F1 - 2016 Season

Then...

...and now, 40 years on. Red and white livery. And slimmer too.

Could it bring a little more luck?

Mike-B posted:

The 2016 driver line-up so far
The TBA list ....... 
Red Bull   Ricciardo   Kvyat (not confirmed yet)
Force India   Hulkenberg     Perez     (re-brand to Aston Martin rumoured)
Manor    Wehrlein      TBA    (candidates: Will Stevens, Alexander Rossi, Rio Hartyanto, Roberto Merhi)

Final Line-Up

Mercedes   Rosberg   Hamilton 
Ferrari   Vettel   Raikkonen
Red Bull   Ricciardo   Kvyat 
Williams   Bottas   Massa
McLaren-Honda   Alonso   Button 
Force India   Hulkenberg     Perez    
Toro Rosso    Verstappen    Sainz
Renault   Magnussen    Palmer 
Sauber   Ericsson   Nasr 
Manor    Wehrlein    Hartyanto 
Haas   Grosjean   Gutierrez

Sounds a bit Wacky Races...

I see from testing McLaren are still sh*t btw

Slightly less shit than last year though.

Button did far more laps yesterday that they did last year after ALL the pre season testing.

BigH47 posted:

Slightly less shit than last year though.

 

Button did far more laps yesterday that they did last year after ALL the pre season testing.

 

The packaging has been improved, it appears to reliable, and the new engine comes just before Australia. There is hope for considerable improvement.

Looks like hope is all they've got after 3 days, slowish times and now breakdowns and fires. Ron Dennis must be sharpening the knives already...

Mike-B posted:

Formula 1 bosses have agreed a dramatic overhaul of the qualifying format for the upcoming season intended to spice up the show.

 

But do we want a "spiced up show" or to "increase unpredictability" (second as reported on BBC). Surely the whole point is that we want the driver who is fastest / best on the day.  You are going to improve F1 by gimmicks and introducing random elements like this.

The best / most skilful driver in the best car should win.  That means there need to be opportunity to overtake, but the most skillful driver does include aspects such as managing the car/tires/fuel as well as strategic decisions such as when to come in for tyres.

Perhaps (thinking as I write) the radios should be one way ... The driver can talk to the team but not the other way round.  The driver has to make all their own decisions once out on track ... Judge when they need to come in for tyres, everything.

IMO give things time without knee jerk reactions and rule changes and others tend to catch up, whether they're chasing Ferrari, RBR, Mercedes or in past years McLaren and Williams, or even Lotus and Tyrrell! Certainly, with the exception of McLaren, testing seems to be showing some promise of competitiveness through the field...

It appears VW have ruled out entering F1... Mostly due to the uncertainty over rules and engines, etc.

I always had my doubts concerning the reliability of Diesel engines in F1. 

JamieWednesday posted:

Looks like hope is all they've got after 3 days, slowish times and now breakdowns and fires. Ron Dennis must be sharpening the knives already...

A very minor fire caused by a hydraulic leak. not sure what their testing plan is but car seems reasonably reliable engine wise and times so far they seem to have at least halved the deficit.

First sign of real ongoing trouble will be if Alonso leaves. 

Hmmmm...Just doesn't look good though does it?

Hopefully next week will see improvement. Right now they can't even count on beating Manor it seems

Everyone else there seems to have hit the ground running this year

Its hard to know whats going on with Honda,   this new engine is supposed to have 70bhp from the engine & an unbelievable 160bhp from the ERS - that kinda says the ERS wasn't doing anything on the 2015 engine.  But the Barca testing shows they have a lot of those horses missing if the speed trap numbers are an indicator.    Honda’s new #1 Yusuke Hasegawa, admitted reliability problems have not yet been sorted - thats an understatement -  but what about the promises of all that new power.

Yep. And if, as they say, all this tech is for the ultimate benefit of us private car users, then when I'm next around the showrooms I guess I'm just going to choose a new Ferrari rather than a Honda.

70 BHP more from engine!  

Unfortunately they are Jap BHPs, just hope they are better than their Watts in their amps. 

New qualifying format postponed until 5th race of the season. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35677549

It's funny how C4 is the new terrestrial channel, we're only a few weeks away from the start of the season and there hardly any F1 news at all on its website. Are they going to wait till the 5th race as well to start their official coverage of F1?

Here, apparently, is their live races for the year ahead.

Bahrain– 1st-3rdApril (4.00pm)

Spain– 13th-15th May (1.00pm)

Europe (Azerbaijan) – 17th-19th June (TBC)

Britain– 8th-10th July (1.00pm)

Hungary– 22nd-24th July (1.00pm)

Belgium– 26th-28th August (1.00pm)

Italy– 2nd-4th September (1.00pm)

Malaysia– 30th September-2nd October (8.00am)

Mexico – 28th-30th October (7.00pm)

Abu Dhabi– 25th-27th November (1.00pm)

I looked in vain for any C4 coverage of this week's testing. It doesn't look like they've caught up with themselves yet.  But since the alternative for me is Sky, there is no alternative.

What the eff do those halo's look like?  F1 is becoming far too risk averse and at this rate, from a distance, you're not going to be able to see an actual human being driving the thing.  Where will this end up?  Remote control F1 cars with the drivers sat round a big TV, PS4 controller each?  Every year they seem to dull the sport a little bit more.  Once upon a time it was on par with motorcycle road racing for sheer exhilaration, skill, bravery and excitement, but those days are well past now.

Contrast F1 with something like the Northwest 200 and it's polar opposites.  The guys riding those bikes have balls bigger than an F1 teams budget and many of them have real jobs and race for fun.  If you tried to get them to wear a big girls blouse safety ring on their bike they'd laugh in your face.

Hamilton has a point, make them optional.

Hmmm....Can't really see a problem with trying avoid drivers heads being taken off by flying debris. I suspect they'll come up with something more aesthetically pleasing for 2017.

I know where Lewis is coming from, though I suspect he wants cars that are more exciting and difficult to drive than dangerous. I don't think anyone really wants to go back to the racing fuel filled, collapsible tin cans of just a few decades back. Reverse engineering all those years of work by Stewart, Lauda et al would be a bad thing IMO.

Tony2011 posted:

I always had my doubts concerning the reliability of Diesel engines in F1. 

 

The true extent of VW engine emissions finally revealed...

G

The FIA approved the elimination-style qualifying format yesterday, starting from the first race in Australia.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...02#54504745983602302

Well. That didn't work then. Mercedes front row. Who'd have thought?

Started smurfing the net for the last part of Q3.

Lewis did well though didn't he?

A bit of life in McLaren which is nice

JamieWednesday posted:

Well. That didn't work then. Mercedes front row. Who'd have thought?

Started smurfing the net for the last part of Q3.

How about this for a qualifying format if you want some jeopardy and unpredictability: A series of 1 lap qualifier session.  So after everyone does 1 lap qualifier, 4 are eliminated.  Again 1 lap, 4 eliminated, etc. till you get to the final 4 competing for the first 4 places on the grid.

There is always a chance of a driver having a bad lap leaving them down the field, but has continual entertainment for the crowd.

Lewis did well though didn't he?

I agree... He's re-found his mojo... Was somewhere down the sofa with empty vodka bottles and that broken 12"...

A bit of life in McLaren which is nice

+1. Their performance vs the Torro Rosso (who won't be developing their engine throughtoughts the year) will be a good benchmark.

No results spoilers in case some haven't watched it yet but something for everyone there I think!

Well done safety design people...

He's a very lucky boy.