2012 Formula One United States Grand Prix

astrosdude91

astrosdude91

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United States
Houston, TX
astrosdude91
It's been a long and winding road for the 2012 Formula One season. The momentum has gone from driver to driver, team to team, race after race. But as of late, things have fallen right into place for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing. Two weeks ago, we even saw that starting from the pit lane couldn't hinder their dominant pace, as Vettel still managed to score a podium finish. Now we arrive at fresh ground. After a five year absence, the Formula One spectacle returns to the United States. And at a brand new track, Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. Will Vettel and Red Bull keep their pace and take home gold? Or will we see yet another shocking upset in this wacky season?

Round XIX of the 2012 Formula One season is...

The United States Grand Prix
At Circuit of the America's in Austin, Texas

cota.png


A lap with Lotus test driver Jerome d'Ambrosio:
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Nice flowing track, love the first corner on the car view but it's too damn wide!
I hope they don't paint those kerb, it's nice to see it white imo.

Looks like a RBR track here though.
 
Alonso win, Hamilton 2nd and Vettel 3rd. Maybe Ferrari can finally get their car up there with the Red Bulls.
 
My first F1 race in person, can't wait.

And this is definitely a Red Bull track, and you'll see them absolutely destroy in the first sector especially. It's going to be one hell of a tough fight for Alonso.

Can't wait to see it play out though, hopefully the race doesn't just fall into Vettel's hands too easily.
 
I think it's gonna be a Mclaren-RedBull battle again, I dont see Alonso honestly unless it happen something like in Abu Dhabi. I hope Mclaren can finaly sort stuff out and give Lewis a car that will last until the end of the week-end. There's not much low speed corner so I think Mclaren will be able to give redbull a nice match.

FP gonna be important, so anyone that want to win dont want to have any mechanical trouble.
 
Hamilton win if he isn't robbed of victory like he has been in the last 2 GPs he's led, the windy section might suit the Red Bull but the straights don't look too long for their double DRS to be as significant as it has been in recent races. It will be interesting to see if Ferrari have made any progress in qualifying.

EDIT: I've just watched the lap^, perhaps Red Bull won't have such an advantage through the twisty part at the start of the lap. It seems much easier to change direction than I thought it would.
 
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gorsad
Alonso win, Hamilton 2nd and Vettel 3rd. Maybe Ferrari can finally get their car up there with the Red Bulls.
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Are you aware about this?
boomer.gif


Redbull is simulating the mass damper benefits with this flexible front wing. The front end, at speed gets "deformed" pointing to the ground. They can achieve have a much more consistent downforce because their downforce won't be effected when they run over kerbs or bumps like other teams, this mean the air coming from the front and going to the rest of the car will be more efficent as well. It also means an easier car to drive and better lap times.

How they passed FIA test is beyond me. Maybe I know how... money it's a good way to pass every kind of FIA test.
 
I think that's the difference between good designers and the best designers, good designers design their cars to meet the regulations where as the top ones spend hours and hours looking for potential loop holes in the regulations so that they can try to exploit them and gain an advantage.
 
HKS racer
Are you aware about this?
boomer.gif


Redbull is simulating the mass damper benefits with this flexible front wing. The front end, at speed gets "deformed" pointing to the ground. They can achieve have a much more consistent downforce because their downforce won't be effected when they run over kerbs or bumps like other teams, this mean the air coming from the front and going to the rest of the car will be more efficent as well. It also means an easier car to drive and better lap times.

How they passed FIA test is beyond me. Maybe I know how... money it's a good way to pass every kind of FIA test.
Click to expand...

That's motorsports 101. Always happens and always will.
 
HKS racer
How they passed FIA test is beyond me. Maybe I know how... money it's a good way to pass every kind of FIA test.
Click to expand...

Haven't you heard? Ferrari has the FIA in their pocket. Apparently "FIA" stands for Ferrari International Assistance. This would explain why Ferrari dominates year after year. :sly:
 
CarolinaBlue704
Haven't you heard? Ferrari has the FIA in their pocket. Apparently "FIA" stands for Ferrari International Assistance. This would explain why Ferrari dominates year after year. :sly:
Click to expand...
FIA removed every single Ferrari strong point. Test on tracks for instance, no more engine development, yesterday they went to Spain to make a stupid aero test, in FIA opinion going to spain it's cheaper than test at Fiorano.
F1 it's 80% politics and money 20% sports.

Oh and I shouldn't even answer to a post like that. If you have a couple of eyes you can see the gif image. If you have a brain you can take your own conclusions. If you are a troll you can keep trolling and I won't bother.
 
Really looking forward to this one..i always like the new circuits, its like stepping in to the unknown!..
 
