F1 Madness

Tag: pirelli

  • F1 2017: Bahrain Gp Review – Ferrari Win Again

    F1 2017: Bahrain Gp Review – Ferrari Win Again

    In pre-season testing all indications were that Ferrari had turned a significant corner. All indications were that Mercedes would finally, after three years of dominance, have a challenge on their hands. Despite this many couldn’t believe their eyes and were sure that Mercedes were sandbagging. But three races into the 2017 season have proven that pre-season testing was no fluke and that Ferrari are more than capable of challenging for the titles.

    Under the floodlights of the Sakhir International circuit Sebastian Vettel scored Ferrari’s second win in three races while Lewis Hamilton and polesitter Valtteri Bottas completed the top three. Bottas led cleanly off the line as Vettel got the jump on Hamilton and proceeded to stalk the back of the leading Mercedes for the duration of his first stint. The Ferrari’s ability to stick as close as it does to the car in front is a significant revelation of the strength of its aerodynamic package. Contrastingly, several others drivers including Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have deemed it impossible to follow closely in their cars.

    While Vettel was able to stick close it was clear that he lacked the ultimate edge to overtake Bottas. It is at this point that Ferrari called Mercedes’ bluff by diving into the pitlane first. Here, unlike in China, Vettel was able to make the undercut work and with fresh tyres set a handful of laptimes appreciably quicker than both Mercs and took over the lead of the race. Mercedes had been caught out by Ferrari’s aggressive strategy and seemed flustered by it.

    Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. Sunday 16 April 2017. World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images ref: Digital Image _W6I2713

    It wasn’t long after the first round of pitstops that Max Verstappen suffered a brake failure, which ended his race. Soon after a coming together of Williams’ Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz brought out the safety car for only the third time in the history of the Bahrain grand prix. Merc were genuinely rattled too. As they attempted to service both Bottas and Hamilton on the same lap the latter was given a five second penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly at the entrance to the pitlane. Ultimately, Hamilton finished roughly seven seconds off Vettel with Bottas trailing home in a disconsolate third after being instructed to give way to his teammate twice. In fairness, Hamilton was closing on Bottas at a rate of two seconds per lap and the pass would’ve been inevitable.

    Meanwhile, despite an expected brake-by-wire issue Kimi Raikkonen showed a better turn of pace in the second half of the race and finished fourth. Perplexingly, the Ferrari pitwall again botched the Finn’s strategy by leaving him out for too long. Nevertheless, it is quickly becoming clear that unless Raikkonen wants to be considered the second driver within the team it’s about time that he start unlocking the promise of his Ferrari.

    1135In fifth Daniel Ricciardo had a fairly anonymous race as he trailed home nearly forty seconds adrift. Felipe Massa finished a solid sixth for Williams ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, in seventh, and Haas’ Romain Grosjean in eighth. In the Renault Nico Hulkenberg scored two points for ninth while Esteban Ocon finished tenth for a third consecutive time in the Force India.

    It was nearly impossible to imagine that McLaren’s situation could get any worse, but it has. Not only did Stoffel Vandoorne not make the start of the race but also Fernando Alonso retired on the final lap with an “engine problem”. The announcement that Alonso will skip the Monaco Gp in favour of the Indy 500 seems the only bit of good news for the embattled team at the moment.

    As Seb Vettel now leads the driver championship by seven points its clear that the 2017 season is primed for a battle royale between the prancing horses and the silver arrows which takes up again in Russia in two weeks time.

  • F1 2017: Chinese Gp Preview – China Set For Mercedes Reaction

    F1 2017: Chinese Gp Preview – China Set For Mercedes Reaction

    From the quaint streets of the Albert Park circuit in Australia the Formula 1 paddock heads the grand architecture of the Shanghai International circuit in China for the second round of the 2017 season.

    Remarkably, F1’s latest visit to China marks the 14th year that the Shanghai circuit has been on the calendar. There is a bit of history about the circuit too. Its inaugural race in 2004 was won by then Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and in 2006 Michael Schumacher scored what would be his 91st and final victory. A year later Kimi Raikkonen’s win in changeable conditions would set up an unlikely championship triumph while, in 2012, the Chinese grand prix was also the very first race win for the reigning champion Nico Rosberg.

