Ferrari F2012 Development News Thread

[Silent Bob]

how an aerodynamic package can cause mechanical problem and most importantly engine problem?

When the aero package means changes to the exhaust and the flow of air through cooling devices. When things don't get cooled they overheat and go boom.

[type056]

ٍExhaust gas can be problem only for tire,break and floor.
If we have cooling problem for engine that means that we changed sidepod dramatically.
I do not think we took that big risk.

[Dino]

Don't know how reliable this is, but apparently Ferrari have done a second straight line test in Idiada just a few hours ago according to @raqueltdi who lives less than a km away from the track, shes posted a video, can't see the car but you can hear it doing runs. Seems they are really pushing it this time. I think they've also run outta straight line tests now.

Video:

Can someone ask @raqueltdi if the end of this video is actually when she last heard the Ferrari?
Engine sounds sick last few seconds??????.

[anialonso]

Hey guys,its only a matter of 2 more days..
after that we will have all the answers...
but just reading through the forum there seems to be a lot of contradictory info..
hope we have working + reliable updates..

[varun]

They have already arrived India i think.But he says Alonso and Fry wants to take risks while Rob Smedley,Tombazis and Massa dont.Because Smedly and Massa belives the car is okey and set up may be wrong.The first day of testing everything was ok.The problem occoured in Sunday the last test.They brought the car together part by part and finally alltogether.But in first attempt exhaust caused the rear side burnt down.Then they repair and second run engine had stopped also alternator.One more thing about meeting is Luca Di was on Alonso's side and conviced the team members

I just hope these news are not true...and the updates work totally fine. Engine and alternator failures are now things that we cannot afford at this stage. I hope this is just downgrading the expectations but on track i hope the F2012 is flying on 26th.
Btw has Alonso reached India? any idea?

[FA fan]

I just hope these news are not true...and the updates work totally fine. Engine and alternator failures are now things that we cannot afford at this stage. I hope this is just downgrading the expectations but on track i hope the F2012 is flying on 26th.
Btw has Alonso reached India? any idea?

Hi I just saw Alonso in the Dubai airport lounge:) probably going now to India!

[anuragiyer8989]

Hi I just saw Alonso in the Dubai airport lounge:) probably going now to India!

Lucky you! Did u meet him?! Can't wait for this practice to begin now!

[Fer12]

Ferrari are really pushing the Engine mapping rule...Tat thing is blowing like crazy...Maybe thats wat is creating reliabilty problems,if they solve tat they can solve the problems they are having in slow speed corners...

[LightAmaterasu]

The Ferrari Heads should know how much of a chance to take!
burak karakutuk was not really far off, was he?

if they've decided to take the risk, then I just hope we don't DNF, that would be diastrous.
And yes, amidst all the info, burak karakutuk was closest to the truth. Thanks for the info mate!

[LightAmaterasu]

Ferrari are really pushing the Engine mapping rule...Tat thing is blowing like crazy...Maybe thats wat is creating reliabilty problems,if they solve tat they can solve the problems they are having in slow speed corners...

We're doing now what red bull did in the earlier part of the season i guess. They brought aggressive updates, reliability issues were serious, but they fixed it over time because they had the time. I don't know how much we can be sure of making these updates pose no major threat to reliability in the short time we have left. But we've come this far and we must give it our all! Happy that we're doing that really!

[LightAmaterasu]

Hi I just saw Alonso in the Dubai airport lounge:) probably going now to India!

wow, nice!
By the way, was it lucky co-incidence that you saw alonso or were you stalking the place ?

[anialonso]

Ferrari updates 'no great revolution' - Gene
Ferrari has travelled to India with some improvements for its 2012 car, test driver Marc Gene has revealed.

Despite admitting its wind tunnel has not always been up to scratch this year, the Italian team remains determined to fight back after Fernando Alonso lost his long-standing championship lead to Red Bull's on-form Sebastian Vettel two weeks ago in Korea.

Spaniard Gene is quoted by the EFE news agency as admitting Ferrari has brought "a number of improvements" to India, the fourth-last stop on the 2012 calendar, but insisted it does not add up to a "great revolution".

"But we do hope they help," he said.

"All the time there are less and less races, so we are doing everything to end the championship with even a single point more than second place," added Gene.

Spain's Marca newspaper said the changes to the F2012 are in the area of the exhaust, the wings and the diffuser, amounting to "between 0.2 and 0.4 seconds" per lap.

Chief designer Nicholas Tombazis confirmed Ferrari tried the improvements during a straightline track test last week, after finding that parts tested only in the wind tunnel ahead of recent grands prix brought "unpleasant surprises".

"We ran control tests on these updates to really understand what the problem was. We got some very interesting answers which we believe will allow us to recover from those problems," he said.

F1 legend Niki Lauda, however, warned that it might already be too late for Ferrari, particularly as he has heard that Red Bull has also travelled to India with some car developments.

"If that goes well (for Red Bull), then it becomes very difficult for Alonso," he told the broadcaster RTL.

0.4 sec gain in laptime will not be too bad..

