2012 Formula 1 season

Formula 1 2012 starts down under: World champions, fugly cars, and the road toAustin

RBR
Ferrari
Lotus
McLaren
Mercedes

The 2012 version of Formula 1 descends to the Land Down Under to open the championship season at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. This event transforms the city’s waterfront park into a temporary race circuit, much like the Canadians do for their Grand Prix at the Île de Notre-Dame in Montréal. The circuit provides a very good measure of how the teams have managed the 2012 technical requirements.

Melbourne is 16 time zones removed from Austin. The race will be broadcast on SpeedTV at 12:30 a.m. CT, Sunday, March 18. That’s OK with me, I’m usually up well past that hour hanging out in dive bars and honkey tonks somewhere on the planet. I will take the party “to the house” and enjoy the event with my hard core F1 friends.

If you are new to Formula 1, the first thing you'll notice is how ugly the cars became this year.

Pre-season testing indicates that Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Mercedes all have good speed and competiveness. Testing does not definitively prove too much as the test teams run many different testing regimes and “sandbag” a section of their fastest laps to obscure their true pace. But at one time or another during testing, the top five have been at the top of the lap chart.

Each of these teams has drivers that are former F1 world champions. This is unprecedented. Red Bull has the current champion, German driver Sebastian Vettel who is the youngest back-to-back champion driver in history; McLaren has two champs, both from Britain, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton; Ferrari has Spaniard Fernando Alonso, Lotus has the Finn Kimi Räikkönen, and Mercedes has seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, a German. The field also includes many drivers who have been very close to the championship in years past, as well as some very promising young drivers.

If you are new to Formula 1, the first thing you'll notice is how ugly the cars became this year. The new technical requirements for 2012 have resulted in some weird car designs. Fugly is evident in every 2012 team (except McLaren) whether they are at the sharp end of the grid or the minnows bringing up the back row. Anyone who has seen pics of the new cars must say to themselves, “WTF.” The car’s ugliness stems from the new 2012 rules. The nose of the cars must be below the cockpit protective structures (survival cell) that safeguard the drivers. Simply put, the noses must be much lower than they were in previous years.

The precise technical details indicate that the height of the survival cell in front of the driver is 625mm above the reference plane, and the nose height must now be no more than550mm above the reference plane. The intent was to ensure that the nose is lower than the cockpit sides in order to protect the driver's head in the event of a 'T-bone' accident.

Some teams complained that lowering the car forward of the cockpit would force them into a radical aerodynamic redesign. As a result, it was agreed that the 550mm height would only apply from a point 1950mm in front of the rear edge of the cockpit template.

McLaren is the only car that does not have this “duck” nose. The team apparently has a different aero concept than the others.

If you look at the pics, you can see the big dip in the nose section ahead of the driver. The aerodynamicists that design the chassis prefer to have the front of the car well above the floor of the monocoque (the shell of the car body). The intent is to allow the air to pass under the floor with little obstruction from the front structures. The bottom and rear of the car is designed to use the flow of air underneath to produce downforce via the Bernoulli principle.

McLaren is the only car that does not have this “duck” nose. The team apparently has a different aero concept than the others. The approach to the floor is lower and achieves the required nose height without the step seen in all other entries. Only the racing will determine whether they have got it right or have made a huge mistake in their design.

The new technical rules also changed the way the aerodynamics are applied at the back of the car. Last season many teams, especially 2011 Champion Red Bull, used the concept of “exhaust blown diffusers.” The diffusers are the structures at the rear of the car’s floor that channel the air flow beneath the car to the rear aerodynamic structures. This flow was augmented by a precise placement of the exhaust pipes. The exhaust shaped and accelerated the airflow and improved downforce at the rear of the car.

The 2012 rules have mandated placement of the exhaust exits. As a result, the teams are experimenting with small aero structures to redirect some exhaust flow to preferred areas regardless of the exhaust pipe placement. The legality of these structures will be questioned during technical scrutineering before practice in Melbourne.

Another factor to consider is that tire manufacturer Pirelli has changed their compounds and have produced a tire that is different from those used last year. The engine and chassis are very important components of a fast race car, but only the tires make contact with the tarmac. The new compounds will provide an interesting wildcard in that the teams do not have a good understanding of how the tires will perform. The rate of tire degradation over the course of the race on varying fuel loads is not fully understood.