    Nevertheless, while these stats and victories remain firmly in the history books the 2017 crop arrives with what is still very much an era in its infancy. While Ferrari has won the first race of the season the Shanghai International circuit demands a far different type of car performance. For one, this circuit is far more front limited which means that a car will need to work well with its front tyres to set competitive lap times. The tyres too will be tested more than in Australia as the Chinese circuit is far more abrasive.

    Tyre wear may prove to be a significant factor, especially for Mercedes. It was this issue that Lewis Hamilton singled out as the reason for his defeat by Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari. What’s more, in Australia it was clear that Mercedes W08 is not as comfortable following other cars as the Ferrari appears to be which, by itself, can substantially influence tyre degradation and wear.

    Driver tyre choices for Chinese Grand PrixHowever, these aren’t the only issues Mercedes are facing and the team has admitted that it needs to reduce the weight of its 2017 car. An overweight car not only costs lap time but also takes away the teams ability to position ballast in the car to aid handling. What’s more, Haas team principal Guenter Steiner thinks that Ferrari’s 2017 power unit might be on a par with than that of Mercedes, if not better. The make up of the Chinese circuit, which includes several high speed corners, and long straits, will be a good test of Steiner’s theory.

    But by no means is Mercedes ruled out of taking the top step of podium this weekend. The prediction of fairly low temperatures for the race weekend will be in their favour as cooler condition will mean less overheating of their tyres. But they’ll have to work hard if they are to withstand the threat of Ferrari. For Red Bull the fight is highly unlikely to be for the podium considering the deficit of the Renault engine to that of Mercedes and Ferrari.

    Shanghai_F1_Circui_01Several critics have railed about the difficultly of overtaking in 2017. The detractors felt vindicated by the overall lack of overtaking in Australia but Albert Park, as a semi-street circuit, is not the best barometer in this case. While the jury is still out in what is still a fairly immature point of the season the Shanghai International circuit, thanks to its two long straits, will offer more overtaking opportunities. It will not be definitive but it will begin to reveal how easy or difficult overtaking will be in 2017.

    Since the start of the hybrid era in 2014 Mercedes have been an unstoppable juggernaut only rarely tripped up by themselves. In these three years the world has witnessed how the Mercedes team runs and conducts itself as the dominant force. At the start of 2017 they are by no means down and out but are, at the very least, perceived to be ever so slightly on the back foot. Therefore, it will be fascinating to observe how they respond.

  • F1 2017: Australian Gp Review – Ferrari On Top Down Under

    F1 2017: Australian Gp Review – Ferrari On Top Down Under

    For the first time since the hybrid era started in Formula 1 a team other than Mercedes is leading the world championship. That team is Ferrari and the driver is Sebastian Vettel.

    It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that a Ferrari claimed the top step of podium as all signs in testing pointed to the fact that the Italian team had built a good car. While not too surprising, it was a breath of fresh air. Consider how refreshing it is to have a red car cross the finish line when you take into account that this is the Ferrari victory since the 2015 Singapore grand prix and the first time since November 2008 that Ferrari has led the constructor’s championship.

    It was a measured start to the grand prix that Lewis Hamilton led into turn one from pole position with Vettel in close attendance. There was however a coming together of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber a bit later in the lap. While the rest of the pack sorted themselves out Vettel was glued to the back of the Mercedes exhaust, this time Hamilton wasn’t simply scampering off into the distance.

    1169This meant while Hamilton could control the front of the race he couldn’t run at too conservative a pace. This meant that Hamilton was not able to extend the life of the ultrasoft tyres and was forced into the pitlane ahead of the Ferrari. This gave Vettel the impetuous to push ahead and take the lead of the race.

    Hamilton’s early visit to the pits came a surprise too many as the new-for-2017 pirelli tyres have a much long lifespan than their 2016 counterparts. Nevertheless, the three-time champ emerged behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and was stuck behind the Dutchman for a handful of laps while Vettel pulled away up front.

