Topic: 2018 Formula 1 Thread

[gazzalfc]

F1 2018 Calendar

March 25: Australian GP, Melbourne

April 8:   Bahrain GP,   Sakhir

April 15:   Chinese GP,   Shanghai

April 29:   Azerbaijan GP,   Baku

May 13:   Spanish GP,   Barcelona

May 27:   Monaco GP,   Monaco

June 10:   Canadian GP,   Montreal

June 24:   French GP,   Le Castellet

July 1:   Austrian GP,   Spielberg

July 8:   British GP,   Silverstone

July 22:   German GP,   Hockenheim

July 29:   Hungarian GP,   Budapest

August 26:   Belgian GP,   Spa-Francorchamps

September 2:   Italian GP,   Monza

September 16:   Singapore GP,   Marina Bay

September 30:   Russian GP,   Sochi

October 7:   Japanese GP,   Suzuka

October 21:   United States GP,   Austin

October 28:   Mexican GP,   Mexico City

November 11:   Brazilian GP,   Sao Paulo

November 25:   Abu Dhabi GP,   Yas Marina

F1 Driver line up

Mercedes:   Lewis Hamilton + Valtteri Bottas

Ferrari:   Sebastian Vettel + Kimi Raikkonen

Red Bull:   Daniel Ricciardo + Max Verstappen

Force India:   Sergio Perez + Esteban Ocon

Williams:   Lance Stroll + Sergey Sirotkin

Renault:   Nico Hulkenberg + Carlos Sainz

Toro Rosso:   Pierre Gasly + Brendan Hartley

Haas:   Romain Grosjean + Kevin Magnussen

McLaren:   Fernando Alonso + Stoffel Vandoorne

Sauber:   Marcus Ericsson + Charles Leclerc

Engine Supplier

Mercedes - Mercedes

Ferrari - Ferrari

Red Bull - Renault

Force India - Mercedes

Williams - Mercedes

Renault - Renault

Toro Rosso - Honda

Haas - Ferrari

McLaren - Renault

Sauber - Ferrari

[gazzalfc]

F1 2018 Regulations


Power units

Only allowed 3 power units (compared to 4 last season)

Now, any driver who earns a grid penalty of 15 places or more will have to start from the back of the grid. If more than one driver receives such a penalty they will be arranged at the back of the grid in the order in which they changed elements. No more 120+ grid penalty

New Tyre compounds


There will now be 7 tyre compounds ranging from Superhard to Hypersoft



As per 2017 teams must use at least 2 compounds during a 'dry' race

Jump starts

Penalties can now be issued in the event of a jump start even if it is not detected by the reaction times

Pre-season testing

Number of days reduced to seven, while the mid-season test held in Bahrain in 2017 will be moved to Barcelona.

Oil Burning

The practice of using oil to boost performance will be limited.

Driver cockpit saftey

All cars in the 2018 season must have a halo safety guard fitted. This must be made part of the cars Chassis and must not just be 'clipped' on.
All drivers must now also wear biometric sensors in their gloves to aid medics

[CraigDS]

Kyvat named as Ferrari's development driver.

[gazzalfc]

Other gossip includes Lewis Hamilton closing all his social media accounts following his stupid comments made over Christmas

Also it doesn't look like there will be a fairytale ending for Kubica in his bid to return to F1. Looks like he failed to impress at Williams. Word it that it wasn't anything to do with fitness or his hand. He struggled to adjust to qualifying pace and the pirelli tyres in the 2017 car. It appears that GP2 and F2 driver Sergey Sirotkin is now leading the race for the seat alongside Lance Stroll. Williams are expecting to announce their driver line up by the end of the month

Should also be noted that Sergey Sirotkin has some serious Russian backing that Kubica doesn't have

[CraigDS]

So Williams not going with an over 25 year old to please Martini?

[gazzalfc]

So Williams not going with an over 25 year old to please Martini?

I think the extra Ł13m russian sponsor package might have something to do with that

[Mr Mingebag Squid]

When are the new cars due to be unveiled? Any new aero regs to look out for?

[TepidT2O]

When are the new cars due to be unveiled? Any new aero regs to look out for?

No more shark fins, no more TV aerials...

[SP]

I think Toro Rosso's first engine related grid penalty will be in Spain.

[TepidT2O]

I think Toro Rosso's first engine related grid penalty will be in Spain.

In preseason testing?

[Graeme]

If Williams have got Paddy Lowe, 2 drivers with huge financial backing and a Mercedes engine then there can be absolutely no excuses not to deliver a competitive car.

[CornerFlag]

Toro Rosso to be dead last this year.  Sauber have the 2018 engine, don't they?

[gazzalfc]

Toro Rosso to be dead last this year.  Sauber have the 2018 engine, don't they?

Yes. That is another new rule brought in for 2018. All engine providers must provide the same spec engine that is used by the named constructor

[IgorBobbins]

No more shark fins, no more TV aerials...

I heard some teams wanted to keep the shark fins to increase/maintain advertising space on the car

[TepidT2O]

I heard some teams wanted to keep the shark fins to increase/maintain advertising space on the car

I think this explains it..

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2018/1/Explained__The_2018_rule_changes_that_will_reshape_F1_cars.html

[Tumbleweed]

Hilarious that Red Bull are still with Renault.

[IgorBobbins]

I think this explains it..

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2018/1/Explained__The_2018_rule_changes_that_will_reshape_F1_cars.html

Thanks. Forgot about the halo - I’m all for safety, but I just don’t like it. I guess it’s something to get used to.

[bradders1011]

I'm sure many of you have seen that Dan Gurney passed yesterday.

Rest in peace - an absolute giant of the sport.

[50 Pence]

The worst kept secret confirmed.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42700482

Sirotkin named as Williams driver

[RedSince86]

The worst kept secret confirmed.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42700482

Sirotkin named as Williams driver

As a Williams fan since the early 90's it really sucks seeing how far they have fallen.

One seat funded by a rich guy who wants to see his son in F1  and now some oligarch's company funding another.

I'm shocked Martini are still their major sponsor,but i'm sure that will change as soon as Porsche are in F1.

[gazzalfc]

The lack of real F1 racing experience in that Williams car is really going to hold them back. Especially this season with a much more level playing field in the middle of the grid experience is going to make all the difference.

The only thing I can think of is that Kubica does the practice 1+2 and helps set the car for the main drivers with the option to drive for them if Stroll or Sirotkin fails to perform

Kubica has come out many times and said that he only wants to walk back into the F1 paddock if he an F1 driver again.

[paulrazor]

hello my fellow f1 fans

good to see this thread up and running

looking forward to pre season testing already

to kill the boredom i was working on a 1991 season review.

its long but it will keep us going

anyone interested?

[CornerFlag]

Good write-up by Andrew Benson.  Going to lose its appeal for a lot of viewers once the switch to pay-TV is complete next year.

F1 & TV rights - what does the future hold?

Formula 1 will all but disappear on free-to-air television in Italy this year. If you don't live there and think that does not impact you, think again. It could be a vision of the sport's future in many more countries than that.

It is, for example, similar to the situation the UK will face from 2019.

Italy is important as a general marker of the way things are going under Formula 1's new owners because it is the second biggest TV market in Europe.

It is also the home of F1's most famous participant, Ferrari, which is effectively an Italian national team.

National public broadcaster Rai has carried F1 since 1953. Not so long ago, it showed the whole season live. But the number of live races had reduced in recent years. It showed nine last year, about the same number as on free-to-air TV in the UK since 2012 under the split contract between Sky and first the BBC and now Channel 4.

Rai was not mentioned in F1's announcement of its new three-year deal in Italy on Thursday. Four races will be shown live on Sky Italia's free-to-air channel TV8, which does not attract anything like the same audience as Rai. The other 17 will be behind a pay wall on Sky.

Italian sources say they believe the Monza race will end up being shown on that channel, but this is unconfirmed.

Why did Rai lose the rights? The word leaking out of F1 is that Rai did not come up with a satisfactory financial proposal.

Sources close to Rai dispute this, saying that F1 never appeared interested in doing a deal, there were no negotiations worth the name, and no figure was ever put on the table. F1 does not deny this, merely says it does not comment on commercial talks.

Leading teams contacted by BBC Sport refused to comment on the deal, but it does not take a great leap of faith to understand Ferrari, particularly, will not be especially happy. The same would go for other teams to whom the widest possible exposure is an important part of the reason for their participation in F1 - especially Mercedes and Red Bull.

Is this part of a general trend?

The wider question is whether this signifies an acceleration of the move away from free-to-air television in F1.

In the UK, that question has already been answered. Under a deal struck by F1's former boss Bernie Ecclestone before he was ousted by Liberty, Sky will take on exclusive rights to F1 from 2019.

There is a stipulation in the deal that the British Grand Prix is shown live on free-to-air, as well as highlights of all other races and qualifying sessions. But so far any stipulations that contract contains as to which channel it will be on, and whether it has significant reach, have not been made public. F1 has so far not responded to BBC Sport's questions on the matter.

Elsewhere, the picture varies, within narrow parameters.

There were fears towards the end of last year that F1 would also disappear from national free-to-air TV in Germany, the biggest market in Europe.

But despite an offer from Sky described as "eye-watering", and interest from Amazon, in the end a new three-year deal was struck with national broadcaster RTL to broadcast all races live. Sky's pay coverage is ending, but is being replaced by a streaming service from F1 itself.