[stefa]

Gene's words are not way to promising... Because of all this hype about alleged big update for India, and in last couple of days very contradictory news, I am preparing my self not to be unpleasantly surprised come Sunday.
Anyway two more days and we will all find out where Ferrari stands.

[dmkevin]

please respect my friend.this info coming from Shell.Meeting is over.All parts will arive to India.If you are not satisfied then do not comment or do not read.I dont prove this to you understood buddy

Ok dude, because so many people are speculating about stuff which they get from unreliable internet sources, i thought you were speculating as well. Maybe you are right or maybe you are wrong. we wont know unless it comes from ferrari's mouth. I said i was just being sarcastic not an attempt to have a go at you. So if you got the info from shell, then fair enough!!! I respect your info! but i personally dont believe its true. Smedley is just a race engineer and have no say on what should and not go on the car, although he can still voice his concern. Felipe i guess can as he is driving the car so he might not agree to go a different direction which might put him back to where he was before... But why would they do this, we are behind not infront and they know red bull is fast maybe even faster than what they showed in korea, give them time they will set up the car better. Ferrari need to take risk, go for it guys!!! if we lose at least we lose in style. we could still say we tried our best and got beaten by the best. Forza ferrari. To the ferrari team if you read this GO FOR IT... FEAR has two meanings: Forget Everything And Run (Lose title with head down) or Face Everything And Rise.

[stefa]

Ok dude, because so many people are speculating about stuff which they get from unreliable internet sources, i thought you were speculating as well. Maybe you are right or maybe you are wrong. we wont know unless it comes from ferrari's mouth. I said i was just being sarcastic not an attempt to have a go at you. So if you got the info from shell, then fair enough!!! I respect your info! but i personally dont believe its true. Smedley is just a race engineer and have no say on what should and not go on the car, although he can still voice his concern. Felipe i guess can as he is driving the car so he might not agree to go a different direction which might put him back to where he was before... But why would they do this, we are behind not infront and they know red bull is fast maybe even faster than what they showed in korea, give them time they will set up the car better. Ferrari need to take risk, go for it guys!!! if we lose at least we lose in style. we could still say we tried our best and got beaten by the best. Forza ferrari. To the ferrari team if you read this GO FOR IT... FEAR has two meanings: Forget Everything And Run (Lose title with head down) or Face Everything And Rise.

Like your comment.

Acronym for FEAR is really good.

[stefa]

true indeed....and NOT only finish ahead of him...he REALLY NEEDS to win this race and at least ONE more too, while Vettel fiishes either 2nd or 3rd..

it's going to be really tough; all i know is that, if Vettel wins this one it's gonna be really hard for Ferrari and Fernando to win it...

let's ALL HOPE that mark gene and felipe are both downplaying the upgrades so that red bull think they have the championship in the bag, and them for us to steal it from them at last....

Even we are all secretly believing in downplaying, in any sports, and especially in F1 there is nothing like downplaying. Simply they are not children to play those childish games.

[dmkevin]

cheers mate...

[Rosso Corsa]

Nobody here knows what updates we have.

There's not been a shred of evidence since the last grand prix about what updates we've got. There's no evidence that there have been any reliability problems. And the sound you can hear in that video clip is not 'blowing'.

You're all believing rumours like they were facts, and twisting those rumours to fit your own conclusions. Rumours haven't been right all season. You're killing the development thread.

Until the weekend or until there are photos or quotes from Ferrari, we don't know what's coming, we don't know what performance improvement there might be, and we don't know how we'll compare to the competition.

[medeni73]

Nobody here knows what updates we have.

There's not been a shred of evidence since the last grand prix about what updates we've got. There's no evidence that there have been any reliability problems. And the sound you can hear in that video clip is not 'blowing'.

You're all believing rumours like they were facts, and twisting those rumours to fit your own conclusions. Rumours haven't been right all season. You're killing the development thread.

Until the weekend or until there are photos or quotes from Ferrari, we don't know what's coming, we don't know what performance improvement there might be, and we don't know how we'll compare to the competition.

And we can close the forum cos there is nothing to do then, to think, to hope, to speculate...we can just wait for evening edition of ESPN news and new edition of CIA The World Factbook...

[Super M]

Nobody here knows what updates we have.

There's not been a shred of evidence since the last grand prix about what updates we've got. There's no evidence that there have been any reliability problems. And the sound you can hear in that video clip is not 'blowing'.

You're all believing rumours like they were facts, and twisting those rumours to fit your own conclusions. Rumours haven't been right all season. You're killing the development thread.

Until the weekend or until there are photos or quotes from Ferrari, we don't know what's coming, we don't know what performance improvement there might be, and we don't know how we'll compare to the competition.

Perhaps this will help a little in your questioning, See below.



Ferrari vows to go aggressive with car development
ESPN Staff
October 23, 2012 « Watch the first lap at the Circuit of the Americas

Ferrari is aiming to roll out aggressive updates to catch Red Bull © Sutton Images
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Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis says his team will adopt an "aggressive approach" to its car development over the final four races now that Fernando Alonso has fallen behind Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship.

