Whilst admitting the RB8 has “very nervous” handling, Sebastian Vettel insists there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the 2012 Red Bull.

The German looks likely to struggle to add a third consecutive drivers’ title to his tally this season, after slumping to just sixth in the points standings after the first two races.

In China, he has reverted to a launch specification of the Adrian Newey-penned car’s exhaust layout, whilst Mark Webber is plugging ahead with a further development of the Australia-Malaysia solution.

“There is no question of something (being) wrong,” Vettel is quoted in Spanish media reports as saying in Shanghai, “just a few things that are probably just not working in an ideal manner.

“The problem we have is that the balance of the car is not as good as we had last year. It’s not a question of downforce, but of ensuring that all the parts are behaving as a whole.

“That is what we are trying to achieve.”

Vettel dismissed the suggestion that because Red Bull’s cars are in two different specifications this weekend, it means the team has “lost” its way.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “I firmly believe we have a very competitive car, at the moment we are just not able to take its full potential out.”

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old said he has spoken with Narain Karthikeyan, following their collision in Malaysia.

Vettel twice showed his Indian rival the middle finger, and described Karthikeyan – who was penalised by the stewards – as an “idiot”.

“I spoke with him and he apologised,” Vettel is quoted by Germany’s spox.com.

But when told that he was once a backmarker like Karthikeyan, the German insisted: “I was never as far behind as the HRT.

“Of course you have to drive your own race. But you still have to know what is going on around you.”

 With one race down out of twenty, F1 teams are now hopping from Australia to Malaysia where the new pecking-order will be immediately tested on a more conventional circuit.
Some paddock cynics suspect McLaren – having dominated qualifying in Melbourne before Jenson Button cruised to victory – played a deft hand of bluff in the winter season in order to persuade Red Bull its former dominance remained intact.

New 2012 championship leader Button, however, insists the British team was surprised in Australia.

“It wasn’t bullshit at all,” he said late on Sunday.

“I actually did pinch myself in the race just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

“After qualifying I looked across at Lewis (Hamilton) and said ‘Did you think we would be that quick?’, and he was like ‘No’.”

Another possibility is that, while quick, McLaren may not be dominant.

“We knew from winter testing that McLaren were competitive but I think our race pace was every bit the equal of theirs today,” said Red Bull’s team boss Christian Horner, after a betting showing for the reigning champions on Sunday compared to qualifying.

“Malaysia is a very different prospect from here. Here it is short turns, bumpy, not a lot of high-speed corners.

“But Malaysia offers that variant, so I think it will be interesting to see how quick they are in Malaysia,” he added.

Mark Webber was also relieved on Sunday, after a troubled earlier evening.

“It’s never nice to know you might be out of the ball game,” said the Australian, referring to Red Bull’s qualifying performance, “but clearly we are not.”

Yet another possibility is that McLaren will extend their winning streak into Malaysia.

“The Barcelona test showed us that we are better than Red Bull in the fast corners. Their (Red Bull’s) advantage is in traction,” McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Agreed Mercedes’ Ross Brawn: “We could see that the McLaren improved significantly with the introduction of their new aerodynamic specification in Barcelona.”

But the German team’s Norbert Haug warned before leaving Melbourne: “We could see something quite different in Malaysia.”

Livio Oricchio, the correspondent for Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, agreed: “It is prudent to wait and see what happens now in Malaysia.

“It’s a permanent circuit, much more in line with most of the circuits on the calendar.

“But it seems unlikely that we will see something radically different to what we saw in Australia,” he conceded.

Pirelli would have preferred to test with a 2011-specification car this year, Paul Hembery has admitted.
After writing off the 2009 Toyota as too outdated, F1′s tyre supplier struggled to find a solution with the teams as it pushed for a newer car for private tyre testing.

Ultimately, Pirelli acquired a 2010 Renault.

“We would have liked to have had a 2011 car,” Pirelli motor sport director Hembery told Auto Motor und Sport. “So we are one step away from being happy.”

He said it is no mistake that the chosen 2010 car is a Renault, not a title-winning Red Bull.

