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Well Mclaren promised something radical!...
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/02/04/mclaren-mp4-26-launch-first-pictures/
Really bad luck for Kubica, just when it looked like he had a car to win in....
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89309
Loving the new HRT!....
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/02/08/hrt-f111-launch-first-pictures/
http://www.danielsimon.net/HRT_F111/HRTF111%20-%20by%20Daniel%20Simon.html
Just Force India to go now.
...and have all the F1 fans disappeared!!!?
That HRT might as well be sponsored by Bonio and Pedigree Chum - we all know it's gonna be a dog, if the team actually makes it through the year of course.
Biggest innovations so far go to McLaren & Renault, but we'll see what they look like come Bahrain. Gutted for Kubica because if they got that exhaust working well it could've got the Renaults up to the sharp end of the grid. Not much choice for a replacement for Renault either - talk of Heidfeld and maybe Raikkonen. Doubt Senna will be racing in Bahrain.
The HRT worries me. Are they even real photos? Look like CGis to me. No sponsors at all. I would guess that car is not really built yet.
I think McLaren may be distracting themselves with this "U" shaped sidepod thing. Full judgement reserved until we see the other features come on to the car. We'll see. Looks like another tank to me.
Red Bull is still the benchmark I reckon. I can already see the other drivers shaking their heads at the Barcelona test as Vettel and Webber drive round on rails.
Massive shame about Kubica - especially as the car looks genuinely interesting. I think the other teams will be covering the front facing exhausts bet by trying it themselves. Red Bull already have a layout with much longer exhausts, so they are well placed from an engine tuning point of view.
So, looks like Heidfeld at Renault then, Ferrari sitting pretty at the mo, McLaren/Red Bull either masking performance and haven't got it, and Mercedes showing that 2007 really was all down to Honda's final spending spree - and is the Williams pace for real, or just to coax a few sponsors into signing on the line?
Only way Williams pace could be not for real is if they wasted very restricted and valuable testing time running under weight - the quick laps were followed by eight or so further laps, so they weren't running on single lap of fuel etc. I think I'm also right in saying that they have yet to use KERS also.
Red Bull are reputed to be way faster than the rest, and Renault are supposed to be very good too. Ferrari are not far behind. McLaren are unknown - they are definitely a little short of running already - be much more reassured when they can do a race simulation, which they are very far from doing at the moment.
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Shock 1 : It actually exists!
Shock 2 : They're actually using that 'Your Ad Here' livery.
Massive Potential Shock 3 : If they manage to set a respectable time sometime in the next day and a bit of testing.
Well - turns out the bodywork exists! Remains to be seen if it actually runs! Daft Playstation livery to my eyes.
Testing was fun, unless you're a McLaren fan. Can't wait for kick-off now.
- Can McLaren do a race distance? You have to assume not, unless they reconfigure the car. Double trouble for them if their problem overheats the gearbox as well the exhausts, because there are penalties for gearbox changes.
- Are Williams going to be up there? Doing well in Q3 and scoring big points? I do hope so.
- Are the Red Bull and Ferrari (and perhaps even Merc) closely matched? That would be excellent too. Got a feeling the Red Bull has got quite a bit up its sleeve though...
What a cracking season its shaping up to be eh? Shame about the dog of a mclaren though - reckon Lewis will be able to do a kubica and drive beyond the car?
No chance. The car doesn't look like it will make it to the end of the race at the moment, and to make it reliable they'll have to make it even slower.reckon Lewis will be able to do a kubica and drive beyond the car?
B-spec McLaren is already being built, is my guess.
I hope Williams do alright too! We've been working our c0cks off here, and the freight still hasn't left yet 😈
B-spec McLaren is already being built, is my guess.
No can do these days - homologated chassis so it's a case of making changes but the fundamentals are in place for the rest of the season (which was why McLaren's f-duct was a problem for the other teams to copy since they had to shoehorn it into chassis with no vents designed into them).
Not quite - they could change the sidepods, exhausts, other packaging such as KERS and other cooling (I think - there was talk at one point about homologating radiators as well, but I think it is just the tub that can't cahange).
So with the possible exception of the side impact structures I think they can change quite a lot. By the sounds of it they will be looking for a different exhaust solution that doesn't cook the back of the car.
Well yes since those aren't the chassis 😉 The fundamentals are still set in stone though.
Even the wheelbase could be amended - Red Bull did that by extending the wishbone angle further back to accommodate the DDD. You are right about the F-duct, because McLaren had a hole in their tub, but even that got copied with varying degrees of success.
I think the main point of the no-changy-your-chassis rule is to stop teams building cars specific to certain circuits, as has happened in the past.
The tyres are the big unknown. With the rumours of increased wear rates I think Lewis will struggle. Button on the other hand is smoother and easier on the car and tyres, he might be able to make them last better.
Only 2 weeks to find out who's been sandbagging during the tests.
It's looking like a drop off of around 5s a lap when the tyres go off, unlike the Bridgestones where it was much more marginal. Upside of that is more of a chance to pit, catch & pass someone like the olde days of the tyre wars - downside is that all that wear means it's gonna be slippery as hell off line with marbles.
Looks like a great season for anyone outside Woking, though given McLaren's recent performance it's quite possible they'll develop things so they could be in the mix by the middle of the season.
The Lewis Jenson tyre thing is interesting - Jenson is famously smooth, but also famously not happy with a car that misbehaves, which is more Lewis' forte. So the question becomes will the tyres be consistent and then go off, or will their feel constantly change throughout their performance window?
So many interesting facets to it.
As for sandbagging - not McLaren! I think it might be true that we haven't seen a full quali run from Red Bull though, plus some teams still haven't got all their best bits on, notably Ferrari.
I've only just clocked Amos' post - are you at Williams?
Can't recall where I read it but there was an article about tyre wear and how smooth drivers like Button actually wouldn't have an advantage - basically because with Bridgestones, being 'kind' to the tyres meant not overheating them which was was caused performance drop off whereas with the Pirellis it's just about wear and bits of rubber physically coming off the tyre (hence lots more marbles this year) which can't really be managed by the drivers smooth or otherwise. I did think it a bit odd because instinct says that being smoother will result in less physical damage to the tyre but maybe not?