Ferrari 150° Italia

[segedunum]

That's a might interesting photograph.

I hate to quote a photograph like this, but look at the shape of the RB7 rear end compared to all of them. Others might have opened up space with their suspension layouts but none of them are channelling the air as RB are. They bring the bodywork inwards and then straight out to the back of the car, probably creating a pressure area to accelerate air to the back, and they're channeling air inwards away from the suspenion components and the pull-rod and through the space they've opened up. Look at how the engine cover shape helps with that as well. You can also see how much more air they can get below the driveshaft in the diffuser area.

Frankly, the rest of them look amateurish at best. Mercedes looks plain awful with a shocking lack of attention to detail. Ferrari's different push-rod layout does seem to be holding its own with the space they've freed up but the push-rod is still a major obstruction no matter what angle they have it at and they'll never be able to channel the air inwards as Red Bull are doing with a push-rod. They're also going to lose some control and adjustment of the suspension with the push-rod at that angle. It's neat, I'll give Ferrari that, but I can't see it being effective.

[Blackout]

You can't compare the Renault with the other cars. Its rear end has a way different philosophy. if they wanted, its designers could easily make a very tight rear end but they opted for a differnet solution. Look at the rear of the car and you will see that the hot air sidepod outlets are wide, flat low and connected to the diffuser... the designers clearly chosen to 'sacrify' the top of the floor...

[godlameroso]

The way the diffusers are shaped kind of reminds me of the open fence rules in 2009 for LMP cars

See how the top side of the diffuser and the TE of the chassis have a gap, and are sculpted to channel air upwards.

[Ferraripilot]

The angle of W02 you are showing in that pic is completely off compared to the other pics. You can see the sidepod inlet (which has far more surface area under it BTW) while in the other pics the sidepod inlets are not at all visible. The angle is incorrect to perform a thorough comparison. Although you're right, RB buttoned up their rear area very well.

[Crabbia]

Massa still managed to do 80 laps yesterday. that final stint must have been a bit of a marathon.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

The angle of W02 you are showing in that pic is completely off compared to the other pics. You can see the sidepod inlet (which has far more surface area under it BTW) while in the other pics the sidepod inlets are not at all visible. The angle is incorrect to perform a thorough comparison. Although you're right, RB buttoned up their rear area very well.

Actually the angle is very close. You can also see the sidepod inlet in the picture of the Lotus. Compare the angle of the floor to the horizontal. its spot on.

[timbo]

Look at where RB are channeling their air inwards. With the push-rod where it is Ferrari won't be able to do anything in that area.

It's not a pull-rod that make an impression, it's radiator layout.
Of course they are able to channel the air from radiators to that central channel because they don't have rockers and links there. However Ferrari, by sticking with conventional cooling layout are able to exploit the beam wing better and without pull-rod are using central section of diffuser better.
Bit solutions have merit.

[donskar]

No, what made the RB6 good last year was that whole car worked together better than the others. It wasn't just the sleek arse, or just the pull rod rear or just the flexi wing or just...you get my point.

The car is a package. It works as a whole and you can't just slap some obvious bit from one car on to another and expect it to work the same. Hell, even if you copied the external form of RB6 in its entirety it still wouldn't work the same. There are little bits here and there that help make the big bits work together properly.

Who remembers how difficult the RB6 seemed to be when following other cars? I bet that's because it's front wing was optimised to work the airflow in a certain way and the airflow coming off it was "designed" to interact with the rear of the car in a certain way. Stick the wing in the wake of another car and, wow, the thing suddenly didn't work as well. Strangely, the McLaren seemed pretty good running behind other cars. They may not have had the ultimate free air design but it seemed to be a decent compromise between free air and traffic running.

These cars are a bucket full of compromises - the key is to get the right combination of compromises...

