Posts by Jason Campbell70

I haven't been keeping up with these F2 technical deep dives, so I might have missed something.

On the Alfa, those sidepods aren't just extra cooling vents; they're actually the primary—and only—cooling inlets.







Either they’re incredibly confident in this design, or they have absolutely no idea how badly they've fucked themselves. 😁

Kenneth Cruz67 said:You’ve completely buried the actual discussion on car reveals and testing under a mountain of nonsense. Just endless fluff and oversized images of things nobody actually cares about. Why bother?

I’ve been following the technical side of Formula 1 for about twenty years now. I’d go so far as to say I actually know my stuff. I'm looking for deep, serious analysis.

But then again, when someone kicks off their "deep dive" analysis with...

Gregory Brown94 said:First and foremost, we need to look at the front wing. Starting this year, they’ve ditched those specific endplate elements. You know, the ones designed to trigger that Y250 vortex? That turbulence is what actually glues the car to the track. Without it, everything changes.

It’s obvious from the jump. This isn't some deep, serious analysis. It’s not even close. We aren't dealing with an expert here—just another amateur playing pretend.

To top it all off, the person behind those childish scribbles is an arrogant jerk who actually thinks he’s some kind of next big thing in Adriatic New York.

Safe travels, neighbor. 🙂

A few more things to chew on before we hit testing in Bahrain in about ten days...


Most of them look pretty much the same, though Red Bull seems to be in a league of their own.




There's a massive gap in design philosophy here, specifically with Mercedes standing out from the pack.

I wonder which will be more shocking? If someone manages to find a full second over the rest in Bahrain Q3, or if the entire field ends up separated by just ten thousandths of a second.

Gregory Brown94 said:And who exactly am I supposed to be asking—those people claiming an Alpine could show up without sidepods? Only someone who started following F1 yesterday would think that. Seriously, if you're as smart as you claim to be, why don't you try making a technical drawing or even just a quick sketch to explain how a car without sidepods would actually work?

Just stop embarrassing yourself.
All this nonsense of yours really kicked off right after Scarbs' sketch, the one you insisted was "impossible under the regulations."
When I asked you directly which specific rule forbids it, you just started rambling and acting like a know-it-all about everything under the sun.

Looking at this latest comment, it’s pretty obvious what kind of "expert" we're dealing with here:

Gregory Brown94 said:You can clearly see how the deflectors are positioned under the floor now, but regardless, they function just like any other vane to deflect airflow and create the turbulence needed to glue the car to the track.

Gregory Brown94 said:If you guys keep messing with me, I'll just go into self-isolation like Hamilton did. Maybe find some people who actually want to discuss Grand Prix topics and such...

LOL

shadowstag10 said:Purpoise

Who’s going to settle this first? Winner takes all.

Binotto claims they understand exactly why this is happening. And more importantly? They know how to fix it.

Porpoising kicks in the moment you lower the ride height. Increase that gap from the ground, and the bouncing disappears. But there's a catch, isn't there? Raising the car kills your total downforce. You end up losing lap time because the car just isn't planted. It all comes down to finding that perfect balance.

Since Newey basically said the same thing yesterday regarding Red Bull, I’d say Binotto is telling the truth.

Jason Campbell70 said:Mercedes will likely end up adding either a wider cooling inlet—similar to what McLaren is doing—or some venturi tunnels, much like Aston Martin.

Fast forward four days:


Another thing you can spot from that top image... the sidepods.
Mercedes just doesn't have any volume there. 😁

Anthony Baker84 said:What kind of "wire mesh" is he talking about on those weirdly shaped parts?

Here are a few variations of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitot_tube

Most commonly, it's this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_probe

It's set up to measure air speed and pressure at specific points. This gives the aerodynamicists a clear picture of how the airflow behaves on or around the car.

Teams are hungry for every scrap of data they can get their hands on. They're running endless laps, clearly showing a lack of faith in CFD and wind tunnel simulations, which explains the massive amount of pitot tubes and flow vis dye being used everywhere.
The more laps, the better. Lap times don't even matter right now.

Check out these comparison shots from Twitter:
Zboka

Zguza
In this one, you can spot the most intriguing detail on the new RB18: the lower part of the beam wing acting as an extension to the upper diffuser plate.
Still, seeing all that flow vis suggests that even Red Bull Racing isn't fully trusting their CFD and wind tunnel models.

Can't wait for Bahrain.

Gregory Brown94 said:Jason Campbell70 is the perfect example of what’s wrong with this forum. I honestly don't understand how you all don't get tired of pulling a few words out of context and twisting them into something entirely different from the original point.

I'm being serious here. It's delusional behavior, and it happens year after year. Every single year, it's the same damn issue. Are you people okay? It's like this forum is your entire life; there's zero empathy or sense of community. To those who actually act like decent humans, much respect. You're the only reason I'm still hanging around here. 🙏

Kudos to Scrabs. He managed to turn the whole Formula 1 community into a live-action version of Idiocracy just with one troll tweet.🙏

And there. I feel better getting that off my chest. I don't care if I get a warning for it...

