Ferrari F2012 Development News Thread

[Butterfly]

The car is conservative. That doesn't mean that it is not pretty, but it seems to me like they took the F150 route. Conservative, nice looking car, just an evelution of the previous model (in this it's closer to the 2010 car). It may cost them dearly.

OMG, you are so right about that. Yeah, I have a bad feeling about the new MP4-27, reminds me of the F150 from last year.

But they may have had no choice about this, having fought right to the end of last year because they "hate to not win" - Martin's quote.

[Butterfly]

I don't think it's conservative at all, i think it's a beautiful car. That chrome color is very deceiving, the car has a nice flow to it imo.

Are you trying to say its painting is nice looking? Agreed, but air doesn't give a damn about it.

[FrankAlfa]

The real gain in downforce lies in the Floor and Undertray which is the area Ferrari have worked very hard on with Rory Byrne. The other greatly developed aspect of the new Ferrari will be the New KERS, Cooling and Braking Systems to allow smaller Sidepods to allow a greater usage of the air in & around the race car to generate downforce + much smaller & lighter Magneti-Marelli KERS for better weight balance. WE also know that the Suspension on the new Ferrari will follow the currently best route allowing maximum air flow & grip. The nose is the area I am most interested in??? Will the flexing wing and different plane elements we saw late last year be a much bigger part of the solution at the front end where grip was most lacking last year??? We know they have an exceptional tire man on board to get the most out of the tires which was the major short coming of last years race car.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[Butterfly]

The real gain in downforce lies in the Floor and Undertray which is the area Ferrari have worked very hard on with Rory Byrne. The other greatly developed aspect of the new Ferrari will be the New KERS, Cooling and Braking Systems to allow smaller Sidepods to allow a greater usage of the air in & around the race car to generate downforce + much smaller & lighter Magneti-Marelli KERS for better weight balance. WE also know that the Suspension on the new Ferrari will follow the currently best route allowing maximum air flow & grip. The nose is the area I am most interested in??? Will the flexing wing and different plane elements we saw late last year be a much bigger part of the solution at the front end where grip was most lacking last year??? We know they have an exceptional tire man on board to get the most out of the tires which was the major short coming of last years race car.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

Yes, all that is true, but, given the current restrictions, having a tight bodywork and very few holes in it could be quite important.

[Chicane]

I honestly think that this mclaren that was just unveiled will be completely different when they will run it in australia i think this guys are hiding something i looks so ordinary

[FrankAlfa]

Yes, The body work is as tight as possible but the flow of air in and about the front and sides are and area to draw downforce from both "passively" and "actively". Where you look to draw air from and where you choose to exit air is the whole equation. What load points of the race car you choose to load are very improtant and how you do it in the least drag hampering way possible is the goal. The Active and Passive means to gain downforce is the key. Things like the mechanical grip are in direct unison with the suspension configuration and the interaction of tire grip & tire temperature which all allow the race car to corner better. Straightline speed is a function of Reduced Drag which in turn is a result of air friction over and through the race car's entire chassis.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[Butterfly]

I honestly think that this mclaren that was just unveiled will be completely different when they will run it in australia i think this guys are hiding something i looks so ordinary

They over-developed last year's car and didn't have enough time for the 27, unlike Ferrari who have been working on the 2012 model since april/may last year.

This McLaren is conservative, I don't care what the PR people say.

[anakin]

that's what i noticed when i saw the images. its not ugly, beautiful car, VERY NEAT, it reminds me of the 150-italia. the mp4-26 looks even more aggressive than this one. although the exhaust looks deceiving but who know that mclaren is just not showing all of their cards until the testing period or the first race. and to the interviews with the directors, they sounded like they are not yet confident about their car for the early part of the season. but with the ferrari preview, the f2012 looks far ahead

[scuderiafan]

i dont think we have to worry too much with the Ferrari nose. the Caterhams is bad, but with all due respect to caterham, Ferrari is a much better team with better facilities, like McLaren, and maybe they have worked around a new solution, like what McLaren have done?

[Chicane]

i think the nose will be very interestingly to see for the f2012..

[Chicane]

exhaust looks deceiving but who know that mclaren is just not showing all of their cards until the testing period or the first race. and to the interviews with the directors, they sounded like they are not yet confident about their car for the early part of the season. but with the ferrari preview, the f2012 looks far ahead[/QUOTE]

indeed the exhaust looks very deceiving..we cant undestimate maclaren for sure theres something special lurking somewhere with that new car.. but hopefully ferrari has the Best One..

[Bonjers]

The McLaren would be beautiful without the hideous, brash chrome colour scheme.

[Butterfly]

i think the nose will be very interestingly to see for the f2012..

I heard Ferrari have pull-rod suspension at the front, which would require a very low front section/nose. If that's the case, then there will be no hump present.

[Butterfly]

The McLaren would be beautiful without the hideous, brash chrome colour scheme.

Funny, the McLaren kind of looks like a tank to me. Very sturdy, chromed, big fat wheels.

[anakin]

stefano even stated that ferrari knows that opposing teams will not show the potential of their car in the testing period. maybe they are also thinking to do it. ferrari might not also show the fully developed car at the launch(feb03) the top team are trying not to show their card yet. i think ferrari will try to surprise them with their quickness at the last testing or the first practice in australia.

[Butterfly]

stefano even stated that ferrari knows that opposing teams will not show the potential of their car in the testing period. maybe they are also thinking to do it. ferrari might not also show the fully developed car at the launch(feb03) the top team are trying not to show their card yet. i think ferrari will try to surprise them with their quickness at the last testing or the first practice in australia.

