2017 Formula One | We're up all night to get penalties

I was wondering if I needed to do a new one, glad you beat me to it ;)

Let's hope new rules mean there is a small chance someone catching up to the Mercs.. Would love to see Max/Daniel battling it out with Lewis and a few of the other usual suspects: ---> Ferrari, but rule change & everything coming out of Italy (press) sounds negative --> Honda engineers saw the light and Alonso finally get a car deserving of his abilities.

Others:
Bottas could surprise,
Curious if Stoffel can handlle Alonso
I was already done with Massa for a few seasons so bhwoah, lets see if the rich kid can race.
#P(r)ayforManor
Not sure if Hulk made the right choice, at least not short term (Renault)

At least looking forward to the wintertesting this year.............................................................................hope dies last

Oh wow, the new cars are significantly wider, especially the tires. Interesting.

Markoa was it you who mentioned the emphasises was More focused on down force this year? Shouldn't that put redbull in a great position?

By Kidjr Go To PostMarkoa was it you who mentioned the emphasises was More focused on down force this year? Shouldn't that put redbull in a great position?

In dutch we would say "dat is koffiedik kijken" , best translated as that teacher in Harry Potter that uses thee leaves to predict the future. ;)

When there are major rule changes (biggest in ages), in general those teams with large budgets will do better. This does not mean that teams with smaller budgets have no chance, remember Brawn GP/double diffuser, but they just do not have the same amount of people to test different things/concepts.

Red Bull, or more precise the design team around Adrian Newey has always been seen as one of the "smarter/better" ones when it comes to aero design, but that does not mean there are no exceptional smart people working at other teams. So which one of them will get the new rule designs right from the get go, I do not know. (would not bet against Newey) But I do know we will see all teams (specially those with big budgets) bring many new parts to every single race, based on what they see at other teams to keep up with the development rat race we are going to see this year.


And don't forget the engine still, maybe even bigger (more drag (bigger wheels for example)) than last year, plays a big role. And I cannot see Renault or Honda (maybe Ferrari) completely matching the Mercedes power unit, even though we have gotten rid of the token system. Just let's hope they all are getting a bit closer in output, so we will some more teams fighting at the front.

#wintertestingiscoming

Thanks for the summary

Would love to see Hulk on that Mercedes car this season.

Hamilton is going to demolish Valteri i think. Even an old and dead Massa beat him in some races.

I don't have high expectations for him. Apart from almost kicking Hamilton out in Bahrain and the podium in Canada I never really took notice of him last year. He may be constant, but if he doesn't takes any big risks like Hamilton when he isn't 1st, Hamilton will have a easy run in his team.

On the other hand though, Bottas's only teammates were Maldonado and Massa who already crossed his career high. So, Australia will be the benchmark for him, if he does well, it could be a exciting 4 man fight for the title.

Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he has lost his position as the CEO of the Formula 1 Group, and has been replaced by Liberty Media's Chase Carey.

Ecclestone, 86, says he has been offered the title of 'Honorary President', but has acknowledged that he doesn’t know exactly what his role will be.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ecclestone-confirms-chase-carey-has-replaced-him-as-ceo-of-f1-868019/

FINALLY

Oh Bernie, such a polarising figure but surely a part of F1 history. You can chill out with your owl now.

Ecclestone can go fuck himself.

Bernie overstayed his welcome for about 10/15 years for me. The man is 86 now and some of his ideas, content exclusivity/ Social media is for young kids and they do not have income-money/ Management style "Hitler, Putin and the likes are great because they get things done" are just not suited to modern world (yeah I know Trump).

Up until the new millennium he brought the sport forward, tv/commercialisation. Since then he cared to much about the return on investment, which lead to the restriction of content and to many "state sponsored" races instead of races on historic venues, due to the continuously increasing fees.

Won't miss him and curious to see were the new ownership will differ other then the obvious use of "modern media" stuff. We will probably have to wait to 2019/20 (new concorde agreement) to see what that might be.

