The Haas F1 team has made good progress in the first round of pre-season testing, according to team principal Gunther Steiner.
The team’s second-ever F1 car, the VF-17, made its track debut on Monday at the hands of new recruit Kevin Magnussen, who recorded the fourth fastest time of the day at a little over a second behind Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark 1:21.765s.
His programme was hampered by a return of the brake troubles that plagued Haas in 2016, but Magnussen insisted the interruptions were just “typical baby problems”, and added that his first taste of the team’s 2017 challenger was an experience he “enjoyed a lot”.
Returning to the wheel on the following day, the Dane on supersofts lowered his best lap time to 1:22.204s, once again enough for fourth on the timesheets. This was set en route to amassing a total of 118 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya—the most of any driver.
Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Tuesday 28 February 2017. World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images ref: Digital Image _SLB9550
Romain Grosjean then took charge of the VF-17 for the remaining two days. As with Magnussen, Grosjean’s first session on track was disrupted by a series of electrical and setup issues, and he ended Wednesday with just 56 laps under his belt.
But on the final day of testing, the Frenchman was able to match his teammate’s Tuesday best by finishing fourth fastest on a 1:22.309s and at the top of the lap count.
At the conclusion of the week’s sessions, team principal Gunther Steiner remarked upon the progress Haas has made since last year and distance the VF-17 was able to cover in Barcelona: “Compared with last year, [reliability has] been a lot better. We know a lot more about the car than we did four days ago. Now we can make the next step and hone it out, make it better.”
Steiner also praised the work of partner Ferrari, hailing the “fantastic job” done by the Scuderia on its 2017 power unit.
Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Wednesday 01 March 2017. World Copyright: Steven Tee/LAT Images ref: Digital Image _R3I6340
Haas returns for the second week of pre-season testing on Tuesday, with Magnussen driving on days one and three, and Grosjean on days two and four.
Welcome to The Pit Crew Online 2017 F1 Fantasy League.
In this post I will inform you of the very simple rules and how you score throughout the season.
You will choose a team and make predictions, these will score you accumulative points over the course of the season (any players of fantasy football leagues will understand this).
Firstly, what you will be choosing.
Before the first race of the season you will email your team and predictions using the form attached to the F1 Group to pitcrewfantasyleague@gmail.com and now I will explain how you pick your teams and make your predictions. Alternatively email and I will send you the simple entry form.
SELECTING YOUR TEAM
You are allowed to pick 6 drivers from any team, but you are NOT allowed to pick two drivers from the same team. This is your racing team. If you think by picking the top drivers you are guaranteed top points, think again and see HOW YOU SCORE later in this post.
PREDICTIONS
On the form you will be asked to predict finishing places 1st-10th in order (the official championship points scoring positions).
HOW YOU SCORE (or don’t score in some cases)
– Qualifying: A driver gets points where he finishes in qualifying so for example Pole = 20pts, 2nd = 19pts, 3rd = 18pts…….all the way down to 20th = 1pt. **Please note it is where they start on the grid and not where they qualify that counts – penalties taken into consideration**
– Any driver who finishes in the championship scoring points position will recive those official FIA points (1st = 25pts, 2nd = 18pts, 3rd = 15pts, 4th = 12pts, 5th = 10pts, 6th = 8pts, 7th = 6pts, 8th = 4pts, 9th = 2pts and 10th = 1pt).
– A driver will get 5 points for every place they make up from their starting position to their finishing position. For example, if Pascal Wehrlein started 20th and finished 12th, he has made up 8 places and therefore receive 40 points (8 places x 5 points per place).
– For a driver who starts on pole and wins the race you will receive 20 points.
– If a driver in your team gets pole postion in qualifying you will receive 10 points.
– If a driver in your team sets the fastest lap you will receive 10 points
– If any driver in your team receives a penalty (pre-race or during race), retires or crashes out of the race you will be deducted 20 points per penalty. (if there is a post race penalty to be carried to next race then this will be shown after the next Grand Prix).
