F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

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Who will be the 2012 Driver's Champion?

Poll ended at Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:34 pm

Sebastian Vettel
11
35%
Mark Webber
0
No votes
Jenson Button
7
23%
Lewis Hamilton
1
3%
Fernando Alonso
7
23%
Felipe Massa
1
3%
Kimi Räikkönen
3
10%
Michael Schumacher
1
3%
Nico Rosberg
0
No votes
Other, who?
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 31
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F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by 1nsane »

The amount of headless horsemen have increased from 4 to 24.

And those men will decide the destiny of the world... Well, the F1 world at least.


After the year of german domination, everyone's expecting a bit closer fight for the championship.

Once again, the top 6 of the grid is expected to be the same: Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren dominating the podium with the random peek by Mercedes and Lotus.

Not much has changed in the lineup. The first 4 teams have the exact same drivers as last year. In total, over half of the drivers kept their old seats. Obviously the biggest change of the year is the comeback of Kimi Räikkönen. This means there's finally 6 champions on the same grid.

Lineup:

Code: Select all

Constructor || Engine
Drivers

Red Bull || Renault
Sebastian Vettel || Mark Webber

McLaren || Mercedes
Jenson Button || Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari || Ferrari      
Fernando Alonso || Felipe Massa

Mercedes || Mercedes
Michael Schumacher || Nico Rosberg

Lotus || Renault
Kimi Räikkönen || Romain Grosjean

Force India || Mercedes
Paul di Resta || Niko Hülkenberg

Sauber || Ferrari
Kamui Kobayashi || Sergio Pérez

STR || Ferrari
Daniel Ricciardo || Jean-Éric Vergne

Williams || Renault
Pastor Maldonado || Bruno Senna

Caterham || Renault      
Heikki Kovalainen || Vitaly Petrov

HRT || Cosworth
Pedro de la Rosa || Narain Karthikeyan

Marussia F1 || Cosworth
Timo Glock || Charles Pic
There have been some changes on the rules once again with the most notable one being the ban of blown exhaust and the exhaust pipes coming out on the bottomish or the front of the car. Now they have to exit on the topside of the bodywork. But, for example, Ferrari has managed to work around this big drop of performance by putting the output in the middle of the rear bodywork. Now it will blow straight to the rear wing, giving some added downforce this way.

There will be one in-season testing period this year. It will take place in Mugello in May.

All of the lapped cars will be moved to the back of the line during the safety car periods, so there shouldn't be those wonky situations as last year. This will mean an extra safety car lap, though.

The calendar haven't changed much. Bahrain is yet again a question mark, but it's more likely to be on the calendar this time around. For everyone's pleasure, the season will once again begin with the Australian GP and end with the Brazilian GP.

Noticeable changes to the calendar are the loss of Turkish GP and the introduction of the US GP in Austin, Texas. It remains to be seen whether we actually get to have the race in US, since the construction has had some set backs during the previous year. The european GP is once again held in Valencia. The German GP is held in Hockenheim this year. The Japanese GP is held in Suzuka once again.


Schedule

Code: Select all

Race   Grand Prix    Date

1   Australian GP    18 March
2   Malaysian GP    25 March
3   Chinese GP    15 April
4   Bahrain GP    22 April
5   Spanish GP    13 May
6   Monaco GP    27 May
7   Canadian GP    10 June
8   European GP    24 June
9   British GP   8 July
10   German GP    22 July
11   Hungarian GP    29 July
12   Belgian GP    2 September
13   Italian GP    9 September
14   Singapore GP    23 September
15   Japanese GP    7 October
16   Korean GP    14 October
17   Indian GP    28 October
18   Abu Dhabi GP    4 November
19.  United States GP    18 November
20   Brazilian GP    27 November 
So once again, who do you think will get the championship this year?

Predictions:
Button - Lukeno94
Button - Buka
Button - Martyn
Alonso - 1nsane
Alonso - eMeR
Alonso - Trigger Happy
Alonso - Dan Hakulin
Räikkönen - XYY
Last edited by 1nsane on Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:22 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Alex »

Well, here are some renders of possible new Mercedes & Ferrari front noses:
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Lukeno94 »

IF McLaren can get their car right straight out of the box, and keep it there, I reckon Button could well become a double world-champion (hence my vote). If they don't, well, it'll be Vettel... again.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by 1nsane »

Also on the tech news, Lotus has been building a new brake system, which should make the braking more stable.
James Allen wrote:According to Piola, the system is mechanical, operated by the driver (like the F Duct) and means that when the driver hits the brakes, it manages the ride height as the front of the car dives down, which in turn helps to keep the front wing’s performance more consistent.

The system enables the team to run a lower front ride height, as the thing which dictates how low the ride height can be on an F1 car is the limit of downward movement at the moment of peak braking.
Image

FIA has already approved the system and the other teams are copying the system as we speak.