Itshappening.gif

Williams Reveal 2017 F1 car (@F1Fanatic), render so I expect some more details to be revealed on their official launch. But it gives us a better idea of the 2017 cars, like the flat/wide/low rear, front to similar to last seasons cars, but overall more aggressive looking car.

That looks pretty and like a proper F1 car.

Sauber starts this weeks car launches, with the C36.

Kinda like the blue/gold combo (25 years in F1), specially front. Needs sponsors and some different colour paint on that sharkvin.

Looks like a recolor of Rothmans Williams Renault in the 90's with less sponsors.

Next one: Renault R.S. 17








matching racesuits :lol:




And Max his helmet for this year, miss the orange, bit to corporate (Red Bull) now

The front and rear profile looks mean. I never liked the shark fins from the past but that looks amazing.

Today it is Force India's turn, not really feeling this one, probably my least favourite so far

^ That is magnificently boring.

By Spengo Go To Post^ That is magnificently boring.

They do look better on track, I however strongly doubt that will be the case for the Force India ;)

Sauber C36 on track


few shots:

Mercedes did a test run before official lunch and these are some on track pics. It is amazing to see what happens when you do have money to spend, because the area between front wheels and side pots looks insane. It is also ridiculously long and yet extremely small around the engine part, which make the floor look even bigger. Also curious to learn why the outerside of the diffusers point so extremely outwards, haven't seen that before in any class.

And it actually looks good to:










(source F1Fanatic)

Ferrari and McLaren day:

- Ferrari looks ok, shorter than Merc, cool side pots and Newey like rake on the car and extra little wing in front of rear wing.
- McLaren Ron must be fuming, that livery looks so random/cheap. Like Orange, but combi with black/white just seams off :( . Car interesting front, less detailed in middle and McLaren detailed end-plates. (hiding diffuser or just not ready? )

Ferrari SF70H:




[url=https://abload.de/img/c5byyjfwmaaczg_fhl1g.jpg



McLaren MCL32:

I didn't know you could do orange and black wrong but here we go.

RB13: With last year's bargeboards. Knowing RBR they'll change half of it for Melbourne. Oh and the nose lookings interesting.

Also wondering why it looks so plain/simple compared to some of the others (middle section), but it is hard to see a lot on those first pics/video. But tomorrow testing starts and we will get a better idea from all cars.

Haas VF17 is the for last one, only Torro Rosso left. Never been a fan of the colour combination (dull grey), but car looks at least like something they designed and not Ferrari ;)

Are the noses the longest they've ever been?

By reilo Go To PostAre the noses the longest they've ever been?

Were those the nose begin/ends? The Haas one looks longer from the top due to the trick with the red bit on the wing it self.

Last car, stunner even though it looks like a blue Red Bull can, like the colour scheme/shape of the car. Similar to Merc suspension (high on front) and another car hiding its rear diffuser/

Finally testing is under way. Love how the cars look and they seem much faster as well. Lets just hope the excitement is back as well....

Testing Day 1 - Photo Album



Live-feeds:

http://www.autosport.com/live/commentary/id/2507471/formula-1-testing-2017-barcelona-f1-test-day-one
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/testresults/1808/formula-1-test-at-circuit-de-catalunya-27-february-2017/
http://www.skysports.com/f1/live-blog

2016 testing v 2017 testing

3 seconds faster for RB/Merc/Ferrari? holy shit

Poor McLaren felt like Groundhog Day, they cannot catch a brake. Hard to say anything meaningful after one day, but Mercedes looks to be running like clockwork again and that cannot be good news for the others .

Few moving pics, video now loads for me in Spengo's post so ignore ;)

F1Fanatic has some high quality pics as usual here : First day of testing

my favourite, makes Lewis new helmet design look ace.

Mclaren-Honda is a disaster.