– Predictions: You will have predicted positions 1st – 10th and for each position you predict correctly you will receive the official FIA Championship points for that position (as mentioned above).
BONUS CIRCUIT
On the form provided you will choose your bonus circuit. This will DOUBLE your points for that Grand Prix weekend. You may wish to choose your bonus circuit based on your drivers in your team (to suit their driving style) or you may wish to just select your favourite track. The choice is yours.
TEAM CHANGES (or tokens)
As with F1 teams allocated engine tokens for the season, the same can be said for this fantasy league. You are only allowed to make 10 team or prediction changes for the entire season. Once you have used up your allocated 10 tokens, you are unable to make any further changes. When wishing to make a change at all, you will email me with your team name to pitcrewfantasyleague@gmail.com I will check this before every Grand Prix, all changes must be made prior to the green light going on for qualifying of a Grand Prix or they will not count for that race – So choose wisely.
As you can see from the points scoring system above, sometimes it is not choosing the best drivers in the best cars which gets you points. Reliability is the key.
THAT my team principals are the rules and how you score. The results after every Grand Prix will be posted on this page.
Good luck.
What are you waiting for, go do some pre-season testing.
Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Wednesday 01 March 2017. World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images ref: Digital Image _31I2364
The Red Bull RB13 was unveiled this week and much attention has been made of what the new cars will look like due to the new regulations.
“The RB13 is the prettiest car we have designed and made because the geometry of the car and the new regulations means the proportions look right. It looks mean and it looks fast. Its that aid old adage it if looks right then it tends to go alright,” said Christian Horner.
“What excites us most about 2017 is the opportunities the new regulations give us. That’s going to push every department, in the whole team to try and outwit, outsmart, outdevelop, outproduce our rivals and that is going to be a stellar challenge in formula one this year.”
Red Bull have plenty of reasons to be confident this season. Their drivers’ Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo have showed in 2016 that they have the ability and drive to challenge Mercedes in 2017.
“I think us as a team can build, learn and take a lot from 2016. We really set ourselves up well to continue in the trend we did. We are looking strong and good everyone is in the right mind-set right now and that hunger is back,” Ricciardo said.
On the first day of testing, Red Bull had a testing problem which limited their time on the Circuit-de Barcelona-Catalunya, Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin remarked: “Obviously we lost quite a bit of time today, which was frustrating. That was largely a function of the issues we had – a sensor problem this morning and then a problem with the energy store later on.
“We lost quite a bit of time today, which was frustrating. That was largely a function of the issues we had – a sensor problem this morning and then a problem with the energy store later on.”
1979 Spanish Grand Prix. Jarama, Spain. 27-29 April 1979. James Hunt (Wolf Ford). Ref-79 ESP 08. World Copyright – LAT Photographic
In this new series of feature articles of “Racing Heroes”, I look back at the idols I have admired throughout motor racing.
Before I go back in history to those drivers I watched, read about or idolised, I think back to the first ever season that made me fall in love with motor racing and my first ever racing hero.
(c) f1.wikia.com
It was the season that captured my imagination and gave birth to a lifelong love affair with racing. Two men, from two different backgrounds with contrasting personalities and styles.
The year was 1976 and as a fresh faced four year old my world changed as I saw two men battle for a championship. James Hunt and Niki Lauda. I remember, vaguely, asking who the posh man was being interviewed on the television and was told his name was James Hunt. I declared, as confident as any young child can, that I was going to support him and his team.
I’ve been a McLaren fan ever since.
James Hunt, the outspoken playboy champion who wore the distinctive black crash helmet decorated with bands of red, blue and yellow which depicted the colours of his childhood boarding school, Wellington College.
(c) gtspirit.com
James Simon Wallis Hunt, to give him his full name, was born on 29th August 1947 and made his Formula One debut at the 1973 Monaco Grand Prix, driving for the Hesketh team owned and financed by the eccentric British aristocrat, Lord Hesketh.
This team used a Rolls Royce as team transport and champagne would be available like tap water.
