Formula 1 2012

[TheAdmiral]

Raikkonen fastest in first morning of testing

Kimi Raikkonen got his Formula One return off to a solid start at the first official test of 2012 by setting the fastest time of the morning session.

The Lotus driver had a head start on most of his competitors after spending Monday afternoon in the new E20 as part of the team's promotional launch. However, it was his first opportunity to sample the definitive 2012 Pirelli tyres and he wasted no time in going to the top of the timesheets, while the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull started 2012 at a more leisurely pace. After a series of improving laps, Raikkonen's fastest time by 13:00 (local time) was a 1:19.670, and he completed an impressive 50 laps in total.

 

[saschaxx]

Kimi really derserves it, he was + still is one of the best drivers of the planet. And he loves live. Normally he already should own the crown at least once.
@Petra: Alonso, ...I dont know someone called Alonso. ....
Hopefully Kubica will be back next year , he´s a hell of a driver too.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Kimi really derserves it, he was + still is one of the best drivers of the planet. And he loves live. Normally he already should own the crown at least once.
@Petra: Alonso, ...I dont know someone called Alonso. ....
Hopefully Kubica will be back next year , he´s a hell of a driver too.

He could be back by midseason, I think I saw that somewhere

 

[Rey C.]

Am I the only one that throws up in his mouth every time he sees those horrible stepped noses? There was a time in the 70's when there were some ugly grand prix cars. But this year, most of them are butt-ugly! :wtf:

I know that the designs chase (or try to get ahead of) the rules, so that they can find the most downforce and the least amount of drag. But good grief, these things are UGLY! :eeew:

 

[TheAdmiral]

Am I the only one that throws up in his mouth every time he sees those horrible stepped noses? There was a time in the 70's when there were some ugly grand prix cars. But this year, most of them are butt-ugly! :wtf:

I know that the designs chase (or try to get ahead of) the rules, so that they can find the most downforce and the least amount of drag. But good grief, these things are UGLY! :eeew:

Yeah, they're not the best looking, but I felt the same way when the rear wings were shortened before '09. Once the season starts though, the design will be the last thing on our minds

 

[TheAdmiral]

Le Mans drive for Red Bull reserve Buemi

Red Bull reserve driver Sebastien Buemi will compete in this year’s Le Mans 24Hours race for the works Toyota team. Buemi will share the Japanese squad’s TS030 Hybrid car with Formula One veteran Anthony Davidson and Hiroaki Ishiura.

It will be Buemi’s debut appearance in endurance racing, the Swiss driver having spent the past three seasons competing in Formula One with the Toro Rosso team.

“I am really proud to be a Toyota Racing driver at Le Mans; it’s a huge event and one of the biggest in motorsport,” said Buemi. “It’s particularly great to be going there as a Toyota driver because my grandfather has been a Toyota dealer for over 40 years so I’ve basically grown up with the brand.

Failed crash test forces HRT to delay new car launch

HRT have had to postpone the launch of their 2012 car after it narrowly failed two of the FIA’s mandatory crash tests. Although it passed 14 other tests successfully and its chassis was approved, the Spanish team are now set to wait until March’s final pre-season test to debut the F112.

HRT had originally planned to start track work with their new challenger at the second multi-team test, which will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya from February 21-24. But the delays mean they will now wait until the third test, also at the Barcelona track, on March 1-4.

Maroon 5 to headline Singapore Grand Prix concert

Multiple Grammy Award winners Maroon 5 are to top the musical bill at the 2012 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix. The US rock band will appear on the Padang stage on Saturday September 22 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with admission free to all three-day race ticket holders.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Why are the new cars so ugly? The car noses are lowered to 550mm above the reference plane (previously they could be 625mm high). This is to ensure that all parts of the nose are definitely below the height of the cockpit sides in the event of a T-Bone type of crash.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Vitaly Petrov Joins Caterham F1 Team

Caterham F1 Team has today announced that Vitaly Petrov has joined the team as race driver, replacing Jarno Trulli with immediate effect.

