Topic: 2018 Formula 1 Thread

[paulrazor]

i hope i can find a good link to the times like last year, it made it somewhat interesting

though if i see the mercs not on top i will strongly suspect a sandbag job

usually they take the leash off near the end of testing.

[Upinsmoke]

do they?

[paulrazor]

Good spot

[gazzalfc]

Toto Wolff wants to take a chainsaw to the Halo. Says it makes the car look ugly, adds weight and alters the cars centre of gravity.

Hamilton wants to sign a new contract before the start of the season.

[TepidT2O]

The Sauber had a halo like the Ferrari too

[TepidT2O]

Video from Merc here

https://twitter.com/mercedesamgf1/status/966757806857703425

The view with Halo is awful..

[davidlpool1982]

They're going to have to put another set of lights further down the track, no way the cars at the front of the grid will be able to see the lights dude to the halo. I'm also a little intrigued to see how it looks in Wet conditions, can imagine the water rolling off it to be annoying

[Upinsmoke]

Quite a drastic change to the side pods

[Upinsmoke]

[Qston]

They're going to have to put another set of lights further down the track, no way the cars at the front of the grid will be able to see the lights dude to the halo. I'm also a little intrigued to see how it looks in Wet conditions, can imagine the water rolling off it to be annoying

Good point re: wet weather conditions. We will probably hear a lot about it during the course of the season as teams, and the drivers in particular, get to grips with it actually in race conditions. I still can`t get my head around how it doesn`t apparently affect the drivers sight lines - I appreciate that you can trick the eye etc but nevertheless it is a pretty big piece right in front of you.

Not sure I really like the McLaren.....will have to have a couple of looks. Still no sauber though ! (although I doubt many teams will be looking at the back of it save for passing)

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

That’s actually pretty good

[Upinsmoke]

That’s actually pretty good

I don't like the orange and blue combo and lack of sponsor just makes it bland on the whole for me.

Some interesting bits on he car here https://twitter.com/tgruener/status/966950184289820672?ref_src=twcamp%5Ecopy%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Ecopy%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E1

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

I don't like the orange and blue combo and lack of sponsor just makes it bland on the whole for me.

Some interesting bits on he car here https://twitter.com/tgruener/status/966950184289820672?ref_src=twcamp%5Ecopy%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Ecopy%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E1

The blue is OK and in small enough areas. Correct orange this time round.

That amount of detail this early on gives me hope.

[Beav]

Papaya is back babyyy.

Cars look decent this year, as long as you ignore the fucking hideous halo which still looks like an afterthought piece of scaffolding even after its been incorporated into the design. The shots on track look awful now, you can barely see the drivers helmet in most shots.

Ferrari going nearly all red is nice, wish theyd have gone retro with a red/black style but its still decent, Merc looks pretty identical, all the big teams will keep the main bits of aero tech behind until the last minute anyway, but the cars do look mighty slim around the engines which is cool.

[clinical]

Video from Merc here

https://twitter.com/mercedesamgf1/status/966757806857703425

The view with Halo is awful..

Wow how does that not bother the drivers, it's absolutely awful.

[bradders1011]

The lack of sponsors on so many of these cars is worrying. Where is the money coming from?

[voodoo ray]

That McLaren doesn't look bad as such, but fucking hell do they need a 'large' sponsor.

They should have sprayed 'McLaren' down the sides or something to stop it looking so boring and unfunded.

[CornerFlag]

I dont think I've seen a car that I like bar the Sauber.  Only so many things you can do with a Ferrari and the others are just 'eh...'

McLaren is horrendous for me.  Last couple of years as a backmarker and now it looks like one too.

[paulrazor]

The toro Rosso looks good albeit the same paint job as last year

Can imagine the unveiling
"May we unveil, the toro rosso honda*"
*fireworks*
"Wow what a spectacular firework display"
"Strange,, that wasnt supposed to happen!"
"Wait what,,,,?"
"I'll be back in a tick.........yep thought so. We only pushed it out, we thought that would be ok only the Honda has detonated."
"Soooooo all set for Australia"
"No"

[IgorBobbins]

I quite like the McClaren - the colour reminds me of a scalextric car I used to have when I was younger.