It was in 1975 when Hunt won his and Hesketh’s first race at the Dutch Grand Prix. The following season he would win the world championship in a dramatic and well documented season. THAT battle with Niki Lauda. He retired three years later.
Long before the film ‘Rush’, I had read of the initial hostile relationship between Hunt and Lauda, which over time blossomed into a strong friendship. Lauda would go on record and tell Hunt’s son how much he loved his father.
(c) formula1.com
That was the mark of the man, because men wanted to be James Hunt and women wanted to be with him. I was four years old, I had no understanding of what a ‘playboy’ was. All I knew was that I found watching this well spoken racing driver exciting. He had a determination, a will to win and above all he just wanted to race, as fast as he could. He just bloody well raced, every second of every lap.
James Hunt sadly left this world in 1993, his will allocated funds for his closest friends to enjoy one last party.
There are those in some quarters who do not hold James Hunt in their top five or even top ten of racing drivers. To me, he was my first racing hero, along with Niki Lauda also, but there was something about James that just made me smile. Yes, he was wild and had a tendency to do impulsive things, but on the race track he excited me.
(c) wikipedia.org
They both hold a special place in my heart for what they introduced me to in 1976, the world of motor racing.
Since then I have gone back in history and found other heroes in racing as well as those who followed that 1976 season, but James Hunt was my first racing idol and for that James Simon Wallis Hunt, 1976 Formula One World Champion, I thank you.
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are confirmed to contest this year’s Prestone MSA British Rally Championship with M-Sport and the Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta R5.
Contesting all seven events, Cronin’s Fiesta will be clad with DMACK tyres which claimed the championship laurels last year and sport an M-Sport livery which draws inspiration from those made popular by Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier in the FIA World Rally Championship.
As a three-time British Rally Champion, Cronin knows what it takes to excel in what is fast becoming one of the best proving grounds for rallying’s elite and will be keen to prove his potential as he makes his debut with the M-Sport team.
With more than 10 years of rallying experience under his belt, Cronin has contested a number of events and championships throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as impressing on the world stage.
Debuting in his homeland in 2006, it did not take long for the Irishman to become a regular podium contender and he claimed his first British Rally Championship title in 2009. That success was followed by two further British Championships in 2010 and 2012.
In 2013, he ventured to the world stage and instantly impressed in the WRC 3 category – claiming victory at the event every driver wants to win, Neste Oil Rally Finland.
Returning to more familiar soil last year, Cronin was crowned Ireland’s Tarmac Rally Champion and is now relishing the opportunity to compete for further success.
With no previous experience of M-Sport’s acclaimed range of Ford Fiesta rally cars, Cronin took to the wheel for the Carrick-on-Suir Wm. Loughman Forestry Rally earlier this month and secured a fine third place on his debut with the car.
Gaining more experience of his new charge in the lead-up to the Border Counties Rally in mid-March, Cronin will also contest the Malcolm Wilson Rally so as to familiarise himself further with the Fiesta in anticipation of an exciting new chapter in his career.
With Ford having registered as a manufacturer for the national championship, Cronin will also have an opportunity to add to the Blue Oval’s impressive rallying pedigree.
Keith Cronin said:
“I’m really looking forward to the season ahead and to be working with M-Sport as we chase success on the stages of the British Rally Championship. It’s a fantastic series which has really come into its own recently and I can’t wait to be back competing in the championship.
“I’m really excited about the Fiesta R5. I’ve not had a lot of seat time, but we’ll get a couple of rallies under our belt before the start of the season and hopefully it won’t take us long to find our feet.
“M-Sport are known for developing winning cars and my initial feeling has been good. The Fiesta is a great car to drive. It handles really well and I hope we’ll be able to challenge for some top results this year.
“It’s also great to have DMACK on board. Last year, they proved that their products are capable of winning rallies, and championships. The level of development that they are undertaking is really impressive, and it’s great to be involved.”