    Mercedes, and Hamilton, would have you believe that this is where the race was lost but Verstappen didn’t play as big a role. Firstly, Hamilton dived into the pitlane because he’d exhausted the tyres and was losing grip. Secondly, while he did lose a few seconds behind Verstappen he wasn’t stuck behind him for the remainder of the race, in fact, it wasn’t even half distance yet. The simple fact is that the Mercedes just didn’t have the pace to beat the Ferrari.

    Post-race Hamilton bemoaned the inability to overtake Verstappen. Given the unique characteristics of Albert Park it’s not yet clear whether overtaking in 2017 will be more difficult. Shangai, in two weeks time, should be a better barometer. But again, this didn’t seem like a valid point as several other drivers pulled of overtakes, including a stunning double-overtake from Force India’s Esteban Ocon on Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg. But we’ve seen before that the Merc isn’t a car that runs as efficiently as others in dirty air, and it seems, at least from Australia that it’s an issue that haven’t gotten on top yet.

    1142Valtteri Bottas impressed with his performance in third only two seconds off Hamilton. Ideally he’ll want to be ahead but he’ll take a lot of confidence from the margin to his teammate in only his first race with the team. Kimi Raikkonen came home a distant fourth and said that understeer in the first stint on the ultrasoft tyres put him in no-mans land. But when he swithced to the soft tyre he was able to run the pace of the top three and set the fastest lap of the race. Was fourth ideal? No, but the important thing is that Raikkonen and the team indicated that they knew where they’d gone wrong on the set-up and know what to fix for China in two weeks time.

    Max Verstappen, in fifth, brought the Red Bull home in a predictable position given the team’s pace. Daniel Ricciardo never recovered from a qualifying crash as he first broke down on the lap to the grid then joined the race two laps down only to break down again.

    Verstappen, in fifth, ended up pretty much where you’d have predicted for Red Bull. The unretired Felipe Massa was sixth for Williams ahead of the Force India of Sergio Perez and the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz in seventh and eighth. Daniil Kvyat was ninth in the other Toro Rosso ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Force India in tenth.

    1166It was a day to forget for McLaren as Stoffel Vandoorne finished last and Fernando Alonso retired with suspension failure. What is evident for the Honda-powered team is that 2017 will be another painfully long season.

    After Friday practice Hamilton was crowned champion at least seventeen different times and Ferrari had no chance of even getting close to the Mercedes. Just as it was premature to write off Ferrari after Friday it is equally unwise to declare them the team to beat after one race. It’s a new formula with a lot of room for improvement throughout the season. Even if a team dominates the first races it doesn’t mean that they will be the team to beat at the end of the year. The learning curve on these cars will be enormous.

    But Ferrari’s victory is no fluke, or once-off, the SF-70H is a good car that has every possibility of taking the fight to Mercedes through all of the nineteen remaining races.

  • Australian Gp Preview: F1 2017 Finally Comes To Life

    Australian Gp Preview: F1 2017 Finally Comes To Life

    The wait for the 2017 Formula 1 season is nearly over as it heads into the first round at Australia’s Albert Park circuit.

    This weekend one of the most dramatic overhauls of F1 regulations will finally come to life as the battle commences for the 2017 championship. From a purely visual perspective the wider tyres and different aerodynamic layout of the cars present a rather different, but appealing, new look to Formula 1. They will be much faster too and may be up to five seconds a lap quicker than their predecessors.

    With the new era comes a change in several sporting regulations too. For the tyres Pirelli have attempted to provide more durability so as to allow drivers to push harder for longer before it begins to degrade. Whether this will have a detrimental effect on strategy, cutting down on the number of stops, remains to be seen.

    Should it rain Down Under the race will longer start behind a safety-car. Instead, the safety-car will take the field around the track until it is deemed safe to re-start in which case the cars will line up on the grid for a standing start. Further, the launch off the grid has been tightened up where it concerns the clutch. It’s now up to the driver to find the correct bite point, without any pre-programmed settings, and to ensure the best start without getting wheelspin or bogging down the engine.