But surely a company of their size can find a sponsor to slap across the side of the car? Even if it's some sh*te like Sportspesa or Angry Birds 

[RedSince86]

I hear Boullier mention this morning on Sky that the engine will be over 950bhp.

[El Lobo]

That McLaren is horrible, sank a long way since the way the cars looked when Hakkinen and then Hamilton were winning them titles. I guess it would look a bit similar to the Mercedes, but that orange is horrible. Looks like an Arrows or Minardi sort of colour scheme.

[bradders1011]

That McLaren is horrible, sank a long way since the way the cars looked when Hakkinen and then Hamilton were winning them titles. I guess it would look a bit similar to the Mercedes, but that orange is horrible. Looks like an Arrows or Minardi sort of colour scheme.

Bit of a slight on Arrows - their Orange scheme was fantastic. In fact I'd go as far to say that Arrows had the best collection of liveries of all: the cream USF&G, Orange, Zepter/Danka blue, Warsteiner gold. Even the Footwook schemes were interesting.

[El Lobo]

Nah not a fan, prefer my F1 cars to be either red, silver or like a can of Red Bull on wheels.

[voodoo ray]

The orange arrows were decent looking cars.

[CraigDS]

I like the orange, just not a fan of it with the blue. Also looks weird without a sponsor, as someone said above they should have put their own branding on it for now.

[Endoe]

I hear Boullier mention this morning on Sky that the engine will be over 950bhp.

And the Hondas output?

[CornerFlag]

And the Hondas output?

They were saying at the end of last season they were close to matching Renault's output so it wouldn't surprise me if they were in the 930s.  The power became less of an issue in the end, Alonso was getting pretty high up the grid by the end of the season, it was the reliability.

[jillcwhomever]

The lack of sponsors on so many of these cars is worrying. Where is the money coming from?

McLaren are struggling like a lot of teams at the moment. The sad fact is companies want to be associated with success, and until they get back up to the other end and start winning again, they will continue to struggle and attract big sponsors like they used too.

[voodoo ray]

I think (from a largely uneducated position) that there must be some laziness in not getting sponsors. After all go back and look at fucking Minardi when they existed, they'd get about 4 minutes exposure on telly during a gp weekend but were absolutely plastered in sponsors some years.

[SP]

I think (from a largely uneducated position) that there must be some laziness in not getting sponsors. After all go back and look at fucking Minardi when they existed, they'd get about 4 minutes exposure on telly during a gp weekend but were absolutely plastered in sponsors some years.

They are holding out for a decent price. Cheap sponsors are easy to find. One’s that offer competitive money much harder. They will not commit early unless they feel they are getting maximum value for that space.

[zero zero]

As mentioned above, Papaya Orange is both historic and Corporate colour for McLaren.



Probably just a testing livery till they nail down/finalise a main sponsor.

[voodoo ray]

laziness was the wrong word. I meant stubbornness.

[Graeme]

Testing starts today

Times from the first day of a testing from last 2017 for comparison...

Final times and laps completed

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:21.765* (73 laps)
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:21.878 (128)
3 Felipe Massa (Brz) Williams 1:22.076*  (103)
4 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas 1:22.894* (51)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:22.926* (50)
6 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:23.169* (79)
7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:23.709* (39)
8 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Toro Rosso 1:24.494 (51)
9 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:24.784 (57)
10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:24.852* (29)
11 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber 1:26.841 (72)

* time set on soft tyres; all others set on medium tyres

[voodoo ray]

ted's favourite day

[Qston]

here we go chaps. Season starts (sort of) proper. Thanks for last years Day 1 testing times Graeme. Will be interesting to see the comparisons. As usual we will probably not find out a great deal other than perhaps McLaren moving right up the table posting times that are not miles behind. Anyway, it is good to see some cars back out on a track

[Qston]

and McLaren have got an installation lap completed....is that progress on last year already ?! 

[clinical]

and McLaren have got an installation lap completed....is that progress on last year already ?! 

Yes


Redbull gone back to usual livery. Shame.

A few other teams got the halo wing like the Ferrari. I wonder if we still redbull and Mercedes copy that soon. Something very easy to copy if there's any benefit.



Mclaren have crashed already 

[Funky_Gibbons]

and McLaren have got an installation lap completed....is that progress on last year already ?! 

Meh - Alonso in the gravel, red flag. 

[gazzalfc]

*Hello Darkness my old friend*