F1 - 2012

Steve · Jan 11, 2012

Their innovative exhaust system backfired on them last year...let's see how this one goes...

Lotus's rivals set to be forced to copy innovative reactive ride height system (autosport.com)

By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, January 11th 2012, 14:01 GMT

Lotus's rivals look set to be forced to copy its innovative reactive ride height system ahead of the 2012 season, with the FIA happy the concept is totally legal.

There has been much intrigue in recent days about the mechanism that Lotus was reported to have tried out at the Abu Dhabi young driver test last year.

The mechanical system helps maintain a standard ride height during braking - when often the front of the car would dip down.

Rivals teams are understood to have looked into the system and its legality over recent days - with a report in Gazzetta dello Sport this week suggesting it was driver adjusted by the use of a pedal in the cockpit.

However, if the drivers were changing the ride height of the cars under braking then that would be a breach of the rules.

Article 3.15 of the F1 Technical Regulations states: "With the exception of the parts necessary for the adjustment described in Article 3.18 [the DRS], any car system, device or procedure which uses driver movement as a means of altering the aerodynamic characteristics of the car is prohibited."

AUTOSPORT can reveal, however, that the adjustment to the ride height - which improves aerodynamic performance and stability on the Lotus under braking - does not come from the driver.

Instead it is reactive to brake torque and is linked directly to the suspension - so cannot be classified as a moveable aerodynamic device in the way that independent mass dampers were.

The fact that the driver is not involved, and that the system is a part of the suspension, means it complies fully with the F1 regulations.

AUTOSPORT understands that Lotus has been in liaison with the FIA throughout the development of the brake system, having first been proposed in 2010 and been given an official green light by the governing as long ago as January last year.

With the FIA happy that the brake system is legal, it means that its main rivals will now have to propose their own systems to the governing body if they want to adopt such a concept for the forthcoming season.

AUTOSPORT also understands that at least one front-running team has already submitted plans for a similar ride-height adjustment device to be used in 2012.
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farkus · Jan 12, 2012

ah geez, Grace...Robert Kubica re-broke his leg. :mad2:

Robert Kubica has broken his right leg in a fall in Italy, the same leg he had broken in his rally accident last February.

Reports claim that Kubica slipped on an icy road close to his home in Pietrasanta and was taken to hospital in nearby Viareggio where x-rays showed that he had reopened the fracture in his right tibia sustained in last year's crash.
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minimark · Jan 12, 2012

Dang.....very sad news.

Steve · Jan 13, 2012

Oh man, that guy can't catch a break can he? (pun intended)

Steve · Jan 13, 2012

Wish I could find a pic of this thing...

'Ugly' Ferrari fails FIA test (crash.net)

Reports claim that Ferrari will need a second shot at passing the mandatory FIA crash test that will allow it to take part in pre-season testing.

Ferrari's efforts to supplant Red Bull at the top of the F1 tree may have suffered a temporary setback amid reports that its 2012 car failed the mandatory FIA crash test.

Several sources, led by Finland's Turun Sanomat and Eurosport, claimed that the car - currently carrying the factory number 663 - was submitted for testing several weeks ago, but had to reworked with additional structural reinforcement, before it could be returned for a second attempt in the coming week. Under revised 2012 regulations, all cars have to have passed the stringent assessment before being allowed to take part in pre-season testing, something that both Caterham and Force India have managed to do.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has already warned Ferrari fans not to expect an attractive car this season, as the Scuderia attempts to produce a machine capable of closing the gap to Red Bull and McLaren.

â€œIt's definitely different, because it represents a clear break with the past in terms of the design philosophy," he commented at this week's Wroom media event in Italy, "It's not that pretty, because the shape defined by the technical regulations does not leave much scope, but, and this is what counts really, our hopes are that it is at the very least quick!â€

â€œI asked our engineers, as far back as last summer to look into every little nook and cranny of the rules to push it to the limit, but up until we see the other cars we will not know if we have taken it to the limit or are within it. To really understand the hierarchy, we will have to wait for qualifying in Melbourne.â€
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Steve · Jan 16, 2012

Robert Kubica leaves hospital after leg surgery (autosport.com)

By Jonathan Noble and Michele Lostia | Monday, January 16th 2012, 12:52 GMT

Robert Kubica has returned to his home in Monaco to continue rehabilitation, following the latest operation required after a fall that injured his leg last week.

Kubica reopened a fracture in his right tibia, originally broken in his horrific rally crash last year, when he fell near an apartment he was staying at in Viareggio in Italy.

Medical tests on the leg at Mantova Hospital showed that the calcification of the bone had not happened properly last year - as a result of the Polish driver being forced to remain in bed for a long period after his crash.

Following an operation last week to reduce the fracture and pin the bone, doctors cleared Kubica to return home - but he must wait another two or three weeks before resuming his physical training.

Despite the injury setback, it is believed that the leg fracture will not have an impact on Kubica's final recovery time - because that is still limited by the nerve regrowth of his right arm and hand which will still take several months.
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Steve · Jan 16, 2012

Apparently the ugly Ferrari passed it's second crash test thanks to a few added layers of carbon fiber. Unconfirmed rumors claim it has a "dolphin nose" ... whatever that means.

minimark · Jan 16, 2012

Dang it, want to see a pic..... :sly:

Steve · Jan 17, 2012

Rubens is out.

Williams confirms Bruno Senna will race for the team in F1 in 2012 (autosport.com)

By Pablo Elizalde | Tuesday, January 17th 2012, 12:15 GMT

Bruno Senna will drive the second Williams car during the 2012 Formula 1 season, as the team from Grove finally announced who will partner Pastor Maldonado.

Senna, the nephew of three-time world champion Ayrton, made his grand prix debut with the Hispania team back in 2010, but could not secure a seat for the start of the 2011 season.

He eventually replaced Nick Heidfeld at the Renault team from last year's Belgian Grand Prix, but the team decided to hire Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for the 2012 season. Senna managed two points in eight races during 2011.

After months of speculation, Williams confirmed on Tuesday that the 28-year-old Brazilian will race alongside Maldonado this year.

Senna will make his debut with the team on February 9th at Jerez during the first test of the year.

"Bruno only started racing when he was 20 years old but quickly proved his talent in F3 and GP2," said Frank Williams.

"In a tightly fought 2008 GP2 season, Bruno finished second in the Championship with notable victories in Monaco and Silverstone, the latter in the wet. The circumstances of Bruno's two seasons in Formula 1 have not given him an ideal opportunity to deliver consistently so it was essential that we spent as much time with him as possible to understand and evaluate him as a driver.

"We have done this both on track and in our simulator and he has proven quick, technically insightful and above all capable of learning and applying his learning quickly and consistently. Now we are looking forward to seeing that talent in our race car."

Senna added: "I feel very privileged that Williams has selected me as one of their race drivers. The team has a great heritage and I hope I can help write a good chapter in their history. The evaluation process has been intense and methodical but the time I have spent in the factory has demonstrated that the team has great people and all the resources needed to achieve better things this season.

"It will be very interesting to drive for a team that my uncle has driven for, particularly as quite a few of the people here actually worked with Ayrton. Hopefully we can bring back some memories and create some great new ones too.

"I also want to get some good results in return for the support my country has given me to help get me to this position today. I am very proud to be Brazilian and more motivated than ever to demonstrate what I can do. Ever since I first sat in a go-kart I never wanted to do anything else."

The move means Rubens Barrichello looks set to be absent from Formula 1 for the first time in 20 years.

The Brazilian said on Twitter after the announcement that his "future is wide open".
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Steve · Jan 17, 2012

Tech Talk: The big rule changes for 2012 (uk.eurosport.yahoo.com)

By Eurosport | Will Gray
After the inaugural year of Pirelli tyres and the increasing use of blown diffusers, two significant technical changes will come in for 2012 â€” but what are they and how will they affect the racing?

