Soldato
F1 Testing 2012 - Week 2, Barcelona
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Soldato
Listen to that sound...
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Mclaren looking strong over long runs.
No farting! \o/
Associate
theres farting on the other corners
Yeah, there's been a lot of talk that RBR have been working closer than ever with Renault to claw back performance and part of that includes off throttle blowing. I suspect it'll still be a hot topic this year.
Seems like Ferrari are still trying to find their optimum exhaust set up, or are at least lacking a bit on rear down force. Alonso doesn't seem very optimistic currently.
http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/02/22/fernando-alonso-we-are-not-where-we-want-to-be/
Caporegime
It's looking positive for McLaren, but Red Bull look to have the edge on them. I wonder whether we'll be looking at a Mercedes/Ferrari battle for the 3rd team slot?
Soldato
My post seems to have vanished 
Ah well, I must have no clicked reply! I meant to say that the Ferrari doesn't look very good through the corners in those videos, which ties in with what Fernando is saying about rear down force..
I want a neck and neck season of Red Bull vs McLaren please. A fair fight this year
Ah well, I must have no clicked reply! I meant to say that the Ferrari doesn't look very good through the corners in those videos, which ties in with what Fernando is saying about rear down force..
I want a neck and neck season of Red Bull vs McLaren please. A fair fight this year
Soldato
I went to the test today 
ill up some vids later
ill up some vids later
I went to the test today
Cool, any pics as well?
Soldato
Mercedes are not wasting any time. They're straight on their pace of yesterday.
Soldato
There's reports saying that FIA technicians have discovered that both Mercedes and Renault engines are working with off-throttle mappings. Teams using those engines will be required to change their engine maps before Melbourne or they will be excluded. There is a technical directive about this coming in the next few days.
Oh, so did the rules around off throttle mappings actually get implemented? I thought they were just made redundant by the change in exhaust regulations, rather than specifically written into the rules.
(goes to check F1 regulations)
Ok, Section 5 of the technical regulations (which covers engines) has LOTS of pink (indicating a change from 2011), and lots of mentions of throttle positions and torque demands and things. I'm not going to pretend to understand it, but it does look like hot or cold maps used for anything other than engine reliability are banned.
Got to wonder why they are using illegal maps? Unless there is little difference in performance so they are just sorting out the rest of the car first and will finalise the best map prior to Melbourne?
(goes to check F1 regulations)
Ok, Section 5 of the technical regulations (which covers engines) has LOTS of pink (indicating a change from 2011), and lots of mentions of throttle positions and torque demands and things. I'm not going to pretend to understand it, but it does look like hot or cold maps used for anything other than engine reliability are banned.
Got to wonder why they are using illegal maps? Unless there is little difference in performance so they are just sorting out the rest of the car first and will finalise the best map prior to Melbourne?
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Soldato
Not sure. The report is a bit vague. I can only assume the regulation states that there should be no off-throttle blowing into the diffuser, and nothing mentioned about off-throttle blowing to the rear wing.
Either that or both Mercedes and Renault were trying to cheat, which given the money they'd lose and how much of a battering their reputations would take, I doubt.
Either that or both Mercedes and Renault were trying to cheat, which given the money they'd lose and how much of a battering their reputations would take, I doubt.
Soldato
Yes, Renault did claim that. They use a different technique to Mercedes though.
Either way no-one has done anything wrong yet.
Either way no-one has done anything wrong yet.
Section 5. (5.5. onwards).
Difficult to get your head around, but there are a lot of mentions of linking throttle position to drivers foot and things, suggesting holding the throttle open when the driver lifts off is banned. 5.6.6. seems to cover those claims that people were using it for reliability. They can continue to do so, but only at high RPM.
From what I gather from that, the teams are limited to 2 engine maps all season, one for Dry and one for Wet. The position of the throttle in the engine must relate to the position of the drivers foot, specifically when the driver is off throttle the engine must be as well. And there is an exception that at over 80% throttle and 15,000rpm stuff can be done to ensure reliability. Put simply, off throttle maps are banned.