Ferrari F2012

[Hail22]

Have a look at the photo Owen posted, I had a sneaking suspicion they were going to put a sensor on the pull rod suspension to possibly test "Vibrations" you can clearly see the sensor stripe on the wishbone.

Why do i feel this car is 80% sandbagged? those softs look fairly well weared out compared to last year.

How many laps have they ran on those tires?

One can only assume however compared to the F150 its a vast improvement as in Melbourne after 4 laps in Q2 the rears showed signs of tread loss (mainly rear) as the car struggled to find grip.

[Mr Alcatraz]

If true, I'm quite content at this point with F2012's appetite for tires. The 150 and F10 treated them too much like eggs, and their qualifying pace suffered badly because of it.

Agreed. The wanted to be able to 'switch on' the tires for qualifying which it appears the car does very well now. But it may be too well as their lap times immediately take a 1.000+ tumble after that first lap.

+1
Just look at every stint how quickly the tires fall off as suggested by discernibly slower lap times during the stints duration, and the disparity between each lap is unacceptable. It is not unmanageable and it is only egregious on the fronts or so I have heard.

http://f1tests.co.cc/2012.php
I think this is something they will be able to fine tune, and dial out without sacrificing race pace. I hope
On the flip side Ferrari should be a good prime tire car, and who knows, they may be able to avoid their biggest shortcoming of last season, which is being road-kill in the last stint at the end of the race when they have to run hard compounds.

[CHT]

Have a look at the photo Owen posted, I had a sneaking suspicion they were going to put a sensor on the pull rod suspension to possibly test "Vibrations" you can clearly see the sensor stripe on the wishbone.

Why do i feel this car is 80% sandbagged? those softs look fairly well weared out compared to last year.

How many laps have they ran on those tires?

One can only assume however compared to the F150 its a vast improvement as in Melbourne after 4 laps in Q2 the rears showed signs of tread loss (mainly rear) as the car struggled to find grip.

Is pirelli using the same tyre compound for this year?
Are they running with the same fuel load same tyre?
What is the difference in track condition?
track surface, different type of corners?
How many lap did they do on those tyres?

[Hail22]

Is pirelli using the same tyre compound for this year?
Are they running with the same fuel load same tyre?
What is the difference in track condition?
track surface, different type of corners?
How many lap did they do on those tyres?

Pirelli have released new compounds two weeks before the first test so here we go

Is Pirelli using the same compound: Only the super soft and softs are the same, however the medium compound and hard compound have been changed to alter the gap from the once hypothsized (800 tenths slower than the soft) to 600 now, and 600 from Mediums to Soft comparison to 400. (Refer to Pirelli press release search via autosport or google).

Fuel Load: Due to the competitiveness of the field no team will release figures for fuel loads, but lets be realy FP1 at many Grand prixs during data Collection Ferrari had understeer issues through the nose and severe tyre degredation and poor tyre management and maintaining heat (mainly medium and hard tyres).

Last time i believe Catalunya was rated as a Medium compound/Soft for the 2011 season hence why most teams are using Medium/Softs due to surface density (save Force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber).

Laps: Autospring mentioned that the Soft laps for Ferrari were minor i'm assuming to test how harsh the car may be on them when "activated" so we won't know the exact figures which frustrates me as an enthusiast.

lastly Its important to commend Ferrari and Force India that they have both fixed a similar gremlin which was activating tyres, in my own humble opinion once you master grip you can "tune it down" to be more generous and sensitive to tyre wear, this helps both these teams progress on Data collection, aero testing as per normal.

Pirelli new profile and updated tyre compounds [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykU8M2-h5Jk[/youtube]

[CHT]

Is pirelli using the same tyre compound for this year?
Are they running with the same fuel load same tyre?
What is the difference in track condition?
track surface, different type of corners?
How many lap did they do on those tyres?

Pirelli have released new compounds two weeks before the first test so here we go

Is Pirelli using the same compound: Only the super soft and softs are the same, however the medium compound and hard compound have been changed to alter the gap from the once hypothsized (800 tenths slower than the soft) to 600 now, and 600 from Mediums to Soft comparison to 400. (Refer to Pirelli press release search via autosport or google).

Fuel Load: Due to the competitiveness of the field no team will release figures for fuel loads, but lets be realy FP1 at many Grand prixs during data Collection Ferrari had understeer issues through the nose and severe tyre degredation and poor tyre management and maintaining heat (mainly medium and hard tyres).

Last time i believe Catalunya was rated as a Medium compound/Soft for the 2011 season hence why most teams are using Medium/Softs due to surface density (save Force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber).

Laps: Autospring mentioned that the Soft laps for Ferrari were minor i'm assuming to test how harsh the car may be on them when "activated" so we won't know the exact figures which frustrates me as an enthusiast.

lastly Its important to commend Ferrari and Force India that they have both fixed a similar gremlin which was activating tyres, in my own humble opinion once you master grip you can "tune it down" to be more generous and sensitive to tyre wear, this helps both these teams progress on Data collection, aero testing as per normal.

i still have no clue how you could tell from a photo that the tyre wear on F2012 is better than F150. I am not saying you are wrong, but there are just too many unknown parameters to make such a call.

[Hail22]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYkTqz_k2w[/youtube]

Temperature during this lap was 21 centregrade (I was there).

As you can tell this is the start of his qualifying lap, several times of understeer and fighting his steering wheel to keep his car pointing straight and this was with Soft compound tyres.

Anyways an hour and forty five minutes til the next session, Massa will be in control and hope to God that i can scrumage some tyre information for you its hard to find a reliable source about Tyre choice, fuel weight "theory craft/guessing".

[Mr.G]

Mechanical problem for Ferrari, they hope they can get out for a lap before lunch

[Crucial_Xtreme]

ooops....

[Mr.G]

Little bit OT - how it is with KERS in qualification? Do they use it like DRS when they want and where thye want? Or did they only have 6s per lap?

I wonder because I'm not sure, but if in qualification they are limited and here in tests not, then can also gain a lot of time with that.

[Ceki]

6s per every lap, including qualify lap for KERS
DRS are using wherever they want in Q, in race on DRS line(s)if they are in 1s from driver ahead

[Mr.G]

Thanks, it's like I assume. So lap times in test are absolutly useless if you can use KERS after each time you charge it up

[raymondu999]

It's the same rule for KERS in testing I think

[Mr.G]

I think there no rules in testing, they can run ilegal parts and not use KERS?

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Overhead of the new exhaust. Right click>view image

[vantage]