The F1 Technical Developments Thread

I don't need jelly. Trust me :cool:

Back to topic. After watching those videos that Madcow put, there were a few points mentioned that I didn't understand. Why would the first place qualifier by 5 seconds slower? And I agree with Brundle that FIA says they're trying to cut costs but keeps changing the rules to teams have to completely rebuild the cars, which bring out more costs.
 
Why would the first place qualifier by 5 seconds slower?

They said that 5 seconds is the difference between car with an empty fuel tank and a full one. So in quali they're running with an empty and on a first lap with full.

One interesting thing they haven't mentioned that in case when first 10 have to start on the same tyres they used in quali there is one more issue. Not only that they don't have unused tyres on a car, I think more important is that in qualification the softer rubber is better and at a beginning of a race when cars are heavy the harder rubber is better.
 
They did say it a bit, but only about the problems with the 10 and 11th place thing. Do you think some drivers will maybe try to actually get 11th place to capitalise on the fresh rubber? I really don't like this tyre rule.
 
But they only said about fresh/used tyres not about compound issue.

As about 10th and 11th on a grid I think it is similar to last year when 11th could decide his strategy already knowing what 10th will do. Maybe with tyres advantage of 11th is little bigger, but not much imo.
 
The tire thing is to try to force more overtaking. If the top ten guys all have to pit on lap 13 (or maybe even less) cause their tires went to crap they'll have to fight their way back through the grid which they should be able to do with fresh rubber and a faster car.
 
it's silly. All we need for overtaking is less circuits like Valencia and Singapore and more like Spa and Brazil. Less Tiike, please. Thank you.
 
Very interesting information disclosed by Bridgestone...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81937

Tyre advantage boosts Sauber's hopes

By Jonathan Noble and Glenn Freeman Tuesday, March 9th 2010, 12:00 GMT

BMW Sauber has a real chance of becoming a thorn in the side of Formula 1's 'big four' teams this year because its car is so good at looking after its tyres, Bridgestone analysis has revealed.

With the Swiss-outfit's C29 having already shown some strong pace in pre-season testing, the team's hopes of delivering some surprise results are boosted by the fact that early data reveals it suffers less tyre degradation than Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes GP.

That ability to look after its tyre could prove crucial on two fronts this season - by first of all allowing the team to use a softer tyre than its rivals in Q3, but also in delivering it greater consistency over the course of a race when there will be a premium on looking after the rubber now that refuelling is banned.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tyre development, says there is little separating the big four teams in terms of tyre degradation ? but Sauber is a different case.

"We have compared many teams' data and looking at the quick [four] teams ? their degradation tendency is very, very similar," he told AUTOSPORT. "Once they have the 150kg start weight, with both the medium and soft compound, then there is little difference ? so we could expect a very close pace. However, Sauber is more consistent."

Although this weekend's race is Bahrain will not be too punishing on the tyre front, Hamashima believes the difference between Sauber and the other teams is enough to offer the outfit strategy options that others do not have.

When asked if there was a chance for Sauber to opt for more marginal tyres than their rivals to help boost qualifying performance, Hamashima said: "Yes, it is possible.

"With an easy car, you can have the possibility to do that. Somewhere like Barcelona will be very interesting ? because the circuit is severe and the softer tyre may only be good to get one lap time before suffering big degradation in the race.

"But even places like Monaco and Bahrain, which are very, very easy on tyres, the specification that shows the best lap time should be the best race tyre ? which could make it interesting as well."

BMW Sauber's technical chief Willy Rampf acknowledged that the C29's tyre performance was one of its main strengths.

"The car doesn't have any stability problems, and its performance and balance on high fuel loads is a strong point," he told AUTOSPORT in an interview. "We will build on this ? it's a very good thing. Our car is not too heavy on its tyres, so we can do reasonable long stints without killing them.

"That will help keep the strategies more flexible, if you're not forced to stop by tyre wear."

Hamashima also believed that the competitiveness at the front of the field had closed up in the final pre-season test at Barcelona, as McLaren and Red Bull Racing delivered car improvements.

"At the first three tests, Ferrari it seemed had a little bit of an advantage over one lap. However, in Barcelona, McLaren and Red Bull used their latest cars and the picture was very mixed. It's now very difficult to judge."
 
Another possible case of the team being good when its factory team pulls out its support...
 
What is it that makes a car easy on the tires? Purely suspension settings/angles?
 
Let's think about it. Is the Sauber car based upon the last years BMW? In that case Kubica has said that it always had 'good aero numbers' but it was extremely difficult to extract, so if that was the base and the sorted it out, this isn't too unlikely is it?
 
More news about McLaren's wing. Inspection will take place on thursday and team will take alternative wing to Bahrain "just in case".

Of course Horner said RBR are already working on a similar design. :)
 
More news about McLaren's wing. Inspection will take place on thursday and team will take alternative wing to Bahrain "just in case".

Of course Horner said RBR are already working on a similar design. :)

I think the only reason they asked for it to be checked out was to make sure their wing would be legal. He said when talking about the wing that he was pretty sure it was legal.
 
It's more of a confirmation for the other teams so they can decide whether to continue building their own or not.
 
Seems as we have much longer cars this year, I'm wondering what kind of impact that would have on racing. In my mind it stands to reason that overtaking a longer car should be harder, not to mention the mayhem of diving into the first corner will be worse...Anyone got any input on this?

Oh and I found these while searching for info about it, the first one seems misleading to me...somehow doesn't scale right.

800px-2009-2010_cars_length_compare.jpg


2010_ferrari_f10_new_old_2.jpg
 
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