OFF-THROTTLE BLOWING BAN

Innovative off-throttle blown diffusers made a radical difference to F1 aerodynamics last year, with teams creating a constant airflow through the engine and using that flow out the exhausts to accelerate air through the diffuser and increase the downforce without the traditional problems of instability when the engine is not on throttle.

It's a complex system and one that takes many man-hours to get right, so it was deemed inappropriate for the resource restriction approach F1 is trying to take and has been banned this year. This ban is simple to introduce, with the FIA just dictating the use of periscope exhausts that exit out the top of the bodywork rather than underneath.

But the FIA has gone beyond that to ban any off-throttle air blowing at all, because of concerns that it could be used in other ways.

The use of the standard ECU, which has been long part of F1, allows the engine mapping itself to be monitored, and that will enable the FIA to implement a complete ban on off-throttle blowing â€” so teams cannot take advantage of blowing air over areas like the suspension or rear wings to gain extra aerodynamic downforce.

This decision came towards the end of last season, when all teams were well into their 2012 development. Some teams will have designed their cars with a view to maximising the off-throttle blowing through periscope exhausts â€” and they will be hit hardest by the decision.

One aspect of that is fuel tank size, as more fuel is needed for off-throttle blowing â€” so those teams who went down this line may have bigger tanks than they would have planned, with a knock-on effect on the packaging of their car.

SOFTER TYRES

Pirelli will push their development to go for softer compounds this year, having decided there was too big a gap between the two tyre choices in 2011, something that led to more obvious optimum strategies and prevented teams using a variety of approaches to the races.

This year will see a complete step change in Pirelli's tyre range, with the soft tyre used in Brazil at the end of last year becoming the medium tyre for this year. The new soft tyre was tried out in Abu Dhabi last year, while the 2012 hard tyre, tested in Brazil, showed performance much closer to the 2011 medium compound.

The tyre manufacturer's target is to reduce the performance gap between the two tyre choices on a grand prix weekend to one second, and they have also confirmed they will be more aggressive in their choices of tyres (two tyres must be selected from the four in existence) at some circuits.

The approach should lead to harder tyres being more durable and softer tyres being faster but with more degradation, with the net result being more exciting racing.

But that's not all. The tyres have a different aerodynamic profile and although it may be hardly noticeable to the eye, any change in tyre profile can have a big effect on the aerodynamics of a car because of the dynamics of a rotating body.

On top of that, the rear tyre has increasing grip levels and that changes the overall balance of the car â€” so the changes Pirelli will bring in are set to create a lot of work for the teams and could present pitfalls or opportunities throughout the grid.

OTHER CHANGES

The FIA have made some other key changes to the sporting regulations. These include a formalisation of the defensive racing rule preventing drivers from moving back onto the racing line having moved off it to defend a position and also harsher punishments for shortcuts.

In a safety car period, any lapped cars will now be allowed to unlap themselves - which is great news for racing because it will mean the front runners will be nose to tail without backmarkers interfering when the safety car peels off and the race restarts.

Finally, and perhaps quite significantly, a driver can now use any tyre on the opening day of practice rather than a restricted number from his race weekend selection â€” meaning tyre tactics can be played out right from the start of the race weekend and teams could save more of the tyres they favour for the race, with the hope that it could end the tyre saving tactics seen in qualifying last year.
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Steve · Jan 20, 2012

Pirelli seeking F1 test car to develop 2013 tyres (autosport.com)

By Edd Straw | Friday, January 20th 2012, 10:30 GMT
Pirelli's plans for developing its 2013 Formula 1 tyres are in a state of flux as it is currently without a suitable test car.

The Italian company has been in talks with the teams over a suitable machine for its test programme to succeed the 2009 Toyota TF109 that it has previously used. But Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery claims that teams are reluctant to run the risk of any squad gaining an advantage by having its 2011 machine used for testing.

