Formula 1 2012: General Discussion Thread

amacachi wrote: »

You don't get points for not finishing. Prost seemed to be able to nurse cars where Senna couldn't.
As for the '94 car, it's hard to know. Apparently it was unpredictable handling-wise and towards the end of the season Mansell was way faster than Hill at some tracks so it's hard to say exactly what the story was.


Money. That's why there's **** all Italians in F1. Ferrari already have all of Italy behind them as well as Italian sponsors. What can they gain from having an Italian driver?

Prost was renowned for finishing where he needed to position wise - no more no less, Senna would always go for a win BUT could also nurse a car home - See Senna's first Brazilian win if any doubt.
1994 was the first seen without all the electronic gizmos and it took a while for Williams to get it sorted - we are all aware of the allegations made about Benetton - btw Sky F1 just showed a review of the '94 season - and the questionable antics at seasons end.

Ferrari - 1984 the last time a driver got fired early on - Arnoux - Cannot see Massa be let go especially when the car itself has so many issues.
The elephant in the room is Robert Kubica and his rate of recovery and potential to return.

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Id be suprised if they replace Massa mid season, Ferrari are quite stubborn and generally will keep with something that is clearly not working!

I wouldn't be too surprised anymore.

Jordan 191 wrote: »

4 races down, with 4 different drivers and 4 different teams winning. Amazing

Before the European season kicks off in Barcelona, there will be a 3 days of testing at Mugello, so it will be interesting to see what car modifications the teams will come up with. This is where the development race kicks off.

Ferrauber:



It's an old enough pic now but that's the idea. Really shows how ugly that Ferrari is. It would be a lovely looking car apart from the front part of the car.

An article about F1 steering wheels.

freestyla wrote: »

I don't get it, why Ferrari can't produce new side pods and whatever parts as fast as, for example, RedBull are doing? RB is playing with two different exhaust body panels since beginning of the season.
I think Ferrari still has some fundamental problem in their wind tunnel/factory OR they simply don't have skilled enough engineers. It's not about money for sure nor it's about actual racing team onsite.

When you look Ferrari's stepped nose, isn't it just a plain step? It doesn't seem to have any kind of air flow managing lines. If you look Merc , their nose is twisty and streamlined.. many others cars too. Ferrari designed theirs with a notepad? __/

Ferrari chose to go down the radical route for this years car and it hasn't worked for them at all as we can see. So I say instead of coming up with minor upgrades for the 'flyaway' races, Ferrari have to decided to solely focus on major upgrades, the first of which we will see at Mugello with more upgrades due for the Spanish GP. I expect the car will have a new rear end, exhaust system plus other upgrades.

Yay! Another flat circuit with little to no actual characteristics other than some fancy blue/black coloured run off areas and a long ish straight. Hope to god that they at least change the layout somewhat and make it more interesting.

I also read that they were alternating with Spa every year, that sucks major major ass. Spa is easily the best track on the calender and they're keeping Valencia... the mind boggles

Daniel S wrote: »

As always, money money money money money....

Suppose Bernie has to keep the money flowing to finance his daughters lavish spending



95 million that cost :eek:

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Ricard is actually quite a nice track and is well liked by drivers who race at it.

Its very tedious viewing though. I've seen countless GT and Ferrari challenge races and they've always been very samey. Very little overtaking outside pitting as there aren't many spots to challenge to get past. Even Mistral straight leads to a fast right hander where overtaking isn't really possible unless there's driver error.

Zero1986 wrote: »

There's actually quite a number of different layouts at Paul Ricard. Hopefully they will be using the same layout that was used up until 1985, the Mistral straight could be one huge DRS zone. But more than likely they will use the chicane on the Mistral straight to slow the cars down before Signes. And yes the circuit was very popular with drivers and spectators back in the day. Still though, I'd love to see F1 return to the rollercoaster that was Dijon.

Dijon was always my favorite track in france. I've spent hours watching F1 re runs. '79 with Arnoux and Villeneuve was classic f1

Zero1986 wrote: »

France has had some really great F1 circuits over the years, Rouen, Clermont-Ferrand and Reims in particular. Hell I'd even rather see F1 return to Magny-Cours than watch them race at Valencia or Abu Dabi.

It's great to see the French Grand Prix back though considering the history that it has.

I'd agree with that. Happy to have France back on the map, especially so with Grosjean for them to follow now too. And at least Paul Ricard is more accessible for fans via Marseille than say Magny-Cours in the middle of nowhere.

Zero1986 wrote: »

They used a shorter layout though after Elio de Angelis' death there in 1986. They turned right just before Verriere and they only used just over half of Mistral Straight. I'm hoping they will use the original layout but of course they would have to sanitise it, the feckers. If I'm not mistaken isn't there a chicane now at Verriere as well?

Here is the 1986 to 1999 GP layout:



3.812 km long.

Zero1986 wrote: »

France has had some really great F1 circuits over the years, Rouen, Clermont-Ferrand and Reims in particular. Hell I'd even rather see F1 return to Magny-Cours than watch them race at Valencia or Abu Dabi.

It's great to see the French Grand Prix back though considering the history that it has.

There was an article in F1 Racing a good few years about the track in Rouen, great track.

This was the layout 1955 - 1970: