Formula One

Formula One rules stipulate that each team builds its own car.

It amazes me that they all end up so close in performance when the only constants are tires, weight, engine displacement/layout and fuel mileage.

Otherwise, each constructor has the same rulebook and has to optimize their car to that.

This is the rule that affects nose height:

Article 3.7.9: No bodywork situated more
than 1950mm forward of the rear face of the
cockpit-entry template may be more than
550mm above the reference plane.

The reference plane is the very lowest plane on the chassis, ie the bottom of the plank.

I saw it before he did!

Haven't seen it painted yet, though. Looks good.

We (Dallara) have delivered 36 cars so far. Another batch going out next week on the 15th.

I think he is a good driver, and I have know the new engineer (Don Halliday) since when he was engineering Tasman's Reynards.

They should get some results this year.

McLaren is the only one so far to not have the step up to the monocoque.

Toro Rosso

Red Bull RB8

Q and A with Sebastian Vettel

After winning his first title in 2010, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel stepped it up a gear last year, dominating the season to make it two drivers’ crowns on the trot. Not surprising, then, that this year he is out to make it a hat trick, behind the wheel of the newly-launched RB8. Vettel looks ahead to 2012…

Q: Back-to-back titles, the record for pole positions, most laps led, 11 wins last year - what’s your next target?
Sebastian Vettel: Oh, we do it again! Obviously, we had a great year, and I think you know we’ll always look back to 2011 and think how special it was, but to be honest, you don’t start the season having, you know, expectations to have the same or similar season again. So we know how special it was and we really enjoyed that but we know how hard it is to be that consistent - always there and nearly every race on the podium - so, you know, the target is to obviously try to do it again and try to get everything out of ourselves, so we’ll see how we get on with the new car, the RB8.

Q: Did you get a chance to enjoy winning another world title?
SV: Yeah, it was obviously, you know, quite busy after the first championship back in 2010, so yeah, in 2011, surely there’s a couple of things you have to do, want to do and you want to give back as well to, you know, people here in the factory, your fans. But after that, around Christmas, it was really time to slow down, back off a little bit and enjoy the peace, have a good rest in order to be prepared for this season. It will be a long and hard season again, but yeah it was really nice to let things sink in and, as I said before, you know, I think it makes you realize how special the season was when you look at the results again and the races itself, and you sum up things a little bit. So, it was a nice feeling and the good thing is, similar to back in 2010, no one can take it away from you, so it was always stays in your memory.

Q: How did you spend your off-season?
SV: Well, the thing is, many people always imagine the off-season to be as exciting or, you know, busy as the actual season - as in we do crazy things or we live a crazy life. But, to be honest, when you are travelling so much and you are so busy, you enjoy the time you have off really and that’s sitting at home enjoying normal things - watching TV, just not having to do anything. So I think that it was quite important to recharge the batteries, re-fuel the system a little bit, and, yeah, to come back fresh - hopefully fresh enough for this year. So, over Christmas I spent my time home with the family and with friends and then I went skiing a little bit; we had an awful lot of snow this winter so it was quite good. And then, very soon in January, you start to prepare yourself again. You start to work out regularly, so you get back into shape and burn the unnecessary calories and probably the unnecessary weight you might have put on over Christmas.

Q: Are you expecting a bigger, tighter fight this year?
SV: The thing is, at the beginning of last year we didn’t really expect whatever happened last year, so I think it’s the same thing again. It would be wrong to go into this season and expect 2011 to happen again, as in getting into the lead early and having a very big gap to other competitors in the Championship. So I think it will be very, very tight this year and everything else would be a surprise to be honest. Looking at the cars, you know there’s not much room we have left to play (with) for designers and to find something extra. You know, the last two years we have had two big things taken away, the double diffusers, plus, for this year, the system around the blown exhaust. So we are missing that and therefore I think it’s difficult to really create a difference. We’ll see, obviously we hope our car is better than all the others but it will be difficult, and I think the cars will be fairly similar, as in the gaps will be even closer than they have been.

Q: Can you identify any weakness in your game? Are there things you want to work on?
SV: Of course (in) 2011 we were extremely successful and it was a good season, so we did only very few mistakes. But still we sat down during the season and especially after the season and before this season again, trying to identify where we think we can improve, and yeah we got a couple of points. It’s not as if it was a blank sheet, so you would be surprised, and I think you know, we had a couple of pages with things that we can do better, we know we can do better. Of course, there were a lot of things that we did well and we try to keep it up and improve them as well but, as I said, there are a lot of things here and there you know - small things, details, attention to detail - that you can work on that might make a difference on a Sunday. You know we have 20 races, so maybe it helps you only in one out of 20 races, but that might help you to score that one point more that you might need to be on top at the end, so we’ll see.

