2012 UAE Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[DalekSam]

Took me a while to realise what I was looking at, but, wat

[mario]

Took me a moment or two to spot what was going on too, but that isn't something I've seen before. Now, I might be mistaken but it does look as if this is Vettel's front wing as part of his right hand endplate appears to be missing (on the left of the picture from this view), suggesting that this was to replace the damaged wing he broke when hitting that board.

I wonder if, given that the teams have had quick release mechanisms for some time built into the nosecones, whether Red Bull has connected the quick release mechanism to the front camera? It'd make sense in some ways as the mechanic is probably going to be grabbing the nose cone around that point to pull it off, so it'd probably help speed up changing the front nose in that instance.

[razta]

well pleased, shame we couldn't find Georgie, or Lee

[razta]

Took me a moment or two to spot what was going on too, but that isn't something I've seen before. Now, I might be mistaken but it does look as if this is Vettel's front wing as part of his right hand endplate appears to be missing (on the left of the picture from this view), suggesting that this was to replace the damaged wing he broke when hitting that board.

I wonder if, given that the teams have had quick release mechanisms for some time built into the nosecones, whether Red Bull has connected the quick release mechanism to the front camera? It'd make sense in some ways as the mechanic is probably going to be grabbing the nose cone around that point to pull it off, so it'd probably help speed up changing the front nose in that instance.

it's actually a "flexy nose" not just front wing.. someone put a pic on facebook up the other day explaining it..

flexes the whole front end of the car at highspeeds

[razta]

F1 2012 RB8 Front Flex



One interesting theory of how RB uses this effect dates back in the 2005 when Renault used mass dumper. RB could run thier nose set up to produce Mass dumper effect to gain stability. The chassis stability improves consistent downforce produced by the floor of the car. In this way the car is very stable under braking and through turns. The "mass damper" effect also helps you reduce the tyre bounce when car drives over the kerbs. It prevents the load oscillations when running over a kerb or in the transitional phase of cornering and by doing this it increases the tyre contact patch. This also provides more optimal setup to get the 2012 Pirelli tyre compounds in their narrow working window and reduce the thermal degradation.

The other benefit of flexing the mainplane of front wing is also to to lower the wing in order to improve its efficiency. The rotation of the front wing around its vertical axis also changes the AoA (angle of attact). Also when the wing flexes down under load at speed the airflow around the frot end changes. As the wing is closer to the ground it improves the Ground effect and wing generates more' downforce. The endplates run closer to the ground and this improves their role in "sealing" the high pressure above the wing from the low pressure below it and prevents unwanted vortices.

Illustration of RedBull's nosecone non-structural cover allowing front wing flexing done by Mario Keszeli

[Ataxia]

The second YDT at Abu Dhabi is over, and because some sections of the media have suggested that Frijns and Gutierrez testing for Sauber might be some kind of shootout, I'll compare them.

Yesterday, Frijns got a lap of 1:43.775, and today Gutierrez managed a 1:43.485, so a difference of 0.290 there. Now, considering Gutierrez has had experience in an F1 car before (and to my knowledge, Frijns has not), that's quite impressive from the Dutchman. Yes, there are other variables and the schedules may have differed, but that's still not bad at all.

Outside tip for a seat, perhaps?

Speaking of the YDT, Luiz Razia is quoted as saying that he's close to doing a deal with an as-yet-undisclosed team. I'd rather see Valsecchi in a seat, but there we are.

[DanielPT]

The second YDT at Abu Dhabi is over, and because some sections of the media have suggested that Frijns and Gutierrez testing for Sauber might be some kind of shootout, I'll compare them.

Yesterday, Frijns got a lap of 1:43.775, and today Gutierrez managed a 1:43.485, so a difference of 0.290 there. Now, considering Gutierrez has had experience in an F1 car before (and to my knowledge, Frijns has not), that's quite impressive from the Dutchman. Yes, there are other variables and the schedules may have differed, but that's still not bad at all.

Outside tip for a seat, perhaps?

Speaking of the YDT, Luiz Razia is quoted as saying that he's close to doing a deal with an as-yet-undisclosed team. I'd rather see Valsecchi in a seat, but there we are.

For me, they are two disappointingly average drivers who happened to have a good year in GP2 just by default. Valsecchi made 5 years on GP2, for HWNSNBM's sake! And both he and Razia have barely nothing to show in the lower formulae from previous years. While in the naughties most pay-drivers were talented and actually good (they were sponsored by actually being good) or came from exotic countries, today they have pals in those companies that sponsor them or are backed by a country because they are the only hope of having a driver from their nationality on the grid. Only a few teams look for talent alone and currently there is a shortage of that in the medium to back of the grid which probably explains why Massa kept driving for Ferrari despite being blatantly obvious that he failed to be the solid number 2 driver that Ferrari needed. For me, by far, the most promising line-up on the grid is Force India's with the Hulk and Di Resta and I bet they are making that car look like a Sauber beater. I guess the best way to evaluate this is to see how Perez will perform next year compared to an established front of the grid driver. That way we will have some discernible comparison to where the up and coming drivers currently on F1 are. It's been about 6 years that the usual front running drivers don't change, I mean, it has to be the most stable period that the front of the grid has seen in F1 history, right?

[Londoner]

More reactions to Kimi's win.

[FullMetalJack]

More reactions to Kimi's win.

Kimi must have learned some new words.