In France, F1 will be back on free TV to a limited degree in 2018 for the first time in six years - four races will be broadcast live on the nation's biggest channel TF1, in addition to subscription-only Canal Plus. But in Spain there is no free-to-air coverage, despite Fernando Alonso's status as a national hero, and a new deal has been struck with pay channel Movistar.

In the USA, network broadcaster NBC decided not to carry on with F1 after the end of its contract last year because it did not want to "enter into a new agreement in which the rights holder itself competes with us" - a reference to F1's plans for its own streaming service there, too.

From this year, F1 will largely be on cable channel ESPN, with only the US and Mexican Grands Prix broadcast live on network on ABC.

The risk of plummeting audiences

F1 says it is pursuing a mix of free-to-air, pay TV and OTT (internet streaming), and that the specific solution will be different in each country. But in being tempted by pay TV to boost income, it is no different from many other sports.

There are, though, unanswered questions as to the effect of that on the health and sustainability of F1.

Going pay TV increases revenues, which filter through to the teams. But reduced audiences make it harder for teams to attract sponsorship. Is the one enough to offset the other?

Equally, smaller audiences make the sport less attractive for big companies - reducing the benefit the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and, to a lesser extent, McLaren see from competing in F1. Could this threaten their participation in the sport?

F1's new bosses have talked about growing the sport. But by this do they mean its revenues or its audiences? They say both. But are they mutually incompatible?

To take the UK as an example, the average audience in the last year of the BBC coverage in 2015 was 3.1m. Channel 4's was 1.9m last year. Sky's in 2017 was 652,000.

When F1 goes Sky-exclusive in 2019, it will get a huge boost in income - the deal is said to be worth upwards of Ł200m a year. But the UK TV audience is likely to have dropped by about 80% in four years.

That is likely to have a significant effect on its appeal and stature as a major sport. And as the UK is home to the majority of the teams and is one of the most successful countries in terms of wins and world championships, it could seriously impact its ability to attract the next generation of drivers, engineers and so on.

If this drop was extended worldwide, F1 would no longer be able to legitimately claim that it was the world's most-watched annual sport, and behind in global terms only the Olympics and the Fifa World Cup.

F1 plans to mitigate the same free-to-air audience fall with its OTT offering. This is where sport's governing bodies offer subscribers direct access to live coverage broadcast over the internet via a website or an app on both mobile devices and smart TVs.

The philosophy is that ardent fans will pay the cash for the extensive coverage and that short clips on social media outlets might persuade more causal viewers to try the sport out, and then be subsequently hooked.

OTT has had significant success in the US with NFL football, Major League baseball and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But it is in its infancy in Europe, which is F1's heartland, and the success of that approach remains to be seen, the growth of streaming notwithstanding.

In any case, OTT is not possible under the terms of the Sky deal in the UK, which runs until 2024.

Are things changing on TV for this year?

US group Liberty Media bought F1 last January and spent a year finding their feet. In 2018, the new owners have their first chance to begin to show the direction the sport is heading in the future. Or to quote one senior figure: "This is the year we get to see whether what they're doing works."

In TV terms, a number of changes are being contemplated. These were presented to broadcasters as unconfirmed plans at a meeting this week.

Among the ideas were:

• making the start time of European races an hour later in the hope of attracting a bigger audience - so a typical start would be 2pm in the UK, rather than 1pm
• races to start at 10-past the hour rather than on it
• Bahrain to become a full night race rather than start at twilight
• improved engine sound from repositioned on-board microphones
• make the cars look faster with different camera angles and static cameras
• playing a soundtrack of music at occasional parts of the race
• a highlights reel to play at regular intervals during the live broadcast
• a potential deal with Netflix for behind-the-scenes footage

Some of these are easy wins. Others are less likely to be universally welcomed.

The changes to TV are just the beginning of a wide-ranging review of the sport being conducted by Liberty with the aim of making it look very different on many levels by 2021.

Right now, though, no one yet knows the shape it will take, or how successful the changes will be.

[TepidT2O]

A soundtrack to play.....


Oh dear

[armchair-fan]

How would starting a race at 10 past the hour rather than on the hour in the future be a good thing, am I missing something?

As for this year, can't say I'm excited about getting my head around 7 different tyre compounds.  A shame Bottas is still hanging around Mercedes, he's such a boring bastard.  Much more interesting when Rosberg was around to wind Hamilton up and offer him some decent competition.

Any of you experts got any idea if Red Bull are likely to be in the mix this time around?  A Hamilton-Verstappen-Vettel battle would be good box office, although it rarely ends up with 3 teams being competitive.  If I recall, the last few races of 2017 were good in that respect, but I guess largely because Mercedes had already won and were on the piss.

[SP]

How would starting a race at 10 past the hour rather than on the hour in the future be a good thing, am I missing something?

