There's a man who's passionate about what he does. Funny how he says "it was more worrying and hard work than it was enjoyable" the year they won their first championship. I'm sure he enjoyed winning it. I figure he means he'd been in it for the outright fun of the racing itself until that year when they knew they had the potential and the fun was replaced by the pursuit of the championship which brought overwhelming pressure to get absolutely everything right all the time.
Red Bull are still trying to keep some secrets. This time they added umbrellas. Speculation says they're trying to hide their new exhaust exit layout and other changes from there to the rear of the car meant to exploit it:
That was my thought too, maybe a little subterfuge to draw attention away from something else... "Don't anyone look back here where all our secrets are hiding!" Whatever it is, they didn't bring it out until the last two days of testing before Melbourne so if they managed to keep any of the subtle details obscured there's almost no way anyone else can understand it much less copy it before the season starts. Ferrari, on the other hand, seem to be struggling, or at least claim to be struggling. They even barred the press from talking to their drivers the last two days of the final test. Nick Fry says he doesn't expect any early podiums.
And now, what we've all been anxiously awaiting, the 2012 HRT finally passed the last crash test and made it out on the track! Woopee. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbVKbdvNkls]Shakedown of the HRT F112 car - YouTube[/ame]
Another long Sky Sports F1 commercial, hopefully this one will stay up for a while. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TJJTTD9jh8]Sky F1 2012 - Are you ready? - YouTube[/ame]
Pirelli has acquired a 2010 Renault R30 to use for its Formula One tire test program this year. The Renault replaces the Toyota TF109, which had previously been used but is now deemed to be too out of date. One of its main drawbacks was that it came from the refueling era and thus had a small tank, which meant that it could not be run with a representative heavy fuel load. The choice of the Renault came after long discussions with the teams, as there as an obvious concern that a team directly involved in the testing could gain an advantage. No driver has been confirmed as yet, but Pirelli said it expects to name one soon.
Spite can be an unfortunate side effect when egos clash. When the press gets the short end of the stick, suddenly there's a bad guy to report about. In this case the guy is right, Ferrari are acting like they usually do when they're worried. The result can be somewhat entertaining though IMO. I love the bit about the press room reaction to Ferrari's Press Officer announcing the drivers wouldn't speak, no interviews, "One of those glorious Mediterranean discussions followed." :lol: Column: Ferrari's current plight (GPUpdate.net)
Oh boy, Bernie has a new idea! It's not as bad as his "add short cuts at every track" plan but there definitely are a couple of gaping holes... Ecclestone reveals 'customer car' plan (GPUpdate.net)
...this might not be a bad idea at all. It would give existing teams a market to sell their old cars to and allow new teams the chance to build a team without the expense of inventing the entire wheel day one... Of course Bernie's going to get more money with more teams too.....but if he's truly feeling philanthropic, he could cut them a three for one deal on the F1 fees....
On the surface it sounds like a good idea to me too, but these comments (lifted from others) make me wonder: One of them had an alternative suggestion:
All good points and if addressed, could the side benefit be that rule changes would become more evolutionary instead of revolutionary as the tend to be now?
I also think it's a bad idea on so many levels..... If you were Red Bull, would you want anyone to have last year's car so they could go over every engineering detail you sweated blood over, for free? That's part of why Renault didn't want Pirellii to have their 2010 car for tire testing, even tho it was woefully "wrong", it still represents a lot of proprietary technology. No, I think there must be another way, and not a spec chassis! Jeez, all we need is another spec series......F1 is getting closer to it every year, and every year the cars are more alike, and the racing goes further downhill, forcing them to adopt changes to make it more of a show. Pitifu, IMHO.
Mercedes have come up with a pretty slick aero aid some are calling the W-Duct. The description is fair but the video is definitely helpful. Don't click away when you get sick of the tedium that runs from about 5:30 to 7:30 -- you will be tempted -- the 7:30+ bit is worth the wait. Mercedes wing innovation called ‘W-duct’ (F1Zone.net) [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ9cFis55xM]Aerodynamic W-Duct - YouTube[/ame]
Ha! Mercedes is running Red livery and Shell sponsorship now? Not to mention that if that's an accurate representation of how THAT car is performing, no wonder they don't think they'll be anywhere near the podium in Australia!
x2 My Dad (who up until last year had never even watched F1) was asking me when the first race is going to be. :lol: