2012 FIA Formula 1 World Championship

I know the FIA changed the rules because a lower nose is supposedly safer, but why not change the rules in a way that won't make the cars look stupid? The 08 to 09 aero changes made the cars look different, but not outright bad. That Caterham just looks bad.

I think we were all moaning at the beginning of 09 how bad the new rear wings and wider front wings looked and we're all used to them now.
I guess it's just a case of getting used to them.
(But the Caterham is a bit of a pig!)

I really liked the Brawn and the Ferrari in 2009. The McLaren was about as ugly as it was slow, but overall, I didn't really hate the new aero regs.

yea the brawn was awsome, but F1 aero rules are nuts cars are ugly yes technically there are amazing for aero dynamics but everythink else is stupid

The rules are not there to make the cars look nice.

I see an F1 car as a functional piece of speedy kit, it's a tub for the driver to operate in + rear assembly + bolted on wings.

nickyf1 wrote:The rules are not there to make the cars look nice.

I see an F1 car as a functional piece of speedy kit, it's a tub for the driver to operate in + rear assembly + bolted on wings.

(I've been waiting to use that)

While I'm sure the rules are there for function over form, the manufacturers I'm sure want a bit of their identity in their F1 cars. Caterham will now be known to f1 followers as "that team with the odd bent nose"
Take ferrari as an example

All these cars in my opinion generally look good and I'm sure there was someone in ferrari who as thinking "We need this part to work and is there any way to make it aesthetically pleasing"

Just my opinion of course.

XTI Nightrider wrote:

nickyf1 wrote:The rules are not there to make the cars look nice.

I see an F1 car as a functional piece of speedy kit, it's a tub for the driver to operate in + rear assembly + bolted on wings.

(I've been waiting to use that)

Excellent.

XTI Nightrider wrote:

nickyf1 wrote:The rules are not there to make the cars look nice.

I see an F1 car as a functional piece of speedy kit, it's a tub for the driver to operate in + rear assembly + bolted on wings.

While I'm sure the rules are there for function over form, the manufacturers I'm sure want a bit of their identity in their F1 cars. Caterham will now be known to f1 followers as "that team with the odd bent nose"
Take ferrari as an example

All these cars in my opinion generally look good and I'm sure there was someone in ferrari who as thinking "We need this part to work and is there any way to make it aesthetically pleasing"

Just my opinion of course.

I have to disagree with you.

Aesthetics are not on the mind of designers (except for the livery designers). The reason F1 cars look how they look is because the concepts used by the engineers and dynamacists who design the cars have been proven to make the faster car. The reason we think all of those Ferrari's look nice is because we have grown acustomed to how that sort of car (an F1 car) looks and how we expect one to look.

I'm actually studying Product Design Engineering at Glasgow University/Glasgow School of Art, and I can tell you that the various Mechanical, Mechanical Design, Aerospace and Aero-Mechanical students that I know (these are the sorts of courses one has to take to land such a job designing F1 cars) do not deal with aesthetics, they deal with hard maths, phsyics and practical design.

The course that I do deals with aesthetics on top of the hard maths, physics and practical design that the others do, my skillset would be more suited to production car design. Believe me, motorsport manufacturers are not interested in aesthetics (and even if they are, aesthetics will never compromise good practical design.)

And about the Caterham's nose? Well the rules dictate that shape of nose anyway, have a read at Scarbs' F1 blog, all of the cars this year will go for the maximum tub-height possible and the maximum nose height possible, which means we will be seeing more banana shaped noses.

I won't really mind the banana shaped nose back in F1, especially if any of them look like this...

My main issue with the caterlotus is the sudden drop, I have no issue with banana noses, it just seems odd to me

By banana shaped I mean bent like the caterhams.

Ah well, it just gave me a chance to post a picture of that gorgeous Benetton!

Overall ERS will provide a third of the engines power for some 30s of the lap.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/mercedes-amg-kers-development/

From what I've heard, the new turbo 6's will still put out around 750bhp like the current V8's do. If ERS is going to add another 250bhp onto that the cars are going to end up being more powerful than when they were V10 powered aren't they? Could the FIA finally have written a regulation that improves the sport?

For those of you of a Sky leaning, they've put up a new Q&A on their site.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12538/7467302/SkySports-F1-More-Of-Your-Questions-Answered

Most interesting is this:

If the F1 channel is available on Sky Go, does that mean I can watch it via my Xbox?
The channel will be available on Xbox 360 to all customers with an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription

yaayyyyy!!!!

hmmm dont you need a sky sub though to watch sky go? dont you need a user name and password?

Can you get Sky in the US?

Nope ESPN

Some stuff is free, rest is by Sky Go Monthly card. At least it means you don't have to be nailed down to a contract OR have a dish
Suits me fine

how much are the monthly cards?

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/sky-go/get-it-now question is which card will you need to buy?

£15

not to bad virgin charging £20 for f1 lol, hmmmmmmm is it HD as well is the biggest factor

McLaren's car launch is live on their facebook page right now. They haven't zoomed in on the nose yet, but based on the wide shot, it looks a lot less terrible than the Lotus Caterham.

I like that Martin Whitmarsh calls soccer soccer. Is he a secret American or something?

It's no surprise really as the MP4-27 is an evolution of last years car. But my god, it's still a really beautiful machine.

http://planet-f1.com/photo-gallery/7471620/McLaren-MP4-27