The driver lineups and the good overall pace of the top teams promises to provide a very exciting 20 race season. The new rules have created an environment where designers must be very clever in order to stay competitive. All in all I expect it to be a great year, and I am really looking forward to seeing them back on track after the long winter break.

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High Score

Austin named the nation's pickleball capital in industry report

Photo by Henry Selis Photo

Other Racquet Social Club is back after city woes.

It's no secret that Austinites love pickleball. A new study proves just how much by ranking Austin the No. 1 city for pickleball in the whole country. Dallas and Houston also made the top 10 at Nos. 3 and 8, respectively.

The report was published by TeachMe.To, an online marketplace for learning sports (and sometimes music) from private instructors. It used data from its own platform, USA Pickleball, Places2Play, local pickleball associations, and more. It also referred to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), which named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America, with a growth rate of 223.5 percent over three years.

Similarly, TeachMe.To ranked Austin as the fastest-growing city for pickleball, and citing this as the main reason for the overall title of "the nation's pickleball capital."

It name-checked the Austin Metro Pickleball Association (AMPA) — with approximately 3,000-3,500 members — and the Austin Pickleball League (APL), estimating that overall, "15,000-20,000 people play pickleball at least occasionally in the greater Austin area." About half of those players — about 8,000-10,000 people — play at least twice a month.

The report did not include gender data on Austin, specifically, but it did note that not only are two-thirds of pickleball players female; women's involvement in the sport is also growing 50 percent faster than men's.

New courts everywhere
This probably isn't a surprise to people who have noticed the number of courts opened around Austin in recent years. By 2024, TeachMe.To's data shows 32 dedicated courts in Austin, and thanks to with a utility rate of 92 percent it doesn't look like that'll be slowing down.

In the summer of 2023, the online booking platform Swimply noticed how many pickleball courts there were in Austin compared to such great demand, and added courts to its service. In fall 2023 and summer 2024, at least two important developments expanded that availability: Other Racquet Social Club opened as a friendly, country club-like neighborhood option, and national chain The Picklr announced it's bringing five locations to Austin and Round Rock.

Perhaps because Austin is such a food-obsessed city, there seems to be some growing opportunity for food and beverage hospitality around pickleball, too. Other Racquet recently started hosting the Bill's Dips food truck, a spinoff of the popular downtown restaurant Bill's Oyster; and a pair of bars with pickleball courts, Drifters Social Coffee & Cocktails and The Pickle Pub, also opened in South Austin this year, with strong online ratings already.

The trend has even reached into real estate (see this cute house with its own pickleball court) and inspired athletes to introduce similar sports to the local market, as in the case of the padel club Paddle39. TeachMe.To's report also mentioned tech companies adding pickleball to their campuses.

Aside from growth, the study also considered lesson activity (including information about teacher availability and diversity of clinic offerings), infrastructure, community vitality, the tournament scene.

Austin had the highest concentration of all the cities of players under 40 (65 percent), as well as the highest share of national lesson bookings. At 16.90 percent, that means about one in six of the pickleball lessons contracted through this platform were in Austin. Lesson demand, the report says, is growing 125 percent year-over-year.

Elsewhere in Texas
Dallas was No. 3 thanks in part to its "central location" according to the report.

"The city's 45 dedicated courts and 85 [percent] public accessibility rate have fostered one of the most active competitive scenes in the country, with 8,500 registered league players," it says. "The combination of strong tournament presence, extensive infrastructure, and a 112% growth in lesson bookings solidifies Dallas as a powerhouse in the national pickleball landscape."

Houston made No. 8 with an emphasis on integrating pickleball with other sports.

"The city's 22 dedicated courts have seen a 92% increase in lesson bookings, driven by innovative programming that includes the nation's first corporate league system," it says. "Houston's success in integrating pickleball into existing sports infrastructure while maintaining 72% year-round utilization demonstrates a sustainable model for rapid growth."

Overall predictions
After laying out data about the top cities in pickleball, the report made some predictions. As the Austin newcomer mentioned above believes, the report also thinks padel is the next big thing. It also guesses more cities will act like Houston by focusing on hybrid facilities.

It also expects to see an expanded professional circuit and mainstream coverage, more technology used on the court, a rise in the prevalence of young players, and more opportunities in corporate wellness and real estate. "Dedicated pickleball facilities will become as common as swimming pools in luxury developments," it says. Texans will be the judge of that one.

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