F1 - 2012

goaljnky · Feb 17, 2012

Trulli is out, Petrov is in:

Vitaly Petrov has replaced Jarno Trulli at Caterham, and the Russian will drive the CT01 in the Barcelona test next week.

The move has been rumored for months, but was delayed while the Russian’s funding was confirmed. Trulli drove the new car on the last day of the recent Jerez test, and insisted that he would be racing this year.

The news in effect brings Trulli’s F1 career to an end, as he has no obvious future alternatives. The team has not released details of how his contractual arrangements were terminated. The Italian won the 2004 Monaco GP in a career that stretched from 1997 until last season.

Team boss Tony Fernandes said: “We are all delighted to welcome Vitaly into our team and are very excited about the role he will play in helping us take the next steps forward in 2012 and for many years to come. When we first met, it was immediately clear that Vitaly understands and shares our vision for how we want our team to grow.

“As the first Russian to race in F1, he carries the hopes of a huge nation with ease, and his talents, experience with one of our current competitors, and insights on and off track will play a huge role in our development as we fight to join the established teams ahead.

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank Jarno for the absolutely pivotal role he played in the formation and progression of our team since he joined us in December 2009. Jarno knew that when he joined us it would be a very different environment to where he had been before, and when we gave him the package he wanted, he absolutely shone.

“With that in mind, it was not an easy decision to bring Vitaly in to replace Jarno, but it was one we made to ensure that we give fresh impetus across the whole team and with a realistic eye on the global economic market. Jarno has an incredible natural talent behind the wheel, and his winning record and longevity in the sport will bear testament to that talent in the Formula One annals forever, but now it is time to open a new chapter in our team’s story, and Vitaly is the right person to help us do that.

“We have reached agreement with Jarno to bring an end to our partnership with him, but he will always be part of our family. Now we want to integrate Vitaly as quickly as possible into the team, and we will do everything we can to welcome him in, give him a car he can use to showcase his skills, and keep up the rate of development that has seen us go from an empty factory with just four employees to a fully established Formula One team in just over two years.”

Petrov said: “The passion and spirit that Tony and the whole team have to keep moving forwards is infectious, and I am honored to be able to join them and play my part in helping the team mount a serious challenge to the teams ahead in 2012 and for many seasons to come.

“I have been training hard all winter and am ready to get back into the cockpit and go to work. From what I have seen already, our new car is another good step forward from 2011 and now I cannot wait to see how it feels when we get to Barcelona. I would also like to take this chance to thank all my fans and partners for their support and their patience.”

Trulli was quoted as saying: “From zero we built up and established a solid F1 team. I’m really proud to have been part of it. I understand the decision the team has made and I want to wish to the whole team the very best of luck for the season ahead.”
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ScottinBend · Feb 17, 2012

Money certainly speaks F1...........

minimark · Feb 17, 2012

Steve said: ↑

I don't think the FIA have much to say in the matter of Bernie's employment. If I understand the relationship the only way they could get away from Bernie is to drop their sanctioning of the F1 series and instead sanction another in which his company isn't involved. Even if that happened (and it won't) Bernie and his pals would still own the F1 rights and could carry on much as they do now.

On the other hand, under the current sanctioning situation I think the FIA can decide to pull the Bahrain GP.....
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..if Bernie agrees with them.:goaljnky

Steve · Feb 21, 2012

Uh, oh, trouble for Lotus at the first Barcelona test. First they found a problem and decided they needed to stop running the new chassis and ship the first chassis in to run that for the rest of the week. Then they realized it's a fundamental issue rather than just a problem with one chassis so they decided to drop out of this week's test and go back to the factory.....

Chassis problem ends Lotus' day (GPUpdate.net)

21 February 2012

Lotus F1 has ended its first day of running at the Circuit de Catalunya prematurely, the squad uncovering issues with its second E20 chassis. Having completed just seven laps this morning, Romain Grosjean quickly raised doubts to his engineers before irregularites were found and the decision to stop was made.

"We completed a few aero runs and then started timed runs, but I was very quickly aware that the car wasn't responding as it should," Grosjean explained after stepping out of his 2012 contender.

"It's not ideal to lose track time, but fortunately we will have the chassis which ran perfectly in Jerez so I should get some good track time tomorrow. It's far better that we have an issue like this now rather than in Melbourne.''

Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane confirmed that the team's initial chassis, used during the opening pre-season test at Jerez, is being shipped over this evening.

