Ferrari to revise front pull-rod suspension for new car

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In the round-up: Ferrari will retain their unusual front pull-rod suspension for their 2013 in an “evolved” form.

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“Das Auto war nicht fantastisch, aber okay” (Auto Motor und Sport, German)

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry confirms the team will continue to use front pull-rod suspension on their new car and says he would not be surprised if others adopt it.

Red faces at McLaren after Button’s birthday greeting features picture of Hamilton (Daily Mail)

“McLaren were left red-faced on Saturday after celebrating Jenson Button’s birthday by posting a picture of his former team mate Lewis Hamilton.”

Sky Sports F1?óÔé¼??s pre-season coverage: What’s going on? (The F1 Broadcasting Blog)

“Formula One will be on Sky Sports News, yet their dedicated Formula One channel will still be in repeats mode? That sounds incredibly like backwards logic to me.”

Why motorsport should embrace Google+ (Motorsport Musings)

“While it’s all well and good hanging information out there and using social media to signpost fans to new content, going one step further and reaching out to them – and breaking through the exclusivity barrier – will ultimately bring them much closer to the sport.”

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Yesterday’s Caption Competition was definitely one of the hardest to judge – there were loads of suggestions that made me laugh out loud.

I especially liked those from Thecollaroyboys, Joolsy, Tyler, MahavirShah, Magnificent Geoffrey and Davros.

My favourite and this weekend’s winner was this one from Chris (@Tophercheese21) which got a good reaction from quite a few other readers:

Alonso: “Ugh, even in the pre-season I have to carry the team.”

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On this day in F1

Jim Clark won the non-championship Lady Wigram Trophy at Christschurch in New Zealand on this day 45 years ago.

Clark, driving a Lotus 49, led home Chris Amon (Ferrari) and Denny Hulme (Brabham BT23).

Today is also Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost’s birthday. He is 57.

Image © Jamey Price for F1 Fanatic

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22 comments on “Ferrari to revise front pull-rod suspension for new car”

  1. Hamilton: still McLaren’s #1 driver..

    1. Were you referring to their Facebook post yesterday greeting Jenson a Happy Birthday with Lewis’ picture on it?

      1. @journeyer Yeah the story in the roundup.

  2. I’m also interested to see who adopts the pull-rod front suspension. Personally I’m not convinced that it’s merits in having a lower CoG etc. are enough to outweigh the fact that it seems to make for tricky understanding. I believe that was one of Ferrari’s issues with the F2012: it was a fundamentally decent car just that it was very hard to get the balance correct, which is why we saw it doing every conceivable steer throughout every corner.

    1. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
      20th January 2013, 1:56

      If I remember correctly, there was some speculation last year that McLaren would have a go at pull-rod front suspension – since they always design their cars with a low centre of gravity, the advantage of this layout would be greater on their chassis. Haven’t heard a word on the matter since. What are the odds that the new MP4-28 will implement this system?

      1. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
        20th January 2013, 1:58

        *by low centre of gravity, I mean their cars and more low-slung than their competitors’. For example, McLaren cars have always had lower noses.

    2. I believe there is also some aerodynamic advantage: because the pull-rod is near horizontal, which places it in the same plane as the front wing’s wake. So it can be used to control that wake and thus improve flow to the rear of the car.

      Also, I remember during the.. Bahrain GP?, Alonso wanted a slight front suspension change. But because the front suspension is less ‘accessible’, it took them 30 minutes to change something that with push-rods would have cost 5 minutes.

      I’m very curious to see who will adopt the pull-rod suspension. McLaren sounds like the obvious suspect, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a team like Mercedes or Sauber would adopt it too.

      1. And now that I think of it: the pull-rod is shorter, thus it can be thinner and lighter (buckling)

    3. Alonso himself said that the front of the F2012 was the only part that was working fine at the start of the season , the F2012 issues were in grate part in the radiators which were responsible to the excessive drag the car was generating and the DRS which was their achilles heel in qualifying

      1. @tifoso1989 – I was always of the opinion that the F2012 had severe balance issues at the start of the season, which is why it was squirming about through the corners. Of course that could also be an aerodynamic issue but I do have a feeling that the pull-rod suspension may have made it initially difficult to strike the right balance. The car seemed fairly stable towards the end of the season though and the problem then was as you have said DRS re-attachment issues.