Alonso dropped six points behind championship leader Vettel at the Korean Grand Prix and has not won a race since Hockenheim in July. Tombazis believes Ferrari now has no choice but to ramp up the development of the F2012.

"As we are still in the fight for the championship, we therefore have to continue with the development of the car," he told Ferrari's website. "And because we don't currently enjoy an advantage, either in terms of performance or as far as the points situation is concerned, we cannot defend, we must attack and adopt an aggressive approach to car development for these four races, bringing updates to every one of them to close the gap and fight for the wins and hopefully bring home the titles.

"Our aim is to bring, in as short a time as possible, all the developments we have tried in the wind tunnel to see how they work, confirming their performance, so that we don't encounter the same problems as before. That way, for every race, we hope to get closer to those ahead of us so that we can fight for the wins."

Tombazis said the Ferrari had improved over recent races but the team's speed of development is now "lagging behind" its rivals. He admitted that problems correlating data from the wind tunnel with the car's performance on track had hurt, but he is confident a recent straight-line test has helped the team's understanding of the car.

"One element that slowed our progress was the difficulty we encountered in the correlation with data from the wind tunnel and that from the track," Tombazis said. "The wind tunnel can only ever be a model of what things are like in reality and can never be completely real. The data we saw in the wind tunnel did not match 100% the data we were getting from the track. We had some unpleasant surprises from some of the updates we brought to the last couple of races, so immediately, we wanted to fix that and understand where it had gone wrong.

"Therefore we have had an aero test prior to heading off to India, where we ran control tests on these updates to really understand what the problem was. We got some very interesting answers which we believe will allow us to recover from those problems and so, our aim in this forthcoming Indian GP, will be to make up the ground we have lost."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
Feeds: ESPN Staff

[Rosso Corsa]

Perhaps this will help a little in your questioning, See below.

No. The video that the article took those quotes from was posted on Ferraris website a week ago, and was posted in this thread. That info is actually the only real info we've had, but still it doesn't talk about specific updates or reliability problems.

And Medeni. We don't need to close the forum. A little bit more fact and reasoned discussion about the development of our car wouldn't go amiss though.

[Super M]

[QUOTE=Rosso Corsa;754852]Nobody here knows what updates we have.


Until the weekend or until there are photos or quotes from Ferrari, we don't know what's coming, we don't know what performance improvement there might be, and we don't know how we'll compare to the competition.




Hence why i pasted that article for you....

[stefa]

It's just less than two days... And we will know

[Rosso Corsa]

Hence why i pasted that article for you....

What? How does that article relate to anything I said? I didn't say Ferrari had said nothing. I said they hadn't disclosed what updates we have.

[F2002]

I am sure that, if Ferrari had some decent upgrades for India and beyond, they'd be giving all the details to us and the media in advance, to allow their competitors to react...

[Rosso Corsa]

I am sure that, if Ferrari had some decent upgrades for India and beyond, they'd be giving all the details to us and the media in advance, to allow their competitors to react...

No they wouldn't, that's ridiculous (I'm being sarcastic too). Ferrari never say what they're bringing in advance. And rumours about what we're bringing are never true either.

[Super M]

Nobody here knows what updates we have.

There's not been a shred of evidence since the last grand prix about what updates we've got. There's no evidence that there have been any reliability problems. And the sound you can hear in that video clip is not 'blowing'.

You're all believing rumours like they were facts, and twisting those rumours to fit your own conclusions. Rumours haven't been right all season. You're killing the development thread.

Until the weekend or until there are photos or quotes from Ferrari, we don't know what's coming, we don't know what performance improvement there might be, and we don't know how we'll compare to the competition.

What? How does that article relate to anything I said? I didn't say Ferrari had said nothing. I said they hadn't disclosed what updates we have.

I think maybe you should re-read your own post.....I simply gave you a QUOTE by Ferrari........as you mentioned in your POST!...

[Rosso Corsa]

I think maybe you should re-read your own post.....I simply gave you a QUOTE by Ferrari........as you mentioned in your POST!...

Sorry Super M. I misunderstood why you provided the quote. Yes, that's pretty much the only evidence we've got of anything from Ferrari. The point I was making in my post was that all the specific upgrades and problems that are being talked about are all unfounded.

[blaney1977]

The team will know what the gap is to red bull, too me and I no expert, 3ths would put us very close to red bull, but what areas of a track do we struggle? Is it traction and slow corners? I'm sure the updates will look to improve those areas? From the start of this thread, some people just make up rubbish and post it, the guys that source the photos and imput some useful insight are worth a read, but some of its just rubbish other people post

[Super M]

Sorry Super M. I misunderstood why you provided the quote. Yes, that's pretty much the only evidence we've got of anything from Ferrari. The point I was making in my post was that all the specific upgrades and problems that are being talked about are all unfounded.

Thank you for understanding Rosso Corsa

As for your last sentence, I totally agree with you........There's just so many speculations on here, It can get a bit frustrating......but yeah, i couldn't agree with you more....