“We wanted a midfield car — there probably would have been too many complaints about the world championship-winning one.

“Also, the costs played a role,” added Hembery.

Missing now is a driver for Pirelli’s R30 Renault.

“There are a lot of names on the list,” revealed Hembery. “Even some that you wouldn’t have thought of.

“Ideally we want someone with experience from the 2011 season — so that reduces the number of candidates a bit.”

 A new case of F-duct fever appears to have broken out in formula one.
The issue seemed dead at the end of 2010: the FIA banned the driver-activated systems that stalled the rear wing to boost top speed, replacing it with ‘DRS’.

But towards the end of last year, Mercedes began testing an F-duct style innovation in the front-wing, which because it is entirely passive is legal.

The system is on the W03 car, and Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that McLaren’s final Barcelona test specification of its 2012 car, the MP4-27, featured a similar system.

Now, there are rumours Mercedes, McLaren as well as Red Bull and Lotus have designed new F-duct style systems — also for the rear wing.

Asked if this would explain Red Bull’s mysterious letterbox-style slit on the stepped front nose, designer Adrian Newey answered: “I can’t say anything.”

“Some teams have some doubts about the legality of the supposed systems,” journalist Michael Schmidt said. “We have heard that one has made an official request to the FIA about what is and is not allowed in this area.”

 Christian Horner has denied reports Red Bull is considering taking the ‘old’ specification of its 2012 car, the RB8, to Melbourne.
The reigning world champions arguably set the early pace this winter, but apparently struggled once a big package of upgrades – essentially a ‘B’ chassis – was brought to the final Barcelona test.

Sebastian Vettel’s final day of running was dismissed by team advisor Dr Helmut Marko as no less than “shit”, ramping up speculation the team might revert to the initial RB8 specification.

But team boss Horner told BBC radio: “It’s amazing how these things get construed.

“Those (Barcelona) upgrades seem to be working ok and they’ll certainly be on the car in Australia in ten days’ time.”

 Tongues were wagging in the Barcelona paddock on Thursday when some drivers hit the Spanish circuit wearing odd-looking Pirelli tyres.
Some of the tyres, whose compounds are normally visibly differentiated with coloured branding, featured significantly different markings.

The big rumour was that, now just two weeks before the start of the season in Australia, teams had requested the blank tyres in order to hide their test programmes from their rivals.

According to France’s Auto Plus, motor sport director Paul Hembery cleared up the matter by explaining that the blank tyres were in fact “prototypes”.

They had been manufactured not at Pirelli’s usual F1 factory in Turkey, but elsewhere, in the event that a natural disaster forced the tyre supplier to change its plans at the last minute.

Hembery also answered the criticism that, after Pirelli’s initial 2011 tyres spiced up the racing early last year, the new generation might not be aggressive enough.

“We need data from the races to judge that,” he insisted. “It’s far too early.”

He also confirmed that Pirelli is close to announcing the identity of its 2010-specification test car, and a new test driver.

It is believed former Force India driver Adrian Sutil is a candidate.

 Pirelli is closer to finding a solution to its current lack of a F1 test car.
In the past two years, the sport’s Italian supplier has used the last car raced by defunct team Toyota to develop its tyres.

But Paul Hembery, Pirelli motor sport director, has said the 2009-spec TF109 is now too outdated and has been retired.

It is believed the marque initially intended to find an agreement to run a competitive 2011-spec car, but the new plan could be to acquire a single seater from the 2010 season.

“We do most of the work in the simulator,” Hembery told the El Pais newspaper, “but it’s more difficult to work on the compounds because it requires the interactivity with the asphalt.”

The Briton admitted that, so far, the teams have been unhelpful in terms of agreeing a solution for a new-specification car, because of the potential performance advantage that could be gained by the chosen team.

Hembery, however, used the example of the common electronic unit which is supplied to all teams by a McLaren subsidiary.

“They all have it and no one complains,” he said.

“But we have asked for help and they tell us that we should continue with the Toyota, and that’s nonsense,” added Hembery.

He said talks are still taking place.

