Formula One 2012

[MattR]

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/69445.html

the sauber

[N1GTR]

YUCK!!! Actually worse than the caterham or whatever they're called this week.

Even if RBR come out with that design their paint scheme should help mask it quite well.....I'm hoping

[N1GTR]

Under an hour to go for the RB8!

[Marco-R34GTT]

These platypus cars are making me yak! Indycars now look nicer... What a cruel world...

[Marco-R34GTT]

What happened to beautiful F1 cars? Or at least those that looked fast, without causing you to gouge your own eyes out.....

[N1GTR]

Agreed. Saw a funny comment on this somewhere, forget the exact wording but the point was that the FIA to F1 is like Hitler to Germany.

BRING BACK V10'S!!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUEZ3sQLCjk

And on the topic of good lookers...

[Owgasm]

Sauber so ugly.

[N1GTR]

Red Bull RB8 not as ugly as Ferrari says Marko

Feb.5 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko on Sunday gave the Formula 1 world a sneak-preview of Red Bull’s title-defending 2012 car.

A day before it debuts at Jerez, the Renault-powered RB8 will be revealed on Monday.

And the launch of Adrian Newey’s next creation has become even more eagerly anticipated after rival top teams Ferrari and McLaren unveiled their 2012 machines.

Like the Caterham and Force India, Ferrari’s car – the F2012 – has been derided for its ‘ugly’ nose.

The McLaren, however, has a sleek aerodynamic shape at the front.

Asked about the unattractive Ferrari solution, Red Bull’s Marko insisted: “We have something that looks a lot better.

“Our car is not as ugly as the Ferrari, but it’s also not like the McLaren, which doesn’t have a kink in the nose at all.

“Ours is just a bit smaller and more elegant (than the Ferrari solution),” the Austrian added.

Also yet to be seen is the 2012 Mercedes, with the German marque’s Norbert Haug promising: “The most beautiful car will be the one at the front.”

YallaF1

[N1GTR]

McLaren boss admits launch car had fake plastic exhaust

Feb.6 (GMM) Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that the launch version of McLaren’s new MP4-27 car, last week, featured a dummy diffuser and ‘plastic’ exhaust exits.

With exhaust-blown diffusers effectively banned for 2012, the big technical talking point will be how the designers claw back that lost downforce.

McLaren gave nothing away last week, installing a fake diffuser and plastic exhausts on the version of the MP4-27 launched at Woking.

“The exhaust was made of plastic, you won’t see those components in that form again,” team boss Whitmarsh confirmed to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

On the F2012 car launched by Ferrari, the Italian team had hidden the exhausts altogether, even though there was no hiding the front ‘pullrod’ suspension layout, which has not been seen on an F1 car for a decade.

“The big teams have the budget to make these sorts of parts just for the launches,” complained Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer.

“The car seen at our launch is certainly a lot closer to its final configuration than the McLaren or Ferrari,” he added.

McLaren and Ferrari will, of course, have to run real diffusers and exhausts this week at Jerez, where the first of just three pre-season tests begins on Tuesday.

But Whitmarsh noted: “The car will look different at Jerez to what it looked last week, and a lot different in Australia.

“At the weekend at Idiada (Spain) we did an aero test where we had a series of news parts that were not on the car at Woking.”

Ferrari designer Nikolas Tombazis confirmed that the exhaust is now a main focus of the 2012 designs.

“There will be a lot of work before the configuration is final,” he is quoted in La Stampa newspaper.

YallaF1

[N1GTR]

Whiting blames F1 teams for ‘ugly’ 2012 cars

Feb.6 (GMM) Formula 1 teams are to blame for the ‘ugly’ 2012 cars seen so far, according to FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting.

Of the five new cars seen already, the Ferrari, Lotus, Force India and Caterham models feature a radical ‘stepped’ nose.

Though the new McLaren sports a sleeker line, the less attractive solutions are a quirk of the 2012 rules.

This year, the FIA is requiring the tips of the noses to be lower in order to protect drivers’ heads in the event of T-bone crashes.

“We wanted to lower the survival cell to minimise the consequences of a crash into the side of another car,” Whiting is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

“But some of the engineers complained that they would have to build entirely new cars due to the accommodation of the suspension elements.

“So that’s why we came up with making the new height requirement relevant not to the chassis but to the nose (only),” he explained.

While pundits and fans initially lambasted the ‘stepped’ nose when seen for the first time on the Caterham, the hubbub is now becoming more muted.

“You criticise it on the first car but when you see it on the second or third you sort of accept it,” former Jordan and Jaguar designer Gary Anderson agreed, according to Reuters.

Agreed Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo to Sky Sport 24: “It’s ugly but the hope above all else is to win. The drivers just want it to be fast, without thinking if it’s beautiful or ugly.”

Ferrari designer Nikolas Tombazis added: “The nose? It’s not pleasant but it’s very efficient.”

YallaF1

[N1GTR]

Well it's official, RB8 has a stepped nose. Nowhere near as bad looking as the other teams though.

Video (which wont embed for some reason); http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Video/The-RB8-Revealed%E2%80%A6-021243158945543

Worst, F1, launch, ever.