I picked Alonso once again to be the champion. The Ferrari has been said to be more radical than the few previous models. Unfortunately I can't find the picture of it to show it, but it looks quite promising. And since Alonso is the driver from the top 6 that can always pull even an average car to perfect results, he should easily get the championship with a car that is at least as good as the other cars.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Alex »

Well, it's not really Lotus anymore. Mike Gascoyne recently renamed the team to Caterham Motorsport:http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/12/c ... adventure/
And BTW, about the Ferrari, there have been many talks about a Dolphin nose (similar to the one I just posted) and U-Pods.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Mad Dan »

Seriously I'd hate that kid becoming 'champion' again.
I hope Ferrari comes back to the very top. I want Button to beat Hamilton and I want Massa to remind us all of his 08 pace.
And last is that I want HRT to go away, seriously there were better applicants and FIA had chosen USF1 who didn't even make it on the tests, Campos who had to bought by Carabante and Manor who had to be bought by Virgin, then by Marussia. Only Caterham looks little bit better. This election was a joke.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by eMeR »

I'd like to see Alonso on the first place. I hope Ferrari make a monopost what will beat Red Bull.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by cocney »

I think that nobody who isn't from Germany want Vettel to win again! We want someone else to win but Sebastian is the best now and that is reality. Everything else is a dream :weep: !
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by XYY »

I clicked Raikkönnen. I know that he won't win the cup, but Vettel is way too dominant :talkth: And I never supported him, because I think he's not as good as his results tell :worried:
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Mad Dan »

Reality is that Newey is best and Webber doesn't get as many chances thanks to H.Marko
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by 1nsane »

Alex wrote:Well, it's not really Lotus anymore. Mike Gascoyne recently renamed the team to Caterham Motorsport:http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/12/c ... adventure/
And BTW, about the Ferrari, there have been many talks about a Dolphin nose (similar to the one I just posted) and U-Pods.
Uh, I was talking about the new Lotus. Unless you were referring to some other post.

And indeed, Adrian Newey is a very good car designer. But the funny thing is, his desings seem to have a cycle of 1-2 years of dominating and good cars and then 1-2 years of bad cars. Last year the car had the "peak", so maybe it has fallen back in the same level as the other top teams. Although this year they will propably have a full KERS system running, which give them some advantage over previous year.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Alex »

1nsane wrote:
Alex wrote:Well, it's not really Lotus anymore. Mike Gascoyne recently renamed the team to Caterham Motorsport:http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/12/c ... adventure/
And BTW, about the Ferrari, there have been many talks about a Dolphin nose (similar to the one I just posted) and U-Pods.
Uh, I was talking about the new Lotus. Unless you were referring to some other post.
Yeah, but he's renamed the team to Caterham. It's like calling a Prost a Ligier.
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Bouncebackability »

Alex, it was the old Renault team that 1nsane was talking about, with their braking system, not the Caterham team ;)
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Buka »

Well, I'm sure Raikkonen will win a race or two, but I believe (I want to believe) that Button (or Kamui :nippon: ) will have the title this season. And my only wish is to see not-so-great Red Bull so Vettel would have a chance to prove that he's not just lucky to race in the best car, but also a good racer. Oh, and Webber must go during the season, he was pathetic last year (like Massa, but I don't want a champ without a single Brazilian) and there are great guys who can replace him. OK, he can be paired with De La Rosa in HRT - it would be great team. :D
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by cocney »

If Webber go to HRT he will be destroyed. IMO Timo Glock was ag great driver and he went to Virginia :worried: !
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by DuklaLiberec »

cocney wrote:If Webber go to HRT he will be destroyed. IMO Timo Glock was a great driver and he went to Virginia :worried: !
You mean Virgin or Marussia, huh? ;) And yeah, it's a tough challenge for him, but he accepted it. And in 2007, while he and Seb were test drivers for BMW Sauber, it seemed to be that Timo would be the best of the both, but due to the Red Bull support for Vettel it became harder for him. :worried:
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Trigger Happy »

Is it just my impression or is Williams really going to have the weakest line-up in cockpits from whole field (if not counting rookie line-up of STR)? :scratch:
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Herbal »

Seems so, as Bruno Senna has been selected for the second car...
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by 1nsane »

Yeah, Williams might struggle once again, this time because of the drivers. Luckily they got rid of the worst possible motor there was, so if they don't mess up the car as badly as last year, they SHOULD be at least a bit higher on the grid. Well, if they just had some better drivers. Like... Sutil. Why did he have to go and glass that guy in China...

If I remember correctly, someone counted that Williams lost at least 40 million dollars for this year by dropping down 2 or 3 places in the team championship. For a team like Williams that is a huge blow in finance. Especially since they lost pretty much all of their big sponsors too for this year. So they pretty much had to go with two pay drivers for this year. And I think out of the possible pay drivers, Senna was propably the best one to go for. It's not like they could get any lower. Right? Right? Well, actually...
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Trigger Happy »

1nsane wrote:... It's not like they could get any lower. Right? Right? Well, actually...
Precisely. They can end the season with being last of all old teams like this year plus beaten by the nicely approaching Caterham team ... :scared:

BTW vote went to expected champion named Alonso, but I hope in title to Massa in fact. :D
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Martyn »

I think Jenson will be champion but I'd also be happy with another Vettel title. Annoyingly he is almost impossible to dislike
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by 1nsane »

I once again put the votes you said in the first post so we can see who guessed it right and who was off by miles. If you posted said who you voted already, but your name is not on the list, it's because I couldn't really figure it out from your post.

And also for everyone else, if you want to have your prediction on the list, just say it here and it will be there. :)

The only one to say it and predict it correctly in 2011 was HSC King! Good job! cheerleader:
Also on the poll votes 9 out of 35 predicted Vettel to be the champion. The unlucky guys were the ones who voted Kubica to be the man, a total of 8 people. But who could have thought at that point that he would be completely out of the series..
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Mad Dan »

I voted for Alonso ;). (LAst year I voted for Kubica so I hope Alonso won't have bad luck)
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by Alex »

New sketch for the Ferrari F2012:
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Re: F1 - Season 2012 *spoiler*

Post by 1nsane »

Agh, and as soon as FIA had approved the ride balance system, they decide to make a 360 degree turn and moonwalk out of the situation. They are trying to ban the system now. If this happens, Lotus might be in for another bad season. They have been building the system for a long while, so even the aerodynamics might have been made to work with this system. Now that it gets banned there's no way they would have enough of time to fix everything.
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