The Formula 1 Blog

   The  McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, unveiled today in London the new car for 2012 season, the so called MP4-27, a car that has the most updated mechanical systems and a totally reworked rear.
   The presentation took place at the team headquarters in Woking (London), McLaren revealed the appearances and technical characteristics of a car that they think will be able  to challenge Red Bull for both titles this year. The car will touch asphalt for the first time next Tuesday at the Spanish circuit of Jerez.
   The new silver arrow MP4-27, is an evolution of the last year car who won for the McLaren team six World Cup races and finished second in the Constructors Championship while Jenson Button also finished second in driver’s Championship.
   Its main technical innovations are to be seen in the rear part where the body work has been redesigned to improves the aerodynamics of the car and to accommodate an upgraded cooling system, which will improve the oil cooled gearbox. After uncovering Lewis Hamilton described the new McLaren as having "the most refined aesthetics seen in the latest years". Lewis is confident that his 6th season with the British team will be a strong one, and the 2008 world champion said about the team that: "is working from a solid foundation," and "never surrender" and because of this is always "getting stronger".
   Janson Button added that the presentation of the new car shows the "hard work" that the team has put in the construction of the new MP4-27. "We have to thank the guys who have been working overtime this winter to develop this car," said the British pilot, who will be headed now to Jerez for the next week, when the tests will begin and where all can see what MP4-27 is all about.

see more pictures inside…

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  With the new F1 cars storming to meet us, this and the next week, I thought that is time to introduce to you what the new challengers will “wear” this year, and Pirelli was generous with the color codes making them more bright and easy to read with one exception, but this is yet to be proven or not on the track, I am talking about the difference in color between the Medium (White) and Hard (Silver) Tyre and how visible or not will be.

  But letting the small talk aside, many of you might know that Pirelli needs to supply 6 different types of tyres to be used accordingly with the nature of track or meteorological conditions.

The SLICK Tyres

The dry weather tyres, also known as slicks, are characterised by a tread pattern that is devoid of blocks or channels. Pirelli engineers have developed four different compounds: super-soft, soft, medium and hard. They need to be  different because are designed to suit a wide variety of circuits, according to the type of asphalt, the number and severity of the corners, and last but not least the top speed on the straights lines. Having them will allow the teams to make use of an ample range of strategies which can only contribute to the quality of the race.

The Wet Weather Tyres

The wet weather tyres, are characterised by the grooves in the tread pattern, and they are split into 2 types: full wets (W blue) and intermediates (I green). The full wet tyres can be very easily recognised by the very deep grooves in the tread pattern and sipes designed to drain off water on wet asphalt while the intermediate tyre features channels that are less deep and are designed for damp or only slightly wet surfaces, they can also work under uncertain weather conditions but is preferably to keep them wet at all times.

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  With new season testing just around the corner and with the release dates of the new 2012 Formula1 Championship challengers more or less confirmed we decided to let you all know how the presentation schedule will look, just a day before the the launch of the McLaren’s MP4/27. Among the latest teams to conform the official launch was Williams F1 Team who just release the date of it’s FW34 this afternoon.

  The two teams that will suffer the longest delay are HRT F1 Team (no surprise here) and Marussia Racing, and it seems that both teams are struggling to put together the 2012 car, and while Marussia has a solid working base HRT is keep relocating itself, first from Germany to Valencia and then in the middle of the process a decision was made to move to Madrid complicating further the construction of the car.

  Another interesting thing is the Mercedes engine that will be supplied this year, with McLaren and Mercedes AMG Petronas sharing same engine Mercedes FO108Y while Sahara Force India will receive a slightly different one Mercedes FO108.

 Here is the full schedule for all cars launches that will compete in 2012 Formula1 Championship:

The rumor was that Rubens will test with KV Racing today 30 Jan. 2012 and tomorrow at Sebring Florida  and the rumor came true, here you can take a peek on what Ruben is likely to drive in 2012 if reaches an agreement with KV Racing, watch the video if he’s 1st Lap in Indycar:

Before to get into the car Rubens said: "Sounds impressive," about Chevrolet 2.2-liter, dual turbocharged V-6 engine. "Sounds like it’s having fun” he added.

Nothing is concrete yet but Tony Kanaan (a good friend of Rubens and also a driver for the KV Racing team) explain: "Over the winter we talked about it, but it became serious when I was testing (at Sebring) and they announced that he wouldn’t be with Williams then I tweeted a picture of my car saying ‘It’s ready for you,’" Kanaan, who is godfather to one of Barrichello’s sons and vice versa with his son, Leonardo. "Then I called him up and said, ‘Hey, you want to come test at the end of the month?’ And he said yes, so I called Jimmy (Vasser the team co-owner).

Is Barrichello will race in Indycar or nor remains to be seen but according to everyone’s declarations Rubinho stil has the will and the speed to continue.