[stR33ter]

Not much of a launch

Edited February 6, 2012 by stR33ter

[N1GTR]

No official pics yet, RBR's site isnt working if you dont have a direct link to the media section and even that isnt working although it partially loads.

Here's a spy shot from Jerez earlier, and it looks like they just put last years nose/wing on to fool everyone

[N1GTR]

[N1GTR]

[levinboy]

there is a quite interesting dip after the step down in the redbull car, and the nose seems to really curve aat the peak will be interesting to see some more detailed pics

[N1GTR]

Vettel video Interview

http://www.espn.co.uk/formulaone/sport/video_audio/134939.html

The Chin's video interview

http://www.espn.co.uk/formulaone/sport/video_audio/134937.html

[N1GTR]

Bigger version

[N1GTR]

Red Bull have unveiled their new car with which Sebastian Vettel will bid to become just the third driver in history to win three consecutive Drivers' world titles in 2012 - the RB8.

In an online 'reveal' on the team's official website of the most eagerly anticipated new car of the winter, the latest creation from renowned designer Adrian Newey follows the 2012 trend of incorporating the already infamous 'boxer's nose' into the design to comply with the new lower nose-height regulations.

However, in characteristic Newey fashion, the slope on the RB8's nose appears on first inspection slightly different and more graceful to many of the other cars which have featured the same stepped look so far.

Intriguingly, it means that the one 'pretty car' unveiled so far, McLaren's MP4-27, is very much unique in not featuring the 'stepped' concept.

Given last year's RB7 won 12 races and claimed pole position at every grand prix bar one, and the team have been winning consistently since F1's regulations were overhauled in 2009, the new challenger unsurprisingly otherwise appears more familiar to its predecessor - although, as with any Newey creation, the devil is usually in the detail.

Newey himself says the car is evolutionary, although admits the effective ban on blown diffusers for 2012 has led to a "big re-think" at the car's rear given the RB7 was built around the concept of lowly-exiting exhausts. He concedes the change could hurt them more than most.

"It's the fourth evolution of the RB5 this year, so obviously the pressure is to try and stay there if we possibly can," he said.

"It's a difficult task, we have lost the exhaust technology with the restriction exhaust outlet position that we were able to develop and perhaps be ahead of the pack on in the last couple of years, that led to a big re think over the winter.

"Whether that will affect us more than other people is difficult to know of course. We designed the RB7, last year's car, around that exhaust position and were probably the only people to do so, so it may be that we've lost more than other people through that. Only time will tell, it will be good to get out to do some testing and to see where we get to."

RBR's chief technical officer conceded the drooping nose wasn't particularly aesthetically pleasing, but was a necessity given the regulation change in this area.

"We've kept more or less the same chassis shape, but had to drop the nose just in front of the front bulkhead, which, in common with many other teams, has led us to I think I'd probably say a slightly ugly looking nose," he said.

"We've tried to style it as best we can, but it's not a feature you would choose to put in were it not for the regulation."

Having won both world titles in each of the past two seasons, team principal Christian Horner says the objectives for 2012 are therefore obvious but feels there is still room for improvement - which he suspects they will need to deliver anyway in anticipation of renewed competition from their rivals.

"The team's goals are quite simple. It's to try and defend both titles in the manner (in which) we achieved them," he said.

"Of course, when you've achieved what we have, particularly in 2011, we've set a very high standard for ourselves. But, we're always looking to improve, we're always looking, in all areas, to try and do better. We can't control what our opponents do, we're up against some formidable opponents, but we can only really focus on ourselves and only when we get to Melbourne will we truly know where we sit against our rivals."

World champion Vettel, meanwhile, enters the new season looking to join Juan-Manuel Fangio and, his great friend and countryman, Michael Schumacher in winning three or more F1 championships on the spin.

But although he put together one of the most dominant seasons in history last year, Vettel is under no illusions about the likelihood of repeating the same level of supremacy again.

Asked for what his 2012 target is, he replied: "Well to do it again! Obviously we had a great year and I think we will always look back to 2011 and think how special it was.

"But to be honest you don't start a season having expectations to have the same or similar season again. We know how special it was and we really enjoyed that, but we know how hard it is to be that consistent, to be nearly every race on the podium.

"The target is obviously to try to do it again and try to get everything out of ourselves. So we will see how we get on with the new car, RB8."

Team-mate Mark Webber stays on at Red Bull for a sixth straight season bidding to recapture the form that took him so close to the 2010 championship after winning just one race last time round.

The 35-year-old Australian acknowledges the front of the grid is more competitive than ever at the moment, but feels motivated to hit the ground running from the off this time.

"I think off the back of last year many sportsmen or women when you don't get the most out of a situation you always want to come back and improve and do a better job," Webber said.

"The bar has been lifted very, very high in the last few seasons and it's the challenge I'm looking forward to. I've had a really good winter and prepared for the season as best I can so I'm looking forward to the new season, I just cannot wait to get racing. We can talk a lot about it but we need to get on the track."

SkySports

[N1GTR]

Brundle interview video

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,,12870_7480531,00.html