The Russian was at the Anglo-Malaysian team's factory in Hingham on Friday 17th February for a seat fitting ahead of his first run with the team at the second pre-season test in Barcelona, 21st to 24th February.

Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel considers Kimi Raikkonen a threat to his F1 championship

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel has flagged his friend Kimi Raikkonen as a potential pretender to his throne in 2012.

After becoming friends prior to Raikkonen's rallying switch two years ago, German Vettel has stayed in contact with the Finn, occasionally meeting in their domiciled Switzerland to play badminton.

They did not manage to catch up at the Jerez test last week, but Red Bull's Vettel admitted the pace of Raikkonen's new Lotus caught his eye.

"If it's as good as it seemed at Jerez, then Kimi is a serious opponent," he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Not trying to play down Lotus' impressive debut for the black and gold E20 car is the team's technical director, James Allison.

But the Briton also urged against getting carried away, with two tests at Barcelona still to run before the Melbourne season opener in March.

"We all try to know what is happening with the other teams, but in any case, we won't know anything definite until Melbourne," he is quoted by L'Equipe's website.

"The most important thing is that the car runs well, not just from a mechanical standpoint, but also in terms of how the drivers feel, which is also important."

 

[Rey C.]

Yeah, they're not the best looking, but I felt the same way when the rear wings were shortened before '09. Once the season starts though, the design will be the last thing on our minds

Well, even they don't win, I guess I'll take some pleasure in the cars I'll be cheering for (McLarens) not having that Rocky Balboa look.

BTW, I found this while searching around. Interesting, eh?

 

[TheAdmiral]

Mercedes has officially launched the F1 W03

 

[TheAdmiral]

Mercedes F1 W03 launch gallery

Barcelona day one - Vettel sets the pace for Red Bull

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for Red Bull as this week’s four-day test got underway at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday. Vettel’s best, a 1m 23.265s, was over a tenth of a second faster than the quickest lap from second-placed runner Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

The opening day of the second official pre-season test saw 11 teams in action, with only HRT missing. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso. Ricciardo covered 76 laps as he evaluated set-up configurations in the STR7. Although his day ended an hour earlier than expected due to a technical issue, he was pleased with progress.

Lotus forced to abandon Barcelona for the week

Lotus will not run for the remainder of this week’s second pre-season test at Barcelona following the issue experienced with the team’s second E20 chassis when it was shaken down for the first time by Romain Grosjean on Tuesday morning.

After discovering the problem, Lotus had initially planned to bring the first E20 chassis - which successfully completed the first Jerez test - to Spain for the remainder of the week, but that plan was abandoned after further investigation at their UK base.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Barcelona day two - Hulkenberg on top for Force India

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was the quickest runner on this week’s second day of testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. Hulkenberg posted a best Wednesday time of 1m 22.608s around the Spanish track to beat the Sauber of Sergio Perez by just four-hundredths of a second.

“We started the day with some aero work - trying some constant speed runs and collecting more data,” explained Hulkenberg. “Then, the rest of the day was spent working on the balance of the car and trying out all four tyre compounds. I did some short runs, long runs and just got a feel for the tyre characteristics and how the car reacts to them. Once again the car has been very drivable all day and our baseline set-up has proved to be a good starting point for running all the different compounds.”

 

[TheAdmiral]

Well, if they are able to pull it off, there's always the Grand Prix of Joysey! Snooki and the gang might even be the grand marshals!

I love the city of Montreal. But I've never been there during GP weekend.

Local hotels already filling up for 2013 Formula One race

WEEHAWKEN AND BEYOND -- Even though an exact date has yet to be set for the Weehawken and West New York June 2013 Formula One Grand Prix of America race, nearby hotels seem to be filling up already, according to NorthJersey.com.

The Sheraton Lincoln Harbor Hotel in Weehawken's website shows no rooms available for the weekend of June 15, 2013. It quotes rates between $659 to $689 per night for the weekend of June 22, 2013, whereas rates run from $180 to $659 per night for the same weekend in 2012.

According to its website, the W Hotel in Hoboken boasts room prices between $519 and $699 per night for the weekend of June 15, 2013, as well as for the following weekend. The same weekends in 2012 run from $323 and $649 per night.