    TEST F1/2017 - T2 SPAGNAThe eight days of running, across two sessions of testing, suggested that the top three teams might be the closest they’ve been since the start of the hybrid era. Lewis Hamilton has been on record calling Ferrari the favourite. Race drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen shied away from such declarations but there is no denying that the Scuderia have made an impressive step forward. So impressive in fact that it is likely the team to beat in Australia. But they aren’t buying into the hype though as Ferrari president, Sergio Marcionne, has insisted that Mercedes are still ahead.

    For their part Mercedes have announced that it will be running a second, upgraded, specification of engine in Australia. While reports are that it would’ve been introduced later on because of reliability concerns to the timetable has been moved up. There could be several reasons for this but the likelihood is that Mercedes is feeling slightly nervous about the Ferrari hence the early introduction.

    What is a fact is that both Ferrari and Mercedes were sandbagging at different times during testing in Spain and the true pace of both cars will only be revealed in Saturday’s qualifying session.

    2017 Barcelona Pre-Season Test 2, Day 2 - Steve EtheringtonAlong with Ferrari and Mercedes, Red Bull are tipped to be part of the front-running group the true pace of the RB13 is the biggest mystery of the top three teams. While Renault has made impressive progressive with its 2017 power unit it is still behind the Mercedes and Ferrari. Despite this, given the street-like layout of Albert Park, Red Bull is very much the dark horse. While they are well capable of springing a surprise with all things being equal it’s unlikely to be for the top step of the podium.

    As part street-track with a layout comprised, mostly, of medium speed corners, the Albert Park circuit is an outlier on the calendar that is unlikely to present the truest representation of the pecking order in 2017. Nevertheless, at the end of it there will be twenty-five important points and it is the first step of a 2017 season in which it seems that there might finally be a three-horse race.

  • Vettel Ends His Pre-Season Testing Top of the Time Sheets

    Vettel Ends His Pre-Season Testing Top of the Time Sheets

    Sebastian Vettel topped the timing sheets for Ferrari on the penultimate day of testing before the start of the 2017 season.

    The session before lunch was topped by Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel who set a time of 1:19:024 on a set of the purple marked ultra softy tyres. However, what was eye-catching about the German’s time was the manner in which he set it. Twice on his approach to the start/finish line he deliberately lifted off the throttle making his time significantly slower than it would’ve been. There could be several reasons for this approach but most point to Ferrari wanting to disguise their true pace ahead of the season-opener in Australia.

    Mercedes had another good day with 147 laps between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton was 2nd fastest just a little over three tenths down on Vettel’s time. Hamilton also setting his time on the ultra soft tyres. Taking over in the afternoon was Bottas who completed 95 laps before calling it a day.

    It was not a smooth start to the day for Toro Rosso who suffered with technical issues in the morning session. But things looked much more encouraging in the afternoon session and Daniil Kvyat was able to put in some good times and his fastest time of 1:20.416 earned him 4th fastest.

    Quietly going about their business was the Haas team with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel of the VF-17. Magnussen set the 5th fastest time of the day and completed a very respectable 119 laps. Finishing behind Haas on the day was Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull who seemed somewhat off the pace today. Red Bull have put the pace down to setup. Despite the slow pace Ricciardo completed 128 laps in the RB13.

    There were yet more woes for McLaren as Stoffel Vandoorne ground to halt and brought out the red flag. The Belgian’s stoppage wasn’t crash related but it was an electrical issue. This comes merely a day after Alonso fingered Honda as the villain in McLaren’s 2017 story. Vandoorne manage to complete 48 laps before the chequered flag and finished 7th fastest.

    Both Sauber drivers were out in the car once again today with Pascal Wehrlein 9th fastest and Marcus Ericsson 11th fastest. Between the the Sauber drivers was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer in 10th.

    The two Williams drivers finished 11th and 12th with Felipe Massa ahead of rookie Lance Stroll. Williams concentrated on race simulations and long run tyre evaluation. They had a very good day of running and between the two drivers completed 165 laps.

