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[Leunam]

So Renault now has five reserve drivers. Let's hope they aren't hit by 5 misfortunes Simpsons style.

 

[navanman]

Interesting. I give it 2 races before it's banned though.

True, wait for the big 3 to protest!!

Here is the top down view, with no exhaust seen:

 

[Leunam]

If the exhaust was at the front, I can't imagine it's something that can be copied easily by the other teams like it was with the F-duct. Really curious to see how that works out. If it can't be copied right away then it will probably be banned quickly.

 

[Dead Man]

One more chance for F1 to live up to it's claim of being innovative. If, and only if, this new exhaust disturbs airflow to the car behind, I would be okay with not having it next season, but I am afraid there will be massive pressure to ban it outright, and immediately. Lets see what happens.

 

[mclaren777]

More pics of the new Lotus Renault...

 

[S. L.]

If the exhaust was at the front, I can't imagine it's something that can be copied easily by the other teams like it was with the F-duct. Really curious to see how that works out. If it can't be copied right away then it will probably be banned quickly.

the idea doesn't seem that outrageous after all the blown diffusor stuff last season that other teams wouldn't have thought of this i'd think.
I guess there are disadvantages when doing this too?

 

[navanman]

More pics of the new Lotus Renault...

This is the pic where all the rumours are centering on. Those bare, not painted carbon fibre parts are rumoured to hide the detail of their exhaust and won't be seen until testing starts.

 

[mclaren777]

This is the pic where all the rumours are centering on. Those bare, not painted carbon fibre parts are rumoured to hide the detail of their exhaust and won't be seen until testing starts.

I personally think that's an intake for internal cooling (possibly the KERS battery) but I guess time will ultimately reveal the truth.

 

[TylerD]

One more chance for F1 to live up to it's claim of being innovative. If, and only if, this new exhaust disturbs airflow to the car behind, I would be okay with not having it next season, but I am afraid there will be massive pressure to ban it outright, and immediately. Lets see what happens.

Seriously. What is the point of ingenuity if something as new and different as what Lotus-Renault might be doing with the exhaust is banned outright therefore penalizing engineering innovation? This is supposed to be the most cutting edge and innovative racing series. Even if it does disturb airflow to the car behind I would be fine with keeping it. Their engineers thought of it when the FIA didn't account for it. Let the team reap the benefit. Of course, if one of the big 3 came up with it there would be a much better chance of it remaining legal for the upcoming season.

I really like all the 2011 challengers so far and it is great to see a Sauber with lots of sponsors. They won't have any budget worries this year.

The new RB7 is definitely my most anticipated design. I can't wait to see what Newey will come up with to make everyone else crazy and have the other teams scrambling. Watch it be a new more efficient lowered nose! :lol

 

[AndyD]

The new RB7 is definitely my most anticipated design. I can't wait to see what Newey will come up with to make everyone else crazy and have the other teams scrambling. Watch it be a new more efficient lowered nose! :lol

Same here. And the new McLaren, since its supposed to be all wacky.

I think F1 is starting to definitely get back on the right track. They are allowing a bit more variety between cars, a little craziness, and the varied technical developments in different directions show that.

 

[navanman]

Courtesy of Scarbf1:

 

[Lucius86]

I would never have guessed I'd find exhausts so exciting...

 

[S. L.]

some shakedown laps of the new cars

Ferrari F150 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNv-WFXnU8c / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hvLXFJhwSg

Sauber C30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJtU4ZFTSjA

 

[Somtaaw]

the wing.

 

[AndyD]

the wing.

Neat.

I guess there must be stricter rules as to shape and placement of wings/winglets/slats for the rear wing compared to the triple decker 27 surface front wings?

 

[Chris R]

the wing.

How soon until we see the part fail in the open position???

 

[SCHUEY F1]

the wing.

Thats cool. Very curious to learn more about the Renault. The season can't start soon enough!

 

[Seanspeed]

I think F1 is starting to definitely get back on the right track. They are allowing a bit more variety between cars, a little craziness, and the varied technical developments in different directions show that.

BS. The regulations are stricter than ever. Its just forcing teams to think out-of-the-box to gain some sort of advantage in such an environment. And most of the time, these innovations are worth mere tenths of a second.

