Bottas to use new front nose in China

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This is silly!

Agreed Gwanni- regarding the reason given.

I don't believe for one second they can only start constructing a 2nd nose when the first nose is 2 weeks into the manufacturing process. Have they got one man making both noses from start to finish? Nope.

I think the real reason the team are reluctant to admit is that they are in doubt whether the front nose offers any practical overall advantage- perhaps because the increase in front downforce simply causes understeer and doesn't benefit rear grip or tyre wear. Massa was no more competitive than Bottas in Bahrain- and Bottas had a damaged wing.

If in doubt, it would cost money manufacturing a second nose if the drivers prefer the old configuration, so China represents an extended trial before committing either way. It suggests the team are being very economical, and i hope it doesn't hold up the teams's understanding of the car or lead them to go down the wrong path through penny pinching.

In short- the clue is in the answer- they found it hard to find the benefit of the nose in bahrain and that the lack of a second IS due to manufacturing, because they haven't bothered to manufacture a second...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:04:14:13:56:07 by crusty_bread.

Your explanation makes more sense than the one given by our team. hope it is not a cash flow problem. Obviously, our team needs to be extra careful in its operations. But investment is continuously needed to out develop other teams.

Must be an expensive piece of kit, however I doubt it's down to how the team is allocating resources. They have the raw materials and manpower and if they're not building a nose then they're doing something else.

Agree with Gwanni and Crusty. They're probably making sure it's worth their time to build it. Test it in China, get some data, and then probably build a tweaked version.

Still disappointing though. The panacea of the ultra-short super-fast nose was false. That's that.

Sadly, I'm now just hoping we can stay ahead of Haas and Toro Rosso.

I can't see how more front downforce would cause understeer? Typo I assume.

Lol, more front downforce will not cause understeer. It will reduce it. But in reality, they will just take angle off the wing so their df levels are what they were so they can keep balance and serup.

The effect should be simply less drag with similar df levels.

Yeah. More front end grip from more down force causes over steer, not under steer. Well I shouldn't say causes over steer, but induces it by changing the grip balance of the car. More grip up front means the front wheels go where you want. Relatively less grip at the rear means they tend to slide.

Under steer is when the front end elides a little due to inadequate grip. It's typically safer than over steer because the car just pushes wide into a corner, but in my experience is less quick than a slightly over steery car. If the driver has the talent to handle the over steer, they will be faster than an equally skilled driver who prefers under steer. Just my experience though.

Notice too, that many many f1 drivers prefer slight under steer, but a high proportion of the greats like a little over steer.

So they Val will use new nose with old front wing and Phill old nose and front wing.??

If the new nose did not provide an obvious advantage previously why bother making another. Test it again then either redesign it or sack it off or make some more. (I thought for a moment VB had been under the knife!)