The Official 2012 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

revised cascades on Lotus nose
plus pelican chin





Ferrari low down-force rear wing



low down-force rear wing on Merc as well



Sauber rear detail: the arch shaped carbon part over the rear suspension supports the entire rear wing

rumor is there's big changes at Red Bull... no spy shots yet though

updates at McLaren



new boards, to guide air around the sidepod.

That McLaren outer board is just dead sexy!

Always wondered why the leading edges were so blunt. Figured a knife edge would have less drag.

I am not an aerodynamicist, and would love a simple answer.

probably structural (easier to make strong) and also attached flow.
the leading edge of an airplane wing isn't a knife edge either.

but... dunno

from a glider builders forum.....

Spa this weekend! Can't wait for the second season to begin. They've all had so much time to work on the cars since Budapest it's hard to guess whose improvements will make the most difference.

My money? Ferrari and Red Bull will show the most and will be all over the podium from here on out.........

But WTF do I know?

Drag is created mostly by the low pressure zone behind the moving object. Its not all that important to have a small knife edge cutting into the air compared to having smooth "laminar" airflow along and behind the car/wings. In other words it needs to be knife edge sharp at the back but round and smooth at the front.

For example: A tractor-trailer doesn't have a lot of drag because of all the large flat surfaces on the front (but it is part of it). Most of the drag comes from the low pressure following the huge flat door in the back with nothing to smooth out the airflow. Compare that to a rain drop which is said to be the most aerodynamic shape because it forms on its own naturally with the shape for the lowest possible amount of drag. It has a large rounded tip that tapers back to a sharp point at the back.

sweet

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Will be interesting Race if it happens , I am watching the rain right now at Spa

Ok, as far as promos go, that was freaking cool.

Now, if the teams can get there and NOT be shot!!! Or have trailers broken into and bits stolen off of the cars and support vehicles, that will be a miracle.

Freakin' Jersey, man I don't like that state......

Nabob here... I'm all for two F1 races in El Norte and three in North America. But New Jersey will be another damnable street course. The only reason the race exists is for the Manhattan skyline and as we learned in Valencia and the pitch-black Singapore, you don't see much of the city when the cameras are slavishly following a ribbon of tarmac between armco barriers.

Plus, that tunnel video was shot at 45 mph and sped-up for effect, dollars to donuts.

Nabob out!

I'm not an aerodynamic engineer now.... I just build r/c model airplanes .

Spa is without a doubt my favorite track on the F1 calender. I'm curious to see who's got the car to beat now that they've had time to make tons of upgrades.

Forecast for weekend is dry, 10% Sat and zero Sun.

Quite a shakeup in qualifying. Anybody actually watch it?

Yeah. Watched Friday Prac 2 as well. The commentators basically predicted today. Friday's rain made today's set-up almost complete guesswork, which allowed unexpected teams to creep up.

If Maldonado hadn't been his usual unprofessional self, he'd be starting third. What a dunce. Interesting that Kimi put all four off the track at Eau Rouge and despite all the FIA's stern warnings before the summer break, he was allowed to get away with it.

It's going to be a hellacious start to the race. Kimi will be desperate to get to the front, I would imagine. If he gets there, he might stay there. Alonso is sandwiched between guys who make kamikaze moves, namely Maldonado and Koboyashi, with Hamilton up his butt. Could be some plastic on the track in turn one.

Commentators said teams mostly shelved their updates because they couldn't practice with them in the dry. I guess that will add to the unpredictability of Monza.

Yep. Don't know what's crazier, Vettel or Kobiashi.
Stick a fork in Massa. His option wasn't picked up.
Just can't figure out Button. One race he's meh, the next he grabs a pole.

Well, that was fun to watch!

Hamilton tweeted that Button had the new wing; he (Hamilton) had the old wing.

Yeah but did Hamilton opt for the old wing because he didn't like the cars balance with the new one?

Koboyashi seems to make clean (but still aggressive) passes much more often than Maldonado. I think someone near the front is going to be taken out in turn one tomorrow, my money would be on Maldonado causing it.