2012 Car Launches thread

[Paul Hayes]

Those are some ugly noses on the Ferrari and Force India cars!

[lostpin]

My God, that Ferrari thing has sheer ugliness written all over it. It's the Destroyer of Worlds!

[mario]

That car is so ugly I feel like I could barf at the sight of it.

Domenicali did warn that the car would be ugly, but even so it is a little disappointing that the car has turned out to be quite so ugly. That nose section looks especially awkward - at least Force India and Caterham have attempted to smooth the junction between the nose and the front of the survival cell, but on the F2012 it looks like somebody just took a ruler and drew a straight line across the top.
Looks like Piola was also a little optimistic with some of his claims - he seems to have got the shape of the nose and the switch from push to pull rod suspension though (the layout of the front suspension looks quite interesting). I'm also curious where the exhausts exit on this car - I guess that they are housed within those extensions of the sidepods, but surely that would mean the exhausts were angled downwards, possibly towards the fins around the rear brakes, when the regulations state they must point upwards.

Also, taking a look at the pictures of the VJM-05, although the angles make it a bit tricky to judge from, it looks like their exhausts exit much closer to the centreline of the car than seemed to be the case on the other cars which have been launched so far. They also seem to have done a decent job with getting clear airflow over the top of the floor too with that fairly sizeable undercut - it seems that Force India reckon that Toro Rosso's design philosophy might have a fair amount of potential to it.

I must admit that caterham platypus nose looks better that the Ferrari and FI ones. at least for me.
Okay, time to classify what we've got.

PLATYPUS WAY:
1. Caterham
2. Ferrari
3. Force India

CLASSIC WAY:
1. McLaren

I really wonder what we'll have next and what way proves to be efficient.

Going by recent comments in the press, you can probably add Sauber in the top category (Peter Sauber himself referred to a "step" in the nose), and possibly Toro Rosso as well (Ascanelli has hinted that they have also gone for the stepped nose).

[eytl]

Gee, it appears as though Ensign may have been ahead of its time:

[the Masked Lapwing]

The VJM05 isn't that bad in my opinion. The livery is once again quite nice.

The Caterham's still my favourite though

[razta]

Oh!

My eyes! My eyes!

I'm suddenly McLaren's biggest fan.

Bet this was your first reaction.. http://i.imgur.com/Cg8S9.gif

[Paul Hayes]

If the old adage of "If it looks fast, it probably is" has any truth to it, then McLaren are probably winning so far.

[eytl]

I'll bet the FIA is, in hindsight, wishing that they'd added a regulation requiring the line from the front of the cockpit to the tip of the nosecone to be a straight line or an unbroken or uni-directional curve.

[razta]

Pleading with Mercedes not to let us down..

[eagleash]

I'm also curious where the exhausts exit on this car - I guess that they are housed within those extensions of the sidepods, but surely that would mean the exhausts were angled downwards, possibly towards the fins around the rear brakes, when the regulations state they must point upwards.

Are they the two rounded pipe like looking things in the floor in front of the rear wheels? They can be seen fairly clearly in the overhead shot.

[Kobacrashi]

Is it me or does the new ferrari look like its made out of lego? It actually reminds me of something a 2 year old would build out of blocks. Which may be ferrari strategy these days as all their other recent designs are poor.

[razta]

Gotta Problem???

[DanielPT]

Oh HWNSNBM, I feel sick now... I must quickly find something beautiful to look at! Aaaahhhhh... Thank you McLaren!

[cretoxyrhina]

God, why you give us those hideous things, instead of something that looked like this?

[Phoenix]

TBH, I'd say the Ferrari is bathplugging beautiful if it wasn't for the awkward step at the nosecone, which I don't personally think it'll be very benefitial aerodynamically speaking. I also think they could have undercut the sidepods a bit, since they don't look too sculpted. All in all, it's just what I feared: they said they would radical with the design, but they haven't.

As for the Force India... what the heck is that nosecone onboard camera thingy? But it looks pretty good, especially the sidepods area.

Anyone else thinking this should be F1's official theme for this year?

[eagleash]

I'm also curious where the exhausts exit on this car - I guess that they are housed within those extensions of the sidepods, but surely that would mean the exhausts were angled downwards, possibly towards the fins around the rear brakes, when the regulations state they must point upwards.

Are they the two rounded pipe like looking things in the floor in front of the rear wheels? They can be seen fairly clearly in the overhead shot.

Nope....here's what scarbs says

#F12 Exhausts and cooling outlets (by Acer logo) merged into a chimney exit around the brake ducts and suspension

Neat wide cooling exit, exhaust do blow at rear brake ducts\suspension

[CoopsII]

Is it me or does the new ferrari look like its made out of lego?

Or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USXCMfM9xds

[AndreaModa]

They're going to have fun trying to keep those rear brakes cool then!

On the VJM05, I actually think they've done the best job so far with the stepped nose. I still don't like it, but the sculpted, rounded edges look an awful lot better than the straight flat surface that's on both the Ferrari and Caterham nose sections.

Also liking the updated Force India livery, less white, more green and orange!

[Wizzie]

I'm going to need an incredibly large bucket after seeing the new Ferrari

[Pointrox]

Just as I suspected. Hideous!
However, VJM05's step in the nose looks more like a slope, unlike the one on F2012 which looks like it was chopped out with an axe.

[Enforcer]

Ugh, that Ferrari is an Eldrich Horror of a car. Seriously, don't look at it too long, you'll be driven mad.

We were expecting the stepped nose, but it's so square and blocky compared to the Caterham and the Force India. It just does not look at all right. For once in my life I hope McLaren are at the head of the pack so everyone copies their nose.

[IdeFan]

Next we'll hear that McLaren "forgot" the new nose rules and need to lower theirs awkwardly.

