Bahrain testing 19-22 Feb

[Hornet]

Interesting place for extra cooling. Wouldn't that reduce the airflow that goes around the sidepod, which is what the high bulkhead and various ugly nose design aims to increase.

[Jas]

VERY CLEVER MERCADES>>>>EXPOLITATION OF THE STARTER HOLE: WORTH A READ: http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/vi...er_motor_hole/

[Jas]

Attempting to further close loopholes in the regulations, the FIA have removed the possibility for teams to gain a substantial aerodynamic benefit from the starter motor hole in the diffuser. A first regulation change in this area was implemented back in 2010 after teams started to create unusually shaped starters, allowing them to make a larger starter hole in the diffuser, and thereby extract more performance from it. Back then, the FIA stepped in, allowing the hole to be no larger than 3500mm². Any other part of the diffuser had to be a continuous shape, a result of the earlier ban on double diffusers.

It has now become clear that further measures were taken by scrapping the starter hole completely, requiring teams to either design a flap in the diffuser that would close itself, or otherwise leave an opening that is not visible from underneath the car or further than 350mm behind the rear wheel centre line. Clearly, most teams have gone for a flap, often metallic, as in Williams' case, enabling the starter engine to still reach the gearbox while complying with the rules in all other situations.

Mercedes on the other hand opted to create a U-shape in the centre of the diffuser. Obviously this still allows airflow through this gap and enhance the diffuser, but the effect is likely to be much less interesting than with the start holes of 2013 and before. In fact, the central starter hole was one of the main reasons why Red Bull's Adrian Newey designed tunnels underneath the RB9's exhaust ramps, as the ramps would otherwise block airflow towards the critical central part of the diffuser.

Note: even though there used to be a regulation proposal to enable F1 cars to start themselves by using the electrical energy stored in the ERS system, the rule was later dropped, requiring the use of a starter motor that brings the crankshaft up to speed before firing up the engine.

PICTURES IN THE LINK ABOVE!

[mark p]

Interesting place for extra cooling. Wouldn't that reduce the airflow that goes around the sidepod, which is what the high bulkhead and various ugly nose design aims to increase.

Remember the 2012 RB nose step design creating a roll of air to smooth air over the nose and help attachment? Could Ferrari use this principle at the spliter but to divert air horizontally in either direction aiding flow round the sidepods and aiding more consistent flow attachment round the sidepods?

[Hornet]

Thanks for sharing. Been wondering why Merc diffuser have that strange U shape

[Jas]

Thanks for sharing. Been wondering why Merc diffuser have that strange U shape

No problem!

[Hornet]

Remember the 2012 RB nose step design creating a roll of air to smooth air over the nose and help attachment? Could Ferrari use this principle at the spliter but to divert air horizontally in either direction aiding flow round the sidepods and aiding more consistent flow attachment round the sidepods?

That's an interesting idea That would require having an outlet to release the air, so we should look out for any unusual hole somewhere

[Avantifer12]

Something is certainly going on at the front of the Ferrari. Look at the two (metal?) pieces mounted behind the FW pylons. Ballast? Really weird looking stuff there.

http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads...3063865.91.jpg

[mark p]

Something is certainly going on at the front of the Ferrari. Look at the two (metal?) pieces mounted behind the FW pylons. Ballast? Really weird looking stuff there.

http://www.formule1.nl/media/uploads...3063865.91.jpg

They look like sensors not a part but they are doing something at the front or why the sensors? Is this opening on the splitter helping to pull more air through and they are measuring increased air speed under the nose tip?

[Senna4Ever]

2 small opening

regarding "and this?"

Haters and bashers already know: of course these are indication LEDs on Kimis car to show on which side Fernando wants to pass
Others say these are just two markers if Kimi had a hard night before to find the middle in the case he sees two ...

[PURE PASSION]

regarding "and this?"

Haters and bashers already know: of course these are indication LEDs on Kimis car to show on which side Fernando wants to pass
Others say these are just two markers if Kimi had a hard night before to find the middle in the case he sees two ...

Or they are winning celebration lights!!

[Majki2111]

Just watched video autosport had posted and somebody said Ferrari was hard to drive...

[Ste]

Just watched video autosport had posted and somebody said Ferrari was hard to drive...

They know, because they're driving it of course.