=D> Good post. Many of us are fans of certain teams, so we'll be looking for a particular part of the car as the "silver bullet," ignoring any potential flaws. Others dislike certain teams, so they look for a "fatal flaw." Me, I'm a Ferrari fan and I say the part of the F150 that is the strongest is the piece that goes behind the steering wheel.

[Ferraripilot]

Actually the angle is very close. You can also see the sidepod inlet in the picture of the Lotus. Compare the angle of the floor to the horizontal. its spot on.

Yeah, but look at the positioning of W02 on the track background compared to the others. W02 is barely out of the keyhole while most of the others are far past that mark making the vantage point of whomever is snapping the pic more obtuse than that of the others.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Actually the angle is very close. You can also see the sidepod inlet in the picture of the Lotus. Compare the angle of the floor to the horizontal. its spot on.

Yeah, but look at the positioning of W02 on the track background compared to the others. W02 is barely out of the keyhole while most of the others are far past that mark making the vantage point of whomever is snapping the pic more obtuse than that of the others.

Fair point!

No, what made the RB6 good last year was that whole car worked together better than the others. It wasn't just the sleek arse, or just the pull rod rear or just the flexi wing or just...you get my point.

The car is a package. It works as a whole and you can't just slap some obvious bit from one car on to another and expect it to work the same. Hell, even if you copied the external form of RB6 in its entirety it still wouldn't work the same. There are little bits here and there that help make the big bits work together properly.

Who remembers how difficult the RB6 seemed to be when following other cars? I bet that's because it's front wing was optimised to work the airflow in a certain way and the airflow coming off it was "designed" to interact with the rear of the car in a certain way. Stick the wing in the wake of another car and, wow, the thing suddenly didn't work as well. Strangely, the McLaren seemed pretty good running behind other cars. They may not have had the ultimate free air design but it seemed to be a decent compromise between free air and traffic running.

These cars are a bucket full of compromises - the key is to get the right combination of compromises...

=D> Good post. Many of us are fans of certain teams, so we'll be looking for a particular part of the car as the "silver bullet," ignoring any potential flaws. Others dislike certain teams, so they look for a "fatal flaw." Me, I'm a Ferrari fan and I say the part of the F150 that is the strongest is the piece that goes behind the steering wheel.

Fabulous post. Its almost a joke how certain "fads" become spoken about as THE key area of the car. People see a front wing full of different aero apendages and claim "That's very well developed" as if more = better? Because of course all these other teams spend thousands of pounds/dollars/euros etc to sit there with their thumbs up thair a**es and only partially develop parts.

Everything in F1 is a compromise, setup is a compromise for example. Its just a compromise aimed at a rather specific and extreme target. The work that every team does is admirable, and us "armchair experts" seem to get a little caught up in our own hype sometimes.

[Intego]

Sometimes there are these key areas on a car. Consider Brawn GP's double diffusor in 2009.
But on the other hand: The others who also developped DD from the beginning (Toyota and Williams?) weren't up the pace ...
So even if you have your key area, it still has to harmonize with the car.

[FrukostScones]

Massa Laptimes: http://www.msfree.gr/includes/livelaps.php?name=MASSA

props to crav... and blackout
just change the name in the url to see the rest

[Just_a_fan]

When you've been the thick end of a second a lap away, or even over a second sometimes, you don't have that luxury.

Um, the fastest car so far is the Renault. About 0.5s faster than the RB7 so far. Whatever that means.

[Goran2812]

When you've been the thick end of a second a lap away, or even over a second sometimes, you don't have that luxury.

Um, the fastest car so far is the Renault. About 0.5s faster than the RB7 so far. Whatever that means.

after just the first 3 days of testing, it probably means a big nothing...
waaaay to early to tell anything reading these times...

[Just_a_fan]

Um, the fastest car so far is the Renault. About 0.5s faster than the RB7 so far. Whatever that means.

after just the first 3 days of testing, it probably means a big nothing...
waaaay to early to tell anything reading these times...

Indeed, hence the bit in my post (highlighted here for clarity.