The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
- Ataxia
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The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Sauber: 20th Feb
Renault: 21st Feb
Force India: 22nd Feb
Mercedes: 23rd Feb
Ferrari: 24th Feb
McLaren: 24th Feb
Red Bull: 26th Feb
Toro Rosso: 26th Feb
Haas: 26th Feb
Williams: TBA
There's also been a few bits and pieces in the news:
- James Allison will join Mercedes to take the technical director role vacated by Paddy Lowe.
- Pascal Wehrlein's been ruled out of the first pre-season test after sustaining an injury in the Race of Champions. Antonio Giovinazzi will drive in lieu of Wehrlein for Sauber in Barcelona.
Mitch Hedberg wrote:I want to be a race car passenger: just a guy who bugs the driver. Say man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down. Why do we gotta keep going in circles? Man, you really like Tide...
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
CoopsII wrote:I take it all the launches are the now standard cover-pulled-from-car-outside-garage-um-here-it-is-then-we-hope-it-doesn't-break-down-when-we-start-it-um-thanks-for-coming sort of affairs? I actually prefer them to all those showy ones from days of yore.
The majority look like they are effectively along those lines - most teams have arranged for their cars to be unveiled at a circuit (for example, Sauber are in Barcelona) so they can unveil it in the pit lane and then immediately head into a shakedown session, which is probably not surprising given the reasonably large changes to the cars this season.
The only teams that look like they might have a more elaborate show event would be Renault and McLaren, and in both instances it is not surprising - both of those teams are keen to rebuild their public image (particularly the latter in light of Ron's dismissal), so it is not surprising that they are opting for larger events.
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
WeirdKerr wrote:Is it March yet?
I don't think there's been a March in F1 for around 25 years...
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
First things I notice:
-Only a small fin, unlike the Manor wind tunnel model
-The tight rear packaging, typical for Williams
-Larger airbox
-Did the nosecone change at all?


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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!

Hell, the 2015 Williams looked much better in my opinion.
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Rob Dylan wrote:Mercedes paying homage to the other W12 chassis by breaking down 30 minutes in
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Aislabie wrote:That front wing has HOW many tiers of aero?
Exactly. Sure the rules answer we need is limiting the number of front wing elements to 2 or 3?
Klon wrote:more liek Nick Ass-idy amirite?
- Ataxia
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Aislabie wrote:That front wing has HOW many tiers of aero?
Shorter wing chord lengths help to keep the airflow attached across a wing, meaning you can run more extreme wing camber collectively compared to just one or two flaps. It also helps you manage your vortex structures more effectively as you reduce the chance of the wing stalling.
If you have just one flap at a high angle, the airflow's just gonna say "lol no" and drift away from the underside, meaning your downforce output and flow elsewhere is terrible. Modern front wings must direct flow to the places where you need it more effectively, and with the larger track width it will have to work harder to direct vorticity around the tyres.
Miguel98 wrote:It's a pile of shite, and honestly, makes the FIA - or confirms, rather - that they are idiots. The car is virtually a 2016 car except for the rear portion of the car. Of course, it'll be faster. But it's not better looking.
What were you expecting? The new regs never advertised that much of a departure from the previous ruleset, just slightly different shaped components. Teams aren't going to radically change their development path just for the sake of "looking a bit more futuristic".
Regardless, the picture hides a lot. We'll have a FAR better idea of the effect of the new regulations when we see the real thing instead of a rendering.
Anyway, I'm glad teams are controlling their wheel wake/squirt with the curved RWEPs, they look pretty cool. Sidepods look tidy also.
Mitch Hedberg wrote:I want to be a race car passenger: just a guy who bugs the driver. Say man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down. Why do we gotta keep going in circles? Man, you really like Tide...
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
- Ataxia
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Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
CoopsII wrote:My attention to F1 isn't what it was but I was sure we were told to expect radically different cars this season? Fatter tyres etc. Or was that supposed to be next season?
You'll notice the difference out on-track.

Mitch Hedberg wrote:I want to be a race car passenger: just a guy who bugs the driver. Say man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down. Why do we gotta keep going in circles? Man, you really like Tide...
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
Ataxia wrote:Aislabie wrote:That front wing has HOW many tiers of aero?
Shorter wing chord lengths help to keep the airflow attached across a wing, meaning you can run more extreme wing camber collectively compared to just one or two flaps. It also helps you manage your vortex structures more effectively as you reduce the chance of the wing stalling.
If you have just one flap at a high angle, the airflow's just gonna say "lol no" and drift away from the underside, meaning your downforce output and flow elsewhere is terrible. Modern front wings must direct flow to the places where you need it more effectively, and with the larger track width it will have to work harder to direct vorticity around the tyres.Miguel98 wrote:It's a pile of shite, and honestly, makes the FIA - or confirms, rather - that they are idiots. The car is virtually a 2016 car except for the rear portion of the car. Of course, it'll be faster. But it's not better looking.
What were you expecting? The new regs never advertised that much of a departure from the previous ruleset, just slightly different shaped components. Teams aren't going to radically change their development path just for the sake of "looking a bit more futuristic".
Regardless, the picture hides a lot. We'll have a FAR better idea of the effect of the new regulations when we see the real thing instead of a rendering.
Anyway, I'm glad teams are controlling their wheel wake/squirt with the curved RWEPs, they look pretty cool. Sidepods look tidy also.
I do agree that, whilst there has been an expectation of wildly different cars for 2017, a lot of teams will probably introduce an initial car that is more of an evolution of their 2016 cars.
Mind you, the initial feeling is that Williams probably have deliberately modified the renders to make the cars look a lot more like the 2016 car than is likely to be the case, with the teams likely to hold back on at least some of their aero components until later on in the testing season.
The area around the bargeboards, for example, is extremely simplified when compared to the 2016 cars (despite the stricter regulations for the 2016 cars on aero elements in that area), suggesting that Williams are hiding something; similarly, the floor of the car looks like it has had most of the aero elements removed from it as an intentional act. Ataxia is right that we probably won't see huge differences, but at the same time Williams are probably intentionally exaggerating the resemblance to their 2016 car.
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
Re: The Pre-Season Thread: launches, tests and all the rest!
https://albrodpulf1.wordpress.com/2016/ ... la-1-2017/

1. wider pirellis (they measure the tread width up from 245 to 305) and wider track (longer suspension arms etc)
2. longer nose to compensate for the wider front wing with the 12.5° sweep back.
Seriously.. all these "Renders" by these so-called artists were/are crap, cos they hyped it up so much.. it's not funny.. the FIA are very tight with the regs this year.. Smedley pointed it out too