     

  • F1 2017: Official Testing Day 2 Wrap-Up

    F1 2017: Official Testing Day 2 Wrap-Up

    Official testing entered its second day ahead of the start of the 2017 Formula 1 season.

    Three time champion Lewis Hamilton set the early morning pace with a quickest time of 1:20:983 on the red-walled Supersoft Pirelli compound tyres. It was a another difficult day for McLaren as this time Stoffel Vandoorne saw his running curtailed by engine/power unit issues. The McLaren team was forced to change the engine which cost several hours. Vandoorne managed to get back out and completed 40 laps before calling it a day.

    Meanwhile, Canadian rookie Lance Stroll stepped into the cockpit of the Williams for his first official day of testing but binned the FW40 shortly afterwards. While the driver walked away unscathed from the relatively minor crash the team announced an early end to their day’s running as they had no spare parts for the car. Stroll completed a total of twelve laps.

     

    “It is still early days and I have only done a handful of laps,” said Stroll.

    “I am just getting to grips with the FW40, and there is still a lot of time ahead of us. It was good to finally get behind the wheel to just get a feel for it.

    “Like I said, it is still early days, so I need to do a lot more running before I know exactly where I am and where the car is at. I will have a much better picture once we have more laps under our belts, but it was good to break the ice and I am looking forward to some more running.”

    Elsewhere, Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen racked up a century of laps and a solid day of run for the American team. The dane ended the days running in fourth with a total of 118 laps under the belt. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed his running in third with 89 laps on the board.

    It was a slow start for Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi on his first outing for Sauber. He sat out most of the morning session with a power unit issue. The Sauber team were able to replace the engine and get him out for an installation lap just before the lunch break. He was back out after lunch and completed 67 laps in the Sauber C36.

     

    “It was a positive day for me, despite the issues we had in the morning,” said Giovinazzi.

    “In the afternoon I was able to get up to speed running a good amount of laps. I want to thank the Sauber F1 Team again for this opportunity. Now I am looking forward to being back in the car tomorrow.”

    Later in the afternoon Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen set the quickest lap of the day. His lap of 1:20:960 was set on the yellow-walled soft tyre. Reports were that Raikkonen was not feeling entirely healthy but the Finn nevertheless completed 108 laps for the day.

    Valtteri Bottas took over from teammate Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon and ran several race simulation stints in the W08. The Finnish driver clocked 102 laps by the end of the afternoon.

     

  • F1 2017: Official Testing Day 1 Wrap-Up

    F1 2017: Official Testing Day 1 Wrap-Up

    The first official day of testing commenced at Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya on Monday.

    The eagerly awaited first day of testing got off to an expected slow start as the new cars trickled out of their respective garages to set the first installations laps. First out on circuit was Renault’s RS17 but the rest quickly followed suit.

    The first red flag of the testing session was brought out by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who parked his brand-new RB13 at turn 3. Nevertheless, before the stoppage Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas had set a quickest time in the 1:24s with a set of Pirelli’s new medium compound tyre.

    This time was soon eclipsed by Sebastian Vettel who put the Ferrari on top of the timing sheets with a 1:23:560. The Ferrari and Mercedes teams easily set the most number of laps in the opening morning of testing. Meanwhile, gremlins struck in the McLaren garage as Fernando Alonso’s car developed an oil system problem. The team estimated a four to five hour period to get to the bottom of the issue.

    McLaren’s problems with their engine seem like a repeat of last years testing and was summed up by AutoSport’s Gary Anderson rather eloquently.

    “It’s not good news for McLaren-Honda to be sat in the garage chasing some kind of oil system problem. The engines coming to this test should all be test-bench run and where the engine connects up to the system of the car should be bulletproof. Using the excuse that this is testing and things will go wrong is rubbish because you only have eight days and you need to hit the ground running. Losing a big part of a day is time you will never recover, and by the time the McLaren runs again, most of its rivals will have built up a lot of mileage. We’ve seen a lot of finger problems for McLaren and Honda during the past few years, and maybe this is the same again. Not a good start to testing.”