        @andae23 Yes you are correct, that was one of the benefits stated. There is an overview of the benefits vs. the traditional push-rod here but weight saved interestingly isn’t a benefit: the pull-rod has a greater load applied through it so it has to be strengthened.

        I’m not sure that many teams will go to the effort of implementing it next season apart from possibly McLaren for the reasons @bobthevulcan has stated but for 2014 I’m expecting many teams will try to adopt it as of course the new regulations make for lower noses and so likely lower chassis’, so the benefits may outweigh any potential shortfalls.

  3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    20th January 2013, 1:13

    Hey I won the caption comp. well that’s made my day :) Ty

    1. @tophercheese21

      Enjoy, make it your day! That was good caption completion!

  4. Whoops, looks like the mechanic in charge of the left rear wheel during the pit-stops in bahrain must have been given the easier responsibility of McLaren’s Facebook page ;)
    But to be fair it does like Jenson from his win in Japan in 2011 with the same looking helmet and yellow roll hoop, but it’s still the wrong car!

  5. Abdurahman (@)
    20th January 2013, 6:15

    That F1 Broadcasting Blog that had the pre season sky f1 testing story is pretty neat and a good add to the must read lists. I’m sure it will be great to follow during the season.

  6. It was a nice surprise having some testing coverage on Sky Sports News last year though I only caught in sporadically. It would indeed make more sense to put together a short programme every night or every other night to keep us up to date with regards to what’s going on.

    What I often find when keeping on eye on testing coverage through this blog or any other site is that while of course they do a great job of relaying timing and technical data, there’s no substitute for seeing how the cars handle yourself. Last year, many people at the tests themselves were commenting on how poor the F2012 handling was but not being able to see that for myself did frustrate me a little. Onboards for example during testing could be invaluable when it comes to drawing largely meaningless but fun conclusions!

  7. On this day 45 years ago, regular readers will have noticed that we have had several similar races in NZ reported in the sixties, in the next few weeks we will see similar reports from Australia, the series was called the Tasman series. F1 followed the sun to the Southern hemisphere during the Northern winter, they could do it then (with F2 and sportscars) but can’t now. What’s gone wrong ?

    1. “with Formula2 and sportscars as well”

  8. On the subject of testing, Getting full live coverage of test’s is something that I doubt will ever happen because it wouldn’t be worth the cost of sending crew/equipment over for how few people would watch it & how few broadcasters would pick up the coverage.

    The practice sessions during race weekends have always seen very low tv rating figures which is why most broadcasters worldwide don’t show coverage of practice sessions. Coverage of testing would likely see even less people watching, Especially given how they tend to happen weekdays while people are at work.

    You also need to consider how a test works, There are long periods where nothing happens & even longer periods where there may only be 1 car on track with others popping out occasionally to do a slow lap to gather aero data or something. Plus teams tend to close off garages preventing tv teams for getting good shots of the cars while stationary which eliminates the opportunity to get some interesting stuff while there’s nobody out on track.

    Something which was new for 2012 was that FOM sent out a small team to produce short 3-4 minute daily highlight clips which were sent out to news organizations. They consisted mostly of shots of cars leaving/entering the pit lane & 1-2 camera locations from around the track. CNN international were the only news agency worldwide who picked them up & only on 2 of the days. Sky did incorporate small bits from the official packages into there news reports but again not that often.

    1. I agree that it would be pointless to cover and brodcast the whole test but a highlights show later in the evening on Sky F1 would make better use of the channel than leaving it on repeat of the 2012 season highlights, which most regular viewers will have already seen. That makes complete sense to me and I don’t see why Sky haven’t announced that they are doing something of the like, so I agree entirely with what the article says.

      1. Oh I agree, I was just pointing out why you don’t get live coverage from the test’s.

        Sky have there hourly reports on there sports news channel, They have the FOM highlights reel & Sky also have whatever stuff they film but don’t broadcast from around the track. So they do have more than enough footage available to put together nightly programs or even a longer program at the end of each test.

        1. So they do have more than enough footage available to put together nightly programs or even a longer program at the end of each test.

          Lets hope they realize that, and instead of just showing endless re runs use this footage to make those shows (and repeat them several times a day)

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