official F1 World Championship 2012 Thread

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Schumacher quickest on day two of test as Webber leads 2012 runners

Michael Schumacher topped the times on the second day of testing at Jerez.

Driving last year?s Mercedes W02, Schumacher set a best time of 1?18.561, more than a second quicker than Kimi Raikkonen?s fastest lap yesterday.

Raikkonen completed his second full day of testing for Lotus, he and Schumacher sharing a track for the first time since Schumacher first retired at the end of 2006.

He had a minor off in the morning, skidding into a gravel trap in the E20. But he continued his programme, running a longer stint in the afternoon and ending the day fourth having logged well over 100 laps.

Mark Webber also beat Raikkonen?s time with a 1?19.184 at the wheel of Red Bull?s RB8, quickest of the 2012 cars.

Daniel Ricciardo snuck inside Raikkonen?s best time from Tuesday, setting a 1?19.587 in the Toro Rosso STR7. Jean-Eric Vergne will have his first run in the car tomorrow.

The Ferrari F2012 completed almost 100 laps in Felipe Massa?s hands. He was seventh-fastest ahead of Jenson Button in the McLaren.

Among the new faces was Jules Bianchi, who had his first run at the wheel of the Force India in the morning, before handing it back to Paul di Resta.

Sergio Perez took over from Kamui Kobayashi at Sauber.

At Caterham, Heikki Kovalainen used KERS in the car for the first time, and racked up an impressive 139 laps. New reserve driver Giedo van der Garde will make his debut for the team tomorrow.

Tomorrow Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will be in action for their respective teams.

Jerez test times

Source: F1 Fanatic

[Daedroth]

The only thing that would make the McLaren sexier in my opinion is the re-introduction of low rear-wings. I've always hated these new high wings. :(

[JoeC]

I dunno, replacing the sidepods with boobs would probably make it a bit sexier.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Mercedes stay on top in Jerez test

Mercedes remained on top of the time for a second day in Jerez with their 2011 car.

This time it was Nico Rosberg?s turn to lap the Spanish circuit quickest, setting a time of 1?17.613, almost a second quicker than Michael Schumacher?s best effort in the W02 yesterday.

That concluded Mercedes? involvement in the test as they will not be present for the final day?s running. The team will launch its W03 before the next test in Barcelona.

It was a largely wasted day for Force India after Jules Bianchi crashed and damaged the team?s car on his third lap of the day. The team?s reserve driver damaged the right-rear of the car

That forced the team to abandon plans to give Nico Hulkenberg his first run in the new car. The F1 returnee will instead get to drive the VJM05 for the first time tomorrow.

Another reserve driver who hit trouble during the test was Giedo van der Garde. The Caterham driver spun and stopped with just over an hour remaining in the test.

Romain Grosjean was fastest earlier on in the day, setting a 1?18.419 as he drove the Lotus E20 for the first time. Like Rosberg, Grosjean registered well over 100 laps of the circuit. The Lotus driver stopped on the track with five minutes remaining in the session, bringing out the red flag for the third and final time.

Sebastian Vettel was third-fastest on his first day in the new Red Bull RB8. Red Bull owner dietrich Mateschitz was in attendance to see the world champion trying out his latest car for the first time.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso also made their first appearances for McLaren and Ferrari respectively ? the latter greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in his home country.

At Williams Bruno Senna had a productive day in the FW34, completing more laps than Pastor Maldonado had managed in the previous two days combined.

Source: F1 Fanatic

[i11usive]

Nice ..... on my way to Jerez this morning -- about an hour away from where I live ..

[Zain Adeel]

do let us know how the new cars sound.

Are the engines changed or just tweaked?

[Daedroth]

The engines are the same this year aren't they? I think they're switching to 1.4 v6 turbos in 2014. http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2011/7/12241.html

[i11usive]

The engines are the same this year aren't they? I think they're switching to 1.4 v6 turbos in 2014. http://www.formula1....11/7/12241.html

Yeah - that's right .. which I think is a crying shame!!!

[Fourjays Veteran]

Nice ..... on my way to Jerez this morning -- about an hour away from where I live ..