     

    The second half of the day was more productive for the teams that were off to a slow start in the mornings.

    McLaren changed the engine in the MCL32 and sent Alonso out on track for a few laps and to catch on on some running he missed during the morning. Alonso ended his day with 14 laps on the board with a fastest time of 1:24.852.

     

    Ricciardo was the first one to emerge from the pits after the lunch break and Red Bull were able to get going with their testing program and managed to complete 50-laps before the end of the day. Ricciardo’s fastest lap put him 5th fastest on the day with a time of 1:22.926.

    Mercedes topped the time sheets at the end of the day and had the highest tally of completed laps on the day. Lewis Hamilton jumped into the car after lunch and set the fastest time of the day of 1:21.765. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the second fastest with a 1:21.878. Vettel completed 128 laps and will welcome a day’s rest when Kimi Raikkonen takes over testing duties on Tuesday.

     

    After a brief retirement, Felipe Massa completed 103 laps on his return. He set the 3rd fastest time of the day with a time of 1:22.706.

    With limited running, Sergio Perez completed 39 laps for Force India and finished the day 7th fastest ahead of Carlos Sainz who was 8th fastest on the day. ON his first outing for Renault, Nico Hulkenberg set the 9th fastest time of the day completing 57 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya.

    Compared to last year the times are already much quicker and are set to become faster as testing goes on. The times have almost no meaning at this point. The objective for the teams is to get as much mileage on the cars during these few days as possible and learn as much about the car as they can. Engineers will be pouring over the data and will be ready with new setup parameters tomorrow

     

  • Red Bull, Haas, and Toro Rosso Launch 2017 Challengers

    Red Bull, Haas, and Toro Rosso Launch 2017 Challengers

    No less than three Formula 1 teams launched their 2017 challengers on the 26th of February.

    On the eve of the commencement of official testing in Barcelona, Spain Red Bull Racing, Haas F1, and Scuderia Toro Rosso took the opportunity to launch their new-for-2017 F1 cars.

    Red Bull Racing’s RB13

    Red Bull was first out of the gate with a short and sweet pre-recorded clip released on several social media sites. The premise of Red Bull’s launch video centered on superstition as 2017 car is the 13th built by the Austrian team. The RB13 retains, mostly, the same livery as in 2016 with subtle changes including a bit more red than is normally present. Nevertheless, the matte finish, introduced, in 2016 has been maintained for the new season. Along with the launch of the RB13 the team touted a new hashtag playing up the connotations of the number 13.

    “We are like a swan on the surface and paddling furiously underneath but that is the same as every preseason so generally we are on target,” said Team Principal Christian Horner.

    Chief Engineering Officer Rob Marshall said: “The car is expected to be between three and five seconds a lap faster and most of that gain will come through cornering speeds where the increased downforce on the car will mean the car will go around the corners quicker.”

     

    Haas F1 Launches the VF-17

    VF17_RIGHT_FRONT_TQA day after filming day pictures were leaked on Twitter, the Haas Formula One team launched their 2017 contender the VF-17.

    In their second year in Formula 1 and their first rule change, the Haas F1 team had a monumental task ahead of them in developing their 2017 car.

    After starting very well in 2016 their season tapered off and although picking up some points they did not finish the 2016 season as strongly as they started.

    The 2017 car with some major changes seems promising for the Kanapolis based team in their mid field fight.

    “I think the pedal box is the same, but all the rest is very different from last year’s car,” said Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas F1.

    “You always try to make a faster car, which is normally a lighter car. Now we can put on more ballast and get better weight distribution.

    “The aero is completely new, as are the tires, so we needed to have some built-in adjustability.

    “Aesthetically, the car has a more aggressive look. It’s lighter and more aerodynamically efficient. Everything we learned from our first car has been applied to our new car.”

     


    Scuderia Toro Rosso’s STR12

    Toro Rosso was the last team to launch their car for the 2017 season. The launch took place at the Circuit de Catalunya a day before the first day of the pre-season test.