[Rishu]

Just watched video autosport had posted and somebody said Ferrari was hard to drive...

Don't worry as long as that somebody is not Fernando or Kimi

[Majki2111]

Don't worry as long as that somebody is not Fernando or Kimi

I know that, but it doesn't sounds good that car is oversteering in the exit of slow corner. Lacking downforce because of the basic aero package ? Maybe the last test will sort things out? Does anybody know what is the objective/program for today? Is Ferrari alreeady testing performance 'cause if is, than things don't look good.

[mark p]

Just watched video autosport had posted and somebody said Ferrari was hard to drive...

Sensationalism based on historic issues of last few years. If RB or Merc slide nothing is said Ferrari slides and it is hard to drive.

Last year RB showed nothing pre season but everyone said they would be best based on historic performance of previous 4 years. On testing alone they showed not a lot. No doubt Merc look very strong but I think Ferrari are going about setting strong foundations on which to build performance on.

1st races are about finishing then performance will improve on a steady basis. This sounds like the plan from interviews and what has been seen so far. Fingers crossed. Seems a good game plan.

[rico]

Don't worry as long as that somebody is not Fernando or Kimi

Well according to the video Ferrari was tricky to drive and moving around... So it was not just a reader's opinion. We are not doing any long runs because we still try to find a proper set-up. Anyway, it seems Rosberg is doing another race simulation.

[Majki2111]

Anyway not so much to cheer about. Few seconds off the pace. Already started performance testing... Only thing to cheer is one situation where Alonso backed off when he could have been faster than Magnussen and top speed. Alonso was fastest...

[fronaldo]

Why so much negative news today?

[Majki2111]

Ferrari confirming on twitter that is set-up work today, so not looking good IMO.

[anialonso]

Some Good News...!!!

BBC 5 live pit-lane reporter Jennie Gow:
"Ferrari have generally run reliably in pre-season testing so far but they hit problems with Kimi Raikkonen on Friday. They owned up to a failure of the 'data connection with the telemetry', but there were other issues too. Watching from trackside, an engineer from a rival team said fuel was getting into the exhaust on both the works car and the Ferrari-engined Sauber, causing it to misfire. It is a new problem - it was not happening at the first test in Jerez.

"Engineering director Pat Fry said after running on Friday that Ferrari's problems were 'small issues' that took a long time to solve because of the complexity of the cars. And he sounded confident about reliability: 'If you were to say we had to go and do a race distance tomorrow, I don't think it would be a problem.' He added that there were no major upgrades at this test, just parts they were trying to check the correlation between track and wind tunnel."

[fronaldo]

Why not looking good?

[anialonso]

Ferrari confirming on twitter that is set-up work today, so not looking good IMO.

whats not looking good..??

[Majki2111]

Some Good News...!!!

So waiting for confirmation on Jerez news...

whats not looking good..??

Trackside view of behaving of the car in the exits of slow corners, those little issues and the dime difference when Ferrari already started set-up work.

[Rosso Corsa]

The two triangles on the top of the nose. I think they're just part of a new design of the panel used to access the brake and gas pedals.

[Forzi]

Glenn Freeman (Autosport news editor) talking about Ferrari, he said that when he was watching trackside the car was "moving around so much compared to, say, a Williams or a Mercedes".

Not sure what to think. It's way too early, and he's no expert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aflurrK5LcI

[Majki2111]

Glenn Freeman (Autosport news editor) talking about Ferrari, he said that when he was watching trackside the car was "moving around so much compared to, say, a Williams or a Mercedes".

Not sure what to think. It's way too early, and he's no expert.

You don't need to be expert to compare cars behaviour... Fingers crossed for aero update to improve things.

[tifosi1993]

I am not that worried about this handling issues right now. Basically, they are running a Monza style FW in a high DF track like Bahrain, also the overall aero package is pretty basic. Thats why the car looks twitchy on track.

[Forzi]

Must admit, haven't really heard from anyone anything good OR bad about the Ferrari on track. Been rather quiet hasn't it? We seem to be on top of reliability and we got a good lap count. Let's just hope things get sorted.

[Majki2111]

I am not that worried about this handling issues right now. Basically, they are running a Monza style FW in a high DF track like Bahrain, also the overall aero package is pretty basic. Thats why the car looks twitchy on track.

It seems logical. Hoping you are right.