Q: What’s it like getting in the new car for the first time?
SV: Obviously, you have a rough idea how the car should look like by what you see in the early stages from the design office, so yes it’s quite exciting to see the full car, everything coming together. So it’s quite a long progress, imagining when we start building the car and to today, where we present it. And again, the most exciting bit is putting it on track and seeing how it feels, so that’s yet to be seen. But (the) first time I jumped into the car for the seat fit - checking the position, checking your pedals, see if everything works - I think it was the same for Mark (Webber) and myself, we felt extremely comfortable, everything went well and we got our position, comfortable position, fairly quickly. So it didn’t take too long. We had other cars where a little bit here a little bit there, you know, you always ask for something, but the RB8 was pretty straightforward, so we hope it continues that way.

Q: What do you think about Mr. Ecclestone’s hope that you don’t dominate again?
SV: I hope he’s wrong obviously! It’s difficult to say. You know, every season we start from zero again and unlike other sports… I don’t know if in tennis, for instance, you’re the number one in the world, there is a certain gap between you and the number two, so you have this cushion and it doesn’t matter if it’s one year or another year, you still have it, whereas for us it all starts from zero again, zero points, everyone has the same chance and we are all building our new cars. So, until we really put them on track to race each other we don’t really know. So, we’ll see, but I’m as confident as I can be at this point and hopefully we will have a good couple of days with the car; a good couple of days testing to prepare the season well.

Q: Have you thought of a name for the car yet?
SV: Not yet, no name yet! To be honest, last year we found a name I think Wednesday before the first race, in that race week, so we might be a bit earlier this year, but so far, no names. We have a couple of candidates, hot candidates, but nothing is decided yet!

good feeling.

Q and A with Adrian Newey

Technical Q&A: Red Bull’s Adrian Newey on the RB8 .He’s the engineering maestro that every team wants on their books, but for 2012 Adrian Newey’s labors have once again been dedicated to the design of the brand-new Red Bull, the RB8. Following its online launch, Newey discusses the pressures of the past two years of championship-winning success, the regulatory challenges - and restrictions - he faced this year, and his feelings ahead of the car’s on-track debut on Tuesday….

Q: Does recent success add to the pressure to maintain it or lessen it, as you have continuity?
Adrian Newey: The last few years have been really good, really successful; it’s been an incredible journey to get there. It’s the fourth evolution of the RB5 this year, so obviously the pressure is to try and stay there if we possibly can. It’s a difficult task, we have lost the exhaust technology with the restriction exhaust outlet position that we were able to develop and perhaps be ahead of the pack on in the last couple of years, that led to a big re think over the winter. Whether that will affect us more than other people is difficult to know of course. We designed the RB7, last year’s car, around that exhaust position and were probably the only people to do so, so it may be that we’ve lost more than other people through that. Only time will tell, it will be good to get out to do some testing and to see where we get to.

Q: Do you find that frustrating or more of a challenge?
AN: Regulation restrictions like the lost exhaust are a bit frustrating in truth, because they are exactly that, they are restrictions, they’re not giving new opportunities or revenues particularly, they’re just closing a door. Regulation changes I enjoy, regulation restrictions I rather lament.

Q: How have you coped with the removal of the exhaust blown diffuser for RB8?
AN: RB7 was designed around the exhaust, this year knowing that the exhaust position from last year would be taken away, we’ve had to go back and look at how we developed the car through the last one and two years with the side exit exhaust and try and, if you like, make sure that the routes we had taken that were only suitable for that exhaust position we now had to re-evaluate. Probably one of the key things there is the rear ride height. The exhaust allowed us to run a high rear ride height, it’s much more difficult without that to sustain a high rear height so we have to go back down and have to redevelop the car around that lower ride height.

Q: The other major change is the height of the nose. Did that present difficulties?
AN: The restriction nose height which is a maximum height just in front of the front bulkhead hasn’t really changed the chassis shape very much. We’ve kept more or less the same chassis shape, but had to drop the nose just in front of the front bulkhead, which, in common with many other teams, has led us to I think I’d probably say a slightly ugly looking nose. We’ve tried to style it as best we can, but it’s not a feature you would choose to put in were it not for the regulation.

Q: Would you say RB8 is still an evolution of RB7 or did you have to rethink many aspects?
AN: I’d say RB8 is the fourth generation of what started with the 2009 car, the RB5. So I guess this is the great grandson of that car.

Q: Do you simply hate to lose or is the thing that keeps you coming back the process of solving the design puzzle created by the regulations?
AN: I’ve been lucky enough through my career to have had a good amount of success and people often ask will I retire soon or whatever, the answer is that as long as I keep enjoying it then I’d like to keep going. What really fascinates me about it is the technical challenge, the fact that we’ve moved a very high, fast pace, so every two weeks we’re out being evaluated, which if we’re doing well is great, and if we’re doing poorly is painful, so at least you know where you are and you get to see the product of your work very quickly. So I really enjoy working with my colleagues, my fellow engineers here at Milton Keynes, with the drivers of course at the track and it’s a job that has many facets and many varieties that you always get that immediate feedback and that really motivates me about the job.