"This morning was our first shakedown of our second chassis," added Permane. "Once the car was on track it was soon evident that everything wasn't quite as it should be. As a precaution we are returning the chassis to Enstone for further investigation. Chassis E20-01, which we used in Jerez, is being sent over and we expect to be on-track with that chassis tomorrow."

If the Lotus delivery arrives on time and is fitted as planned, Grosjean will return tomorrow before handing over to team-mate Kimi RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen for the final two days.
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Lotus pulls out of test after chassis issues (GPUpdate.net)

21 February 2012

Lotus F1 have pulled out of the first test session at Barcelona after deciding to concentrate on rectifying the issue they found with the chassis during today's outing.

Romain Grosjean managed just seven laps around the Spanish circuit before telling the team the chassis wasn't responding as it should. They spent a long period in the garage working out the problem before notifying everyone via Twitter that they wouldn't be running for the rest of the day.

Technical Director James Allison gave some more information on the problem: â€œBefore we were due to fly chassis E20-01 out to Barcelona in replacement of chassis E20-02 - damaged this morning - we ran a series of simulations at the factory based on the data provided by our brief running on track today," said the Briton.

"As a result, we were able to identify an area which requires some additional work. It will be more productive for us to carry out these modifications to both chassis at Enstone rather than send E20-01 out to this weekâ€™s test. Weâ€™ll put the right measures in place and we will be able to fix the problem before next week.â€

Eric Boullier, Team Principal of Lotus F1 commented on the team's decision: â€œNot running this week has been a tough decision to take, but we feel that our choice is the right one," he said. "On the positive side, we have quickly identified the issue with the chassis and our design office has already devised a solution. We will be present at next weekâ€™s test in Barcelona. We draw faith from the fact that the E20 was quick out of the box in Jerez and showed its reliability there. We have a lot of work ahead of us over the next week but everyone at Enstone is ready for this challenge.â€

Kimi RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen will miss out completely following the team's decision, having been scheduled in for Thursday and Friday. The second, four day test in Barcelona is due to commence on March 1st.
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Steve · Feb 21, 2012

The new Merc finally officially launched today:

Minidave · Feb 21, 2012

Wow, the Merc is a good looking car!

They all have ridiculously complicated front wings, but that aside, the car looks good. Experience says that cars that look right usually are......

Steve · Feb 22, 2012

Low tech airflow test equipment:

FWIW, this is the team that's been advertising to hire a new aerodynamicist.

Zapski · Feb 22, 2012

Steve said: ↑

The new Merc finally officially launched today
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PRETTY!:blush2::crazy::drool

Steve · Feb 25, 2012

We can all breathe easy now, HRT finally passed all the tests. Whew!

HRT passes all Formula 1 crash tests but Barcelona presence not certain (AUTOSPORT.com)

By Pablo Elizalde | Saturday, February 25th 2012, 16:41 GMT

The HRT team has passed all the mandatory FIA crash tests, AUTOSPORT has learned, although its presence at the final Barcelona Formula 1 test is still in doubt.

HRT had hoped to debut its new car - the F112 - in the second test at Barcelona this week, but the failure to pass two crash tests forced the Spanish squad to alter its plans.

AUTOSPORT has learned that on Friday the team passed the final rollhoop test successfully and so its car is now homologated to test and to race.

The team's presence in the final test in Barcelona, however, is still in doubt, as HRT is facing a race against time to have the car ready. A source said the outfit is hopeful of at least testing for two days.

The final test of the 2012 pre-season kicks off on Thursday and ends on Monday.
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Minidave · Feb 25, 2012

Ok, so LAST place on the grid each race has finally been determined.....:devil:

Steve · Feb 26, 2012

My kind of commercial minus that last bit.....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ60HtT4JI8]Sky Sports F1[/ame]

Steve · Feb 27, 2012

That last line haunts every team on the grid other than Red Bull.

Williams admits Newey exit 'a mistake' (crash.net)

Despite expecting better results in 2012, the Williams F1 team acknowledges that losing Adrian Newey was a major error of judgement.

Sir Frank Williams has admitted that his F1 operation has struggled since allowing Adrian Newey to walk away in a disagreement over the latter's involvement in the team.

Although there have been brief peaks since Newey's departure in late 1997, Williams has largely been on a downward spiral since the split, while the renowned designer has become the most successful penman in F1 history after helping to create championship winners for both McLaren and, more recently, Red Bull Racing. Prior to that, he had helped Williams to land drivers' titles with Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

Speaking in the latest edition of F1 Racing magazine, Williams concedes that he made an error of judgement in allowing Newey's talent to slip through his fingers.

