official F1 World Championship 2011 Thread

[KiHu]

The Sauber C30, absolutely stunning.

(Close, but not as good looking as the C29 though)

[Teebor]

The Team Lotus car looks good. It should in theory be able to race other midfield teams like Williams/STR/FI. Too early to tell yet though.

I really like the British Racing Green livery. One of the sexier F1 liveries of the past years.

I would really like to see them back in black and gold again however I'm certainly glad to see Lotus racing

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I would really like to see them back in black and gold again however I'm certainly glad to see Lotus racing

The Lotus Renault GP (to be unveiled within an hour; live stream at http://www.launch.lotusrenaultgp.com/) will come in black and gold.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Sauber C29 and C30 compared:

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Lotus Renault GP R31:

[Buio]

Lotus Renault GP R31:

Renault is showing no exhaust pipes, and there is speculation on that they have done something innovative with it, even talk about having a forward exhaust of some sort.

Here is one analysis of their launch.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/renault-r31-launch-details-and-analysis/

Here is a large photo of the rear end (got it from Autosport forums). No visible exhaust pipes.

http://i.imgur.com/QBrH6.jpg

Here is a good top photo

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

Redbull Launches their new car:

High res:

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Mercedes GP W02:

Williams FW33 using an interim livery:

Scuderia Toro Rosso STR6:

[Chasethebase Veteran]

At this point it's too early but I say it'll be a good year like 2010. Very competitive at the top.

[Subject Delta]

My guess would be that Renault have found a loophole somewhere that has given them an alternative way to feed exactly gas through the diffuser, or in some other way underneath the car

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

IMHO the Mercedes GP W02 is easily the best-looking 2011 car we've seen so far.

[san.W10]

Vettel fastest in first test of 2011

World champion Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time on the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Valencia.

Eleven of the 12 teams hit the track today (with Lotus joining tomorrow) and the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari spent much of the day around the frontrunning pace.

Vettel was first to dip below the 1m14s barrier this afternoon and his only company there was Force India's Nico Hulkenberg. The German took the early stint in the team's interim car and matched the quick-lap pace of the leading teams. His average longer-run times were more than a second slower though.

Gary Paffett ended the day third-quickest for McLaren, jumping Ferrari and Fernando Alonso 45 minutes before the end. Paul di Resta took over the Force India for the afternoon's running and promptly made his way up the timesheet as well, relegating Alonso to fifth.

Alonso brought the day to a slightly premature end when his Ferrari stopped out on track at Turn 3 with just a couple of minutes remaining. The session was red-flagged while he restarted and cruised back to the pits, and time had expired by the time he arrived.

Kamui Kobayashi was sixth for Sauber, running for 68 laps, while Jerome D'Ambrosio kept an impressive pace earlier in the day as the interim Virgin car completed 71 laps.

While those teams running 2010 cars had largely trouble-free and competitive days, there were a few teething troubles for some of the new cars.

Mercedes was the first casualty of the day when Nico Rosberg stopped on the start/finish straight with a hydraulic leak. Michael Schumacher brought the repaired car back out later in the afternoon to complete 15 laps. Schumacher's best time of the day was a 1m16.450s, while the best of Rosberg's nine laps was a 1m19.930s.

Renault made a slow start to 2011 with Vitaly Petrov doing just six laps before a long break for the R31 - featuring a radical design with the exhausts exiting the car at the front of the sidepods. He too was back out later for another 22 laps.

Toro Rosso also took a long break from running while extensive checks were made to its car, Jaime Alguersuari eventually finishing 10th on a 1m17.214s.

Williams had a delay early on as well, due to a problem with its KERS, but Rubens Barrichello had done 78 laps by the end of the day - the best of them a 1m17.335s.

Narain Karthikeyan completed the runners on his first day in an HRT, doing 45 laps and a best of 1m18.020s in the team's 2010 car.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89215

[Buio]

My guess would be that Renault have found a loophole somewhere that has given them an alternative way to feed exactly gas through the diffuser, or in some other way underneath the car

Here is an explanation of their design.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/renault-r31-front-exit-exhausts-fee-explained/

Here is a picture of it

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/JLE0970.jpg

[san.W10]

:rofl:

from same autosport ps thread :p

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=135088&st=640&start=640

[Subject Delta]

Here is an explanation of their design.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/renault-r31-front-exit-exhausts-fee-explained/

Here is a picture of it

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/JLE0970.jpg

Impressive. Given that no monocoque modifications are needed to install this, my guess would be all the front running teams will probably be running it by the start of the European season, and maybe even some by the start of the season

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Alonso sets the pace at Valencia

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso moved to the top of the times on the second day of testing at the Valencia circuit on Wednesday.

