The F1 thread

fretmeister

I just got a NowTV offer for 19.99 a month for 12 months for Sky Sports.

Same discount as last year. So I'm having that!

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

fretmeister said:

I just got a NowTV offer for 19.99 a month for 12 months for Sky Sports.

Same discount as last year. So I'm having that!

Ah sweet. I was just weighing up a £26.99 for 6 months deal yesterday and thought better of it. Good job I did!

Morning session ended early due to a problem with the track that damaged the Merc and the Ferrari. Shades of Vegas last year.... 

danishbacon

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3DYWVioG1U/?igsh=Z29tdjZpdHF1aHpy

Cols

So what did we learn from testing?

Ferrari fastest... but LeClerc’s time was set on softs, while Verstappen did his on old mediums.

Boromedic

It's gonna be another awful season watching that orrible cunt run off with the title. 

Boromedic

On reflection, I've been bored watching YouTube analysis on the tests. There is some hope that Ferrari have fixed some issues and are genuinely quick. Fingers crossed that this correlates to the action next week, and although I'm sure the title will end up with RB hopefully it won't be a cake walk.

Also Horner getting fired would also be the icing on the cake

TimmyO

I’ve finally (!) over the years got tired of getting pulled in to the pre-season speculation - and it’s worse than ever these days with even serious media outlets needing to fill the content hole with another grainy picture with arrows drawn on that might or might not be an insight in to some season-shaping widget that we’ll never hear about once there is actual things happening to concentrate on. 

Bring on the first race weekend.

Highlight of which for me will probably be Martin Brundle’s inevitable low key rant about silly team names :-) 

fretmeister

Agreed.

I don’t pay any attention to testing anymore.
The only pre season stuff I look at is the new paint jobs so I have a chance of recognising the teams at the first race!

TBH I’m still annoyed McLaren aren’t in Marlboro red and white! 

euan

It’s seems the new rulesets aimed at closing up the racing have actually only exacerbated it. A team that gets the new formula right has so much of a baked in advantage that its rivals can neither out spend nor out develop to make up the difference. 

There really needs to be accumulative aero testing restrictions rather than static ones. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Anyone else been listening to the "Back To Base" podcast from the BBC? It's a multi-part series getting exclusive access to the Mercedes and Williams' factories during the off-season, narrated by Joseph Fiennes. 

It's really good so far, definitely worth a listen for any F1 nerd!

Cols

euan said:

It’s seems the new rulesets aimed at closing up the racing have actually only exacerbated it. A team that gets the new formula right has so much of a baked in advantage that its rivals can neither out spend nor out develop to make up the difference. 

There really needs to be accumulative aero testing restrictions rather than static ones. 

There are.  Wind tunnel and CFD time is progressively restricted according to championship position.

Taking the 7th placed team (this year, Williams) as the 100% point, the higher championship positions get less time for wind tunnel and CFD.  As the top team, Red Bull get 70% of that allocated to Williams.  Heading down the ranking, the hapless Haas get 115%.

stickyfiddle

The problem for Haas is I don't think they know what to do with the extra allowance.

The problem with RB is they don't need it... 

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

The problem for Haas is I don't think they know what to do with the extra allowance.

The problem with RB is they don't need it... 

Well, there is that.  And fundamentally all teams have the same budget cap, so RB can take the wind tunnel budget and push it into another performance area.

stickyfiddle

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

The problem for Haas is I don't think they know what to do with the extra allowance.

The problem with RB is they don't need it... 

Well, there is that.  And fundamentally all teams have the same budget cap, so RB can take the wind tunnel budget and push it into another performance area.

Just think of the sandwiches!!

euan

Hi Cols said:

euan said:

It’s seems the new rulesets aimed at closing up the racing have actually only exacerbated it. A team that gets the new formula right has so much of a baked in advantage that its rivals can neither out spend nor out develop to make up the difference. 

There really needs to be accumulative aero testing restrictions rather than static ones. 

There are.  Wind tunnel and CFD time is progressively restricted according to championship position.

Taking the 7th placed team (this year, Williams) as the 100% point, the higher championship positions get less time for wind tunnel and CFD.  As the top team, Red Bull get 70% of that allocated to Williams.  Heading down the ranking, the hapless Haas get 115%.

Yes I understand how the current rules work with the static modifier applied every six months based on championship position.  However given RBR still have their advantage(and increased it seemingly) three years in despite having an additional reduction for breaking the cost cap doesn’t really stand against the original aims of the rules. This was meant to avoid a Mercedes like domination. 

I’m saying the reductions should be accumulative. So if RBR are ahead in the championship after six months they get a 10% reduction on their hours. Then at the end of the year if they are still 1st they get a further 10% reduction on whatever their hours are at that point. And so on without the allowance ever being reset. In your example Williams would get no reduction, Haas would get a 10% increase at in June and end of season.

euan

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

The problem for Haas is I don't think they know what to do with the extra allowance.

The problem with RB is they don't need it... 

Well, there is that.  And fundamentally all teams have the same budget cap, so RB can take the wind tunnel budget and push it into another performance area.

Last year RBR were really clever and pushed areas of wind tunnel testing that aren’t restricted. There’s no limits on testing cooling. You’re just not allowed to measure drag from external surfaces…

stickyfiddle

euan said:

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

The problem for Haas is I don't think they know what to do with the extra allowance.

The problem with RB is they don't need it... 

Well, there is that.  And fundamentally all teams have the same budget cap, so RB can take the wind tunnel budget and push it into another performance area.

Last year RBR were really clever and pushed areas of wind tunnel testing that aren’t restricted. There’s no limits on testing cooling. You’re just not allowed to measure drag from external surfaces…

Yeah I read that. Which really makes a mockery of the limits imo...

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

euan said:

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

The problem for Haas is I don't think they know what to do with the extra allowance.

The problem with RB is they don't need it... 

Well, there is that.  And fundamentally all teams have the same budget cap, so RB can take the wind tunnel budget and push it into another performance area.

Last year RBR were really clever and pushed areas of wind tunnel testing that aren’t restricted. There’s no limits on testing cooling. You’re just not allowed to measure drag from external surfaces…

Yeah I read that. Which really makes a mockery of the limits imo...

I disagree.  Just about every great motorsport engineer has a gift for looking at the rules and figuring out what they’re allowed to do, rather then what they’re meant to do.

There’s a great motorsport podcast series called ‘Engineering the Greats’, featuring the likes of Newey, Gordon Murray, John Barnard and suchlike.  Each of them has stories of finding a chink in the regs and exploiting it, while the others shouted “Hey, you’re not allowed to do that!” and they replied “Well show me where it says that…”

mattacjones

Just found this thread! I noticed in the first episode of Drive to Survive, Lewis saying at start of 23 season, he's looking to get back the title that was stolen from him. First time I've heard him say anything about that.

In other news, I did a factory tour of red bull last month. It was truly remarkable.

stickyfiddle

IT'S RACE WEEK!!! Quite a relief after what was expected to be a quiet break but was actually a bit mental. 

I'm not watching DTS because it's tabloid nonsense. But I also hope Lewis can go get the title that was stolen from him...!