Q: In Sebastian Vettel you’ve got a driver who seems to be getting even better. What do you expect from this season?
AN: I think we have a great driver line up. Sebastian, obviously double world champion now, I think matured tremendously through last year. In 2010 he drove a great season, showed immense talent and thoroughly deserved to be world champion at the end of it. It was a rocky year, he was a very young lad, showed incredible determination and ability to learn from his mistakes. Like all people he made mistakes through that year, but he never made them twice and I think that ability to learn from his mistakes and to always be searching and trying to improve really showed in his driving last year. He really made no mistakes last year, he was aggressive when he needed to be, he was patient when he needed to be, he really showed incredible maturity and there is no reason to think that won’t continue.

Q: And in Mark Webber you have a driver with a point to make after a difficult 2011. Do you think Mark will find RB8 an easier task then RB7?
AN: Mark had a rocky ride last year. Through his 2010 he had a very good season and he was unlucky in many ways not to be world champion at the end of that year. 2011 he initially I think struggled a little bit to understand how to use the Pirelli tires. It took a little bit of time for him to adapt to them. He’s had a great winter, he’s tremendously fit, he’s really looking forward to the start of the season and I think he’ll be one to look out for this year I hope.

Q: Is part of what keep you coming back the process of evolving this team? Is it still a work in progress?
AN: The team is still a relatively young team, it’s come a long way in a very short period and we had a great deal of success over the last two or three years but we still occasionally show our youth, we still occasionally make mistakes which hopefully is like the swan that looks graceful on the top but there is lot of action going on underneath. So we’re still learning, but I think the fact that we are a young team with tremendous spirit and determination is great, which means that we do learn and we do try to evaluate and to continue to criticize ourselves and see how we can improve. I would hope with the confidence of the last few years and our steady improvement, we can keep maintaining and keep learning.

Q: How do you approach that moment of first dropping the car on track? Are you quietly confident or is there a dread of what other teams will bring?
AN: People often ask just before the new car runs, what’s the expectation for this year and my answer is always, I have absolutely no idea. We know what we have done through the winter, we know how we have developed the car but we have absolutely no idea what everybody else has done, with the regulation changes and restrictions then it’s quite a different game to the end of last year. Have we made as much improvement as others, more, less? It’s impossible to know. There is always trepidation when we start preseason testing and preseason testing itself is very difficult to read from. If we are hopelessly uncompetitive to another team then we will probably realize it, if there’s two or three of us that look broadly similar then it will be very difficult to pick actually who is the quickest out of those. So it won’t be until we get to Melbourne qualifying that we’ll really get more of a feel for it.

Q: Finally, how does the OBE feel?
AN: To be recognized by the Queen with an OBE is very flattering, I’m particularly proud of the fact that it’s for engineering achievements. I think so often engineers in the UK are overlooked and that’s a shame given our proud roots through the Victorian area of developing industry and technology engineering. I feel real pride actually that I’ve been awarded that and a tremendous thank you to everybody who feels that’s been appropriate. I’ve had an enormously enjoyable career and to be recognized as an engineer gives a very

The chassis is so high now at the front, even with a pylon under the tub to pick up the lower wishbone mounting points, you still end up with this geometry.

Next year the FIA will probably mandate a lower tub to go with the lower nose and you will see less of this.

I really wish there were more detail views of the rear of the cars. The gearboxes are so tiny now, some of the teams (Williams was first) have had to resort to putting a pylon on top of the gearcase to pick up the rear top wishbone inboard mounting points.

Just about everyone has gone to pullrod rear suspension with the rockers and shocks mounted below or next to the gearbox.

There was also a good article in autosport last year about how aero development has now gone under the bodywork, with smoothly contoured fairings enclosing the engine, exhaust, etc to keep under-body airflow drag to a minimum.

Williams launched today





Hope they do well this year. Back with Renault engines. They are a sentimental favorite of mine.

No idea.

But I was in the Jordan garage with headphones on during practice at the Indy GP a few years back, and they were calling out toe and ride height changes in half-millimeter increments!

There has been a lot of criticism about the way the new car looks. I will only say that it was done the way Indycar wanted it.

We just completed a full-size windtunnel test at Windshear in NC with the new car back to back with the old car to confirm the design parameters of less drag + more downforce, and it told us what we already knew from our scale model tests (that he new car is better)

It will be interesting to see what the engine manufacturers come up with for bodywork in 2013 when they are allowed to do their own thing.

Dallara is capable of designing a nicer looking single seater if given a chance by the regulations. Here is the new Formula Renault 3.5 for this year.