Ferrari F2012

[infy]

Not really indicative of upgrades. Its could simply be that the abrasive surface of the track helps Ferrari put heat into the tires combined with the lower air density in Brazil which would result in less downforce. Who knows how that might effect the BRB exhaust and diffuser...

*edit* seems I was replying to a very, very old post lol

[JimClarkFan]

Not really indicative of upgrades. Its could simply be that the abrasive surface of the track helps Ferrari put heat into the tires combined with the lower air density in Brazil which would result in less downforce. Who knows how that might effect the BRB exhaust and diffuser...

*edit* seems I was replying to a very, very old post lol

According to Ted Kravitz there are effectively no upgrades for the Ferrari this weekend, contrast that to Red Bull who had new parts flown overnight from London.

Really isn't good enough for Ferrari, they've sent their main driver into a world title fight decider on a wing and a prayer. Can't happen again next year.

[Nando]

Really isn't good enough for Ferrari, they've sent their main driver into the season on a wing and a prayer.

Fixed

[diffuser]

Not really indicative of upgrades. Its could simply be that the abrasive surface of the track helps Ferrari put heat into the tires combined with the lower air density in Brazil which would result in less downforce. Who knows how that might effect the BRB exhaust and diffuser...

*edit* seems I was replying to a very, very old post lol

According to Ted Kravitz there are effectively no upgrades for the Ferrari this weekend, contrast that to Red Bull who had new parts flown overnight from London.

Really isn't good enough for Ferrari, they've sent their main driver into a world title fight decider on a wing and a prayer. Can't happen again next year.

i


Sucks! I am disappointed ..I agree with Crutial from the post on the previous page. Its either that or their big revamp for spain caused the to run out of funds.

[Ra8]

I think it would be a waste of time and money trying to outdevelop RB in the last few GPs... I think it would be much better spent thinking of next years car (since the tyres change significantly again), also this years WC wasn't in their hands from Suzuka onwards at least, and if Im very critical from the start of the season.

[wesley123]

Yeah I agree, developments for this years car have no effect fro next year since the rules will be completely different. Oh wait...

It is perfectly fine for Ferrari to extract the maximum out of the car and develop new parts. It seems rather unlikely they start with a clean sheet next year, so gains made now are very well applicable next year.

[CHT]

I think it would be a waste of time and money trying to outdevelop RB in the last few GPs... I think it would be much better spent thinking of next years car (since the tyres change significantly again), also this years WC wasn't in their hands from Suzuka onwards at least, and if Im very critical from the start of the season.

I won't be surprise Ferrari is behind in their 2013 program as compared to mclaren merc and lotus. For RBR they are most likely to continue with the evolution

[Ra8]

Looking at Ferraris development this years its hard to believe they could bring something worth working to the last minute and thinking "Yeah it might work for next year also." Im not saying its going to be complete overhaul next year but I dont believe this years late details are worth the hassle especially looking at how Ferraris details worked this year... lets take mirror vortex generator development for example... they are back to old mirrors for a while now, so i guess that development was piece of garbage, and many others details too, not to mention the FW "evolutions".

I dont think im overly critical of Ferrari, i think its just the truth, for whom wants to see it. Their development "stoped" after the big exhaust upgrade early mid season... after that they were just playing with some details back and forth gaining little or nothing (in relation to others). Im very sorry for that because i believe Alonso deserves the title but it just cant be done with almost a second slower car in Q for 3/4 of the season.


PS: I dont believe they are behind on 2013 spec car, since there is no revolution in regulations and Ferrari were amongst few, if not the only one, who had complete overhaul since last year, so the chances are they will be the one changing a few more things than others from this year based on things learned through the year. Not to mention the epic wind tunnel.

[wesley123]

The switching of parts is just regular development work done in the Free PRactice sessions. Ferrari had to fight a whole season, push out parts and try to cure/work around the car its problems. And with that comes lots of work in different configuartions, certainly if you want to check windotunnel/cfd correlation to the track. Then checking different parts with lots of flow-vis is pretty much all you can do, and bring new parts which believed to have bought gains in the WT/CFD.