Gerard Quinn, Senior Manager at Ford Performance, said:
“Ford is the most successful manufacturer in the British Rally Championship taking the title no less than nineteen times so it is appropriate that one of the championships most successful drivers, Keith Cronin, will return to the series in a Ford Fiesta R5 in 2017.
“He has won the title on three occasions, the last back in 2012, and is the current Irish Tarmac Champion so he has got the tenacity and professionalism required to win a challenging championship such as this.
“I am proud that a fellow Cork resident will be competing in one of the most prestigious championships in rallying today. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Ford in Ireland and Henry’s ancestral home is also in West Cork so it is fitting that a driver from the locality will be defending Ford honours in the British Rally Championship this year.”
Malcolm Wilson OBE, M-Sport Managing Director, said:
“The British Rally Championship has always been a cornerstone of the rallying community both nationally and internationally. Having won the title with Elfyn Evans last year, it was important for us to continue our support of the series and I think we have another exciting season ahead of us.
“Once again, Ford will be competing for the manufacturer title and M-Sport will also register in the teams’ championship. We know that the Fiesta provides a competitive package, and we’ll be looking to prove that once again by competing for some top results throughout the season.”
After a long winter break we finally have bike racing back on our screens, and the World Superbike boys certainly didn’t disappoint.
A rider and fan favourite, Phillip Island played host to the opening round of the season which looks like it will be one of the most competitive campaigns to date.
The rider who was always going to be the man to beat this year is Jonathan Rea, gunning for a hat trick of world championships on board his Kawasaki machine. The Ulsterman had the perfect weekend as he was able to covert his pole position into victory on Saturday, fending off team mate Tom Sykes, Ducati man Chaz Davies and potentially the most impressive man over the weekend, Alex Lowes.
Then on the Sunday he was able to withhold a challenge from the two Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s of Davies and Marco Melandri. A hugely impressive start to the season for the reigning champion, who looks like he will be taking his defence of the title right down to the wire.
Let’s hope that fellow Kawasaki rider Sykes can challenge his team mate for the crown. Sykes managed to stick with the leading group in race one, eventually taking the final spot on the podium, just over a second behind Rea and Davies.
Unfortunately for Sykes, the new grid rules for race two hindered his race on Sunday. This meant he was unable to stick with the likes of Rea and Davies as they expertly carved their way through the field. Sykes eventually had to settle for 6th place, leaving him 24 points behind championship leader Rea. Nevertheless, we can definitely expect to see the Englishman fighting for race wins throughout the season as he aims to get his second title under his belt.
Davies, who is expected to be Rea’s closest challenger, indicated that his Ducati team are going to be a huge thorn in the side of the Kawasakis this year. Two spirited rides from the Welshman earned him two 2nd places, ended both races less than half a tenth behind Rea. Those fine margins could be the slim difference as to which way the title will be decided this year and as Davies will agree, it’s about time his talent was rewarded with a world title.
It is great to see Melandri back on the World Superbike scene as Davies’ team mate. The hugely experienced Italian looks like he can spoil a Kawasaki party this year too, which is great news for us as fans and the Ducati team. Unable to finish race 1, Melandri was able to stick with Davies and Rea to take a very impressive podium on his return.
Another Ducati who might be able to cause a few upsets this year is the Spaniard Xavi Fores after he picked up a 6th place finish on Saturday, then took a 5th place finish on Sunday. Fores was only 2.3 seconds behind Rea; maybe the Barni Ducati rider can challenge for victories this year as he starts 2017 in fine form.
As previously mentioned, arguably the most impressive performance of the weekend came from Alex Lowes on board his Pata Yamaha. Thankfully, it seems like Lowes has found some serious pace on the Yamaha, which struggled throughout 2016. Two 4th place finishes proved Lowes means business this year, which consequently means there is another Brit fighting at the top end of the World Superbike grid. Let’s hope this wasn’t just a one off weekend for the Yamaha team, as Lowes and Van Der Mark will be looking to crash the Kawasaki and Ducati celebrations on more than one occasion this season.
