still have never made it to a race!
 
A

AcridMeat

Banned
fogberto said:
Hey guys! I've been lurking here for a while without making any posts, but I thought I'd drop by to share my excitement over purchasing tickets to the Australian GP!

I live in Tasmania so I'm flying up thursday night, and I'll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the track. Can't wait. I only started following F1 about five races into last season, so this will be my first live Formula 1 experience :D
Click to expand...

So you know to stay away from Shaneus at Melbourne, then.
 
O

Omiee

Member
so who is going to which grand prix's?

i booked 3 day tickets for belgium with pit acces.

im sleeping over at a house in monaco during the grand prix weekend.



what other grand prix would you guys recommend me.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Adamm said:
He should just stop teasing us & just do a qualifying lap and destroy the rest of the grid.

Stop giving us false hope vettel!
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I'm sure he'd love to do that, but the RBR management decided against it, because they need a somewhat motivated Webber for the start of the season.
 
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