“We have to find a car that was competitive in 2010, which was reliable and that allows us to incorporate all the systems that allow us to do our work.”

Red Bull could hold back some development parts for the 2012 season, designer Adrian Newey has revealed.
Ferrari attracted great attention last weekend in Korea when a radical new wing specification, whose philosophy is destined for next year’s car, was debuted.

With the titles now wrapped up, other teams are also pushing ahead with testing new parts in the remaining few races of 2011.

But Newey has admitted he is cautious.

“All of our research and development is now focused on next year’s car,” he is quoted by the Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

“If there is anything new that we can apply to this year’s car, we may choose to do so.

“But it also depends on whether that would give away any clues as to what we are doing in 2012,” added the Briton.

 The interest in Ferrari’s 2012 front wing in Korea left Fernando Alonso annoyed.
“I think it’s to do with the team, not the journalists,” La Gazzetta dello Sport quotes the Spaniard as saying in Korea, where his 150 Italia was fitted with the radical new wing.

Media reports analysed in detail the difference between the new and old wing and its performance in Korea relative to the regular specification driven by Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa.

“As I’ve said before, in these last four races we need to learn a lot about 2012,” Alonso said. “Gaining or losing a tenth is a very low priority at the end of this season compared to finding the direction for next year’s car.

“We are working with a specific goal that is not easy for you (reporters) to understand,” he added.

“I do not think the readers are interested to get up in the morning and read about three or four points of downforce, certain diameters — I think they want to know who is fourth or fifth or whether you are working for the grand prix or the next year.

“The details seem very superficial to me.”

On the radio towards the end of Sunday’s Korean grand prix, Alonso was heard to tell his team “I give up” — a call rarely heard from the double world champion.

Alonso insists his focus is on what will make the 2012 season better.

“I will come to work (in 2011) to gain experience for the things for next year,” he is quoted by AS sports newspaper. “We can try some experimental parts and also (experiment with) how to deal with the weekends.”

The 30-year-old is currently third in the drivers’ championship.

“If we can get one tenth (for the 2012 car) from the information and yet finish fifth in the championship, I would sign it now,” insisted Alonso.

“No one expects us to come to India and have the pole and the win. Expect us to be fourth or fifth in qualifying and third, fourth or fifth in the race,” he said.

HRT will not have a 2011-specification car at any of the three pre-season tests in Spain next month, newly appointed driver Narain Karthikeyan has revealed.

Earlier this month, the Spanish team’s boss Colin Kolles said the new car will not be ready for Valencia early in February and it might also be missing at Jerez shortly afterwards.

“Maybe we will have the new one for the last two tests,” he said.

But Indian Karthikeyan has told the Times of India that he will be driving the 2010 HRT at all of the tests at Valencia, Jerez and then Barcelona.

The fourth and final test will take place over four days in Bahrain a week before the season opener in the island Kingdom.

“Our new car won’t be ready for the first three tests in Spain where I will drive the 2010 car,” said Karthikeyan.

And even when the new car is finally ready, Karthikeyan admitted that the “biggest change” compared to last year’s car will be the Williams transmission.

“We are not likely to use the KERS,” he admitted, albeit confirming that the 2011 car will have an adjustable rear wing.

The 34-year-old also revealed that his 2011 teammate, and HRT’s reserve drivers, will be decided by the team “in a week or so”.

Polyphony Digtial has today fully revealed the “X1 Prototype”, a project in conjunction with Red Bull Racing.

All races that exist in today’s world are restricted by regulations. However the X1 is a machine born from a fantastic “what if” dream of Polyphony; “What would the fastest racing car on Earth, free of any and all regulations look like?”

Initially the X1 prototype was a single seater, canopied prototype wing car with covered front wheels. The performance brought about by the 1500ps direct injection V6 Twin Turbo would have been spectacular as is, with a top speed of 400km/h and a maximum lateral acceleration of 6G. But this concept showed an even greater advancement through the help of Red Bull Racing, who became a partner in this project.

Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer, the genius aerodynamicist Adrian Newey proposed that “Fan Car” technology, a dream that he had held to himself over the years be added to the X1 Prototype.

