Intersting that they haven't changed the regulations to increase the total weight of the car to accommodate the heavy lump of metal that they are putting on top of it.
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Intersting that they haven't changed the regulations to increase the total weight of the car to accommodate the heavy lump of metal that they are putting on top of it.
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They have, by 6kgs from last year to this. It doesn't cover the total weight gain from both the Halo, the fixings and the additional reinforcement to the chassis, though.
Geoff - Plenty of negative chat about the device on just about every F1 related forum, I just found the info quite useful and I certainly learned a thing or two. If we can't change them then we might as well educate ourselves instead I've said myself that I'm bored of talking about the aesthetics, the technical side is something a little different.
The big hitters have revealed their 2018 challengers today:
Ferrari: https://www.pitpass.com/gallery/2019...unch---ferrari
Mercedes: https://www.pitpass.com/gallery/2018...nch---mercedes
All of the cars revealed so far have dramatically sculpted sidepods and noticeably smaller air intakes for the radiators and intercoolers. The undercut sidepods allow more air to attach to the sides of the car and exit above the diffuser, which makes the diffuser more effective. Most designs have followed Mercedes' lead of last year and slimmed down the nose as far as possible, and there are some aggressive turning vanes alongside the cockpits to divert the air around the sides of the cars and over the floors. I'm looking forward to Giorgio Piola's interpretations and comparisons of the cars at next week's first pre-season Test.
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
If anybody wishes to immerse themselves further in the minutiae of the rule changes for the forthcoming season, may I direct you to the excellent Craig Scarborough's Drive Tribe feed:
https://drivetribe.com/p/f1-2018-tec...SFadrdLzZQgemw
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
Ferrari looks good. Very mean front on. They and Sauber (no surprise) seem to be the only two with Halo fairing additions.
Halo in action on the new Merc. From that footage it looks like you have a roof lol At the start of the clip the guy at the front is obscured from the chest up.
If I was a driver, that view, via the centre support, would really annoy me. It's bad enough getting flies on the windscreen in summer.
https://youtu.be/qkywAaPv4rY
An interesting video on why LH might be so hated.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
New Mclaren looks a bit underwhelming to me. Seems to be missing a lot of the trick detailing other cars have plus the paucity of major sponsor logo. In two minds as to the Papaya colour though I'd prefer the halo to be that colour too. Probably doesn't matter either way as long it goes fast and long.
I watched a review of the Ferrari where the guy was expecting other teams to have a look at the wing mirror detailing. But I can't see that many can do taht as that is one of the sponsorship selling locations.
I wouldn't read too much into how the cars are presented at their respective launches, basic shapes and themes will be present however the detail will change between launch, during the first test sessions and thereafter. Glad to see that they've finally been Tango'd after a number of years of will they, won't they?
BP - thanks for those links, will have a read when I'm not so tir... Zzzz
Hopefully it's fast enough to give Alonso a chance .
That t-roof looks worse than the seventies version car enthusiasts were so happy to see go.
Never mind the safety argument, to me it is effectively the end of F1 as open car races.
I have to agree; I don’t understand why they decided to implement the use of halo either. In my memory there have only been two incidents since Senna’s death; Bianchi and Massa. Mass’s was a complete freak accident and Bianchi’s death was total incompetence by the marshals in bringing a huge piece of industrial machinery out onto the trackside of the barriers!
Thank goodness that the H&S that is OTT in F1 is not coming to the Isle of Man TT anytime soon.
F1 was a great sport but now so boring it is no wonder the number of people watching at circuits and on TV is falling.
We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out re the Halo. It could save lives yep, but in certain circumstances could also cost them. I guess the FIA felt they had to do something to improve safety, whether this device is a good idea is yet to be proven in battle. Accidents typically don't behave according to what you might plan for!
There's been a few close shaves that could have easily have been fatal due to head injuries though. Alonso in Spa (2012?) when a car went over the top of him, Chilton at Silverstone 3 or 4 years back when a tyre narrowly missed his head and Alonso again in Austria 2016? when Kimi ended on top of him.
There's also been fatalities in other categories that would have been prevented by the halo. The risk is clearly there in F1 too.
I wish there was a solution that looked better but I can see why the FIA have brought it in.
The McLaren has some interesting details in the floor. The here are 3 slots at the back near the diffuser and 2 full length slots running down each side of the floor. None of the other cars have these. Gary Anderson has a good analysis of the car https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/w...-gems-1008120/. I’m not sure if this article is visible to non-subscribers.
Well, I dó understánd why as the big business it has become needs to be politically correct. It just is no longer open car racing anymore: Neither op nor primairily about racing. Imo F1 has become its own thing; an entertainment circus with racing heritage as base for a merchandising machine.
Bottom line being that stock value dictates the halo.
Well, they would largely agree that they are also energy managers, extensions of the sponsors´marketing department and have to tread cafeully in order not to step on F1
´racing´ rules.
Even while mincing their words they have vented frustration about them not being able to just ráce the bl@@dy cars or eachother.
Not sure testing is for wheel-nuts on flat out corners! :-0Originally Posted by BBC
http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/43195738
Kind of sour for Alonso; the Honda clocking 50 laps before lunch while the wheels fall off his McLaren.
Not all gloom about the grid girls and the halo btw; véry much faster the cars. They are knocking seconds off of Lewis´s record and that on a chilly first morning.