The Spaniard, fifth fastest yesterday, posted a best time of 1m13.307s around the 1pm mark and stayed there until the end of the day in what was a positive day for the Italian squad, with Alonso covering over 100 laps.

Team-mate Felipe Massa will take over for the final day of the test tomorrow.

Yesterday's pace-setter Sebastian Vettel had to settle for second position after completing 43 laps with the Red Bull RB7.

The German shared the car with team-mate Mark Webber, who got first taste of the new Red Bull in the afternoon, managing 16 laps on his way to the 14th quickest time of the session.

Third quickest in the Force India was Paul di Resta, who continued enjoying a productive test at the wheel of last year's car. Lewis Hamilton, in the hybrid McLaren, and Renault's Robert Kubica completed the top five.

Indian Narain Karthikeyan was a surprising sixth fastest in the 2010 Hispania car, outpacing Nico Rosberg, who enjoyed a more productive day than yesterday in the new Mercedes.

Heikki Kovalainen took the new Lotus T128 out for its first run, but the Finn's day was cut short due to a problem with the car's power steering.

The Finn managed just 15 laps and finished at the bottom of the times, but he was encouraged by the car's handling.

"Compared to the feeling of last year at Jerez, it is totally different," he said. "Last year after Jerez I knew we had a little bit of work to do in every area, but the whole concept feels right."

Lotus will fly the power steering back to the factory overnight in order to continue testing tomorrow.

There were a total of four red flags during the day, the first caused by Rubens Barrichello's stoppage an hour into the session. A spin by di Resta at 10:30 was then followed by Rosberg stopping with a problem around 2pm.

The final red flag of the day was caused by Sebastien Buemi, whose Toro Rosso stopped on track near the end of the session.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver         Team                   Time               Laps
 1.  Alonso         Ferrari                1m13.307s           108
 2.  Vettel         Red Bull Renault       1m13.614s  +0.307    43
 3.  Di Resta       Force India Mercedes   1m13.844s  +0.537   111 *
 4.  Hamilton       McLaren Mercedes       1m14.353s  +1.046    83 *
 5.  Kubica         Renault                1m14.412s  +1.105   104
 6.  Karthikeyan    HRT Cosworth           1m14.472s  +1.165    80 *
 7.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1m14.645s  +1.338    69
 8.  Glock          Virgin Cosworth        1m15.408s  +2.101    34 *
 9.  Barrichello    Williams Cosworth      1m16.023s  +2.716    51
10.  Perez          Sauber Ferrari         1m16.198s  +2.891    42
11.  Maldonado      Williams Cosworth      1m16.266s  +2.959    29
12.  Buemi          Toro Rosso Ferrari     1m16.359s  +3.052    46
13.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso Ferrari     1m16.474s  +3.167    64
14.  Webber         Red Bull Renault       1m17.365s  +4.058    17
15.  Kovalainen     Lotus Renault          1m20.649s  +7.342    15

* 2010 car

All Timing Unofficial

Source: Autosport

[Subject Delta]

Given that some teams aren't running a 2011 car yet, these times are pretty meaningless to me. Will be interesting to see what lap times the new Renault with it's clever EBD produces. Rumours are that McLaren may also have a similar system on their 2011 car, and that Mercedes, and Red Bull are going to look into it as well.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Kubica puts Renault on top at Valencia

Renault's innovative forward-exhaust R31 set the fastest time on its third day of Formula 1 testing as the opening week of running at Valencia concluded on Thursday.

The day was half done before the team got round to some proper stints, but once running Robert Kubica was soon on the pace. He was the third driver to dip into the 1m13s and then went quickest of all on a 1m13.144s with just over an hour to go.

He dipped into the 1m13s three times, each of which was posted on the first flying lap of a three-lap run. A longer run followed for Renault in the last hour, in which Kubica's pace steadily dropped from the mid-1m16s into the high 1m17s - with a steep drop off after 18 laps.

Adrian Sutil covered the most laps today, 117 and continued Force India's good early form (though in its 2010 car) by finishing second. He was into the 1m14s on his first run of the day and unleashed a 1m13.2 on an early three-lapper which was unchallenged until the afternoon.

He repeated 1m14s throughout several short runs during the morning, then switched to running for 10 and 15 laps after lunch and spent most of his afternoon in the 1m19s.

Like Kubica, Jenson Button was another to take a while to get going. With McLaren running the old car, its focus was largely on tyres and the cold temperatures early in the day meant there wasn't much for the team to do.

Button's best time, a 1m13.553s, was the only lap of the run on which he did it, so possibly a qualifying simulation. A few longer runs followed later one, with the McLaren lapping consistently in the 1m16s.

After being limited to just a dozen laps by a master cylinder failure yesterday, Mark Webber was eager to get on with things this morning. An early seven-lap run in the 1m15s and 1m16s indicated a promising pace, which was underlined by a particularly impressive 20-lap stint around lunchtime during which he worked down from mid-1m16s to low 1m15s as the fuel load decreased.

Then his best times of the day came on the first of five and seven-lap runs, suggesting there's plenty more pace to come from the RB7 than the 1m13.936s Webber delivered.

Ferrari's plans were delayed by an oil leak on the F150 after Felipe Massa had done just 12 laps. He rejoined for the last couple of hours and at first his best times, 1m14.5s, were set at the beginning of 12-lap runs. He ended the day with a couple of 1m14.0s on a three-lap run which put him fifth.

Virgin went for a lot of 12-lap runs today with Timo Glock lapping mostly in the 1m17s, though he dipped into the 1m14s in a single burst late on to finish the day sixth.

Pastor Maldonado and Williams bucked the trend and began the day with longer runs - the Venezuelan's consistent 1m16s during those early stints comparing pretty well with those that followed later.

He switched to shorter bursts in the afternoon and gradually worked into the 1m14s, but huge variations in his times suggested Williams was still working on more than just tyre/stint analysis. His fastest, 1m14.299s, was bumped to seventh late on as Williams reverted to a couple of long runs to end the day.

Sergio Perez ended the day eighth for Sauber. He was sidelined after just nine laps when the team to replace the gearbox. He then conducted two long runs late in the morning in the high 1m15s, before dropping down to a 1m14.4s on a shorter run later on.

Michael Schumacher spent the morning on short runs, the quickest laps of which were mid to high 1m14s. Longer runs followed in the afternoon with the best - of 20 laps - averaging in the mid 1m16s and dipping into the 1m15s occasionally.

Sebastien Buemi spent the majority of his day doing five-lap runs, and worked his way steadily down from 1m17s to 1m15s. He peaked at a 1m14.8s and finished 10th.

That left HRT and Narain Karthikeyan 1.7s adrift at the back. The team never attempted a run longer than five laps and the Indian driver spent most of his time in the 1m17s, just dipping into the 1m16s on two and three-lap runs this afternoon.

Lotus's progress today was hampered by its power steering failure yesterday. The team had hoped to get replacement parts from its UK base to Valencia in time for today's testing. But when they couldn't get here in time, Jarno Trulli had to settle for 38 laps of installation laps, system checks and aero testing - meaning he didn't set a proper laptime all day.

Pos Driver               Team                   Time       Gap    Laps
 1. Robert Kubica        Renault                1m13.144s           95
 2. Adrian Sutil         Force India Mercedes*  1m13.201s  +0.057  117
 3. Jenson Button        McLaren Mercedes*      1m13.553s  +0.409  105
 4. Mark Webber          Red Bull Renault       1m13.936s  +0.792  105
 5. Felipe Massa         Ferrari                1m14.017s  +0.873   80
 6. Timo Glock           Virgin Cosworth*       1m14.207s  +1.063  114
 7. Pastor Maldonado     Williams Cosworth      1m14.299s  +1.155  101
 8. Sergio Perez         Sauber Ferrari         1m14.469s  +1.325  104
 9. Michael Schumacher   Mercedes               1m14.537s  +1.393  110
10. Sebastien Buemi      Toro Rosso Ferrari     1m14.801s  +1.657   73
11. Narain Karthikeyan   HRT Cosworth*          1m16.535s  +3.391   63
12. Jarno Trulli         Lotus Renault          no time             38

*2010 car

Source: Autosport

[Subject Delta]

I am certainly looking forward to seeing what happens when they are all running 2011 cars

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I am certainly looking forward to seeing what happens when they are all running 2011 cars

The next thing I'm looking forward to is the unveiling of the McLaren Mercedes MP4/26. There will be a live stream on http://mclaren.com/home from 12:00 CET/11:00 GMT onwards.

[.mcman]

New McLaren is beautiful! At least from what I can see on live stream.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

McLaren MP4-26:

[.mcman]

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

[san.W10]

from autosport :p