Ferrari F2012

[FakeAlonso]

I wonder what happened to Alonso in the last stint? Perez so damn faster than him. Is it the wet set-up or he was conserving his tyres or that's the true pace of the Ferrari?

Probably the pace of Ferrari on dry conditions. But Alonso was able to squeeze every sec of that car. Fantastic drive from Alonso.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I think they can do what they need to adjust within minutes if it's allowed with the red flag. Perhaps no major changes, but I also think they can change the setup quite easily without ripping the car's guts.

Ferrari modified the setup in a way times with wet track were better after the RF than before it.

Brundle said Ferrari has very good rain maps for the engine. I'd agree. As for the pace towards the end of the race, our low fuel pace is bad. If the team can update the car & recover some downforce, the F2012 will be quite competitive.

[Giblet]

Car thread guys, car thread. This is all race stuff.

[Vanja #66]

This race just shows that F2012 is ahead when DF on the rear has little to no effect. Of course, we can expect at most 2 races like this rest of the season, but just goes to show that the problem is located and it can be fixed. Alonso announced major updates for Bahrain, China and Barcelona, my guess is that those for Barca will be bigger...

When the track dried out and the car became lighter, problems became horribly apparent, lot of time was lost to Perez. Obviosly, only thing to change was mechanical grip due to lighter car, when aerodynamic grip should have kicked in - nothing. No front suspension, no pixies and fairies, rear-end DF is true and only problem. Anyone stating opposite should really think again.

(5-plates FW is a bad-a** FW! - picture with which this part was associated has been deleted...)

[SiLo]

Apparently the car can heat it's tyres up a lot, giving them good wet weather pace.

Car looked fairly handy in the wet today, handling well, although the last stint shows it still has some fairly large weaknesses in the dry.

[myurr]

I wonder what happened to Alonso in the last stint? Perez so damn faster than him. Is it the wet set-up or he was conserving his tyres or that's the true pace of the Ferrari?

Probably the pace of Ferrari on dry conditions. But Alonso was able to squeeze every sec of that car. Fantastic drive from Alonso.

To a degree it'll be this, but also that Sauber is very gentle on the tyres despite heating them up well. So knowing the end of the race wasn't that far away Perez could really push the tyres where Alonso was having to conserve them until the end.

[bhall]

Not to mention the fact that the F2012 gets worse as it gets lighter.

[Onch]

This race just shows that F2012 is ahead when DF on the rear has little to no effect.
...

Isn't it the opposite?
Rain or not, downforce level vs car speed will remain largely identical. It is the mechanical grip that is affected by the water on the track.

[xpensive]

Not to mention the fact that the F2012 gets worse as it gets lighter.

I find it pretty obvious that today's great win was thanks to Alonso's genius of driving in those monsoon weather conditions,
the latter always the great equalizer of cars, however, I'm afraid the last 20 laps or so revealed the true pace of the F2012.

Unless the climate changes will make it rain for the rest of the season, I believe they still need a new front suspension.

[Lycoming]

No gamble at all. During the red flag, all the car went for wet setup.

Well, just how much they can do on the starting grid? I think maybe they went for a rain setup heading to Q3.

they can play with the wing angles a bit and of course tyres... and I imagine they can alter damper settings a bit. But changing spring or ARB rates isn't really possible as it requires changing the actual parts, and thats not legal, as replacements made during red flag must be with an identical component due to minimum weight regulations.

and of course as mentioned they can change the programming of the electronics, ie. engine maps quite easily.

[bhall]

Not to mention the fact that the F2012 gets worse as it gets lighter.

I find it pretty obvious that today's great win was thanks to Alonso's genius of driving in those monsoon weather conditions [...]

You won't get an argument out of me. Today was all about Scuderia Alonso.

My only hope is that success doesn't cause the team to rest on his laurels.

[amouzouris]

i think that the team will be even more motivated now...championship hopes are still very alive so...thanks to Alonso we might see a new ferrari as a team for the rest of the races...they are gonna push for more upgrades for the car!

[raymondu999]

This race just shows that F2012 is ahead when DF on the rear has little to no effect.
...

Isn't it the opposite?
Rain or not, downforce level vs car speed will remain largely identical. It is the mechanical grip that is affected by the water on the track.

Mech grip all the way. The reduction in mechanical grip is linear; but the downforce loss is closer to an inverse of the square of the speed. Here you go: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8930

[Vanja #66]

Isn't it the opposite?
Rain or not, downforce level vs car speed will remain largely identical. It is the mechanical grip that is affected by the water on the track.

That's the way I see it... With rain, car slows down, hence there is less pressure difference and less DF as a result. With that said, engines rev and are mapped differently , so exhaust gasses have less effect. Therefore, mechanical grip and driver skill are crucial to lap-times.

Of course, mechanical grip is lessened heavily with rain, but that's the way for everyone. However, that grip is a lot more important in these conditions and as I said, just goes to show that the real problem s clearly visible for everybody with common sense - it's the rear-end airflow and the resulting lessened DF...

[motobaleno]

Up and down of F2012 are easy to see looking at it and more important track data confirms what you see

The car has an excellent front air feeding to the diffusor (thanks to the high chassis teatrail design and front pull rod) and INFACT the car performs very well in fast corners.

the car has a poor exhaust gas feed to the diffusor (that presently is active only when you exit a corner) and INFACT the car has poor traction out of the slow corners (the contribution gas/air to the total downforce is of course higher at lower speed)

Due to the aborted original exhaust layout the car has a sidepods design that give excessive aerodrag and INFACT the car has low top speed.

I think that is remarkably easy to individuate the problems of F2012 the hard will be to fix them.