 

[Orgun]

Valencia testing is underway

lots of pictures stolen from another forum:

EDIT: Decided to remove the image tags for those with low bandwidth caps. They're pretty big images!

http://cdn.images.autosport.com/editorial/1296547442.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/redb_2011-470x264.jpg

http://thumbsnap.com/s/Ji4RfktS.jpg

http://adamcooperf1.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/img_0090.jpg?w=500&h=375

http://cdn.images.autosport.com/editorial/1296548810.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/JLE0294.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/merc_2011_v-ale.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/JLE0336.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/JLE0342.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/JLE0286.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/redb_rb7_2011.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/redb_rb7_2011-3.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/redb_rb7_2011-2.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/redb_rb7_2011-7.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/toro_str6_jl_2011-1.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/toro_str6_jl_2011-2.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/will_fw33_drawing.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/barr_will_2011.jpg

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/barr_will_2011_2.jpg

http://adamcooperf1.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/fw33-photo-cooper.jpg

 

[navanman]

Cheers won't have time for my full round-up for a few hrs yet.

 

[operon]

I presume theres no live feeds of any kind for valencia

 

[Orgun]

I presume theres no live feeds of any kind for valencia

I've not seen any live video feeds but BBC F1 have live text coverage :/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9383263.stm

 

[Shaneus]

Pictured: Winner of the 2011 WDC. Also visible: Sebastien Vettel.

 

[S. L.]

looks like the RenaultLotus exhausts are in front of the sidepods
http://twitpic.com/3vf0o2

 

[Adamm]

The Mercedes W02 looks awesome. The nose is so thin!

These car releases make the wait for the new season even worse!
I guess testing will have to keep me occupied for now

EDIT: First red flag of 2011! Rosberg stopped on track :lol

 

[S. L.]

the rear of that RedBull is just insanely compact

 

[Adamm]

Live timings for testing

http://www.attwilliams.com/test-timings

 

[Adamm]

Is Nico Hulkenburg driving last years force india?
because i havent seen anything about thier new car

 

[navanman]

Raised "V" nose and extremely narrow nose cone, detailed barge boards.
Shortened pod wing, deeply undercut sidepod.
Simple diffuser, raised & curved impact structure, exposed beam wing, oil cooler in tail of engine cover.
Cooling vents and exhaust blowing over diffuser

 

[navanman]

Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn is confident his team will enjoy a stronger 2011 season after a difficult campaign last year.

The team took both titles under the Brawn GP name in 2009, but failed to defend its crown last year, as its car did not prove strong enough to fight for races victories.

Mercedes finished a distant fourth in the standings.

Brawn, however, is optimistic the team will be able to make significant progress this year following the launch of the new car on Tuesday.

"It is always a thrill to see a new car ready to take the track for the first time and this year is no exception," said Brawn. "After our first year as the Mercedes-Benz works team, we are now seeing the benefits of our chassis and engine groups working well together.

"With a good technical structure and a strengthened race engineering organisation, both at the factory and the race track, I am confident that we have done and will continue to do a better job this year in all key areas.

"We want to be setting the standard right from the start but if we are not, we will respond very strongly to get ourselves into the game. Everyone is excitedly waiting to see what the new season will reveal."

Michael Schumacher is also upbeat ahead of the start of the season, the German confident that he will be able to fight closer to the top following a disappointing 2010.

"I very much look forward to the new season. We have said it several times already but again, we are really to building up something big together. I am very confident that this season we will be standing on the podium much more regularly; ideally in the middle!"

Team-mate Nico Rosberg echoed the seven-time champion's thoughts, admitting he wants to fight for victories from the start.

"I am very much looking forward to having a much stronger season than last year and as always, our targets are aggressive," Rosberg said.

"We want to be competing at the front and challenging for race wins. Everyone at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth has worked extremely hard on the new Silver Arrow and we are all looking forward to seeing how it performs."

Autosport

 

[Dead Man]

So a few teams have some tricky exhausts, maybe they will stay legal

 

[navanman]

Red Bull RB7 is an evolution of the '10 car, less of a "V" nose, more waisted sidepods, clever split impact structure beam wing
Sharkfins have to be truncated this year, RedBull use the rear wing adjusting mechanism as an extension of the fin.
Renault supplied KERS unit and battery.
The diffuser was covered up so no pics yet of what Newey has done in this area regarding the new rules.

