In order to increase safety, for 2012 the FIA has decided to lower the height of the car's front section, primarily to lessen the chance of one's car's nose intruding into the cockpit of another in the event of a side-on collision.
And the reason why every but McLaren went for the ugly nose is probably because you only need to change the front part and not the whole cockpit too. Making the change cheaper. It also allow more air under to nose to go in the sidepod or something like that.
In order to increase safety, for 2012 the FIA has decided to lower the height of the car's front section, primarily to lessen the chance of one's car's nose intruding into the cockpit of another in the event of a side-on collision.
And the reason why every but McLaren went for the ugly nose is probably because you only need to change the front part and not the whole cockpit too. Making the change cheaper. It also allow more air under to nose to go in the sidepod or something like that.
Actually, everybody went for the ugly nose because they follow the Red Bull style of thinking, high nose gives more air under the car, to the sidepods and the diffuser. F1 cars gets most of their downforce from underneath the car, so more air here is better. Drawbacks are higher CofG and more extreme front suspension arms.
McLaren, on the other hand, follows their own path and the concept they understand, they get a nicer front suspension and a lower CofG. They also have the "snow plough" right under the nose, working as a turning vane, helping airflow to sidepods and underfloor.
I saw on local TV, some guy taking about how McLaren would change the nose before season starts and that they showed this current nose so they don't get copied. At first it made sens to me, but then i realized testing as started and that testing a nose you wont want to use for the real season when there is so few testing would be stupid.
Anyways can't wait to see the first 2-3 races to see how the season will look like. I'm sad that the BBC won't cover all race. Local coverage is crap.
On February 09 2012 00:11 Gourmand wrote: I saw on local TV, some guy taking about how McLaren would change the nose before season starts and that they showed this current nose so they don't get copied. At first it made sens to me, but then i realized testing as started and that testing a nose you wont want to use for the real season when there is so few testing would be stupid.
Keep in mind that Mercedes and HRT are currently in Jerez, testing with their 2011 cars, just to get some data about the new 2012 tyres
On February 09 2012 00:11 Gourmand wrote: I saw on local TV, some guy taking about how McLaren would change the nose before season starts and that they showed this current nose so they don't get copied. At first it made sens to me, but then i realized testing as started and that testing a nose you wont want to use for the real season when there is so few testing would be stupid.
Anyways can't wait to see the first 2-3 races to see how the season will look like. I'm sad that the BBC won't cover all race. Local coverage is crap.
They are walking their own path, I very much doubt they will change to the step concept. I would guess that while on the other cars the step gave better results in figures on the McLaren it didnt.
On February 09 2012 00:11 Gourmand wrote: I saw on local TV, some guy taking about how McLaren would change the nose before season starts and that they showed this current nose so they don't get copied. At first it made sens to me, but then i realized testing as started and that testing a nose you wont want to use for the real season when there is so few testing would be stupid.
Anyways can't wait to see the first 2-3 races to see how the season will look like. I'm sad that the BBC won't cover all race. Local coverage is crap.
He probably meant the front wing. On the McLaren the whole front of the chassis is lower, so in order to change the nose to a lower version they would have to recalibrate their whole car. Imagine the airflow over and under the mclaren right now versus he airflow over and under the Red Bull. The air would flow in a completely different way, so changing the nose would mean going racing with a basicly untested car, with a concept McLaren have never tried.
Cant wait for this season to begin. I really think it's going to be the most interesting in a long time.
I just hope the pundits are right and the removal of the EBD is going to tighten things up performance wise a bit more. The noses makes very little difference really.
Either way, there are at least 2 big contracts that will almost definitely be up at the end of the year, Webber and Massa, so I think drivers all over the field will be trying to prove their worth and have a shot at grabbing one of those seats. So the fighting should be intense from the very first race.
Raikkonen coming back will also certainly add some excitement, then there's the battle of the rookies at torro rosso which should prove infinitely more exciting than Buemi/Alguersuari, Kobayashi will no doubt be looking to continue his strong showing over the last couple years, Hamilton will be looking to reclaim his #1 position within the McLaren team, Williams will be continuing to try to claw their way back into contention and the pay-drivers there (especially Senna) will be looking to prove their worth as skilled drivers, and the Caterham, Marussia, HRT rivalry will no doubt continue to be inspired. There are just so many stories with the drivers (many more than what I've listed) that have developed over the last few years, that really seem to be reaching a potential climax.
I just feel like there's a lot more excitement heading in to this year than last and even the year before. Last year was the year of who was the best with the new tyres when it came to driver performance, and that didn't really make for much hype and excitement.
This year the drivers should be fairly confident in the handling of the tyres, and assuming there is no new #1 technical advancement that blows the rest out of the teams out of the water like the DDD/EBD did, then things should be really really really exciting. Can't wait!
Excited to see how well Lotus/Force India/Toro Rosso do this season... Lotus looks to be in pretty good form so far, getting the most laps in and the fastest laps in testing (not that it really matters, but still nice to see).
Also, I wish STR would go back to having larger bulls on the sides of the cars ;-;
@vitalypetrov10 Caterham thank you for all you support !! More than happy 2 minutes ago
Hingham, UK - 17 February 2012 Caterham F1 Team has today announced that Vitaly Petrov has joined the team as race driver, replacing Jarno Trulli with immediate effect.
Hingham, UK - 17 February 2012 Caterham F1 Team has today announced that Vitaly Petrov has joined the team as race driver, replacing Jarno Trulli with immediate effect. o_O
Money, money, money, it sure can get you anything.
The Trulli train has stopped running now , but this was comming for a while specialy last year with the "power steering" issue that happend almost the whole season for him. This is the first time since the 70s that there has been no Italian drivers on the track. The two longest running people on the track now is Micheal and button
EPT
![[image loading]](http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2012/02/c9ecd2db21593bc4dc9a4cc94e759d67.jpg)
(Image from Jalopnik)
thank you for all you support 
, but this was comming for a while specialy last year with the "power steering" issue that happend almost the whole season for him. This is the first time since the 70s that there has been no Italian drivers on the track. The two longest running people on the track now is Micheal and button![[image loading]](http://assets.mercedes-gp.com/cmsmedia/gallery/images/2053_fullscreen_800.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://assets.mercedes-gp.com/cmsmedia/gallery/images/2052_fullscreen_800.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://assets.mercedes-gp.com/cmsmedia/gallery/images/2051_fullscreen_800.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://p.twimg.com/AmWtp6vCQAEtT3a.jpg)
