F1- 2018 Season.

Posted by: Tony2011 on 02 January 2018

New year and the gossip hitting the headlines about haloes, the return of Aston Martin, etc.

HERE WE GO AGAIN.

2018 F1 RACE CALENDAR

March 25 - Australian GP Melbourne
April 8 - Bahrain GP Sakhir
April 15 - Chinese GP Shanghai
April 29 - Azerbaijan GP Baku
May 13 - Spanish GP Barcelona
May 27 - Monaco GP Monaco
June 10 -Canadian GP Montreal
June 24 - French GP Le Castellet
July 1 - Austrian GP Spielberg
July 8 - British GP Silverstone
July 22 - German GP Hockenheim
July 29 - Hungarian GP Budapest
August 26 - Belgian GP Spa-Francorchamps
September 2 - Italian GP Monza
September 16 - Singapore GP Marina Bay
September 30 - Russian GP Sochi
October 7 - Japanese GP Suzuka
October 21 - United States GP Austin
October 28 - Mexican GP Mexico City
November 11 - Brazilian GP Sao Paulo
November 25 - Abu Dhabi GP Yas Marina


2018 F1 DRIVER LINE-UPS

Mercedes // Lewis Hamilton x Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari // Sebastian Vettel x Kimi Raikkonen
Red Bull // Daniel Ricciardo x Max Verstappen
Force India // Sergio Perez x Esteban Ocon
Williams // Lance Stroll x TBC
Renault // Nico Hulkenberg x Carlos Sainz
Toro Rosso // Pierre Gasly x Brendon Hartley
Haas // Romain Grosjean x Kevin Magnussen
McLaren // Fernando Alonso x Stoffel Vandoorne
Sauber // Marcus Ericsson x Charles Leclerc


2018 PROVISIONAL F1 TESTING DATES

PRE-SEASON TESTING
February 26-March 1 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
March 6-9 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona


IN-SEASON TESTING
May 15-May 16 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
July 31-August 1 Hungaroring, Budapest


2018 TEAMS AND ENGINE SUPPLIER

Mercedes - Mercedes
Ferrari - Ferrari
Red Bull - Renault
Force India - Mercedes
Williams - Mercedes
Renault - Renault
Toro Rosso -Honda
Haas - Ferrari
McLaren - Renault
Sauber - Ferrari

Posted on: 10 January 2018 by Mike-B

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.

Posted on: 10 January 2018 by ayap1

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

Posted on: 10 January 2018 by JamieWednesday

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.

Posted on: 15 February 2018 by Tony2011

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.

 

 

Posted on: 19 February 2018 by Tony2011

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....

Posted on: 19 February 2018 by GraemeH

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

G

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by Mike-B
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.  

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by thebigfredc

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

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by Mike-B

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 

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by JamieWednesday

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).

 

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by Eloise
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)?

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by JamieWednesday

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.

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by Tony2011

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. 

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by Tony2011
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!

Posted on: 20 February 2018 by Tony2011

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. 

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Mike-B

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

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Eloise
Mike-B posted:

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

Isn’t that orange?

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Mike-B
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.        

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Mike-B

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

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Eloise
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?

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by JamieWednesday

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.

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Mike-B
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.   

Posted on: 23 February 2018 by Paper Plane

"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

Posted on: 24 February 2018 by Bananahead

Maybe they could put a number on the cars

Posted on: 26 February 2018 by Mike-B
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