[Forza]

Ferrari F2012 - new brake ducts
There are new brake ducts on the Ferrari at Interlagos featuring an additional fin attached to the drum to boost the amount of downforce at the rear. At the previous round in Austin Fernando Alonso used a modified version of the diffuser but this revised diffuser is being used by both Alonso and Felipe Massa in Sao Paulo.

Ferrari F2012 / Red Bull RB8 - front view comparison
This drawing immediately highlights the pull-rod front suspension on the F2012, allowing airflow superior to that of the Red Bull around the lower section of the wheel, even if the RB8 as an overall package is a better car. Looking carefully at the relative position of each car's front and rear tyres, you can understand the greater rake used in the set-up of the Red Bull this season. The RB8's sidepods are also much narrower in the lower section, while the F2012's are more bulky thanks to the vertical placement of the radiators.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

A few detailed shots from today at Interlagos

[TheGkbrk]

Silence in this forum after losing the championship...
Its sad but lets be honest the car was getting worse and worse in flyaway races. We just couldn't make those updates work fully or we didn't bring anything major as speculated a thousand times.
Lets generally summarize this car.
For me, it was quick but just not perfect and consistent as being the winning car. It was never fastest but always up there. It treated tyres well and was a monster in wet weather, had amazing starts, absolutely reliable, suits fast corners and rapid direction changes, good in straight line speed but lacking traction out of slow corners, unstable in long sweeping corners and also unstable under heavy breaking.
Front wing was a hassle for a full season. Correlation problems was there again. It is a real shame the team couldn't give the car Fernando deserved for a 3rd year in a row. And in two of them Fernando somehow carried his chances to the last race.
Let's hope everything will be fine for 2013. Good bye F2012...

[Gerhard Berger]

Silence in this forum after losing the championship...
Its sad but lets be honest the car was getting worse and worse in flyaway races. We just couldn't make those updates work fully or we didn't bring anything major as speculated a thousand times.
Lets generally summarize this car.
For me, it was quick but just not perfect and consistent as being the winning car. It was never fastest but always up there. It treated tyres well and was a monster in wet weather, suits fast corners and rapid direction changes, good in straight line speed but lacking traction out of slow corners, unstable in long sweeping corners and also unstable under heavy breaking.
Front wing was a hassle for a full season. Correlation problems was there again. It is a real shame the team couldn't give the car Fernando deserved for a 3rd year in a row. And in two of them Fernando somehow carried his chances to the last race.
Let's hope everything will be fine for 2013. Good bye F2012...

Mclaren and Red Bull both made major chassis changes during the season which clearly gave them a big boost in performance. Since Canada, Ferrari were only changing the wings and the diffuser, and most of these were quite small changes. We never introduced DDRS or made any attempt to narrow the sidepods or anything like that.

[stefan_]

OK, so the season has ended.
You can't win the championship with a car like the F2012, I am amazed by how Alonso drove it and managed to drag it into a championship fight. Massa couldn't simply understand it at the beggining of the season and that is unacceptable. No major updates, no wind tunnel - track correlation, guessing and going blind with the exhaust solution and guessing with the FW / RW solutions. This was not a good car and they patched it up during the season.

[mbvinnie]

OK, so the season has ended.
You can't win the championship with a car like the F2012, I am amazed by how Alonso drove it and managed to drag it into a championship fight. Massa couldn't simply understand it at the beggining of the season and that is unacceptable. No major updates, no wind tunnel - track correlation, guessing and going blind with the exhaust solution and guessing with the FW / RW solutions. This was not a good car and they patched it up during the season.

It wasn't that bad. The real issue was qualy pace.

It was the best starting car.
It was a very reliable car.
It had very good consistent race pace - it was a much better race car relatively then qualy car.
It always had decent top speed allowing passing opportunities.

So never really the best car, but definitely some plus points. Even Massa showed it was alright at the end of the season!