Jimlaad43
Yeah. Really, stuff is legal until it is deemed illegal.
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So technically if somebody shot at you there's a video where he clearly shooted at you, the court say he didn't, with a huge trollface. You go home happy and believe the court. :)
 
I like the look of this circuit, though whether it produces overtaking remains to be seen. The first corner should be a good overtaking spot, if it doesn't get too many marbles off line.
 
HKS racer
So technically if somebody shot at you there's a video where he clearly shooted at you, the court say he didn't, with a huge trollface. You go home happy and believe the court. :)
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If shooting someone is not illegal, then yeah.
 
HKS racer
FIA removed every single Ferrari strong point. Test on tracks for instance, no more engine development, yesterday they went to Spain to make a stupid aero test, in FIA opinion going to spain it's cheaper than test at Fiorano.
F1 it's 80% politics and money 20% sports.

Oh and I shouldn't even answer to a post like that. If you have a couple of eyes you can see the gif image. If you have a brain you can take your own conclusions. If you are a troll you can keep trolling and I won't bother.
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He was joking...

By the way, that front wing is broken because a certain person drove in to track side furniture.

And I guess you haven't seen the other picture where a mechanic is holding the replacement front wing and it's completely fine. No rubber nose, etc.
HKS racer
So technically if somebody shot at you there's a video where he clearly shooted at you, the court say he didn't, with a huge trollface. You go home happy and believe the court. :)
Click to expand...
Red Bull have passed every single scrutineering this year, therefore the car is legal.

You can't blame Red Bull for thinking outside the box. If the FIA doesn't like what they are doing, they will change the rules to outlaw what they are doing which have already happened multiple times this year.
 
Centura
By the way, that front wing is broken because a certain person drove in to track side furniture.

And I guess you haven't seen the other picture where a mechanic is holding the replacement front wing and it's completely fine. No rubber nose, etc.

Red Bull have passed every single scrutineering this year, therefore the car is legal.

You can't blame Red Bull for thinking outside the box. If the FIA doesn't like what they are doing, they will change the rules to outlaw what they are doing which have already happened multiple times this year.
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The nose is flexible, it wasn't just Vettel's that was doing that, Webber's was too (See GIF a few posts above).

Red Bull have passed scrutineering because they found a loophole that allows them to run a mass damper that isn't caught up by any of the tests in scrutineering. The reason the rules don't explicitly state that a nose can't be flexible in this way is because the rulemakers simply didn't think of it.

It isn't as simple as saying it is legal or illegal; the rules are subject to changes and clarifications if anything appears on a car that is not intended to be possible within the regulations (Loopholes). As with most loophole exploits, nothing will be done other than a clarification in the rules, most likely at the end of this season.

They can run it for now of course because the rules don't explicitly state that it isn't allowed, and the scrutineers would be harsh to exclude the car because of ambiguity within the regulations. But it definitely isn't within the spirit of the rules, just like the Brawn & Toyota Double Diffuser (2009), the Mclaren F-duct (2010), the Red Bull flexi-wing (2010) and Blown Diffuser (2011), the Mercedes Double DRS (2012) etc. None of those things were 'legal' because the FIA clarified the regulations by explicitly stating they aren't allowed. If the regulations were intended to allow these innovations, nothing would have been clarified.
 
Seismica
The nose is flexible, it wasn't just Vettel's that was doing that, Webber's was too (See GIF a few posts above).

Red Bull have passed scrutineering because they found a loophole that allows them to run a mass damper that isn't caught up by any of the tests in scrutineering. The reason the rules don't explicitly state that a nose can't be flexible in this way is because the rulemakers simply didn't think of it.

It isn't as simple as saying it is legal or illegal; the rules are subject to changes and clarifications if anything appears on a car that is not intended to be possible within the rules (Loopholes). As with most loophole exploits, nothing will be done other than a clarification in the rules, most likely at the end of this season.

They can run it for now of course because the rules don't explicitly state that it isn't allowed, and the scrutineers would be harsh to exclude the car because of ambiguity within the regulations. But it definitely isn't within the spirit of the rules, just like the Brawn & Toyota Double Diffuser (2009), the Mclaren F-duct (2010), the Red Bull flexi-wing (2010) and Blown Diffuser (2011), the Mercedes Double DRS (2012) etc.
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Yes, the nose if flexing, but I meant that because of driving in to track side furniture, his nose was broken. You can see on a different picture, which is not posted here, that the mechanic is unable to take the damaged front wing off by holding it on the cameras while the mechanic with the replaced front wing is able to. Something was clearly wrong with that front wing because of driving in to track side furniture.

But yes, the whole front wing is obviously flexing, including the nose. It's not supposed to, but once again, Red Bull have done something incredibly clever.

Nope, it's not within the spirit of the rules, but they pass scrutineering, so it's "legal", for now. FIA simply have to change the rules to outlaw it or make new load tests, just like they have done on other things this year. Slotted holes in floor, engine mapping, flexible wings on horizontal axis, etc.
 

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