This is despite all data being shared openly between the teams and Pirelli using its own test driver to conduct the work.

"There has been a suggestion that we could modify the 2009 Toyota, but the car is now in a museum and it is not a realistic proposition," Hembery told AUTOSPORT. "We've not yet been given what we think is a suitable option.

"We would like a 2011 car from somebody, but we don't really care who it is from. We want to do our testing with precision and feel that the older the car gets, the further away it is from a state of the art car.

"We understand the teams' point of view that they don't want to give an advantage to anybody, but at a certain point we will have to make our own decision to achieve what we have to because nobody will give us any credit for not using a suitable car if things go wrong."

Discussions with the teams are ongoing and Pirelli is keen to come to a consensus solution. But Hembery admitted that it was possible that the company could opt to do a deal with an individual team directly if no acceptable car is agreed upon.

"It's quite possible, yes," said Hembery when asked if Pirelli could buy a car from a team. "We are not interested in assisting one particular team and we need to do our job. We have some interesting ideas for 2013, but need to do work on them.

"We are going to do a lot on the simulator and probably we will do work with the teams in simulation by giving them all a black box with 20 specifications and ask them to drive on them. That I certainly don't exclude and I'm sure they will agree.

"But In terms of finalising the tyres, particularly the compound work, we do need a number of sessions. No more than three probably, just to finalise the work. We will get there, I'm sure."
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Nathan · Jan 20, 2012

They should use an HRT for the testing.

ScottinBend · Jan 20, 2012

.....nah, bet they could get a USF1 car real cheap!

Steve · Jan 20, 2012

Nathan said: ↑

They should use an HRT for the testing.
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I actually like that idea. HRT needs more help than others and a contract to provide a car would help their bottom line. I'm sure Pirelli want one of the better chassis though, and for obvious reasons.

Pirelli are doing the right thing and looking for a middle ground somewhere. The problem is exactly the sort of thing you get (not just in motorsport) when no one will agree to a compromise of any sort fearing it will help one team more than others. Fits the definition of "short-sighted" IMHO because if they don't come to an agreement Pirelli will just sign an exclusive contract with one team and be done with it and so much for any hope of semi-equitable benefit from the testing.

minimark · Jan 20, 2012

Use last years Lotus, doubt anyone is out to copy it.....

Mean no disrespect to Lotus but.....that one didn't work.:frown2:

ScottinBend · Jan 20, 2012

Here is a great article on the new ride height adjusting brake system Lotus have developed.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/f1-austin/lotus-renaults-revolutionary-system-is-ingenious-and-legal-why-every-team-will-w/282992368428024

Steve · Jan 21, 2012

Strike that ^, the FIA is meddling again...

Formula 1 teams have been told by the FIA that reactive ride height systems will be banned for the 2012 season (autosport.com)

By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, January 21st 2012, 08:40 GMT
Formula 1 teams have been told that the reactive suspension system pioneered by Lotus has been banned for the 2012 season.

Sources have confirmed that a note was sent from the FIA to all teams on Friday evening indicating that the governing body was no longer satisfied the concept - which regulates ride height under braking - was still legal.

It is not clear why the FIA has decided now that the reactive systems should be outlawed, after AUTOSPORT revealed last week that it had given the green light to the Lotus idea as long ago as last January.

Rival teams are likely, however, to have made an effort to prove to the FIA that the Lotus system was in contravention of the regulations.

News of the FIA ban was first broken on The Flying Lap webcast, when Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said on Friday night he had received a note from the governing body shortly before going on air notifying him of the move.

"The FIA has just banned that particular type of system," he said.

Speaking about Williams' efforts on the device, Gillan said: "We have been investigating that type of system for a while. It obviously has an impact on the aero platform of the car, [and] anything that gets the front ride height lower is beneficial from an aerodynamic perspective."

The reactive suspension system on the Lotus was first spotted at last year's Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test, and helped maintain the front ride height under braking for corners â€“ to benefit both aerodynamic performance and stability.

Rivals teams were quick to look into the system, with Ferrari understood to be the first to propose its own version of reactive ride to the FIA.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali had said at his team's Wrooom media event in Italy last week that he was awaiting a response from the governing body on its legality.

He said: "What you are talking about, is more related to having stability under braking. It is a system that I know there have been some documents in writing between the FIA and the teams.

"We are waiting for the final confirmation if this kind of devices will be acceptable or not. But for sure we are looking around these sorts of devices to see if they contribute to a performance. But we need to wait and see what will be the reaction to the FIA on that."

Only this week, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner had said he was unsure about the ultimate benefits of the system.

"It's like all of these things, it's about how they work and how they are integrated in the car," Horner told AUTOSPORT. "Things have to work as a package rather than as individual components. It appears to be an interesting concept but I'm the wrong person to be commenting on it."

When asked if he thought it was legal, he said: "I haven't had that close a look at it. That's more a question for [F1 race director] Charlie Whiting."

The Lotus system was mechanical and activated by brake torque. And, because it was part of the suspension system, was deemed legal at the time because it could not be classified as a moveable aerodynamic device.
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ScottinBend · Jan 21, 2012

lol .....was just going to post that

Nathan · Jan 21, 2012

^^^ Just read the same thing on JamesAllenonF1.com

Steve · Jan 23, 2012

A slightly better explanation of the reason for the reactive ride height system ban.

Reactive ride banned because FIA believed it gave an aerodynamic benefit (AUTOSPORT.com)

By Jonathan Noble | Monday, January 23rd 2012, 17:15 GMT
Reactive suspension systems were banned from Formula 1 once it became clear to the FIA that their principle benefit was aerodynamic, AUTOSPORT has learned.

The governing body wrote to teams on Friday informing them that, in its view, the mechanical concepts pioneered by Lotus and Ferrari and being looked at by other teams would be in contravention of the rules if they were used to help the aerodynamics of the cars.

This came despite the initial idea for the hydraulic devices, activated by brake torque, being given the green light as long ago as January last year.

At the time of that initial approval to the then Renault team, it was understood that the devices were purely suspension related and aimed at maintaining ride-height - so effectively nothing more than a sophisticated version of rising-rate springs.

However, with rival teams having expressed an interest in the design, and querying its legality after it was spotted at last year's young driver test in Abu Dhabi, the FIA decided to look much closer at the reactive ride concept.

It is understood that as more details emerged about the Renault and Ferrari systems, both in terms of how they worked and what their benefit was, it became clear that the main advantage of the suspension systems was in helping aerodynamic performance.

The FIA believed that because the systems relied on changes being made to the length of the suspension member as well as unusual movement of the brake calipers - and these alterations helped the aerodynamics of the car â€“ that they were in breach of Article 3.15 of F1's Technical Regulations, which effectively bans moveable aerodynamic devices.

The article states that any part that influences aerodynamic performance "must be rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car (rigidly secured means not having any degree of freedom)" and "must remain immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car."

As well as the potential breach of the aerodynamic rules, it is understood that there was a risk of the reactive ride systems getting challenged under the articles relating to suspension in the F1 regulations too.

Article 10.2.1 states: "With the steering wheel fixed, the position of each wheel centre and the orientation of its rotation axis must be completely and uniquely defined by a function of its principally vertical suspension travel, save only for the effects of reasonable compliance which does not intentionally provide further degrees of freedom."

Article 10.2.3 says: "No adjustment may be made to the suspension system while the car is in motion."

The decision to make a ruling on the reactive suspension systems now removes the threat of the matter building up into a major technical controversy before the start of the season, which could have overshadowed the first race like the double diffuser row did in 2009.

Although the FIA directive states that the governing body views the devices to be illegal, there is nothing stopping teams from continuing to test them and fitting them to the cars for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix â€“ because the final decision on whether they comply with the regulations always rests with the race stewards. But such a scenario is thought to be highly unlikely.
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