F1- 2018 Season.

New regs for 2018 ............. the big ones are ............. 

Engine Allowance for the season is 3,  this is 1 less than the 2017 allowance.   It means 1 less chance for teams to introduce significant power unit upgrades.   

Grid penalties are simplified,  no more multiple grid drops,  in 2018 drivers who have a grid penalty of 15 places or more will start from the back of the grid.    

Tyre Compounds have added 2 more & 2018 will have 7 dry compounds plus the same 2 wets .   The new 7 compounds are;  hypersoft (pink), ultrasoft (purple), supersoft (red), soft (yellow), medium (white), hard (blue), superhard (orange).  

Technical Details:    A lot of fine detail & too many to mention,  but the main headlines are:   

No more shark-fins & T-wings.  These were a loophole development in 2017,  the 2018 regs has closed the loophole.  

Driver protection halo – intended to add driver safety in the event of an accident & deflect debris away from the head.

No more 'trick' suspension systems that changed ride height according to steering angle to improve a car’s aerodynamic performance.

Thanks for the info.Tony and Mike, am going to put those dates on my calendar so will know when and where races will be held.

ayap1

My man at Merc says that there is a significant amount of change to their car, far more than you would expect from apparently limited number of changes in regs. Been working flat out on it for months, aero and engine.

Hass and Williams have unveiled their cars for 2018.

Meanwhile, RedBull could have the best camouflaged Halo if this mock design is anything to go by.

Ok, so this is the new Red Bull car. I was not expecting that.

Good to see AM back in the sport. Well, sort of....

Is the central stanchion on the halo not an obstacle in itself?

G

Tony2011 posted:

Good to see AM back in the sport. Well, sort of....

As I understand it they are interested in the proposed 2021 engine technology.  Unfortunately my AM contact has moved on to pastures new so I don't get the inside info,  but high tech car & engine development is a small world around that area.  

Do you think the racing will be any better, i.e. more competition for the top places, this year Mike?

Who can say Fred, I hope so.   However I suspect the closer/better competion will be a closing up in the 2nd rank rather than an outright challenge to Mercedes, Ferrari & RB.   I expect this will bring some new faces on the occasional podium, fingers crossed for McL,  Williams need something better than last year,  I wouldn’t be surprised to see another “financial” casualty 

New Sauber revealed now, which looks a whole lot different from last year's car (and not just the colour scheme either, which in itself is a belter).

Mike-B posted:

However I suspect the closer/better competion will be a closing up in the 2nd rank rather than an outright challenge to Mercedes, Ferrari & RB.  

Do you think that McLaren might be up there along RedBull (given the same engine and the high regard their car was held in last year - engine excepted of course)?

Right now, every team seems to be saying they’ve made big strides over last year.

At face value then, still expect title to be between Mercedes and Ferrari with RB as best of the rest. Though my Merc chum has remarked how agressive RB have been this time around, which might explain why Danny Ric stuffed it into the barrier on press day...

New engines in McLaren and Sauber may improve those two by a larger measure than the others to put them more firmly in midfield mix but I suspect may take at least a little while to bed in.

Perhaps we can make a better guess next week but in reality will have to wait until Oz I think.

I sincerely hope, in case of an accident, the halo does not cause further obstruction in saving a driver’s life by denying fast access to the cockpit. 

Eloise posted:

Mike-B posted:

However I suspect the closer/better competion will be a closing up in the 2nd rank rather than an outright challenge to Mercedes, Ferrari & RB.  

Do you think that McLaren might be up there along RedBull (given the same engine and the high regard their car was held in last year - engine excepted of course)?

I very much doubt. I partly blame Alonso. Too much hype and not much in feedback. Come me down from you pedestal,  son. You’re not as good as you think you are! Send him packing!

From what I read, Haas seem to be a very down to earth team and would be surprised if they did not end up with a podium finish or two this year but I’ll probably be chewing my words by the end of the season. 

Three more 2018 car launches yesterday;   nothing exceptional, the usual blurb about better/improved over last year,  but the talk doesn't win races,  the chickens get counted starting at Melbourne 25th March

Car colours were eye catching    silver Mercedes, Ferrari (guess, no I not taking bets) the surprise was the McLaren ....... yellow

Mike-B posted:

Car colours were eye catching […] the surprise was the McLaren ....... yellow

Isn’t that orange?

Eloise posted:

Mike-B posted:

Car colours were eye catching […] the surprise was the McLaren ....... yellow

Isn’t that orange?

Yes your right according to McL its "a revised shade of  orange ............... papaya and blue colour scheme that the team's founder Bruce McLaren first introduced to F1 50 years ago"        When I buy papaya I look for the skin to be yellow & my Mk-II eyeballs say its a touch more yellow than orange,  but hey ho,  specsavers will sort that out & I'm sure the papaya will make the car at least a second a lap faster.        

Whoops  .........   your = you're    I will go sit on the naughty step

Mike-B posted:

When I buy papaya I look for the skin to be yellow

Surely it’s the flesh of the papaya that’s orange?

I see some teams have managed more successfully than others the visual impact oh the dreaded Halo device.

I also noticed that it’s quite difficult to identify the driver from their helmet beneath the Halo whilst on track. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some kind of directive to make it easier to ID the driver.

Eloise posted:

Mike-B posted:

When I buy papaya I look for the skin to be yellow

Surely it’s the flesh of the papaya that’s orange?

Yes indeed it is,  very orange, but not that McL shade of yellow orange. Whatever,  enough of paint.   

"I also noticed that it’s quite difficult to identify the driver from their helmet beneath the Halo whilst on track. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some kind of directive to make it easier to ID the driver."

Names on the side like rally cars? Or would that get in the way of the advertising?

steve

Maybe they could put a number on the cars

Mike-B posted:

Eloise posted:

Mike-B posted:

When I buy papaya I look for the skin to be yellow

Surely it’s the flesh of the papaya that’s orange?

Yes indeed it is,  very orange, but not that McL shade of yellow orange. Whatever,  enough of paint.   

OK I concead,  I've just seen the www.F1 video of the McLaren testing at Barcelona,   defo orange,  the 'yellow' colour must've been a colour resolution glitch on the official McL photo releases as shown on BBC & Motor Sport