A “fan car” is a vehicle having a fan mechanism which forces the air out from underneath the car, to reduce air pressure under the car’s floor. The resulting suction draws the car to the ground surface and creates a massive amount of downforce. And because it can create downforce regardless of the vehicle’s current speed, it dramatically raises it’s cornering speed even in low speed corners.

The incredible ability of fan cars has already been proven in history. The Chaparral 2J fan car entered in the 1970 Can-Nam series was so fast that it was banned after just 1 season. Even in the F1, the BT46B fan car entered in 1978 by Brabham dominated the opening round of the series with extreme speed, and was banned just after that single race.

With this proposal from Mr. Newey, the machine was transformed with a large fan added to the rear end of the body. With additional advice regarding the shapes of the front and rear wings and rear diffuser, its aerodynamics became even further refined. As a result, the X1 prototype attained an astonishing level of performance, reaching a top speed of over 450km/h, with a maximum lateral acceleration reaching up to 8.75G. This is a performance level that is at the very limits of what a normal human body can withstand.

The driver who performed the shakedown test of the machine in Gran Turismo 5, was the world famous Sebastian Vettel. In his very first run on the Suzuka Circuit, he shortened the record time of the course by over 20 seconds. And in the test drive on the Nurburgring GP Course, he marked a record time of 1 minute 4 seconds, drawing out the incredible potential of the X1 Prototype.

This is the dream of the fastest racing car on land, brought to life through the collaboration between Polyphony and Red Bull. Witness for yourself the power of the X1 through the in-game “X1 Challenge”, the first driving lesson ever in Gran Turismo to be performed by a top professional driver.

Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing

The results were thrilling. X1 is about evolution. Delivering the optimum combination of tested technologies in a single integrated design. This would be the future of racing were we not bound by regulations, but one that is achievable today. And as Sebastian has shown, it is about devastating speed coupled with real handling control. Today thanks to PlayStation®3 and Gran Turismo we can test drive the future.

Kazunori Yamauchi, President, Polyphony Digital Inc and creator of the Gran Turismo series

X1 sees the marriage of virtual and real worlds as we explore the boundaries of our technology and aesthetic senses. The X1 Prototype Project has been motivated by curiosity and passion, powerful forces that brought together the best the world has to offer in design, physics simulation, racing car product technology and driving.

X1 Downforce Specifications

Lets try calculating the cornering G’s of the X1 at 300km/h from the total tire load and coefficient of friction for the tires.

The total load on the X1′s tires at 300km/h is 1142.7kgf at the front tires, and 1432kgf at the rear tires. The coefficient of friction for the tires isμ=1.97. From these conditions, the maximum cornering force that the tires can exhibit can be determined to be 5073kgf. Dividing this by the wet weight of the X1 of 615kg comes to be 8.25, which is the maximum cornering G of the X1.

8.25G greatly exceeds the G’s felt during the launch of the Space Shuttle, and is roughly the same as that of a jet fighter plane at full afterburner. It is a figure at the very limits of what a human body can withstand.

Test Calculation: Cornering G at 300km/h
Total Tire Load: 2575.6kgf (Front Wheel 1142.7kgf+Rear Wheel 1432.9kgf)
Coefficient of Friction of Tires: μ=1.97 (baseμ=2.16, model calculates an efficiency reduction to 91.5% under high load)
Cornering force that can be exhibited by tires: 5073.9kgf
Cornering G: 8.25G (= 5073.9kgf / 615kg)

Read more: http://www.worldcarfans.com/110102929262/red-bull-x1-prototype-revealed-for-gran-turismo-5-video#ixzz13tUTExBi

Mercedes is waiting on a French supplier before pushing ahead with its latest specification of the blown diffuser.
The German team reversed the specification in Hungary because recent track outings showed that the hot engine exhaust was melting the car — particularly the all-important floor and diffuser.

“The car looked different when it left the pits to when it came back,” Michael Schumacher is quoted by Bild newspaper.

