Ferrari F2012

[Owen.C93]

Gearbox bits and bobs. There's a gearbox radiator there presumably because of the extra intake above the airbox.

[CHT]

Gearbox bits and bobs. There's a gearbox radiator there presumably because of the extra intake above the airbox.

Does look like some kind of desperate attempt to cover a mistake in their design or something because no designers would want to create such lumps on the rear to disturb the airflow to the rear wing. perhaps they are the cause of the messed up Flo-Vis?

[raymondu999]

Wouldn't you want to keep it a smooth surface? I can't imagine such over-shrinkwrapping is beneficial.

[Mr.S]

Fernando Alonso has conceded that Ferrari may not be heading into the new season with the quickest car - but he still thinks it is too early to judge where the F2012 stands in the pecking order right now.

While its main title rivals are already at the stage in their testing programmes where they are conducting race simulation runs, Ferrari is still compiling aerodynamic data and running with a variety of sensors.

Alonso is not being too downbeat about the situation though - and thinks it more important that Ferrari keeps trying to get a better understanding of where it can improve the F2012.

"It is true that we keep getting information about the car, information that sometimes we should already have in our pocket, but the car seems quite complex to understand and we need to keep understanding better what is the behaviour," said Alonso, who has now completed his two days of running for Ferrari at Barcelona.

"I remember last year in the first tests we did a race distance on the final day and we were 1.5 seconds behind Red Bull in Australia. So a race distance is always welcome, but I prefer to have a performing car and to find reliability, than to have a strong car that is slow."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt there was potential in the car for it to be fighting for victory in Australia, Alonso said: "We [will] see. I think it is too early to say.

"Definitely our targets are very ambitious. It is normal for Ferrari; you always try to win straight away the first race of the championship if you want to be a contender, so that was the target over the winter.

"At the moment we don't know exactly where we are. I think maybe we are not the fastest but definitely we are not the slowest – so we need to wait and see, especially in the final test. With hotter temperatures in Australia etc we will see how the cars work and in Q3 there is the time to see where you in Melbourne.

"Red Bull seems competitive. That is not a surprise, as they have continuity in the last two or three years with that car, so it is difficult to get it wrong completely.

"They will be always there, so McLaren/Ferrari they need to invent something and be a bit more creative to beat Red Bull, and that is what both teams did. McLaren and Ferrari, they chose different solutions, different philosophies maybe and maybe more complex, but the result we will see in Melbourne and more importantly in November."

Alonso also played down trackside observations that the new Ferrari did not appear as well-balanced on the Barcelona turns as other cars – although admitted it was lacking in the way it exited from corners.

"From the driver point of view, it always feels loose the car, you always want more and more grip. I don't know [about] the others, but when you drive the car you think the others are having the same problem.

"If you say the others don't have the same problems then that will be a problem, but it is difficult in a test to understand what the others are doing and watching the others it is always difficult.

"Sometimes we put a very old set of tyres on and do constant speeds, and in the corners you are extremely slow. At the same time another car is running with new tyres and a short run of fuel and they fly in the corners. So from the outside it is difficult to see. But it is one area we need to improve: [the] exit of corners is one area where we are struggling, yes."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97633

He says the car is Probably not the quickest,sounds slightly worried maybe,says there is no need to panic but saus they are definitely struggling when the car is exiting the corners.

[classic308]

I read from another forum that the F2012 is eating its front tyres in a big way.
Does anyone has some input on this?

I too saw this on that same forum-I have not seen this anywhere else....

[raymondu999]

Well the Ferraris of the last 2 years have been somewhat understeery by nature. I wonder if that's basically it - massive front wear and graining due to that. I can imagine Alonso coming in would just have made that more of a problem - not that he's a driver that chews front tyres; but his 2004-2007 cars had mighty rear ends; as characterised by the way he just threw steering lock into a corner - maybe he's looking for the same thing, and so is asking for a stable rear?

[Owen.C93]

I read from another forum that the F2012 is eating its front tyres in a big way.
Does anyone has some input on this?

I too saw this on that same forum-I have not seen this anywhere else....

Well what forum's that?

[classic308]

I read from another forum that the F2012 is eating its front tyres in a big way.
Does anyone has some input on this?

I too saw this on that same forum-I have not seen this anywhere else....

Well what forum's that?

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showth ... 42&page=10

Post 194....

[bhall]

This comes from John in Atlanta, GA? Well, I'll be...

It must be true.

[Froggolo]

let's stay calm and wait,
i am confident (read: i am praying )

just remember how was born mp4/26 and the troubles it had in free practices.
F2012 its a whole new car with new concepts, and they have to learn how to get the best from it.

[Ferraripilot]

This comes from John in Atlanta, GA? Well, I'll be...

It must be true.

That's actually my post on that forum. And yes, I have heard from those standing at turn 1 that it's eating tires at the front end. I believe they have an issue of overheating the front tires now as you can see from the Ferrari lap times that the tires are essentially switched 'on', then have a decent lap, and then completely fall off after subsequent laps. It's quite a phenomenon which I am sure they will get their hands around, but it will take time to understand their new paradigm they have employed.

[Forza Ferrari]

The thing is, the F2012 is a brand new concept for FERRARi especially compared to RB8, who is"just" a massive evolution of the RB5.

So, basically, the team needs more time to get their car work properly and the way theywant it to, and we can assume we almost "lack" 3 years of development and testing than RB, cause their concept is just about fince tunig and adjusting to regulations since 3 years.

so let's wait and see, ,o need to spit on the team, we'd better enourage them and back their efforts, cause we all know they worl flat out to get it right =D>

[aral]

This comes from John in Atlanta, GA? Well, I'll be...

It must be true.

That's actually my post on that forum. And yes, I have heard from those standing at turn 1 that it's eating tires at the front end. I believe they have an issue of overheating the front tires now as you can see from the Ferrari lap times that the tires are essentially switched 'on', then have a decent lap, and then completely fall off after subsequent laps. It's quite a phenomenon which I am sure they will get their hands around, but it will take time to understand their new paradigm they have employed.

Aahhh, come on. A terribly vague rumour, and suddenly it becomes fact? Ferrari used no more tyres than any other team, so that seems to scotch the rumour.

[Hail22]

I rather see components fail, tyres fall off the cliff earlier and bad things happening during testing then at the first race.

Isnt that what testings about?

And we must all remember sensors may be an advancing technology however its proven that nearly all sensors including pressure sensors work better at slower speeds/velocities/decent (Submarines) or Naval ships (Hydrodynamics)so i think i understand to a very small degree why they off throttle and early braking before a corner it may be to test vibrations in the front suspension arm remember the pull rod has been absent for 10 years, they need to make a propper risk analysis of it first before going full throttle on race runs.

[bhall]

If true, I'm quite content at this point with F2012's appetite for tires. The 150 and F10 treated them too much like eggs, and their qualifying pace suffered badly because of it.