Let us know what the Red Bull sounds like... been reading reports from others who've been to the test that it still sounds like it is blowing the diffuser. :/ How they'd have managed to circumvent the rules for that I don't know so I'm a little sceptical at the moment..

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Alonso ends Jerez test quickest for Ferrari

Fernando Alonso was quickest on the final day of testing at Jerez.

His lap of 1?18.877 served as a timely response to questions over the performance of the Ferrari F2012.

Alonso set the lap early in the running before spending much of the day conducting aerodynamic tests in the new Ferrari.

Behind him the times were close ? Jean-Eric Vergne, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Kamui Kobayashi all lapped within two-tenths of a second of each other.

The world champion had a quiet start to the day as the team had to fix an electrical fault on the RB8.

Another driver to hit trouble was Bruno Senna, who caused two red flags when his Williams stopped on track. Nonetheless Senna completed another busy programme, logging 125 laps in his FW34 as he did yesterday.

Kamui Kobayashi lost a significant amount of time after an hydraulic leak in his Sauber C31 caused him to stop on the track. But was able to return to the circuit before the end of the session.

Having missed out on yesterday?s running, Nico Hulkenberg had his first taste of the Force India VJM05.

Jarno Trulli got behind the wheel of the Caterham CT01 for the first time. Having struggled with the power steering in last year?s car, he quickly reported back that the new model seemed to be an improvement in that area.

The next test will begin on 21st February at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Jerez test times

Source: F1 Fanatic

[simonlang]

Alonso ends Jerez test quickest for Ferrari

Fernando Alonso was quickest on the final day of testing at Jerez.

His lap of 1?18.877 served as a timely response to questions over the performance of the Ferrari F2012.

glory run. low fuel and brand new set of soft tires. i followed the 4 testing days in jerez closely and if it has made anything sure its:

- ferrari is in deep deep deep trouble

- redbull is still ahead

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

It is too early to draw definite conclusions yet. Some trends are obvious though:

• Lotus Renault is quick. They might surprise all of us.
  
• Red Bull is also quick, but not without technical issues. They're going to have fixed the gremlins come the Barcelona test.
  
• There's a packed mid-field with Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber not far behind.
  
• The McLaren is quick, but quick enough to challenge the Red Bull and the Lotus yet? No.
  
• Ferrari is definitely in trouble. They're still struggling to understand how to set up the car. It'll be interesting to see how they do come Barcelona.
  
• Mercedes GP is the dark horse. They were quick with the old car; I'd like to know how many 2012 parts they tried out. As an aside, they better not have a platypus nose on the W03.
  
• Caterham is catching up with the midfield. I think we can expect them to score the odd point this year.
  
• HRT and Marussia are still going to form the tail end of the grid barring a miracle.
  

[simonlang]

It is too early to draw definite conclusions yet. Some trends are obvious though:

• Lotus Renault is quick. They might surprise all of us.
  
• Red Bull is also quick, but not without technical issues. They're going to have fixed the gremlins come the Barcelona test.
  
• There's a packed mid-field with Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber not far behind.
  
• The McLaren is quick, but quick enough to challenge the Red Bull and the Lotus yet? No.
  
• Ferrari is definitely in trouble. They're still struggling to understand how to set up the car. It'll be interesting to see how they do come Barcelona.
  
• Mercedes GP is the dark horse. They were quick with the old car; I'd like to know how many 2012 parts they tried out. As an aside, they better not have a platypus nose on the W03.
  
• Caterham is catching up with the midfield. I think we can expect them to score the odd point this year.
  
• HRT and Marussia are still going to form the tail end of the grid barring a miracle.
  

are these your conclusions or based on any source? my source says mclaren looks as planted on track as redbull + better reliability + kerb riding has also improved and the longrun today was for both, rbr and mcl in 1.21s....

ofc could be differen fuel load and whatsoever but... u ve got any source? ;)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I gathered the information from the Autosport forum, with several first-hand reports from people at the track. Note: The list above is my interpretation of the available information.

We'll have a clearer picture come the Barcelona test.

[simonlang]

I gathered the information from the Autosport forum, with several first-hand reports from people at the track. Note: The list above is my interpretation of the available information.

We'll have a clearer picture come the Barcelona test.

cool so did i... following the autosport forum as reader since my ban last year (which happend, when i predicted strongly that redbull indeed HAS a 0.7s per lap lead to others, which didnt went so well with some ferrari fans .... esp. after testing last year)) and i combined this with the auto-motor-und-sport.de reports which you as a german should be easily able to read as well ;)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/mclaren-und-ferrari-fragezeichen-bei-den-sorgenkindern-4371115.html

I rest my case.

[simonlang]

http://www.auto-moto...rn-4371115.html

I rest my case.

:) as i wrote the very first comment under that post, i can confirm it was from yesterday...

today they run this story:

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/ferrari-auf-fehlersuche-was-ist-faul-am-neuen-ferrari-4371179.html

and about mclaren i was refering to this:

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news/2012/02/McLaren_Nach_erster_Testwoche_auf_Red-Bull-Niveau_12021029.html

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Sneak peek of the Mercedes AMG W03 (via the team's Facebook page):

Looks like could have a sensibly-looking nose.

[KiHu]

Im not sure..

Feels like its a platypus nose..

[Fourjays Veteran]

I think there is probably a reason why that area isn't visible... :p

Last year's Mercedes already had a semi-platypus nose so I'd be surprised if it was gone. The nose just doesn't look low enough in that picture either.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Mercedes' new W03 Formula 1 car completes successful shakedown

Mercedes enjoyed a successful first run of its 2012 Formula 1 car at Silverstone today ahead of its test debut at Barcelona next Tuesday.

The Mercedes F1 W03 completed the 100 kms of running permitted on a filming day using Pirelli demonstration tyres, with both Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher taking turns behind the wheel.

Vice president of motorsport Norbert Haug hopes will allow the team to "hit the ground running" next week.

"Judging the performance on a roll-out day is very difficult because you run on demo tyres and it was on the short circuit, but the car did everything it was supposed to do," Haug told AUTOSPORT.

"There's a limit of 100 kms so Nico did 50 kms in the morning and then we changed to Michael. There were no teething problems and now we are heading to Barcelona."

Details of the new car are sketchy, but the glimpses seen of the car so far reveal that, like all but one of the teams who have so far unveiled their new machines, it features the so-called 'platypus' nose that only McLaren has opted against.

"The nose is the most discussed issue," said Haug. "It's a stepped nose as some have seen. It's a very nice solution really and a very dynamic one."

Haug added that the extra 10 days of preparation time gained by not running the new car at last week's first test at Jerez have been put to good use.

In addition to mileage completed using the old car at Jerez on the 2012 Pirelli tyres, Haug believes that the simulation work done at the team's Brackley base leaves the team in good shape.

"We have done some very good simulations and calculations and worked a lot inside the company," said Haug. "We had the car on the rig ahead of time and simulated using the engine, gearbox and KERS for quite a while. So we are positive and the target has to be to hit the ground running [at Barcelona].

"We learned something with the old car concerning the new tyres and specifically ran with the blown diffuser because the comparative data with the old tyres was gathered under these conditions.

"We learned a lot and hopefully we can translate what we have learned into the new car."

Source: Autosport

Spy shots:

Platypus nose.

[JoeC]

Whooooooooooa that's not a platypus nose, that's broken. That looks crazy steep, and hugely ugly. It's so bad, it's made me unable to type coherently.

[Zain Adeel]

it got humps like the redbull. Not big on the looks if it performs well.

I hope Schumi gets a win this year.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Clearer picture of the Mercedes W03:

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Vitaly Petrov replaces Jarno Trulli at Caterham

Caterham have announced Vitaly Petrov has replaced Jarno Trulli at the team ?withimediate effect?.

Team Principal Tony Fernandes said: ?We are all delighted to welcome Vitaly into our team and are very excited about the role he will play in helping us take the next steps forward in 2012 and for many years to come. When we first met it was immediately clear that Vitaly understands and shares our vision for how we want our team to grow. As the first Russian to race in F1 he carries the hopes of a huge nation with ease and his talents, experience with one of our current competitors and insights on and off track will play a huge role in our development as we fight to join the established teams ahead.?

Source: F1 Fanatic