The new Red Bull Honda Fireblades didn’t have the weekend they would have hoped for. The expectation for Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl probably wouldn’t have been very high, however an 11th place finish followed by a DNF for Hayden and two 15th place finishes for Bradl would have been worse than many would have foreseen. For sure the Honda’s will come good, but it is unsure as to when they can hope to fight for the top 6, let alone for podiums and victories.
The Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4’s will also be looking to improve after their Phillip Island displays. Both Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori will be expecting to fight for podiums and wins at some point this season. However, just like Honda, the question is when will they be able to do this? Both the Kawasaki and Ducati outfits look like the complete package this year, so will it be possible for Aprilia and Honda to burst their bubble by the end of the season?
Of course, we have Yamaha trying to sneak in their as well Lowes looks like the man who is the most likely to do that at this moment in time. Let’s not forget Leon Camier too, two solid top 10 finishes on ‘The Island’ for the MV Augusta rider consolidates him as another potential thorn to Ducati and Kawasaki.
The fact that there is so much to talk about after the opening round proves how exciting this season is going to be. There are so many talking points and so many possibilities that are too difficult to predict, so let’s hope for more of the same as the paddock heads to Thailand for the second round of the year, taking place on the 11th and 12th of March.
You can follow the Pit Crew on Twitter, @PitCrew_Online and also my own personal account, @journoyork
2017 Silver Arrows Collateral Day Photography – Steve Etherington
As new eras in Formula One go, the 2017 season didn’t look all that different from its predecessors when it got underway in Barcelona today.
Right from the off, new Mercedes signing Valtteri Bottas made it clear the Silver Arrows would not be caught napping this year, as he piloted his new W08 to a total of 79 laps and respectable sixth-fastest time of 1:23.169s.
Nor were things any different when the Finn handed his car over to Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon. As the track conditions improved, Hamilton brought Mercedes’ total lap count up to 152 and clocked a 1:21.765s lap—the eventual benchmark of the day, and a full second faster than the best time of last year’s entire testing season.
If that sounds like gloomy news for Mercedes’ rivals, it should be—from the outside, it looks as though nothing has changed for the defending champions.
But there were promising signs from Ferrari, even if they didn’t top the timesheets as they did last year. All in all, the first impressions of the SF70-H are that it is a much less finicky machine than last year’s Prancing Horse, judging by Sebastian Vettel’s 122 laps and the mere tenth of a second separating him from Hamilton’s standard—even more noteworthy considering Vettel’s time was set on harder tyres.
Also impressive was Williams, with Felipe Massa eschewing retirement in some fashion to finish the day third fastest and just three tenths off the pace.
But on the other end of the scale, Monday was a trying start to the season for Red Bull and McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo’s morning was blighted by sensor and battery issues with his RB13 that limited him to just four laps before lunch, whereas Fernando Alonso lost almost the entire morning to a problem with his Honda engine’s oil system.
Sergio Pérez also had his running hampered when his VJM10’s exhaust broke in the afternoon, and finished just seventh fastest with 39 laps on the board. Behind him, fellow midfielders Toro Rosso, Renault and Sauber lined up more or less as they had in 2016—although Kevin Magnussen punched above his weight in his first outing for Haas, with a late run on softs lifting the Dane up to fourth.
Returning World Superbike racer Marco Melandri labelled the 2nd race at Phillip Island on Sunday as “tough”, after falling victim to the series’ new qualifying format. The Italian crashed out of race one after contact with Alex Lowes’ Yamaha – who the Italian blamed for the incident – at the Southern Loop in race one, placing him on the 4th row in 10th place for the 2nd outing.
The 34-year-old former 250cc Grand Prix champion made great headway, and with nine laps to go, hit the front of the race. Although close at the end, Melandri’s first finish on his return to the series was a podium, of which the ex-Ducati MotoGP rider was content with.
“It was a really tough race today. I got a good start but lost positions in the traffic early on, so I had to push hard to climb back, asking a lot to both myself and the tyres. When I took the lead, I tried to impose my own rhythm but it turned out not to be the right move”, said Marco after the 2nd race.