    Toro Rosso unveiled their new car the STR12 with a striking new blue and chrome livery. We at F1Madness think that this is the best livery from all the teams.

    Speaking about the new car, Technical Director James Key says that the 2017 rule changes are the biggest changes he’s seen on a car that he can remember.

    “In my 20 years in F1 it’s the biggest chassis change I can remember,” said James Key.

    “In ’98 the narrow track had just arrived and there were various tweaks up to 2009, when a larger change occurred, but other than the front wing it was still based around principles that we knew. These rules however, include a track change, significantly different tyres and a new aero regulation as well.

    “From a chassis point of view it’s all encompassing with a lot of new things to learn.”

    Key believes that teams now have more aerodynamic freedom with car development this season.

    “It’s nice to have a bit more freedom. We probably haven’t had as many aerodynamic tools to play with since 2008, But then the rules tightened up in 2009 and even further in 2014. Now, some freedom has returned and that’s a great challenge for the aero department.”

    Toro Rosso are expecting more this year after switching to Renault Power Units and feel that after last years turn around they can finish higher in the points this season.

     

  • F1 2017: Ferrari Launch SF-70H

    F1 2017: Ferrari Launch SF-70H

    The Ferrari Formula 1 team has launched its car for the 2017 Formula 1 season, the SF70-H.

    Ferrari is celebrating its 70th year which is commemorated in the naming of their latest Formula 1 challenger. The video, streamed live on Facebook and the team’s website, laster roughly five minutes. The start of the video depicted the assembly of the car at the team’s Marnello factory. Further, the video depicted every single seater racer car built by the Italian mark before lifting the garage door on the 2017 car at Fiorano. The livery reveals that Ferrari has chosen to return to all red livery in 2017.

    On hand at the presentation, decked out in the 2017 gear, were team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, chief technical officer Mattia Binotto, and race drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

    From the brief view of the car during the live stream, and the images released it appears as if Ferrari has opted to, initially, run with a type of thinner wing in front of the main rear wing. In addition, the Ferrari nose is also sporting a stub-nose design already seen on several other 2017 cars. Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari’s SF70-H has a prevalent shark-fin engine cover as well as narrow side pod air intakes.

    The car will hit the Fiorano circuit later today to complete a few laps as part of a filming day.

    The SF-70H: 

  • F1 2017: Mercedes Launch W08

    F1 2017: Mercedes Launch W08

    The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team has launched its 2017 challenger, the WO8, ahead of the 2017 Formula 1 season.

    Ahead of the official online launch of Mercedes’ car its drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas put the new car through its paces at the Silverstone racetrack. However, the event was not an official test but rather a filming day for publicity purposes.

    “The car feels wider, the front tires feel huge,” said Hamilton of his first impression. “It’s a big day for me. I’ve been waiting for this moment,” added new signing Valtteri Bottas.

    Immediately noticeable is the streamlined shark fin engine cover that the Merc is sporting. It is believed however that the team will run a larger version of the cover at official testing. Also noticeable are a pair of vents on the front of the car, ahead of the side pods. The nose of the car appears more rounded than its 2016 predecessor with the German team shying away from the snub-nose design already sported by Williams, Sauber, and Renault.

    There is also the addition of more turquoise into the livery of the car. Toto Wolff revealed that it is due to Mercedes’ new brand, Electric Intellegence, which will also be adapted to suit road cars.

    What’s more is that earlier in the day Mercedes customer team Force India’s technical director Andy Green believes that the Mercedes engine has moved even further ahead than it was last year. “Mercedes HPP [High Performance Powertrains] have done a fantastic job over the winter and made another unprecedented step. It is impressive.”

    Before the conclusion of the official online launch Toto Wolff had some words of wisdom for new driver Valtteri Bottas ahead of his first time in the cockpit of a Silver Arrow. “It has an aura, the car stands for a lot of history for Mercedes Benz,” he said.

    Testing officially starts at Spain’s circuit de Catalunya on the 27th of February.