The 2015 Launch Thread

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 30 Jan 2015, 11:54

good_Ralf wrote:

Oh dear, it's another "Earth Car" ...

The new blue-and-yellow livery of Sauber reminds me very much of the color scheme on the car which Mike Conway ran for a few years in IndyCar for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 30 Jan 2015, 11:57

CoopsII wrote:

Brought to you by "Red Elk Energy Drink". Red Elk gives you antlers. ;-)

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 30 Jan 2015, 12:05

That is probably the ugliest nose of the lot for me. I also think that, given the illogical liveries that honour wrong cars, Ferrari wasted a great chance of honouring BMS Scuderia Italia...

tBone · Post by **tBone** » 30 Jan 2015, 12:19

East Londoner wrote:

Looks like someone at Brackley was looking at some of the old cars that factory produced, came across the 2004 BAR nosecone, and thought "that'll do". But I like it.

Or do we have a new spionage scandal on our hands and were they looking at the history of Milton Keynes teams?

qw4tt0r · Post by **qw4tt0r** » 30 Jan 2015, 12:56

Simtek wrote:
qw4tt0r wrote:I have to say, the cars that were shown this year were already better looking than the 2013 and 2014 grids put together, but that doesn't say much.
I'm very concerned about McLaren's lack of a main sponsor, how are they supposed to be competitive with Mercedes development wise without the cash of a main sponsor...

But they're announcing it soon!

Didn't they say the same thing throughout 2014?

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 30 Jan 2015, 13:02

madmark1974 wrote:Er, I don't get it? Are people getting Sweden and Switzerland mixed up or something? Or is it just because it looks like Sweden's flag colours?

Because of this

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 30 Jan 2015, 13:33

On the Ferrari, the sidepods look pretty interesting to me. I don't know why, but they don't look as normal as I've seen.

On the Sauber, I'd say it's the ugliest car so far if they retained the old livery. But they didn't, so ugliest car so far goes to Williams. It's not like what I'm going to say now matters. I'll be used to it after the third race.

watka · Post by **watka** » 30 Jan 2015, 13:44

roblomas52 wrote:That nose design is hideous, I know I should be supporting them because my second cousin works for them but I just can't.

Sauber actually managed to make the nose "appendage" bigger and more bulbous! It's horrid! The new colour scheme is nice but it now looks even more bare of sponsors than before.

As for the Ferrari nose, I quite like it, but its not hard to improve on the vacuum cleaner design of last year! Interesting that had Guti in the launch photos but not Vergne. Does that mean that in the unlikely (but entirely possible given the unpredictability of Kimi's interest in F1) event that one of the seats become free during the season that Guti will step up rather than Vergne? Or is it purely a reflection of where the sponsorship money is coming from?

tBone · Post by **tBone** » 30 Jan 2015, 14:12

watka wrote:Interesting that had Guti in the launch photos but not Vergne. Does that mean that in the unlikely (but entirely possible given the unpredictability of Kimi's interest in F1) event that one of the seats become free during the season that Guti will step up rather than Vergne? Or is it purely a reflection of where the sponsorship money is coming from?

Scuderia Ferrari's website has profiles of all their test drivers. According to Guti's profile, he is third driver. There is no mention of that on JEV's. So I think Esteban Gutierrez might be the one to step up.

Post by **Miguel98** » 30 Jan 2015, 14:29

Meh, the Ferrari doesn't look too bad, but the nose is big. I guess it won't be much of a improvement to last year though.

razta · Post by **razta** » 30 Jan 2015, 16:16

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 30 Jan 2015, 16:22

I like the Sauber, has a late '80s early '90s feel to it. It does make the car look very bulky though.

Like the Ferrari, very clean lines, but still too much black paint IMO. The Alfa logos are interesting, because isn't Ferrari an independent company now?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 30 Jan 2015, 16:58

razta wrote:

Very droll!

Waris · Post by **Waris** » 30 Jan 2015, 19:05

I can only say I'm quite disappointed with with the liveries so far. Ferrari could've gone a little bit more conservative with the black. Sauber wasted a great opportuntity to design a killer livery with those colours. Here's hoping Manor and/or Caterham actually make it and turn out a crazy, or just a decent, livery.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 30 Jan 2015, 19:36

I think the Sauber livery is fantastic. And as it looks so brilliant the car absolutely HAS to be awfully slow!

All the rest have left me completely cold.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 30 Jan 2015, 21:31

That Sauber, with the white/black wings, does have a bit of a backmarker look to it.

Post by **mario** » 30 Jan 2015, 21:36

go_Rubens wrote:On the Ferrari, the sidepods look pretty interesting to me. I don't know why, but they don't look as normal as I've seen.

On the Sauber, I'd say it's the ugliest car so far if they retained the old livery. But they didn't, so ugliest car so far goes to Williams. It's not like what I'm going to say now matters. I'll be used to it after the third race.

The sidepods of the SF15T do seem a little unusual, and there are some areas where the car does look like a more marked departure from the F14T (although they've kept the front pull rod concept, the geometry of the front suspension has changed markedly). As for the Sauber, the C34 seems like a fairly conservative car - not surprising given that Sauber have been burnt badly last year and are therefore probably taking a cautious approach to this year.

Wallio wrote:I like the Sauber, has a late '80s early '90s feel to it. It does make the car look very bulky though.

Like the Ferrari, very clean lines, but still too much black paint IMO. The Alfa logos are interesting, because isn't Ferrari an independent company now?

Not yet - Fiat have announced that they intend to separate Ferrari from the wider Fiat group, but that is not due to take place until later this year. Until that process is complete, Ferrari is still officially a subsidiary of Fiat.

