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Apr 04
Ferrari is planning to follow Sauber’s lead when the first major development of the disappointing F2012 car is unveiled soon.
“No doubt about it,” Fernando Alonso said after winning the Malaysian grand prix, “they (Sauber) were quicker than us.” The Italian magazine Autosprint have mischievously christened the updated Ferrari a ‘Ferrauber’, explaining that the rear of the ‘B’ F2012 will be very similar to Sauber’s impressive C31.
Apr 04
Fernando Alonso’s win was a complete surprise, but the name of another team was on more paddock-dwellers’ lips after Malaysia — Sauber.
“Only one team could do consistently good laptimes on all the tyres and in all the conditions, and it was Sauber,” confirmed Martin Whitmarsh, whose McLaren team had travelled to Sepang with arguably the fastest car.
Mar 29
Norbert Haug has the ‘F-duct’ debate around by admitting he questions the exhaust solution featured on this year’s McLaren car.
Some teams – notably Red Bull, Lotus and Ferrari – have complained loudly about the W03′s aerodynamic configuration, arguing the F-duct ban completely ruled out similar systems that are triggered by a driver’s movement.
Oct 24
The FIA is moving to clamp down even harder on the aerodynamic use of exhaust gases ahead of the 2012 season.
F1′s governing body had already announced the end of the so-called ‘blown diffuser’ era by dictating the positioning of the exhausts and limiting the allowable off-throttle engine maps for 2012.
Jul 31
Force India has decided against running its new blown diffuser in qualifying and the race in Hungary.
The Silverstone based team tested the concept in Friday practice on Adrian Sutil’s car, which was faster in both sessions than the non-blown diffuser sister car shared by Paul di Resta and Tonio Liuzzi.
Jul 29
Blown diffuser for Virgin car ‘possible’ – Glock
Lucas di Grassi has survived an uncomfortable gaffe within the Virgin team. After the Hockenheim race, the team’s press officer Tracy Novak reportedly presented both the Brazilian rookie and his teammate Timo Glock with proposed official quotes for the media release.
Jul 22
Car improvements for Mercedes and Ferrari
According to German reports, the W01 is set to feature a development of its switchable F-duct system, as well as a refined blown exhaust. “We have worked hard,” confirmed competition director Norbert Haug. “We have sorted out many of the problems we’ve seen in the last two races.”
Jul 22
Half of F1′s competing teams are opposed to proposals to relax the current ban on in-season testing.
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that while the opposition of low-budget newcomers Lotus, Virgin and HRT was expected, also Force India, Sauber and Williams want the current restrictions to remain in place.
Jul 18
McLaren is still not committed to qualifying and racing with a Red Bull-style ‘blown diffuser’ exhaust layout.
At Silverstone, the British team tried the specification in Friday practice but reverted to the original setup for qualifying and the race. McLaren and its drivers still head both world championships with more than half the season now run, but boss Martin Whitmarsh admits the team is “under no illusions” about Red Bull having the faster car.
Jun 29
Red Bull might now be expected to maintain its return to form as formula one moves on to Silverstone.
After two McLaren victories on the trot, and the British team leading both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won from pole position last weekend at Valencia.
Jun 25
“We’ve just got to fight it out here and get the best out of what we’ve got.”
Lewis Hamilton on Friday admitted McLaren might struggle to keep up with rapidly-progressing rivals this weekend in Valencia. While the British team will only run the innovation in two weeks at Silverstone, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have got Red Bull-style ‘blown diffuser’ exhaust layouts up and running on the streets of the Spanish port city.