 

[Gareth Bale]

looks like the RenaultLotus exhausts are in front of the sidepods
http://twitpic.com/3vf0o2

I'm guessing this is supposed to add downforce. But isn't this just slapping 100 years of motorsport across the face repeatedly?

Fucking crazy.

 

[brotkasten]

Kinda boring and so many aero parts, damn.

 

[navanman]

Taking a break, ill be back with Williams & STR launch then.

 

[S. L.]

for the exhaust connoisseurs, the renault exhaust:

 

[navanman]

Nice! This is like DDD all over again from last year. I have some good Williams pics coming in their launch post.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

After Force India that Red Bull is most definitely the sexiest F1 car. I loveee the colours.

 

[AndyD]

Whoever said RB was going to lower the nose rather than raise it, you were right.

Also how long before someone complains about that little rear wing winglet that controls the flap.

 

[TylerD]

Whoever said RB was going to lower the nose rather than raise it, you were right.

Also how long before someone complains about that little rear wing winglet that controls the flap.

LOL, I am not the least bit surprised. Love the front on the RB7 and the rear wing is very impressive as well. Another very sharp Newey design.

 

[S. L.]

Whoever said RB was going to lower the nose rather than raise it, you were right.

Also how long before someone complains about that little rear wing winglet that controls the flap.

ultimatively it probably doesn't make that much of a difference when you design the car around it and they are just trolling everybody :lol

 

[navanman]

Low key launch for Williams but its design is impressing many especially the extremely compact rear suspension and gearbox.

 

[S. L.]

supposedly the Renault front exhaust is easier to copy than last years F-Duct

Problems with this solution are mainly to do with heat and engine mapping. With exhaust temperatures of 6-800c some clever insulation solutions are needed to keep hits heat from the fuel tank, radiators and a electronics. Then the Renault engine team lead by Rob White need to design exhaust tuning to deal with a far longer secondary pipe. typically longer pipes are better for low revs, somewhat contrary to the needs of an engine running at 18000rpm. Renault placed their KERS MGU and Battery underneath eh fuel tank, this was clearly to allow the packaging of the FEE. Unlike the McLaren F-duct, it is possible for this solution to be copied as no monocoque alterations are required.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/renault-r31-front-exit-exhausts-fee-explained/

also here is a pretty good pic to see how small the Williams end is
http://twitpic.com/3vgmms

 

[navanman]

Frank Williams says his team is hopeful the new FW33 car unveiled on Tuesday will help the British squad take a step closer to the leading outfits in 2011.

Williams finished the 2010 season in sixth position, its best result since 2007, but was still unable to fight for podiums finishes and is now aiming to take another step forward.

The team boss is aware that the task will not be easy, but insists Williams is as ambitious as it has ever been.

"Our ambition is get back to the front of the grid," said Williams. "We know that won't be easy, but we hope this car will take us closer to the leaders than we were in 2010.

"As a team, we're as ambitious now as we've ever been."

Technical director Sam Michael said he is positive about the competitiveness of the new car, although he conceded it is far too early to make predictions.

"Until you start testing you're never sure how you're going to stack up against the opposition, but we're optimistic," he said.

"We think this is a good car, but we'll have a better overall picture in a few weeks time."

He added: "The design of this year's car has been pretty smooth We've improved our way of working by increasing the communication between the mechanical and aerodynamic departments, and that improved our decision making processes. It allowed us to increase the optimisation time spent on each part of the car."

The car will start testing at Valencia today, but the 'launch spec' will be upgraded later with a new aerodynamic package for the start of the season.

Autosport

 

[Leunam]

supposedly the Renault front exhaust is easier to copy than last years F-Duct

Well there goes that theory.

 

[navanman]

Well there goes that theory.

Lets see does it work first before the other teams think about copying it.

 

[ExtraKr1spy]

Interesting design on that Renault Exhaust. If it is indeed easier to copy than the F-Duct I wonder how hard it'll be to ditch?

Will be interesting to see how/if the other teams incorporate into their cars.

 

[Leunam]

Lets see does it work first before the other teams think about copying it.

Kubica to win the first 10 races. :O

 

[S. L.]

I hope we will see some teams put in a fast lap at the end of the session

 

[navanman]

I hope we will see some teams put in a fast lap at the end of the session

Vettel fastest but times are over 2 seconds slower than last year. It will improve but new tyres and ban of old diffuser will have made a difference.