Furthermore, even once Ferrari are listed on the NYSE, Fiat will still retain a controlling stake in the company - only 10% of the shares in Ferrari will be made public. Ferrari would technically be independent, but Fiat would still effectively control Ferrari given the size of their stock holding - it's therefore unlikely to actually have that much of an effect on the relationship between Fiat and Ferrari in the short term.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 30 Jan 2015, 21:40

andrew2209 wrote:That Sauber, with the white/black wings, does have a bit of a backmarker look to it.

They will likely be backmarkers anyway this year indeed.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 30 Jan 2015, 21:53

AustralianStig wrote:Adam Cooper is speculating that McLaren may be doing a 'placeholder' livery, and the actual new colours will be launched in Australia.

We can only hope.

Bring back red and white. Bring back orange. Heck, run a pink car for papa smurf!

Just, stop being so middle of the road.

I swear they said that last year

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 30 Jan 2015, 22:16

The Alfa logos on the Ferrari have replaced the Fiat ones, which have been on the cars since the mid 70s I believe. Quite a significant departure there really.

As for the Sauber, I'm with Barbazza on that - it looks incredible and is just set up to be completely and utterly rubbish and hopelessly off the pace. It's the sort of scheme, devoid of any real sponsors, that I'd have expected AGS or Coloni to have cooked up had they been around for another year! :lol:

More_Blue_Flags · Post by **More_Blue_Flags** » 30 Jan 2015, 22:32

F1000X wrote:
Shizuka wrote:

It's like when you hit the paint bucket tool instead of the pencil tool in MS-Paint.

That did make me laugh. My initial impression was along the lines of "oh, real colors rather than grey, that's nice", but the more I look at it I think that my three year old son could knock up something just as good using RowMan Gross-Gene's website at https://sites.google.com/site/carcoloringpages/home.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 30 Jan 2015, 23:25

More_Blue_Flags wrote:
F1000X wrote:
Shizuka wrote:

It's like when you hit the paint bucket tool instead of the pencil tool in MS-Paint.

That did make me laugh. My initial impression was along the lines of "oh, real colors rather than grey, that's nice", but the more I look at it I think that my three year old son could knock up something just as good using RowMan Gross-Gene's website at https://sites.google.com/site/carcoloringpages/home.

I think they designed it with Grand Prix Editor.

(It's an F1GP thing)

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 31 Jan 2015, 11:23

Overall the cars are looking better than last year I think. A little more pleasing to mine eye.

Also, where's the star of the show? Fashionably late I know, but does anybody have any news on if when Caterham are going to reveal their car for this season that they might will participate in?

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 31 Jan 2015, 12:54

They already have - it's called the CT05 and they showed it off a year ago. If Caterham (and/or Marussia) survive, they will need a special dispensation from the FIA to use their 2014 cars, which the FIA has already indicated that they are willing to provide.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 31 Jan 2015, 15:17

I'm sure Mclaren used a previous years car once at the start of the season, so they're in good company.

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 31 Jan 2015, 15:35

CoopsII wrote:I'm sure Mclaren used a previous years car once at the start of the season, so they're in good company.

In 2003 they used a slightly updated version of 2002 car

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 31 Jan 2015, 15:46

AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:
CoopsII wrote:I'm sure Mclaren used a previous years car once at the start of the season, so they're in good company.

In 2003 they used a slightly updated version of 2002 car

That must have been the year they couldn't get the MP4/19 to work, wasn't it?

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 31 Jan 2015, 16:03

dr-baker wrote:
AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:
CoopsII wrote:I'm sure Mclaren used a previous years car once at the start of the season, so they're in good company.

In 2003 they used a slightly updated version of 2002 car

That must have been the year they couldn't get the MP4/19 to work, wasn't it?

It was the MP4-18, but yes, that was the year. They still managed to do quite well, though.

Spectoremg · Post by **Spectoremg** » 31 Jan 2015, 16:09

McLaren used the MP4/6 (as the MP4/6B) pre-Brazil in '92.

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 31 Jan 2015, 16:16

And here's the all new (sic) Toro Rosso

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 31 Jan 2015, 16:28

Same colors since... 2011, right? Also, this navy nose is ugly. Why not cover it entirely with gold color?

Spectoremg · Post by **Spectoremg** » 31 Jan 2015, 17:00

Anyone else think there's going to be a nosecone complaint lodged on day one at Melbourne?

mediocre · Post by **mediocre** » 31 Jan 2015, 17:31

Dj_bereta wrote:Same colors since... 2011, right? Also, this navy nose is ugly. Why not cover it entirely with gold color?

Well, why would Toro Rosso change their livery? It's a Red Bull car, that's exactly what it's supposed to be.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 31 Jan 2015, 17:40

AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:And here's the all new (sic) Toro Rosso

Ahhhh much needed colours...

By the way, I expect Red Bull to scrap their usual livery for a green and gold livery. You know why...

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 31 Jan 2015, 19:07

Clock has been wound back to 1066 with that nosecone, reminds me of a broadsword!

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 31 Jan 2015, 19:28

sswishbone wrote:Clock has been wound back to 1066 with that nosecone, reminds me of a broadsword!

Crusaders style! I'd love to see some medievil art on a race car, though.

Post by **Ataxia** » 31 Jan 2015, 20:27

Apparently, Red Bull will be testing in Jerez with a black and white camouflage livery. It seems the best way to hide something is to draw a lot of attention to the fact you're trying to conceal it...

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 31 Jan 2015, 21:41

sswishbone wrote:Clock has been wound back to 1066 with that nosecone, reminds me of a broadsword!

It reminds me more of a tie.

"Sorry Sir, you can't come in here, you're not wearing a Toro Rosso!"

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 31 Jan 2015, 23:19

Massive airbox and tiny sidepods make for an interesting combination.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 01 Feb 2015, 06:17

all about that turbo intake!