As for this year, can't say I'm excited about getting my head around 7 different tyre compounds.  A shame Bottas is still hanging around Mercedes, he's such a boring bastard.  Much more interesting when Rosberg was around to wind Hamilton up and offer him some decent competition.

Any of you experts got any idea if Red Bull are likely to be in the mix this time around?  A Hamilton-Verstappen-Vettel battle would be good box office, although it rarely ends up with 3 teams being competitive.  If I recall, the last few races of 2017 were good in that respect, but I guess largely because Mercedes had already won and were on the piss.

Tv scheduling. Lots of tv stations program on the hour and half hour. Starting at ten past allows 10 minutes build up before the race and fits the TV scheduling better.

As it does not really bother anyone else, why not?

[armchair-fan]

Tv scheduling. Lots of tv stations program on the hour and half hour. Starting at ten past allows 10 minutes build up before the race and fits the TV scheduling better.

As it does not really bother anyone else, why not?

Yeah, suppose so.  Either way I won't be out on the streets protesting about it.  But if it's all going onto pay TV across the globe, where there is at least 2 hours build up of mechanics discussing brake differentials and who is going to start on the hypersofts for the afficianados, and clips of crashes and overtaking on social media for the kids, it strikes me as change for change's sake.

[gazzalfc]

One thing not mentioned is the price of free to air TV channels doing their outside broadcast. That's why the BBC couldn't compete in the end.

Any other sport you just dump a portable studio or a podium next to the pitch and you're good to go.

With F1 you are literally following the sport around the world every season.

The logistical costs of flying tv presenters, camera crew, lighting and sound crew, directors, editors, technical crew etc. It takes serious backing and commitment. You can't do it part time

I had worries when SKY took F1 rights from the BBC but I can't fault their coverage of F1. They've taken it seriously and put some serious production value into it. They paid for the best team of people and made it work. They have learnt from the last time they tired putting F1 on PPV and are not making those mistakes again. With SKY losing their football portfolio to BT, F1 becomes more and more important for them.

I do respect what David Coulthard is doing at C4 but the difference is there to see.

[paulrazor]

agree completely gazza

their coverage is excellent. they put the time and money into it and give it a lot of advertising

before they got coverage you would hear a little snippet about a race but then nothing from one race to another and now they do big build ups.

would love if they got testing coverage

[IgorBobbins]

Does anyone know when the new cars usually start getting unveiled?  I like seeing the new designs and liveries (yes I know I'm sad)

[CraigDS]

Does anyone know when the new cars usually start getting unveiled?  I like seeing the new designs and liveries (yes I know I'm sad)

Ones I've seen so far...

Mercedes    - February 22
Ferrari - February 22
McLaren - February 23
Toro Rosso - February 25

[clinical]

Does anyone know when the new cars usually start getting unveiled?  I like seeing the new designs and liveries (yes I know I'm sad)

Feb

[IgorBobbins]

Thanks both

[paulrazor]

not sure its sad to be honest

not much out so far

back in the day they used to be out by now and testing and all

oh well

[gazzalfc]

The daytona 24 hour endurance race is currently ongoing. The team Alonso is a part of was running as high as 6th but a puncture and braking issue has dropped them down to 22nd.

Paul di Resta is also taking part and his team is currently running 6th

[gazzalfc]

Alonso will compete in all upcoming WEC races for Toyota except Fuji which is clashing with the US Grand Prix. Will also do the 24h Le Mans race.

[Graeme]

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has launched a staunch defence of Honda, insisting Fernando Alonso did everything to "make the engine look bad".

Alonso lamented the Japanese engine suppliers' performance throughout McLaren's plagued three-year partnership, and is now looking forward to Renault power in 2018.

But after Honda moved across to Toro Rosso, Marko is optimistic about the Red Bull junior team's season.

"Honda is very active and has already found something," the Red Bull advisor told Auto Motor und Sport. "Maybe they manage to be on the level of Renault with the second engine.

"Honda had to compromise on the McLaren chassis specification. They could not develop freely and were pretty limited. Alonso has done everything to make the engine look bad."

It baffles me how much influence Marko has at Red Bull.

[paulrazor]

The last line of that is lunacy. Why on earth would Alonso do that. Unless he has put this on for three years and if he has just give him a Hollywood star, a lifetime achievement award and 100 Oscars cos he has fooled me with brilliant acting

Or perhaps the engine was a joke?

[CraigDS]

Ones I've seen so far...

Mercedes    - February 22
Ferrari - February 22
McLaren - February 23
Toro Rosso - February 25

Few more..

Williams - February 15
Renault - February 20
Sauber - February 20

Red Bull, Force India and HAAS - TBA

[Graeme]

Williams announced last week, they’re first at the moment with Feb 15th launch.