2014 launch thread

Eifelland · Post by **Eifelland** » 24 Jan 2014, 13:08

Anyone else noticed that the front wing of the Lotus is carrying the insignia of the Intergalactic Empire from Star Wars?

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 24 Jan 2014, 13:38

The McLaren nose isn't bad in of itself, but the front wing pylons being placed below and on each side.....um....complete "the package" if you know what I mean?

That Lotus though, oh my. That car is stunning. Oh course being the only person on earth who liked the walrus nose, I'm biased.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 24 Jan 2014, 14:01

CoopsII wrote:
DanielPT wrote:In other news, Formula 1 cars to become a phallic symbol.

Doesnt look too bad to me.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 24 Jan 2014, 14:20

dragonsteincole · Post by **dragonsteincole** » 24 Jan 2014, 14:30

That Lotus appears to be a photoshop, as one of the *ahem* 'flaps' is longer than the other one.

But I suppose if a Lotus and a McLaren crash head on, you'll end up with a GP2 car in 9 months.

TheAmazingKazoo · Post by **TheAmazingKazoo** » 24 Jan 2014, 14:35

I really hope RedBull launch with Vettel's finger as the nose.

Minardi Man · Post by **Minardi Man** » 24 Jan 2014, 14:56

dragonsteincole wrote:That Lotus appears to be a photoshop, as one of the *ahem* 'flaps' is longer than the other one.

But I suppose if a Lotus and a McLaren crash head on, you'll end up with a GP2 car in 9 months.

They probably ran out of money to finish it off.

Still, I want to have babies with that Lotus, from that angle at least it looks so awesome.
That Mclaren however, oh god, I think I threw up.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:08

Ataxia wrote:New lid for Mr. Rosberg:

It looks like he made it himself. At least we'll be able to tell him apart from LH this year.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:09

Jocke1 wrote:

I'm not too conservative about the shape of Formula 1 cars, I like a bit of change. Aesthetically, I think this looks immense.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:10

I like the McLaren's looks actually. More than most on here. Enoch pointed out that the nose is becoming narrower as you go from the cockpit to the nose, but then the front wing mounts flare out. Love it, quite honestly.

As for colors, why couldn't they just do this?

That color on a McLaren is what a McLaren should look like.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:14

Well, I'm with almost everyone else, hate that McLaren and love that Lotus. I really like the Lotus' livery too.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:18

I don't see Coca-Cola sponsorship on the car... what happened?

Edit: Taki is at it again... :lol:

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:24

I don't know about that Taki inoue pic there...

For one, it's :lol:

Divina_Galica · Post by **Divina_Galica** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:30

fjackdaw wrote:Aesthetically, I think the McLaren looks immense.

Me too. Just ike the stepped nose - we will forget it once the cars are on track ..... next week!

DG

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:32

go_Rubens wrote:I like the McLaren's looks actually. More than most on here. Enoch pointed out that the nose is becoming narrower as you go from the cockpit to the nose, but then the front wing mounts flare out. Love it, quite honestly.

As for colors, why couldn't they just do this?

That color on a McLaren is what a McLaren should look like.

Because that shade of orange is too light and garish and horrible :lol:

If you're going to do orange, it has to be Arrows-esque bright luminous orange!

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:39

pasta_maldonado wrote:
go_Rubens wrote:I like the McLaren's looks actually. More than most on here. Enoch pointed out that the nose is becoming narrower as you go from the cockpit to the nose, but then the front wing mounts flare out. Love it, quite honestly.

As for colors, why couldn't they just do this?

That color on a McLaren is what a McLaren should look like.

Because that shade of orange is too light and garish and horrible

If you're going to do orange, it has to be Arrows-esque bright luminous orange!

I was partially talking about the company heritage as well. But yeah, I do see how the orange can be quite disgusting on the eyes now.