Info: Indycar

  It seems that Robert is heading towards a complete and full recovery and at truly amazing speeds (considering the accident and how serious were he’s injury’s ). Now, after telling his manager that he won’t have any  trouble in returning to F1 competition, new information has emerged about Robert Kubica going to make he’s first test with Toyota simulator and if all goes well, then he will test in a Formula1 Renault car similar with the one used by Kimi Raikkonen in Valencia and in this way nor he or the Lotus F1 Team will break the rules about testing ban. The Toyota simulator in Cologne was selected because apparently is a much better one than then what Lotus F1 Team has in Enstone, and given the importance of the test everyone involved want’s to use the best possible equipment.

  Latest news are that Robert’s elbow was operated again to restore full movement. In any case, Renault are still waiting, and it seems that Kubica’s  health is good enough for Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez (Genii owner) to be thinking in these terms. Lopez also declared for the Tageblatt Luxembourg newspaper: "We still do not know exactly but I think there will be clarity in a few weeks," "at the moment, we are still expecting that in 2012 Robert will be racing with us."

  This being said we can only wish all the best to Robert and hope that we will see him on a racing track as soon as possible.

  Vettel’s physical trainer who worked with him since 2009, Tommi Parmakoski decided to leave Red Bull and Vettel and return to Finland and start training a women’s hockey team. According to Sport Bild another Finn will take he’s place at he’s recommendation.

Sebastian will have he’s new trainer Heikki Huovinen with him on Jerez, it was reported that Huovinen is an ex. hockey player and he has a Masters in Sports Science, he also worked as personal trainer, group instructor and gym instructor in a renown college in Finland. At the beginning of the next month he will be with Sebastian Vettel in Jerez as stated before and after that he will move he’s residence in Switzerland to live closer to the double Formula1 World Champion.

The wait is what’s killing us in winter, so Lotus F1 Team came to our aid with this great teaser for the 2012 Formula1 season challenger that will be named E20, here it is:

  This Wednesday we were able to see for the time some real images of the first car that was officially presented for the  2012 Formula1 Season, the Caterham CT01. And the car from the guys of Tony Fernandes has a feature that, in principle, we would see  on the cars of other teams on the grid as well: the nose in the shape of a duck beak.
  At first glance it is shocking, but the new regulation approved by the FIA Technical bind all the teams to lower the height of the nose of all cars. Although this is only the beginning, because the big teams on the grid and here we aim especially Ferrari and McLaren appears to have taken a very radical way in the design of their cars.
  During this season we have heard statements from the two teams that leave no doubt about that. "I see the Ferrari 2012 and I am amazed," said Stefano Domenicali Ferrari’s team principal, at Wrooom in Madonna di Campiglio. "It would be nice," said Luca di Montezemolo. While Jonathan Neale from McLaren, said: "We’ll risk it."
  After hundreds of rumors and sketches in recent weeks has been published in the Italian press, La Gazzetta dello Sport and mainly Autosprint (the picture from the head of the article), several sketches of what could be the car that the  Maranello team will present on February 3rd. Giorgio Piola specialized illustrator has made several drawings of how, according to their information, will look the new Ferrari, known as ‘Project 663′. Let’s take a look at what has been published so far and if is true or not will only know on next Friday.

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  Yesterday the new image of CT01 leaked to the media thanks to an mail error (or not) so now with the first winter test of the new Formula1 season just around the corner, teams have to make the presentation of the new cars with they intended to fight for the championship while trying the best position possible. The first team to present its new “weapon” has been Caterham.
  As said before Wednesday we could see the new car pictures all over the internet, but the 2012 challenger was officially presented this Thursday. The team’s technical director Mike Gascoyne has been in charge of explaining how all has been the done from design to development all in all the whole process. 
  "We focused a lot on developing the wind tunnel. With the new regulations, we have worked hard to get through the ‘crash test’ of the FIA ​​to reach the winter tests. We got it before Christmas and I think we were the first team to do, " said the Gascoyne.
  It seems that the design itself has evolved from a year ago: "The car’s design has been progressing since early 2011 and we know how to work hard and what to expect. We have a stable design team led by Mark Smith, which means we can go one step further in terms of design details. " Mike Gascoyne has no doubt that they will arrive on time at Jerez: "The car will be fully prepared for the test in Jerez. On the development of aerodynamics, we conducted a program in Italy and have made another in the wind tunnel owned by Williams, which has significantly increased our understanding of the car aerodynamics. All this makes us think that we will have a better and more competitive car. "
  Regarding the changes that are in the car, he added: "Last year we had to fight the blown diffuser, because we were all season trying to figure out how it works and why we were at a disadvantage but the aerodynamics is what’s always changing, so we have devoted much time understanding it."

Here is a short video of Kimi Raikkonen testing with he’s new team in Valencia on 23 – 24 January 2012