A bit of free advice—don't try to lecture people with that condescending attitude when you clearly don't know the subject. Eventually, you'll run into someone who loves to troll and actually knows more than you do, and they'll make you look ridiculous.

shadowstag10 said:Either HALO is poorly made or it's been developed down to the smallest detail with those waves.🤔

HALO is highly advanced.
The rest of the car, however, is pretty cheap. Literally. Some parts look like they were rushed through a 3D printer and slapped onto the chassis.
The logic was likely to see what the competition brings first, then adapt based on what they see.

The car looks radical in several areas, an approach that hasn't exactly paid off in recent Formula 1 history, not even for Newey.
We'll see during Q3 Bahrain.

First serious looks at the new Alpha Tauri. Such intricate details on the front floor assembly... and that nose design? It’s an interesting approach. Seems like a very polished product overall.

Looks great.

Jason Campbell70 said:It’s a shame about this color palette. Alpine plav and BWT pink just don't work together at all.
It looks terrible.

The driver suits look even worse.



Like something straight out of a cartoon.

Gregory Brown94 said:It’s just not possible under the regulations. At most, we saw how slim they could get with Williams, and that was the absolute limit. Whether you look at the rulebook or the engineering itself, it can't be done.

Jason Campbell70 said:Which specific part of the technical regulations actually limits the minimum width of the sidepods?

Gregory Brown94 said:I have no desire to go hunting through the "bible" that is the technical regulation book just to find minimum sidepod dimensions. I won't even bother.

Thanks for the answer. I have no interest in further bickering over this. 👍

Regarding Alpine, the pattern continues: every single new car looks completely different from anything they've shown us before. This season could be something special.

It’s a shame about the color scheme, though. Alpine plav and that BWT pink just don't work together at all.
It looks terrible.

wiredseal7 said:Here’s my take.
The rule states sidepods can't have wings; they need rounded elements with a minimum radius (which explains why Ferrari went with that sculpted shape). Since there's a crash structure in that area, you can't just have a sharp little wing like in this sketch; it would need to be a larger component. They could potentially design sidepods without an intake.

I doubt they'll go that route, though. If they did, all that dirty air coming off the tires would hit the rear of the car directly. Everyone else uses wider sidepods specifically to push that air away.

That sharp wing—if that's what we're calling it—is actually the side crash structure. It has its own dedicated legality box, separate from the sidepod legality box.
It wouldn't be the first time a crash structure partially protruded from the rest of the car's bodywork.

And while this concept from Scarbsov might be perfectly legal under the current regulations, it would likely be impossible to cool the entire power unit and intercooler using only a central inlet.

So, the central inlet would handle cooling for only certain components. Maybe the intercooler and the oil cooler, while the engine radiators sit inside the sidepods. That would allow the sidepods to stay slimmer.

Gregory Brown94 said:...

Are you claiming the technical regulations limit the minimum width of the car's flanks?
Just paste the specific section from the rulebook. I'm not interested in staring at colorful diagrams.

stormybadger8 said:The Mercedes-Benz looks incredibly lean...
Whether that’s actually an advantage remains to be seen.

At first glance, nothing stands out, but it feels significantly narrower than the rest of the field...

It would be interesting to see a side-by-side comparison of the Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, Williams, and Aston Martin...
They don't seem to share much in common, which is pretty strange considering they all run the same power unit...

I bet Mercedes will eventually adopt either a wider cooling inlet (like McLaren does) or some sort of louvers (like Aston Martin)...

Gregory Brown94 said:Good grief, I can't believe anyone fell for that nonsense. It's impossible under the current regulations. The narrowest sidepods we've ever seen were on the Williams, and that was the absolute limit—both by the rulebook and by engineering reality.

Which specific part of the technical regulations limits the minimum width of a car's sidepods?

fadedwalker18 said:What Scarbs is speculating regarding Alpine:

What a great time to be alive! 🙏🙏🙏

Even in my wildest dreams, I didn't expect such massive shifts in basic car concepts—and we haven't even seen half the cars yet.

On the other hand, compared to the rest of the field, the wings look terrible. Both front and rear.
Front wing endplates are roughly knee-high? I can't wait to see the rear wing once the DRS opens.

The Mercedes looks sharp, if a bit uninspired.
You can tell they played it safe, even with those clever little touches—like the winglets under the mirrors, the front floor design, or that scalloped edge along the floor.

In the past, this conservative strategy paid dividends tenfold. While everyone else was chasing "revolutionary" breakthroughs and radical shifts, Mercedes just kept stacking wins by sticking to a solid foundation and refining it relentlessly.
We'll see.

Is anyone watching the reveal of the new Ferrari?

It looks bold, striking, and pretty radical.
How fast it actually is? We'll find out soon enough.

To wrap up this beautiful day, I’ll leave you with one more thought from my own archives:

Jason Campbell70 said:Hamilton's performance today is on par with Schumacher back in 2006 at this very same track.
There’s motivation here, pure skill, and deep experience.
Let's just enjoy the ride.

Jason Campbell70 over and out.

Linda Peterson43 said:Max was "weaving" right up until the moment he hit the brakes... so...

By the way, hats off to Mercedes for their brilliant strategy—introducing yet another power unit designed to last roughly one-third of a "standard" lifespan because they cranked it to the absolute limit, only to end up sabotaging their own reliability by relying on pure, raw horsepower... truly masterstroke engineering from those geniuses...

... which is why they waved the black flag at him. 🙂