Random Thoughts...[F1 edition]

Yet six months ago he was talking about bringing Alfa Romeo to F1...
 
bone said:
Yet six months ago he was talking about bringing Alfa Romeo to F1...
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Technically, he could do both and not lose face. Ferrari out, Alfa in.
 
I would not expect FIAT's commitment to budget would be nearly as high under the Alfa brand as it would be under the Ferrari brand.

Sounds like a number of the manufacturers are not pleased about the costs involved - probably because they are afraid one of them will sink a half-billion into it like Mercedes did last time and be unbeatable for the duration of the engine rules - so it might very well never see daylight.
 
Fernando Alonso will be doing at least the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year with Toyota Gazoo Racing in the LMP1 category and may run the majority or even the entirety of the 2018 WEC Season with them depending on how the races align with the Formula One season.
 
McLaren vetoes proposal to maintain F1 engine cover fin

Formula 1 teams are facing a fresh headache with their 2018 car designs after a proposal to retain the fin on the engine cover was not backed by McLaren.

One of the items discussed in this week?s F1 Strategy Group was a change to the car regulations to retain a big engine fin ? which could be used to display the larger car numbers the FIA wants to see.

But despite extensive work having been put in to create rules, and teams already starting work on their 2018 concepts, McLaren did not vote in favour of the suggestion ? as the Woking-based outfit instead wants a smaller version introduced.

With unanimous support needed for a change, McLaren?s failure to back it means that the proposal will not go through, and moves are now being made for a compromise solution to be found.

The decision means that teams now face potential difficulties in finalising some of their aero characteristics ahead of the rear wing. This could have a big impact on those outfits that have already put a lot of development work into the original larger fin idea.

McLaren is pushing for the smaller fin because it believes that the current rear wings of cars are not visible enough.

Racing director Eric Boullier also suggested that his outfit may prefer a smaller fin because it better suits their car concept for 2018.

?Maybe we have found a way to use the engine cover that works better,? he said. ?The cars are complicated today so it is difficult for Zak [Brown, CEO] to find big stickers.

?But we are not playing games. Everyone is developing their own car so if you ask for something which is against our interests, I will not go for it.

?Some teams have tried to play something that was more suiting their car model, or whatever. But we have a regulation in place for next year, so if there is no unanimity then there is no reason to change.?

Force India COO Otmar Szafnauer expressed some frustrations that his team faces uncertainty about its 2018 car design at such a late stage ? as he questioned McLaren?s motivation.

?We have to release an engine cover soon, it would be nice to know the rules,? he said. ?I thought we had it all agreed.

?McLaren, I believe, wanted to expose the rear wing more, but the rear wing isn?t exposed only because it sits so low now. That is why you cannot see the sponsor. More so than because of the fin.

?The fin hides it from certain angles but not from head on ? you can?t see the fin from head on. You cannot see the rear wing because it is so low. For us it removes a pretty big area for the sponsors.?
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:clap:
 
Pirelli to introduce new softest compound for 2018

Pirelli will introduce a new softest-tyre compound for the 2018 Formula 1 season, and has asked fans to vote on what it should be called.

As revealed by Motorsport.com, F1's control tyre supplier has been evaluating multiple options for next year's batch of tyres and could add as many as three new compounds to the range.

After Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, Pirelli revealed it will add a pink-walled tyre, which will become the softest available.

It has launched a vote on Twitter for fans to decide whether it is named the 'megasoft', 'extremesoft' or 'hypersoft'.
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[video=youtube;pAD5dz9-Qg8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAD5dz9-Qg8[/video]
 
Geez what was wrong with 3 compounds , soft, medium, hard.

Now they'll have a 'soft' tyre that's actually the 3rd hardest.

Why not change the scale at the other end? Make hard 'superhard', medium 'hard', etc, so you don't need another ' super duper extra soft' compound
 
I think part of the problem is that the harder compound tires are usually slower to the point where it's not worth using them. Especially when you'll have to eventually pit for the soft tire anyway. I think the idea is supposed to be that if you start at the back you can wait out on the circuit long enough until everyone has pitted and you can try and build enough of a gap that when you pit you gain a lot of positions. Problem is that the tire is so slow by the time everyone pits the guys at the front come out ahead of you anyway and on much faster tires so they pull away again.
 
Yes, all the cars seem to be so easy on their tires that even the softest compounds no longer experience "The Cliff" where performance craters after a short number of laps. Instead, drivers can race on them comfortably to half-distance while still maintaining competitive lap times.

I believe part of this is a much more conservative design ethos by Pirelli after all the bad press they took for the multiple tire failures during the 2013 season in general - and 2013 British Grand Prix in particular.
 
TC said:
has asked fans to vote on what it should be called.
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If it was an open vote, they would call it "Softie McSoftface"
 
Kiskaloo said:
I believe part of this is a much more conservative design ethos by Pirelli after all the bad press they took for the multiple tire failures during the 2013 season in general - and 2013 British Grand Prix in particular.
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the problem was that the cars changed that much for this season, and there simply wasn't a car available that produced the new levels of downforce, so had no means to test the tires
and they indeed definately wanted to avoid a repeat of the 2013 season, so they ended up a tad too hard

i assume that'll be fixed by next year
 
And then they'll make new rules where it says the wings have to be 2 meters tall and 5 cm wide, underfloors are banned, wishbones must be made out of bananas and the car must weigh 2904 kg without the driver and it's back to square one with the tyres. The bipolar attitude towards rule making is what destroyed F1 lately.
 
I guess we'll wait and see if he's still able to compete after all he's been through. If he is, what a life story...
 
mpicco said:
I guess we'll wait and see if he's still able to compete after all he's been through. If he is, what a life story...
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Williams is planning a test for him in the 2017 car at Abu Dhabi so I am guessing this will be the official "sign off" if he performs as well as he is said to have in the 2014 car when he and De Resta were tested.
 
So we have a new logo for Formula One starting in 2018:

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F1's marketing head Ellie Norman said the design of the logo was based on two cars going around a circuit and battling for the finish line.

This replaces the former one which had been in use for 23 years. The official decision is that the old logo was too complicated for digital advertising which is becoming more and more important not just to F1 but all brands (many of whom have also simplified their logos to adapt).
 
I think the F part is way too long...

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Still not good though, nothing wrong with the previous logo.
 
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