Mercedes was waiting on an order of incombustible space-craft material called Pyrosic, made exclusively by Pyromeral Systems in France.

But there were problems with delivery, with Ross Brawn confirming: “We are now trying a different material.”

In Hungary, Nico Rosberg joined Schumacher in writing off their chances of winning the titles in 2010.

And asked what he can learn from Germany’s leading F1 driver Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg answered: “From Sebastian? Nothing — only the speed of his car.”

After a two-year break from the calendar, Hockenheim welcomed formula one back on Thursday with a torrential downpour of rain.

Renault’s Robert Kubica reckoned the wet weather, preceded by a warm but cloudy day at the venue, would hang around at the German circuit all weekend.

He said drivers would perhaps only get their first sample of Bridgestone’s extreme tyre allocation on Sunday.

Lotus’ Mike Gascoyne was more optimistic, predicting a wet Friday but better weather on both Saturday and for the race.

At Red Bull, in the wake of the Silverstone front wing saga, a huge crowd of media unsurprisingly gathered to hear if Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are still at war.

The pair were both well-behaved for the PR event, leaving team boss Christian Horner to joke about a pair of limited edition watches given to them by team sponsor Casio.

“We have spares, they are all in the same specification, so I can’t see there being any issues with watches this weekend,” smiled the Briton.

Dietrich Mateschitz has dismissed the Silverstone front wing affair as “much too dramatised”, declaring that Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel still have equal chances to win the 2010 world championship.

The energy drink company Red Bull’s owner, an Austrian billionaire, insisted to Kleine Zeitung newspaper that German 23-year-old Vettel is not the team’s preferred winner this year.

“Once again I say: we do not have a number one and a number two. Both drivers have cars with exactly the same specification. The problem with the new wing at Silverstone was the first exception,” he said.

“Of course, the situation was not pleasant for Mark, but this was a little problem made into a large one.

“Our management was not diplomatic and perhaps not correct,” he admitted, albeit insisting that Webber’s ‘number 2′ comment after winning at Silverstone was also “unnecessary”.

“But, on the other side, Mark did nothing wrong.

“We will not make them be quiet. Everyone can tell the truth; that is one of the highest virtues of Red Bull.

“There are no factions, although it is obvious that the two sides have their own driver firstly at heart.

“We have two drivers going for the world championship. Actually, it’s a luxurious problem that many teams would like to have.”

Mateschitz, 66, is confident about Red Bull’s chances of winning in 2010.

“If you ask me today who will be champion, I would say ‘one of our drivers’. But the pits must not interfere, because then the problems really begin.”

He said appointing a number one is not in accordance with his “philosophy of racing”. “Our drivers know that they first have the beat the other,” said Mateschitz.

“I have no preference; as champion each of the two would be equally great to me.”

And Mateschitz admitted that letting the drivers fight down to the wire could backfire and hand the title to an opponent.

“I think that is unlikely but I would not rule it out. And if it should happen, my God, we are talking about racing. The image of blood, sweat and tears is not by accident.”

Pirelli will supply four different dry tyre compounds to formula one teams in 2011, the Italian company has announced.

It was confirmed by the FIA on Wednesday that Milan based Pirelli will succeed the departing Bridgestone as F1′s new supplier until 2013.

It had been expected that – unlike at present with Bridgestone offering super-soft, soft, medium and hard compounds – Pirelli’s compounds would number just three.

But Pirelli has confirmed that on offer in 2011 will be four dry weather tyres, plus a full wet tyre and an intermediate.

“Following current formula one regulations laid down by .. the FIA, the new contract ensures that Pirelli will provide teams with six different types of tyre for the season,” read a statement.

It is believed the reason the “current” rules are remaining unchanged is due to the long delay in the appointment of Bridgestone’s successor.

The F1 teams recently agreed to commence the designs of their 2011 cars on the basis of Bridgestone’s 2010-specification tyre.

Also postponed is the touted move from the current 13-inch wheels to a much lower profile.

But Pirelli said “research into innovative new tyre developments is a vital part of this exciting programme”.

The company will also supply GP2 and GP3.
(GMM)