2018 Season Launch and Testing Thread

[E.B]

The STR 13 Honda Fires up and the engine runs without breaking....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKI32W4yJTQ

[F1Guy]

So 'T' wings are back! Albeit mounted much lower but.


Also, I thought Toro Rosso had dropped the 'Scuderia' bit from their name? Officially registered as Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda for 2018 are they not?

[Armco Bender]

Officially registered as Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda

They will need a longer car to fit that name on the side of it.

[bella]

Originally Posted by sizzle

And obscuring the drivers helmet.

mmm, it's not tooooo bad for that from an outside-in perspective. the f2 shakedown photos give us an idea what it looks like on track:
http://www.fiaformula2.com/Multimedi...1328&gpid=8625

[sizzle]

Originally Posted by bella

mmm, it's not tooooo bad for that from an outside-in perspective. the f2 shakedown photos give us an idea what it looks like on track:
http://www.fiaformula2.com/Multimedi...1328&gpid=8625

I wish you hadn't put up that link

[Chaynes321]

Re: Halo - I hated it first time i saw it but the more and more i see it the less i care, i wait final judgment until seeing every car on track though

[bella]

my personal reaction is that i hate it, it's an abomination, but i care less and less the more i see it. i only allocated a certain number of fu... flippers to give to the halo, and i've pretty much exhausted the lot

[S griffin]

The Haas livery is as good as ever

[steve_r]

Yes, we all hate the halo looks, but I dislike shakfins and random winglets even more, and at least the halo adds to the safety.

Just a couple of years ago at the British GP, Max Chilton nearly got his head taken off by a flying wheel that came off Raikonnens crashing ferrari

[F1Guy]

Max Verstappen loves the Halo.

https://youtu.be/9JUOUFdjORU?t=1m4s

[F1Guy]

The Williams FW41.

[chillibowl]

i quite like the addition of more black to the bottom half of the car. think it makes the white part, so the Halo (which i must be completely desensitized to now), look to be a natural part of the car.

from a design point of view it looks like Williams have made more of a departure from their 2017 car then i would have expected.

[RWill2073]

I just had a random question. Has the halo been tested in the rain? I am imagining drops flowing from off the halo onto visors, in a distracting, if not reducing visibility more, than just rain coming down normally.

[F1Guy]

Claire Williams at the FW41 launch: "We would only put talented drivers in our car.
"This is a dangerous business and we’re not going to put someone in a car just because they come with money.
"Our decision-making process is so much more complex than just deciding to put a driver into the race seat because they have some cash.”

[wnut]

Originally Posted by RWill2073

I just had a random question. Has the halo been tested in the rain? I am imagining drops flowing from off the halo onto visors, in a distracting, if not reducing visibility more, than just rain coming down normally.

Anybody who has driven an open wheeler in the wet would not bother asking this question!

[wnut]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Claire Williams at the FW41 launch: "We would only put talented drivers in our car.
"This is a dangerous business and we’re not going to put someone in a car just because they come with money.
"Our decision-making process is so much more complex than just deciding to put a driver into the race seat because they have some cash.”

I think the get out clause here is "have some cash", clearly need to have a whole lot of cash.

[S griffin]

Let's just hope the car has been designed to be good enough, as they have two inexperienced drivers, who could still do better than people are saying. Hopefully it won't be all doom and gloom for them this season

[bella]

prediction: sirotkin will hand stroll his arse at the aussie gp and feathers will fly

[RWill2073]

Originally Posted by wnut

Anybody who has driven an open wheeler in the wet would not bother asking this question!

Yeah, I haven't been privleged to do that, but thanks for the dismissal with no actual insight!

[bella]

i think what he actually meant to say is that that won't be a thing above 30mph because of airflow and science, but it came out wrong...

[djinvicta]

Spade and start digging holes come to mind..

[F1Guy]

A bright orange F1 car on the grid this year??

[F1Guy]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Claire Williams at the FW41 launch: "We would only put talented drivers in our car.
"This is a dangerous business and we’re not going to put someone in a car just because they come with money.
"Our decision-making process is so much more complex than just deciding to put a driver into the race seat because they have some cash.”

To add to the quote above, she went on to say:

"Yes, we're an independent team, yes sponsorship is really hard to come by these days, not just for our team, but every team out there.

"I don't think many teams have signed new sponsors over the past few seasons in F1.

"So clearly if a driver has some financial backing, that's an added bonus, but that's not the foundation for a decision-making process at Williams when we come to make our driver decisions. It's not a factor."


So financial backing was not a factor at Williams as far as driver decisions are concerned. Great. Now that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth has been said, we can all rest easy knowing money had nothing to do with the Williams driver selections.

[peebee2]

Lucky these two best drivers in the world are loaded then! And hid their talent so well during their junior years! What rubbish, even right now on talent alone you could easily find so many that are do much better, though I do think Sirotkin might prove competent.

[F1Guy]

Originally Posted by bella

prediction: sirotkin will hand stroll his arse at the aussie gp and feathers will fly

I think it may be the other way around.


Many are expecting Williams to finish last in the championship. But I think they might actually finish higher than they did last year. And it won't be because of their two drivers. But because of the chassis Lowe and De Beer (2 of F1's best engineers) have put together. The new chassis has a lot of Ferrari and a some Mercedes' traits built in to it. Add to that, Williams rumoured to be running a carbon fibre gearbox instead of the inferior cast aluminium design (the only team to do so in 2017) for the coming season. The FW41 chassis for 2018 should be quick.