Ferrari F2012

[Gerhard Berger]

Dont you think they could bring something for Sepang?

Well they are working on a complete redesign of the rear end of their car, starting from sidepods to the exhaust. And that will require a little bit of time to come up with. Hence as Fry said, they will test the new package in May and it'll be a completely new chassis, which will have to go through the crash test also.

Hence you may not see any major update before that, and even if you see it'll all be tiny bits.

Unfortunately the championship will be gone by then.

[n_anirudh]

Looks like the gurney is a bit higher closer to the endplates?

two strakes are around the V-Power while the third is near the AMD logo

[NathanOlder]

after todays race, i still think it will be the worse year for a long time. Was it 93? the last time ferrari didnt win a race ?

[FakeAlonso]

Dont you think they could bring something for Sepang?

Well they are working on a complete redesign of the rear end of their car, starting from sidepods to the exhaust. And that will require a little bit of time to come up with. Hence as Fry said, they will test the new package in May and it'll be a completely new chassis, which will have to go through the crash test also.

Hence you may not see any major update before that, and even if you see it'll all be tiny bits.

I know that but May is a long way. Cant they work on small updates to gain some performance or trying to get rid of the ugly acer ducts so maybe they find some more down-force. The car was better with heavy fuel but when the car was getting light the tires were paying the price of lack of down-force and deteriorating fast.

[ing]

Agree with other posts about the unusual front suspension on the Ferrari. It looks like the front roll-center must be really high. That's pretty sure to cause understeer on pitch due to acceleration, and poor stability over bumpy corners. From tracking road cars, its normal to aim to get the wishbone parallel to the ground to help the front end to grip on the exit of corners. I guess their designers would know that already though.

It seems like only McLaren have used a classical design for the front end geometry. I wonder if this might be part of the reason their cars look better behaved.

McLaren did go with a more classical approach, probably to maintain a more "sane" geometry. Crucial_X post on the subject:

viewtopic.php?p=303049&sid=cd830c632282 ... ff#p303049

Thing about the F2012 is it's so extreme - the most extreme ever, probably. In the past, Ferrari were always conservative in terms of suspension geometry, but now it's like they sacrificed all common sense on the altar of aero.

Besides the jacking effect and high roll center (probably needing to balance with higher anti-roll rate at the back) is the disparity of roll center heights front to back (hence the balance issues maybe) and the likely reduction of camber gain.

[xpensive]

Agree with other posts about the unusual front suspension on the Ferrari. It looks like the front roll-center must be really high. That's pretty sure to cause understeer on pitch due to acceleration, and poor stability over bumpy corners. From tracking road cars, its normal to aim to get the wishbone parallel to the ground to help the front end to grip on the exit of corners. I guess their designers would know that already though.

It seems like only McLaren have used a classical design for the front end geometry. I wonder if this might be part of the reason their cars look better behaved.

If it's true that Ferrari is working on a virtually new chassis to debut in month of May, I'm rather certain that we will see a new front suspension, the current geometry simply doesn't look right, as un-engineerish as that might read.

[Forza Ferrari]

I just noticed on the Ferrari website that alonso is using chassis n°295 and massa n°293...
Do you think this might explain the huge gap between the two drivers' pace?

Could it be that massa has only an old version of the car and that nando uses an updated car, perhaps because they didnt have time to produce new parts for both cars?

another possibility would be that massa's car is fitted with experimental parts, in order to carry on the assessment of what is needed, come the first european races?

[Lca1443]

I just noticed on the Ferrari website that alonso is using chassis n°295 and massa n°293...
Do you think this might explain the huge gap between the two drivers' pace?

Could it be that massa has only an old version of the car and that nando uses an updated car, perhaps because they didnt have time to produce new parts for both cars?

another possibility would be that massa's car is fitted with experimental parts, in order to carry on the assessment of what is needed, come the first european races?

It could also be that Alonso is twice as good of a driver than Massa.

[Forza Ferrari]

I just noticed on the Ferrari website that alonso is using chassis n°295 and massa n°293...
Do you think this might explain the huge gap between the two drivers' pace?

Could it be that massa has only an old version of the car and that nando uses an updated car, perhaps because they didnt have time to produce new parts for both cars?

another possibility would be that massa's car is fitted with experimental parts, in order to carry on the assessment of what is needed, come the first european races?

It could also be that Alonso is twice as good of a driver than Massa.

That's for sure! But I guess there's also a mechanical explanation to it

[siskue2005]

I just noticed on the Ferrari website that alonso is using chassis n°295 and massa n°293...
Do you think this might explain the huge gap between the two drivers' pace?

Could it be that massa has only an old version of the car and that nando uses an updated car, perhaps because they didnt have time to produce new parts for both cars?

another possibility would be that massa's car is fitted with experimental parts, in order to carry on the assessment of what is needed, come the first european races?

It could also be that Alonso is twice as good of a driver than Massa.

Its more like Massa got twice as bad after 2009 accident

[Pierce89]

I consider myself a Ferrari fan before an Alonso fan,but the team has let him down. Only Alonso's monstrous talent salvaged any semblance of a decent race.

[amouzouris]

guys....they CAN close the gap...they are about a second behind in qualy...and 0.7-0.7 seconds on race pace...last year it was almost two seconds and they managed to close the gap by silverstone!! have a little faith in Ferrari...

[Nando]

Red Bull was 0.7s of The Mclaren´s in Qual so Ferrari being another 3 tenths behind is definitely not the end of the world.

So they will re-design the rear end? To gain more downforce at the rear?
...

[bhall]

[...] have a little faith in Ferrari...

A little faith in Ferrari is all I have at this point.

My fear now is that today's result will lead to a false interpretation that the car is more capable than it really is.

[amouzouris]

Red Bull was 0.7s of The Mclaren´s in Qual so Ferrari being another 3 tenths behind is definitely not the end of the world.

So they will re-design the rear end? To gain more downforce at the rear?
...

probably a major rear end redesign!! what i am expecting to see probably...is something like a hybrid between the acer ducts and mclaren's bulge...ferrari is only using the downwash from above the sidepods to deflect the exhaust...that's what i think is wrong...nothing to do with the acer ducts being where they are..they are not using the coanda effect... so at low speed the plume doesnt go where they want it to...they will probably modify the acer ducts to house the exhaust the way mclaren do it..but where as mclaren's bulge is an enclosed section..i'm expecting to see the rear of the bulge open which will be the radiator exit as the acer ducts are ferrari's main hot air outlet..

what do u guys think??