Alternatively, I'd like to see orange on an F1 car in a similar livery to Rob Lomas Racing's LGPS car

solarcold · Post by **solarcold** » 24 Jan 2014, 15:54

It's... ASSYMETRICAL. Why!

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:00

Shizuka wrote:
I don't see Coca-Cola sponsorship on the car... what happened?

From the top down view you can see the Coca-Cola Burn sponsorship remains.

I actually like the look of the Lotus, I don't know what it is but I like it more than the others so far.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:04

Shadaza wrote:
Shizuka wrote:
I don't see Coca-Cola sponsorship on the car... what happened?

From the top down view you can see the Coca-Cola Burn sponsorship remains.

I actually like the look of the Lotus, I don't know what it is but I like it more than the others so far.

It's a good livery, but it's not as good as the Force India in my eyes.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:15

Looking at that top down view from Lotus, it crossed my mind that, if this year's Lotus and this year's McLaren mate together... Erm, both cars crash faced one against other in some weird accident we might have cute little LotLarens or McLotuses in 2015.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:31

DanielPT wrote:Looking at that top down view from Lotus, it crossed my mind that, if this year's Lotus and this year's McLaren mate together... Erm, both cars crash faced one against other in some weird accident we might have cute little LotLarens or McLotuses in 2015.

Thanks to new technology, cars can mate? I'd have never imagined...

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:32

Might as well throw my opinion behind these designs today:

I like the McLaren design quite a bit. It's 'grown' on me. Sorry, couldn't resist that joke. But as Enoch pointed out, if you look at it from cockpit-down, it follows the lines of the car so it's not that bad. As for the lotus design, that should be illegal to have a nose that ghastly. And the livery is nothing special, looks like last years colour scheme...

So far:

Best-looking front-wing design to McLaren
Best-looking livery to Force India

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:37

Shadaza wrote:From the top down view you can see the Coca-Cola Burn sponsorship remains.

Indeed, but it looks... less to me than last year. 2013 had Burn on the front wing, for example.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 24 Jan 2014, 16:42

go_Rubens wrote:
DanielPT wrote:Looking at that top down view from Lotus, it crossed my mind that, if this year's Lotus and this year's McLaren mate together... Erm, both cars crash faced one against other in some weird accident we might have cute little LotLarens or McLotuses in 2015.

Thanks to new technology, cars can mate? I'd have never imagined...

It is a new thing. The poor fellas only this year were given the correct parts in order to do it. It's the logical evolution following decades of going over another cars without practical results. Problem? The design fitted those parts in a way that it will hard to do it correctly. But it is not impossible!

CaptainGetz12 · Post by **CaptainGetz12** » 24 Jan 2014, 17:21

Am I the only one who thinks that the Mclaren's livery right now is just for testing or until Mclaren finds anymore sponsors?

I say this because the list of sponsors on the car's nose in both the new Mclaren and the mid-2000s orange ones are almost the same word-for-word:

Perhaps this livery is just a lay over until Mclaren can secure sponsorship deals for the season?

And personally I think the MP4-29 is a better Mercedes Livery than Mercedes GP's own livery right now :lol:

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 24 Jan 2014, 17:34

Seeing these latest two launches, I can only say...

Come back, Williams FW26, all is forgiven.

Almost.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 24 Jan 2014, 17:38

Petition McLaren to put "This is a COOL SPOT" on the rear wing end plates.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 24 Jan 2014, 17:54

The Lotus is asymmetrical, so that the longer tip is considered the main front crash structure, and the shorter tip is further back so it isn't considered to be part of the crash structure. It's a clever, if slightly ugly way to get around the rules.

Rusujuur · Post by **Rusujuur** » 24 Jan 2014, 18:20

Could it be, that Lotus is just trolling?

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 24 Jan 2014, 18:55

The McLaren livery is a temporary one, only for testing. Expect it to be different in Australia, although personally I like the silver and black. And I think the sleek way in which they've incorporated the front wing supports into the nose is very nice. It's a shame the nose has to end the way it does, if it could be wider and thinner like that concept drawing that went round a while ago I'd be an even bigger fan.

