A fair point but people have off seasons, you need only look at Hamilton's recent form for an example of that.
I'd find it more likely that Webber had a bad season than Vettel became the best driver on the grid over the space of a single winter.
F1 Testing 2012 - Week 3, Barcelona
- Thread starter Duke
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A fair point but people have off seasons, you need only look at Hamilton's recent form for an example of that.
I'd find it more likely that Webber had a bad season than Vettel became the best driver on the grid over the space of a single winter.
Becoming a World Champion often makes drivers more comfortable in their surroundings and can improve their driving.
Jenson Button's another example of that. Every driver on the grid wants to be WDC, so when you achieve that it's a lot of pressure off.
Marussia too.
Tell us how long it would take to copy from the Merc then?
Don't get me wrong, I don't contest that's he's a very good driver but I just don't see what other people seem to be seeing last year that denotes him as possibly the best driver on the grid, as opposed to just a very good driver in an outstanding car.
I'm yet to be convinced he's some kind of super driver of the kind who can drag crap cars to the top of the podium through his own sheer skill alone - bar a brief glimmer at Toro Rosso, I don't see where he has demonstrated this is something he's capable of.
I'm yet to be convinced he's some kind of super driver of the kind who can drag crap cars to the top of the podium through his own sheer skill alone - bar a brief glimmer at Toro Rosso, I don't see where he has demonstrated this is something he's capable of.
From the Caterham article in last months F1 Racing, they were working on the Australia updates in December, and were working on the European updates before testing started.
Anything Red Bull brought to the test would have been in development way before the start of the pre season tests.
Not to mention a redesign of the rear end crash structures to copy Mercs design would have had to pass the FIA crash tests prior to the start of testing.
The F1 grid is full of the top vehicle designers in the world. Its entirely possible that multiple teams come up with similar solutions.
Anything Red Bull brought to the test would have been in development way before the start of the pre season tests.
Not to mention a redesign of the rear end crash structures to copy Mercs design would have had to pass the FIA crash tests prior to the start of testing.
The F1 grid is full of the top vehicle designers in the world. Its entirely possible that multiple teams come up with similar solutions.
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Before what testing? They could have crash tested it on Wednesday and had it out on track on Saturday. Did they change the rear crash structure? don't think they did.
Caterham are not working on the same level as RBR really.
Caporegime
I'm sorry, Sunama, but you've completely failed to grasp how "hacking" works. You remember when people used to break into cars used a bent coat hanger? Do you image they had the same skill as mechanical engineering as the people who built the car? Same principal, different arena. "Hackers" are not highly skilled programmers; they don't need to be.
Man of Honour
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I hope this is true. We don't need another year where red bull runs away with it. Last year got real dull towards the end.
The Merc diffuser is fed by a tunnel through the rear crash structure, and was only revealed 2 weeks ago. For Red Bull to have copied it, as opposed to have already developed it themselves, they would have had to understand it, design it, build it, crash test it and get it fitted into the rest of the rear end design, all in the space of 2 weeks. Not to mention throwing out months of their own development to copy a completely different design.
If the RBR has designs that are similar to Mercedes or any other teams its because there designers have come up with the same solutions, and not just copied each other.
since when are diffusers crash testing? you know what a diffuser is right?
how long did it take mclaren to copy RBR's exhaust last year?
its relatively easy to add a mini double diffuser into your own diffuser its not rocket science and the mercedes front wing is an evolution off its old one.
they were the first team that with style of wing.
im not talking about anu w-duct im talking about the actual front wing shape and angles RBR's is extremely close to the newest mercedes one
a diffuser is not part of the crash structure, everyone had double diffusers in the past.
its not rocket science to understand a mini double diffuser after seeing it on another teams car
Soldato
It's just convergent evolution - same thing that made dolphins look like icthyosaurs. Teams ending up in similar places because they're looking for the same thing.
I thought the whole idea of the Merc diffuser was that it was fed through the tunnel in the rear crash structure? If RBR don't have that, then they haven't copied Merc, have they?
Exactly. But that doesn't allow you to play the "everyone is clearly copying my favourite team" card, which appears to trump the "logical explanation" card.
Exactly. But that doesn't allow you to play the "everyone is clearly copying my favourite team" card, which appears to trump the "logical explanation" card.
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they added a slot in the diffuser like merc have making it a mini double diffuser even if its not fed via a slot.
they could easily add a duct if they wanted but maybe there car doesnt have enough air coming out of the rear because there car was never designed to have anything there
Already OK'd I think, I remember something about Charlie Whiting inspecting both Ferrari and McLaren designs a couple weeks back.