By reilo Go To Post3 seconds faster for RB/Merc/Ferrari? holy shit

Times suggested projections of cars ending 4 or even 5 seconds faster than last year are quite feasible.

That is insane. That's an entire generational leap, no?

I'm not sure about that but these times are etching closer to the track record.

The 5 second target was set in 2016, when the new "aero rules" were set up. So 5 seconds minus last years development was the target. Add some engine development and we could get pretty close to 3,5/4 seconds compared to last year, depending on track. Lewis is doing those 1.21.7 laps at the start of a long rung with lots of fuel, so 1.18's should be no problemo.

Shame that engineers always find ways to make good looking cars look worse by exploiting little grey areas in the rules. I do not like those silly looking little wings and seams it is getting worse by the day :(

And another Groundhog Day, new engine for McLaren....unbelievable

And worst start possible for Lance Stroll, lap 6 and testing day over, because no new parts. Crash did not look to bad, but it is not how you want to start your career when everyone was already looking at you through a microscope (daddies money).

Not a fan of the double T-wing either.

I think the only thing you can take from the pre-season testing sessions, is whether a car's going to be awful.

Looking back at last February's session times the only thing consistent with how the 2016 season panned out, was that McLaren had a stinker of a car. Rosberg and Hamilton only posted the 8th and 12th fastest laps, where as Force India were the 2nd and 5th fastest.

By Spengo Go To PostI think the only thing you can take from the pre-season testing sessions, is whether a car's going to be awful.

Looking back at last February's session times the only thing consistent with how the 2016 season panned out, was that McLaren had a stinker of a car. Rosberg and Hamilton only posted the 8th and 12th fastest laps, where as Force India were the 2nd and 5th fastest.

I would say if you follow something like Amus and keep track of the entire stint times (race simulations, 2nd week, same time), you do get an idea, because they do those with similar fuel levels. But individual lap times are pointless, due to different grip levels (time of day) and fuel levels, engine settings, etc.

Merc start from today, love the look of those fat tyres.

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/836576079666012161/vid/1280x720/E_XcuFtZSW839bE8.mp4

The new Toro Rosso is by far the best looking car this season.

Force India is just uninspired. The worst for me.

the big 3 didnt change much. Didnt enjoy the new Mclaren. Williams is the same. The new Haas is decent but i prefer the last season's car.

The new Renault is beautiful. Sauber decent.

Bottas loosing control of the Merc and hitting wall, gave that marshal a good scare.



https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/836609508281458688/vid/1280x720/aVFru2cc8WLY0ExH.mp4

@Reilo, link not valid to embed, or am I doing something wrong? (found twitter link that works ;)

There's a widespread outage with Amazon cloud servers and lots of websites are affected including us. They'll resolve it eventually.

What I would give to be able to watch formula one in uncompressed 4k, those pictures are stunning!

I think all the cars actually look quite cool, maybe it's just because it feels like a change I dunno, bar the orange and black most of them work.

Hopefully lap times suggest bit more of a competitive season.

But routing for Hamilton as always.

Sorry I unplugged the internets to charge my vape

Headlines:
Motorsport: F1 team asked to make suspension changes as inspections begin
Motorsport: FIA forces Renault to tweak rear wing concept
GPUDATE: Verstappen will be using the name VER in 2017 instead of VES

Mercedes and Ferrari have broken into the 1m19s bracket on soft and super-softs.

Lewis long run pace also seems about 4/5 seconds quicker than this years GP, it was a lot warmer in May, but still.


Three offs in 100 laps is a bit to much for me. Kid might want to slow it down just a little and become more comfortable before pushing again.

Strolololol

Feel for the Williams engineers. No sleep for another night.

By Spengo Go To PostStrolololol

Feel for the Williams engineers. No sleep for another night.

Or no spare parts and early weekend :P

On-board Lewis 1.22, yeah these cars have grip

That looks so much faster compared to last year.

Do they know why Ferrari stopped in pit lane today?