[CoopsII]

Next we'll hear that McLaren "forgot" the new nose rules and need to lower theirs awkwardly.

I wondered about that, too. EDIT:Here's a tweet from Martin Sell-Out, sorry Brundle:"McLaren have tray/tongue system under front of their chassis and such a concept means they lower the chassis and not just the 'broken' nose"

Incidentally, anybody still laughing at the new Indycars?

[lostpin]

Like a Sir.

[mario]

eagleash, it looks like you managed to answer the question in the end, although I still wonder about the angle of the exhausts (it just doesn't look quite right). Mind you, most of the exhaust configurations we've seen on the cars, with the exception of the VJM-05, are probably not the final design (the VJM-05 is an exception because the launch also coincided with the shakedown runs, so the car would have had to be in the test configuration). Speaking of which, here's a link to a rear view of the VJM-05 on track (it's quite a large image):
http://www.formula1.com/wi/0x0/sutton/2 ... 03fe91.jpg

It's interesting since it seems to be pointed roughly towards where that winglet above the gearbox sits, rather than towards the underside of the rear wing (which some other teams might be experimenting with). Also, as has been pointed out elsewhere, the front wing has been overhauled fairly comprehensively in terms of design - it bears a strong resemblance to the type of front wing Ferrari were using on the F150th late last year (the front wing they used from the Korean GP onwards), and also to the front wing design that Ferrari have on the car for launch spec, particularly in terms of the design of the cascade elements.

[eagleash]

A couple of pretty good blogs from Scarbs on the new regs. partic with regard to exhaust placement.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2012/01/2 ... nd-trends/

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/10/2 ... n-effects/

[fjackdaw]

I think Formula 1 cars all look the same, and even I think the Ferrari nose looks ugly. The rest of it just looks like a Formula 1 car to me, mind you.

[East Londoner]

That Ferrari...I don't even. That makes the Caterham look like a thing of beauty.

Is it wrong that I think the Force India actually looks OK?

[Collieafc]

Im now starting to be thankful that the BBC is only showing half the races on the telly - means I dont have to look at those hideous cars

[Pointrox]

Is it wrong that I think the Force India actually looks OK?

You're not the only one.
Among all the platypuses, FI looks pretty decent

[14 Hundred Hours]

I saw the Force India stepped nose over the summer when they were testing in the windtunnel- I thought it was a mistake or they'd forgotten to put an extra part on! I was also surprised when I was told most teams were expected to have something similar, and hoped they were wrong. So much for hoping...

[coloni_subaru]

Perhaps we can start a league for the most beautiful/ugly new cars?

My vote would be Mclaren for most beautiful so far (not surprising..)
And if i could actually look at any of the other cars without being forced to avert my eyes, i suppose the Ferrari is the ugliest..

Also spare a thought for Minichamps/Hot Wheels... No-one with eyes is going to buy die cast models this year!

[nome66]

I really hope that McLaren and Mercedes AMG just lower the front suspension to begin with, instead of using that hideous stepped nose design. It just looks like it causes a load of drag on the front end.
Infact..... RedBull should use the stepped nose.

[dr-baker]

Im now starting to be thankful that the BBC is only showing half the races on the telly - means I dont have to look at those hideous cars

So true... Makes me reluctant even further to sign up to a Sky Sports suscription...

[madcat]

2012 might just be reject gold. We might be about the experience the year that we'll all look back and say "...and remember the season with those noses? Glad they didn't last long!"

[Minardi Man]

That Ferrari better be hideously slow, I am going to have to avert my eyes from the screen whenever it's shown on the broadcasts.

[Barbazza]

These utterly hideous excuses for cars make me actually not care so much that I won't be watching half the races live this year, especially as the only good looking one - the McLaren - has been made by my least favourite team!!

[This]

Anyone else thinking this should be F1's official theme for this year?

Only if it's driven by Perry McCarthy!


Well perhaps the seventies are back, and by that i mean ugly cars that have their charms after a while, but still never be truly beautiful.
Now in case of Caterham and Force India it still looks reasonable, but the Ferrari looks like 2 different cars have been put together.

[mario]

I saw the Force India stepped nose over the summer when they were testing in the windtunnel- I thought it was a mistake or they'd forgotten to put an extra part on! I was also surprised when I was told most teams were expected to have something similar, and hoped they were wrong. So much for hoping...

Interesting - how did that come about? Were you being given a tour of the facilities at the time?

Next we'll hear that McLaren "forgot" the new nose rules and need to lower theirs awkwardly.

Interestingly, scarbsf1 has been commenting on the design of the MP4-27, and the nose section in particular after requests from outside observers - he reckons that McLaren are well within the limit, with the tip of the nose potentially 5cm below the maximum nose tip height permitted. It seems that McLaren have taken the trade off of being able to channel less air under the nose with a lower centre of gravity and less extreme angles for the front suspension geometry, so although they may be losing out aerodynamically they seem to be gaining some benefit mechanically. If you fancy taking a closer look at his analysis, here's the link http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2012/02/0 ... es-mp4-27/

As for the Ferrari, he was pointing out that although the design if far more striking than McLaren's car, with some quite distinct concepts (very tight packaging of the rear thanks to a completely new gearbox and the design of the rear section of the sidepods), he was a little concerned about the design of the front pullrod suspension (because the pull rod itself is at a very extreme angle - not far off horizontal - and the overall geometry looks very unusual).

[AdrianSutil]

I'm enjoying seeing how different all the cars are this year, what with the new noses and exhaust exits. Some teams will get it right whilst others won't.

The Force India livery looks brilliant!! However, the Ferrari looks to be the worst so far, haven't even tried to make it look good. But then again, they might have a few aces up their sleeves. Anything to stop Red Bull and Vettel running away again.