As for the Lotus, it's definitely different and an interesting idea. Not entirely sure about it though.

As with all things in F1 though, most of these designs are going to be quite different come Australia and I'll bet that by the end of the year, most teams will have reverted to the same "optimal" design, whatever that turns out to be.

Post by **mario** » 24 Jan 2014, 18:57

dragonsteincole wrote:That Lotus appears to be a photoshop, as one of the *ahem* 'flaps' is longer than the other one.

But I suppose if a Lotus and a McLaren crash head on, you'll end up with a GP2 car in 9 months.

On the contrary, as andrew2209 rightly points out the asymmetry of Lotus's design is intentional - the longer tip forms the bulk of the main crash structure, with the secondary extension effectively being used for aero purposes only. The regulations have a restriction on the cross sectional area of any section 50mm behind the tip of the nosecone, so the second extension has to be at least 51mm shorter in order for Lotus's design to work, hence the asymmetry.

Shadaza wrote:
Shizuka wrote:
I don't see Coca-Cola sponsorship on the car... what happened?

From the top down view you can see the Coca-Cola Burn sponsorship remains.

I actually like the look of the Lotus, I don't know what it is but I like it more than the others so far.

I'd have to say that, if Lotus's renders are indeed accurate, then the rear bodywork looks to be more tightly and elegantly packaged than McLaren's car does, which does seem to help with the aesthetics of the rear end of their car.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 24 Jan 2014, 19:48

Hideous helmet designs, hideous car designs, hideous liveries. I was going to try and wangle Sky F1 on the cheap, but this collection has put me right off!

But if someone really DOES end up with a Footwork Porsche-alike, they will have my undying support (*)

(*) Disclaimer : Unless it's Sauber, in which case ONE of their drivers will have my undying support.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 24 Jan 2014, 20:30

Rusujuur wrote:Could it be, that Lotus is just trolling?

http://youtu.be/bW7Op86ox9g

go_Rubens wrote:Thanks to new technology, cars can mate? I'd have never imagined...

Old school knew how, as well.

pasta_maldonado wrote:If you're going to do orange, it has to be Arrows-esque bright luminous orange!

The Orange Arrowses between 99-02 are my favorites.
But Jimmy Vasser's Visteon Reynard / Toyota in '01 was great, too:

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 24 Jan 2014, 20:44

Jocke1 wrote:
go_Rubens wrote:Thanks to new technology, cars can mate? I'd have never imagined...

Old school knew how, as well.

dragonsteincole · Post by **dragonsteincole** » 24 Jan 2014, 20:53

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWgnYJvW_U

Here we see a failed mating attempt. Sadly, it is unlikely this Minardi will survive the winter.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 24 Jan 2014, 21:03

The Mercedes tends to get quite "keen" in Abu Dhabi. Maybe it's the heat...

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 24 Jan 2014, 21:03

dragonsteincole wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAWgnYJvW_U

Here we see a failed mating attempt. Sadly, it is unlikely this Minardi will survive the winter.

I like the English in the description.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 24 Jan 2014, 21:09

Probably my OCD kicking in here, but the unevenness of the lotus' new nose bothers me slightly....

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 24 Jan 2014, 21:20

Ataxia wrote:New lid for Mr. Rosberg:

Decidedly vulgar.

WaffleCat · Post by **WaffleCat** » 24 Jan 2014, 23:46

I just don't like how that Mclaren looks...for completely different reasons.

Sure,it's....pointy nose looks godawful,but I cannot help noticing that the car has odd....dimensions. The nose seems to be way,way too long,pointy bit or not, and the side pods appear,for me, to be too wide ,too short and too far back on the car. Of course, that's just looking from the front view only, so maybe it's different side on. I don't mind the chrome all over the car, I think it looks better with it than plain orange.