Well, the new Ferrari will have the F150 wings at launch, Ferrari said so. That's the sensible thing to do given that wings change all the time, but the chassis doesn't.

Seeing how the McLaren has new front and back wings, I reckon that's what they've developed so far, otherwise they would have used last year's wings at launch.

[Nova]

We saw what happened in testing last year, so Im not taking much from tests. Its possible that we may see a few different nose
designs in the weeks prior to the start of the season.

F1technical.net gets into all of these different designs..very interesting site if you are into the tech side of things.

[anakin]

i heard that ferrari already called FIA. maybe its about the legality of the exhaust

[FrankAlfa]

There is a specific height requirement for the exit of the exhaust. The McLaren location certainly does NOT meet that requirement if those are the Exhaust Pipes. The rule was made clearly to remove the exhaust from acting "Directly" upon the Diffuser in a direct exhaust air influence manner. One must see if the openings in the bodywork are the actual Exhaust Outlet pipes or are they an area to just channel hot air from under the rear bodywork??? It may be acceptable to enclose the Exhaust fully under the rear body work and let it mingle with the hot engine air in the rear bodywork then allow it to exit and any location you want. I think the rule regarding the exhaust termination location has to be looked at.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[anakin]

the exhaust looks really low

[f300v10]

There is a specific height requirement for the exit of the exhaust. The McLaren location certainly does NOT meet that requirement if those are the Exhaust Pipes. The rule was made clearly to remove the exhaust from acting "Directly" upon the Diffuser in a direct exhaust air influence manner. One must see if the openings in the bodywork are the actual Exhaust Outlet pipes or are they an area to just channel hot air from under the rear bodywork??? It may be acceptable to enclose the Exhaust fully under the rear body work and let it mingle with the hot engine air in the rear bodywork then allow it to exit and any location you want. I think the rule regarding the exhaust termination location has to be looked at.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

The position and angle of the exhaust allowed in 2012 is well documented here:

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/1...blown-effects/

I see nothing from exhaust of the MP4-27 that looks out of spec. The exit appears within the defined area, as well as within the allowed angle.

[anakin]

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/2012/0/925.html

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/2012/0/926.html

[FrankAlfa]

In reading the scarbsf1 review and explaination of the permissible location of the exhaust it apprears that the McLaren is within the envelope area that meets the rule mandate. The distance from the exhaust pipe to the Rear Wing is certainly also an issue of measure that appears to be defined by the rule as well. I thought they moved the exit location of the exhaust much higher to take it far from influencing the diffuser and rear wing elements.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[F1NAC]

This year F2012 will wear OZ wheels not BBS like before :)

[Fiondella]

So are we going to get a prancing horse or prancing ass?

[scuderiafan]

So are we going to get a prancing horse or prancing ass?

Looking forward to the Ferrari launch on Friday now. SSN will be there too. Wonder what their nose will be like?

http://twitter.com/rachelbrookestv

[Naeem]

Nice job by McLaren though i do feel it's underdeveloped. At this stage though they do want to keep as much as possible under wraps.

They don't have a humpback whale for nose design which is pleasant to the eye but it makes me wonder if they're compromising on air flow to the underfloor area.

The new Caterham was only launched online. I have an odd feeling that their pics were photoshopped to throw other teams of the scent. Surely their car can't really be that butt ugly.

I'm dreading Ferrari coming out with a similar design hence why i'm advocating the cater ham conspiracy theory.

[FrankAlfa]

OK, so the height, angle and the exposed shape & length of the exhaust are all defined in the technical rules. The angle of the exhaust seem to be the most critical in blowing process of the rear elements. It does appear to be a limiting factor.

Ciao.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

[Ferrari_Fanatic]

scarbs said the exhaust from what he saw was legal

[Forza 27]

Yes, the exhausts on McL are leagal by Scarbs. The Mclaren has neet design and the sape of engine cover is the consecuence of packaging thir internal components. The side pod areas has nice udercut probably to deal with some air vortexes. The design of front end is the way it is because they decided to have lower AA section and lower suspension mountings (If ferrari will have pull rod this will be even lower and have high curve under) they also gaing a bit lower CofG.

They have old snow plough front wing and the new one could be evolution of this because it's designed to work withlower nose. Although this was the show model you can see that they get rid of some cooling intakes probably with repositioning of cooling vents for kers batteries and kers pcu. The pull rod suspenison has a different geometry from last year which is logical beacse they cealnned the area arround gearbox and crash structure and the exhaust system is diffrent from last year. Rear wing is evolution that seeks less drag for more downoforce. Tim Goss said they will test more exhaust solutions. The floor and diffussor of the is a mystery because this is only show car. Last year they had compromised rear end CofG because the original exhaust output was the "octopus". Scrabs mentioned that last year when cars were in parc ferme they all have the identical rake (rb,mcl,sf) so don't expect any gains on that one. The wheel base should be shorter but who can tell for sure only by pictures (even if you do some clever drawing using the tech rules and scales).

Button mentioned that they were good in slow corner last year and that the new car feels good at high speed corners in the simulator. They probably tried to improved mechanical grip and tyre wear but we don't know yet. All I'm reading on forums and sites are comments about aero shape and performance there are not so much to say about how good the car is mechanical and also nobody can say for sure where is the downoforce centre

When Caterham was out people were surprised because of their design path with nose and narrow sidepods but I just see it as consequence of their design philosophy. They are new team and have more to gain in this area (and they internal components are influenced by RB and Renault package).Mclaren is well established team with more experience so they have smaller gains visable at first sight but teh stop watch will show if ther car did improve.