 

[TheAdmiral]

Barcelona testing galleries:

Day 1
http://www.formula1.com/gallery/testing/2012/709.html

Day 2
http://www.formula1.com/gallery/testing/2012/710.html

Day 3
http://www.formula1.com/gallery/testing/2012/711.html

Day 4
http://www.formula1.com/gallery/testing/2012/712.html

 

[Petra]

Alright, I've got to post this here because I find it spectacularly amusing.

Aside from the fact that we had Juan Pablo Montoya (ex F1 driver) lose control of his nascar and crash it...the fact that he crashed into the back of a truck with a JET ENGINE that was being used to dry the track (while cars were still going around the track behind the SC) for the Daytona 500 is priceless.

I wanna shake the hand of the guy that signed off on this idea because a fast moving, unstable car on the same track as a jet engine full of jet fuel could NEVER end badly.

Methinks they should stick with brooms like the marshals of the 2011 Candian Grandprix did.

 

[ArsErotika]

I've been a flagger/marshall at a US road course, and the danger of being on a hot track is an accepted risk. But this incident was avoidable at so many points. Montoya is a maniac to be driving at that speed in close proximity to workers with a *KNOWN* mechanical/handling issue. His total disregard for workers' safety makes me sick.

Alright, I've got to post this here because I find it spectacularly amusing.

Aside from the fact that we had Juan Pablo Montoya (ex F1 driver) lose control of his nascar and crash it...the fact that he crashed into the back of a truck with a JET ENGINE that was being used to dry the track (while cars were still going around the track behind the SC) for the Daytona 500 is priceless.

I wanna shake the hand of the guy that signed off on this idea because a fast moving, unstable car on the same track as a jet engine full of jet fuel could NEVER end badly.

Methinks they should stick with brooms like the marshals of the 2011 Candian Grandprix did.

 

[Petra]

I've been a flagger/marshall at a US road course, and the danger of being on a hot track is an accepted risk. But this incident was avoidable at so many points. Montoya is a maniac to be driving at that speed in close proximity to workers with a *KNOWN* mechanical/handling issue. His total disregard for workers' safety makes me sick.

Um....even if he was driving slower he could have had a car issue and still slid into the truck. We all know those stock cars are unstable, combined with wet track? There's a reason they stop racing the moment a lone raindrop hits the track. Not to mention the rest of the pack that would have been coming around AGAIN.

Honestly, I think this is the fault of whomever thought this was a brilliant idea. Moving bomb + cars on same track = accident waiting to happen.

 

[saschaxx]

@Petra : Correct ! Someone should use his head sometimes .

 

[TheAdmiral]

Marussia to delay car launch after failed crash test

Marussia have had to postpone the launch of their 2012 car after it failed its final FIA crash test. The team had originally planned to debut the MR01 at the last pre-season test, which gets underway at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday.

“All cars are required to pass 18 FIA-observed tests for homologation to be granted,” explained Marussia in a statement. “Despite the fact that the MR01 has passed all 17 of the preceding tests, the regulations require the car to have completed all of the tests before running commences.

“The team will now not take part in the final pre-season test in Barcelona later this week (1-4 March) and will instead focus its efforts on repeating the crash test at the end of the week.”

Marussia were in attendance at last week’s Barcelona test with their 2011-spec car. Both Timo Glock and new signing Charles Pic enjoyed time behind the wheel during the four-day session.

 

[ArsErotika]

I don't disagree with you at all. To me the problem begins with NASCAR's religious adherence to no-rain-racing is the entire crux of the problem. Every condition (apart from the mechanical issue) that led up to the accident stems directly from this.

As for Montoya... he knew all the circumstances and should have gone slower in the presence of track workers. Period.

Um....even if he was driving slower he could have had a car issue and still slid into the truck. We all know those stock cars are unstable, combined with wet track? There's a reason they stop racing the moment a lone raindrop hits the track. Not to mention the rest of the pack that would have been coming around AGAIN.

Honestly, I think this is the fault of whomever thought this was a brilliant idea. Moving bomb + cars on same track = accident waiting to happen.