Day 1 of Testing must seem like déjà vu all over again for McLaren, although they don't have Honda to blame, so they've had to create their own reliability issues, while the Honda in the back of the Toro Rosso pounds around clocking up the laps - McLaren managed 29 laps on Day 1 of pre-season testing last year, but Brendon Hartley had clocked up 70+ laps before lunch today.
The story so far:
https://www.pitpass.com/61103/Riccia...ing-of-testing
Apparently the temperature has dropped, so there's not much point in running at the moment, and the forecast for the rest of the week is a bit chilly.
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
Wow!!
The Honda engines did 96 laps.
Renault did even better; 100 laps with Red Bull and 99 themselves.
What a difference with last year. That at least gives the thus propelled cars a chance to get the car sorted for the season.
As is the case for most of Europe, it's cold at Barcelona, so there's not much happening. An hour and a half into the morning session, and the only timed lap has just come from Carlos Sainz, in conditions more suited to the skill set of his father, of 1m34s, 14 seconds slower that Daniel Ricciardo's best time of yesterday.
On intermediate tyres.
It looks as though today will be aero runs and reliability testing. The rest of the week doesn't look much better weather-wise, although it's going to be warmer (or less cold) next week. The case for having pre-season testing at Abu Dhabi or Bahrain is gaining momentum.
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
F1.TV. That is going to piss Sky off !
It won’t be in the UK:
Bratches also said F1 had settled on the countries that would get access to F1's new OTT streaming service that was being made available.
"We are going to launch in USA, Latam, other than Brazil, Germany, France and a number of other countries," he said.
Nor is Spain. Pay tv only.
Worse still the same chain has exclusive rights on MotoGp too.
Good for my physical shape though; sparing myself any bother of alternatives, have upgraded membership to the cycling federation and became member of the local cycling club, entering races this year. Yeah!!! Beats sitting on the couch with a drink in front of the telly any day. Thanks pay tv!!
Well I have sent off an email expressing interest in F1.TV PRO. Let’s see what sort of response I get.
Meanwhile, on Day 3 of the first pre-season test at Barcelona, it's been snowing.
The session has been red-flagged, not that anybody was likely to venture out anyway, the official reason being that the medical helicopter is unable to take off due to the weather.
Tomorrow looks a little better, weather-wise. I expect that the teams and the FIA will be having discussions about venues for pre-season testing.
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
You may have already seen this, but Bahrain throwing their hat into the ring...
https://twitter.com/BAH_Int_Circuit/...74943867539456
Honestly, I get why Barcelona makes sense from a circuit POV for testing aero and performance. But this is doing no one any favours when testing is so restricted - Bahrain makes sense.
The comparison to the TT is an interesting one. It's the only motorbike event that I'm even vaguely interested in and I guess that is due to the amazing sense of speed and the bravery of the riders.
I do feel a bit guilty watching it though because I know each year a few riders will inevitably die because the danger levels are so ridiculously high.
And let's be honest these deaths are glossed over, if the true horror of these incidents were more visible (like it would be in F1) a lot more people would question is it worth it.
There's no real way the TT "track" or the bikes could be made significantly safer though so it really is down to the individual riders whether they accept the huge risks.
I don't see it thay way with F1 though. It's a totally different environment with much more scope to improve the safety of the cars. The halo doesn't change the racing in any way and the cars will be faster than ever this year. So if there was a way to make the TT bikes safer without slowing them down wouldn't that be a good thing?
Certainly if safety hadn't been continuously improved since the mid 90s we'd have lost a few more F1 divers over the last 20 years. I've witnessed a fatal head injury suffered in a classic F1 car and it's something I have no desire to see again.
Last edited by watchcollector1; 28th February 2018 at 11:51.
We don’t really know if this is the case or not yet. We will only really know once the season gets underway.
Carlos Sainz has already said that it’s very different driving in fine rain because the halo is stopping the rain from going on the visor. He said he only knew there was fine rain coming down because the car started behaving differently.
Meanwhile, there's still nothing happening in Barcelona.
Although Pirelli have unveiled an additional tyre:
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
At least Pirelli have managed to keep their sense of humour.
I’m really looking forwards to this season and now the Halo is on I don’t think it looks so bad.
The red bull looks to be very well packaged at the rear end. I’m hoping they are in the mix this year.
Has anybody seen news on the TR Honda top speed? The reliability looks super promising but if they’re down 20kph on the straights it’ll be another hard year for them.
I competed in the IoM TT and lost my wife in a racing accident so I am rather aware of the risks in racing and réally appreciate the incredible advances made in F1. Not a bad word about that from me.
That does not change the fact that the nature of F1 has fundamentally changed: It used to be the summit of fast racing. It now is an entertainment industry making money for the share holders. The weight of the politically correct, of the public opinion outweighs all nowadays, not the racing aspects of motor sports.
Last edited by Huertecilla; 28th February 2018 at 18:48.
An analysis of a somewhat inconclusive first pre-season test from Mark Hughes:
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/o...l&utm_content=
The weather forecast for next week's second test (Tuesday - Friday) is better, as in "less cold".
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
Doesn’t make good reading for Mclaren especially now they have direct comparisons with other other Renault engine teams.
LH 0.3 sec faster than SV, whilst being on a harder tyre.
Not sure how conclusive Barcelona is, however what it tells me is that the Mercedes is bloody quick and so is LH.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche