2012 Car Launches and Testing Thread

Red_Bull

Red_Bull

Gives you wings?
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Ok, might be about time for the 2012 Annual Season Launch thread. As usual it's a place for all news and photos specifically regarding the new car launches, unveilings, speculation about what piece does what, etc. Other stuff like driver movements and the like are to remain in the other thread.

The first piece of news is that Ferrari have announced they will be launching their car in early February in order to make the first test. Supposedly going to be significantly different.

Sauber will launch their car, the C31 on February 6th at Jerez, a day before the first test.

Caterham's car has officially passed it's crash tests although they havent yet indicated whether they'll be at the first test with the new car. It will be called the CT-01. You can have a look at the new logo here.

McLaren will launch the MP4/27 on February 1st at their factory. McLaren usually tend to do something with their partners Vodafone, although last years Berlin launch was a little underwhelming. At least they're making some sort of effort unlike the general trend these days where teams just uncover their new car at the track and then get down to business. I know I've ranted about this before but gone seemingly, are the days of the lavish launch and parties at Albert Hall, European castles, etc, which is a bit of a shame. Anyway the car is said to be a bit different.

The same article reveals that Mercedes will not run their new car at the first test, preferring instead to launch their new car at the second test due to take place on the 21st February. Kinda risking it a bit especially given all the troubles McLaren had last season.

Red Bull and Williams have also indicated they will start the first test with new cars. Red Bull in particular have gone to a lot of trouble in redesigning the floor of the new car given the ban on the off throttle exhaust gases diffuser thingys.

Anyway, this post will be updated as the cars are launched

A tentative, at a glance list looks like this:

Caterham CT01 - January 26th
McLaren MP4/27 - February 1st
Ferrari F2012 - February 3rd
Force India VJM05 - February 3rd
Renault E20 - February 5th
Sauber C31 - February 6th
Red Bull RB8 - February 6th
Toro Rosso STR7 - February 6th
Williams FW34 - February 7th
Mercedes W03 - February 21st
Marussia - TBA
HRT - TBA
 
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Force India will reveal their 2012 car on February 3rd, on the same day as Ferrari.

Red Bull will launch the RB8 on February 6th at 1pm (unsure of the time zone, presumably UK time) on their website.
 
Caterham will reveal their car on the F1 Racing magazine cover the 26th(?) of January. Read it on Twitter a couple of days ago.
 
Italian technical journalist Giorgio Piola has struck again, releasing some details of the new Ferrari due to be launched at Maranello on Friday February 3rd.The car has been described as ?ugly? by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and it?s certainly a new departure from the DNA of Ferraris of recent years, but all there are agreed that if it?s fast enough, it will certainly be beautiful!

Among the indiscretions Piola has published in Gazzetta dello Sport today are that the suspension is a pull-rod system, the first on a Ferrari for 11 years. This is what Red Bull has been using since 2009 and many others have followed.
It works well with a lower nose and allows a lower centre of gravity on the car. At the rear it allows the back to sit low, clearly part of Ferrari?s strategy for coping with the loss of the blown diffusers.

The new rules, lowering the nose on the cars, means that the nose droops down.

The drivers are more reclined in the new Ferrari. The sidepods are very narrow and the crash structures to protect the driver are in two wing like shapes in front of the leading edge of the sidepods, above the radiator inlet line. In addition to meeting the crash requirements, they will clearly have an aerodynamic function.

All the teams are working on innovative sidepod ideas to try to get the best possible airflow to the rear of the car to make up for the lost downforce from the banning of the blown diffusers. Sidepods offer quite a bit of freedom to the designers.

According to Piola the front and rear wings at the launch will be old specification, not the 2012 ones.

The exhaust outlets will be at the lower end of the range specified in the new rules, blowing across the bottom profile of the rear wing. But there is a development plan, apparently, to move to what McLaren and Red Bull is believed to be doing, which is to exit the exhausts high up, to blow across the top profile.

The car, under the guidance of technical director and former McLaren designer Pat Fry, is the work of Nikolas Tombazis, with legendary Ferrari designer Rory Byrne a significant contributor in the background. It?s believed that Byrne is behind the innovation on the protective structures in the form of a wing in front of the sidepods.

Last year there was a lot of imagery around the launch of the pride of Italy, celebrating its 150th Anniversary.

Although the political tone might be lower this year, the team and particularly Montezemolo, will be well aware that Italy needs something to be proud of at this difficult time, with the economy in crisis and the recent sinking of one of its cruise ships another embarrassing episode for the country.
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Source

Very interesting!
 
In an article about Ferrari in a German non-motoring paper I read that the new Ferrari passed the FIA crash test "after modifications were made". That sounds to me like it failed on first try. Does anyone know more about that?
 
It was the first test, they went in with very light panels and structures, those crumbled. Added more layers, all was well.

And ugly? Idgaf, if it craps all over RBRs party. It's not a looker though.



 
That is just a speculative drawing based on small reports by the designers, same thing happened last year. It is interesting though.
 
I am sure that Ferrari will be on the money this year - at last, if not someone may well end up having a kip with a fish.

Caterham WTF - stay well out of it, bankruptancy looms otherwise, you do not have the financial muscle for this business.
 
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Cobol74 said:
Caterham WTF - stay well out of it, bankruptancy looms otherwise, you do not have the financial muscle for this business.
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As long as Tony Fernandes is behind Caterham, I don't see them running out of money anytime soon.
 
Looks fuck ugly, if the cars continue to look like that I'll have to kill myself.
 
Thank God the BBC is only showing us half of the races. Half the screen time for these noses.
 
It really just looks like a cheap cop-out. There is no reason they can't streamline that nose instead of having the hump.
 
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