Ferrari F2012

[xpensive]

The shape of that nose is beginning to annoy me, has that goulish thing ever seen the inside of a windtunnel in search for less resistance, it looks more like it was penciled to make sure the entire car would be travelling through turbulence at speed?

Can you elaborate on that? What is your explanation for that?

Because I have this funny gut-feel that a squared shape is less aerodynamic than a smoothly curved one, that's all.

The Gazzetta is reporting the new updated version of the F2012 will ditch the fron pull rod suspension for push rod. It says Ferrari engineers believe it will make room for the Mercedes f-duct system. But if true it would make sense as the torsion bars, etc are at the bottom & would be in the way.

Xpensive will claim conspiracy but be happy nonetheless. Although it's just rumor. Not confirmed.

I guess any outrageous xcuse to ditch that front suspension is better than admitting to poor design-engineering, right timbo?

Oh my kriztal ball...rarely fails, does it?

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I guess any outrageous xcuse to ditch that front suspension is better than admitting to poor design-engineering, right timbo?

Oh my kriztal ball...rarely fails, does it?

Well considering it's a rumor I wouldn't count your chickens yet.
What's absurd is your reliance on rumors and a failure to even admit you could be wrong. That alone says more than anything you could possibly post.

[f1316]

Our old friend Gary Anderson from the BBC had the following to say after FP2:

"Ferrari had bad pick-up problems on the tyres in the morning, but watching Alonso come back in after his long run in the afternoon, they were the best I've seen. Maybe we are seeing a bit of a revival from Ferrari."

I will clutch at any straws I can! But seriously, as noted in reference to one of the pictures above, this seems to be confirmation that their long run pace is, at the very least, improved. With Vettel claiming his car is "undriveable", let's hope the gap between the two is decreased.

[bhall]

Because I have this funny gut-feel that a squared shape is less aerodynamic than a smoothly curved one, that's all.

I think the Ferrari nose is the only one this year that doesn't extend beyond the leading edge of the front wing. In fact, it doesn't even extend to the leading edge of the front wing.

That may or may not have some bearing on the shape of the nose, but it's worth considering.

[myurr]

Because I have this funny gut-feel that a squared shape is less aerodynamic than a smoothly curved one, that's all.

I think the Ferrari nose is the only one this year that doesn't extend beyond the leading edge of the front wing. In fact, it doesn't even extend to the leading edge of the front wing.

That may or may not have some bearing on the shape of the nose, but it's worth considering.

Wasn't the Walrus nosed Williams the last car to have a nose that short?

[bhall]

Just off the top of my head, the Toyota TF109 was like that. There may be others, but I don't know.

[xpensive]

Because I have this funny gut-feel that a squared shape is less aerodynamic than a smoothly curved one, that's all.

I think the Ferrari nose is the only one this year that doesn't extend beyond the leading edge of the front wing. In fact, it doesn't even extend to the leading edge of the front wing.

That may or may not have some bearing on the shape of the nose, but it's worth considering.

That nose looks like sh*t.

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

I started in the morning with a completely different car and it felt good," Massa told reporters in the Sepang paddock. "The car is more normal, so we can be more competitive here compared to [Fernando] Alonso.
In the afternoon, we tried some different pieces, including pieces we tried in Australia, said Massa. And everything went in a worse direction.
So that was positive to understand. The car was completely different to the morning and that can be very positive to find out why things were difficult in Australia.
Tomorrow, the car can be a big step and much more competitive than what you have seen in terms of lap time [in free practice].
We are suffering with instability at the rear, especially in the slow corners, he said. There are so many things we didn't understand and now we are starting to understand everything.
We don't have a very competitive car but I hope that we can fight for as many points as possible. I want to get in the car with everything right, the best we have. And that will be tomorrow.

[myurr]

@Lorenzo_Bandini

Whilst that'll help them in this race that's and Massa sounds all positive surely it's REALLY bad that they had all these aero devices on the car that just weren't working! Suggests that their correlation issues are huge and that they're going to be unable to develop the car for the foreseeable future until they get on top of those fundamental issues.

So in the short term this may help them a little bit as they bring more of the cars natural performance to the fore, but over the course of the season they can forget about fighting for the championships as they're going to be too far behind by the time they sort out the basics.

Edit: this also suggests that whilst the basic format of the car is good and they must have good correlation for that, the correlation for all the detail work they've been doing has been off.

[bhall]

[...] their correlation issues are huge and that they're going to be unable to develop the car for the foreseeable future until they get on top of those fundamental issues.

That's precisely why I suggested last week that they should "take the rest of the season off," as it were, and focus on literally nothing aside from fixing that problem. I think it's that important.

That nose looks like sh*t.

That cracked me up.

But, really, what part of this car doesn't?

[banibhusan]

That's precisely why I suggested last week that they should "take the rest of the season off," as it were, and focus on literally nothing aside from fixing that problem. I think it's that important.

And that's exactly what they should do now. If there are still genuine WT correlation issue (as it seems to be now), then they should make sure they upgrade their infrastructure to the topmost level. That's a simple decision to take if you are really sure about the situation. They may have to sacrifice the championship for this season, but at least will be sure of their design for subsequent years. At least they won't have to start the season by saying, "Ooops!! We got it wrong again."

Even Lotus upgraded their tunnel from 50% to 60% size and their's seems to be working fine. I don't understand why is Ferrari facing such an issue for 2 years in a row.

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

Felipe Massa: Fernando and I were on rather different programmes from each other and that is the main reason for the difference on the time sheet. In the afternoon in particular, we went in completely different directions which in my case did not work, but at least it allowed me to understand a few important things about the handling of the car.

Pat Fry: “Both drivers had a very packed programme today, with slight differences between them, but focussed on the same three main points: a comparison between various aerodynamic configurations, an evaluation of the performance of the two types of tyre (Medium and Hard) that Pirelli have brought here and trying to find the best set-up.

[raymondu999]

That nose looks like sh*t.

That cracked me up.

But, really, what part of this car doesn't?

The tyres don't look too bad

[Jersey Tom]

You're ASSUMING they have a WT correlation issue. That some of their issues are in slower speed corners perhaps points in a different direction.

In any event, "throwing away the season"? In practice of race 2? No way in hell.

[bhall]

Do you really think Ferrari has a prayer of catching up to McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus? I don't. That would be a miraculous recovery.

Such comebacks are rare in F1. Only five times since 1990.

However, I do think that this is the second consecutive year that Ferrari's research results have failed to yield real-world gains; in fact, they're going backwards. So they either have correlation issues or they've simply forgotten how to design a car. (I tend to think it's the former.)

Because of those factors, I think it makes perfect sense to stop and completely focus on the problem so as to not repeat this whole ordeal for a third time next season.

(And for what it's worth, I suggested this after qualifying for the first race.)