"He wanted some shares that I didn't want to give to him at the time," he revealed, "[That] was arguably, with hindsight, a mistake. Adrian is quite a remarkable individual."

Williams' decline reached its nadir in 2011, when the team recorded its worst ever championship performance, ending the season in ninth position with just five points, despite employing the talents of Rubens Barrichello and reigning GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado.

Determined to pull out of the dive in 2012, Williams has allowed the experienced Barrichello to leave, replaced by Bruno Senna, while the technical team has also been overhauled. Although the team has lost former technical directors Patrick Head to retirement and Sam Michael to McLaren, it has picked up Mike Coughlan to fill the role, as well as appointing a new chief operations engineer in Mark Gillan and aerodynamicist Jason Somerville.

"I'm not an engineer but I've seen lots of good cars and lots of bad cars - and ours wasn't quick enough," Williams said of last year's FW33, "It was deficient in most of the areas that matter, but we were completely lacking in the most important one of all, which is aero. And probably a bit of horsepower. It just wasn't a quick car.

"The Renault engine gives us hope. We have three new technical people - one is our technical director, one is chief of aero and one is running the cars. They have different backgrounds coming from three different teams."

Despite the renewed sense of optimism at Grove, however, the loss of the last man to bring championship success to the team still haunts Williams.

"There's still a problem, [and] it's called Adrian Newey," he admitted, "There's only one of him."
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Zapski · Feb 27, 2012

Video not available

Steve · Feb 29, 2012

Rubens makes it official...almost:

Barrichello To Join IndyCar Series (auto-racing.speedtv.com)

Robin Miller | Posted February 28, 2012

SPEED can confirm that Rubens Barrichello will be named to drive for KV Racing in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series in a Thursday press conference in Brazil.

The most experienced driver in Formula One history is starting over again in North America.

SPEED can confirm that Rubens Barrichello will be named to drive for KV Racing in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series in a Thursday press conference in Brazil.

It's believed the 39-year-old veteran will be sponsored by a Brazilian construction company, Brasil Maquinas.

Co-owner Jimmy Vasser didn't not return phone calls and is thought to be flying to Barrichello's homeland for the announcement. Tony Kanaan, who convinced his good friend and countryman to come test an Indy car twice over the past month, did not return a text message inquiring about the sponsorship.

But Barrichello is not having a press conference surrounded by IndyCar people to announce he's not going to race in the IndyCar Series.

An 11-time winner in F1 with 322 starts, the two-time world championship runner-up (2002 and 2004) with Ferrari was not retained by Williams for 2012.

With the chances of competing in his 20th F1 season looking slim, Barrichello flew to KV's shop in Indianapolis last month for a seat fitting and then tested alongside Kanaan at Sebring, Fla.

He also ran last weekend at Sonoma, Calif. where he told SPEED's Marshall Pruett: "I can feel a sense of people wanting me to be here. Altogether, I have a lot of respect for the [IndyCar Series] and want to be a part of it. Hopefully we'll get a final conclusion, but I hope we are in it."

And now he's in it.

Rubens is the biggest name to come to Indy car racing since Nigel Mansell made the move in 1993 after winning the F1 title.
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Steve · Mar 1, 2012

Some have noted Red Bull's nose break vent is pretty small.

I'm wondering though, isn't the opening for that vent on the removable nose side of the break? Seems like one nose assembly might allow more or less of an opening than the next...like it might be somewhat variable, though only adjustable in such a way off track / in the pits.

Zapski · Mar 1, 2012

I don't think all the beaks have the vent in that spot. Looking back at the photos of the Merc and Marussia, it seems they have the vents elsewhere. The Merc looks like it has the vent right at the very tip, and I'm not sure where the Marussia has theirs fitted. Makes it kind of hard to gauge comparative sizes, imo.

Though I agree, it looks very much like a beak-swap could change the aperture quickly.

Zapski · Mar 1, 2012

Nice

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN4tRKdolg4&feature=related]BBC Formula 1 2012 Intro - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Mar 3, 2012

Red Bull arrived at Barcelona today with an update...I think I know where the new bits are bolted on...

Minidave · Mar 3, 2012

I think I see the end of a JATO unit back there...............

Nathan · Mar 4, 2012

Frank Williams - A life in Formula 1

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcPCPID_x2Y]BBC Formula 1 2012 - A life in Formula 1 - Frank Williams - YouTube[/ame]

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