Melandri went on to say that the full race distance can be used to indicate where to improve the bike. “With three laps to go, when Rea and Davies gave the final push, I was struggling with grip and couldn’t attack them. Still, we needed a full race to understand where to improve, and a podium shows that we’re working in the right direction with the whole team”.
Unlike Davies, it wasn’t the most productive round of his WSBK career, replicating his 2013 results at the track, with a race one retirement and a third place in the 2nd race, on his way to 4th in the title.
The team head to Thailand next, where they have yet to win a race at the new venue. It will also be Marco Melandri’s first time at the circuit. The meeting takes place across the 11th and 12th of March.
Chaz Davies of the Aruba.IT Ducati Team took a brace of 2nd positions as the season got underway at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia. The Welshman secured his best ever start to a World Superbike season, and is only 10 points behind double winner and reigning double champion Jonathan Rea.
The 30-year-old former World Supersport champion took the lead at periods throughout the race but wasn’t able to cross the line ahead of rival Rea. The Ducati staying in the slipstream, finishing half a tenth away in both races. 2017 was the first season since he joined Ducati that he didn’t set the fastest lap of a race, although Ducati took that particular honour with Marco Melandri in race two.
“Race two was a bit more difficult to manage than the first, given the hotter conditions. The glass is half full though, without a doubt. We tried something different but we lost a couple of bike lengths here and there and we just couldn’t pass Rea before the finish line, said Davies, who finished last season with seven wins from the last eight races.
“When you look at the full picture, this is a really positive result. It would be easy to be disappointed because we barely missed two wins, but historically this has never been a favourite circuit for me and sometimes I lost precious points here, so two second places are a good building block for the rest of the season”.
The 3rd placed man in last season now heads to Thailand where the WSBK circus starts the next chapter of this year’s already-exhilarating championship. The round takes place on the 11th and 12th of March.
Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko
With every car on this year’s grid having now broken cover, James Matthews looks over the main talking points of F1’s launch season, and compares the motley display of design ideas thrown up by the new 2017 regulations.
2017 Silver Arrows Collateral Day Photography – Steve Etherington
The front end
With an angled front wing and extended nose section to contend with, many of the teams’ more obvious solutions to the 2017 regulations have been focused around the front end of the car.
The thumb-tip noses that have proved popular over the last few years have returned, as maximising airflow around the low front end remains an issue under the new regulations—only Mercedes and Toro Rosso have opted for a traditional rounded nose.
Most teams haven’t done much to alter this thumb nose design from previous years, although Force India has taken a unique approach. Based on the “cobra” slits of the VJM10’s predecessors, the new design (below) opens up the bottom of the nose—creating a long appendage reminiscent of the 2014 McLaren—allowing more air to pass between the front wing pillars and be funnelled back towards the turning vanes and bargeboards.
But that’s not the only novel feature on the new Force India: it also sports a somewhat unsightly bump where the nose joins the rest of the chassis. Although this steep transition has already drawn unflattering comparisons to the step noses of 2012, the team has insisted it is not without reason, as it allows for higher mounting of the front suspension rockers and thus could result in mechanical gains.
Sahara Force India F1 VJM10 front wing. Sahara Force India F1 VJM10 Launch, Wednesday 22nd February 2017. Silverstone, England.
This nose design also means Force India joins Sauber and Haas in opting not to utilise an S-duct. The system—which takes air passing beneath the nose and redirects it up through the bulkhead and out over the chassis again—was introduced by Mercedes last year to combat an issue that arose from the new low noses, in which air moving over the front of the car was disturbed by the steep angle of the nose and lost before it could reach the topside of the chassis.
With the 200mm extension to the nose of the car allowing for greater exploration of initial airflow, it’s no surprise to see teams like Ferrari, McLaren and Renault incorporating the S-duct into their respective bids to climb up the grid this season.
But alongside the S-duct, those three teams have also employed extended front wing support pillars to direct yet more air around and beneath the front of the car, in a similar vein to the nose vents on the VJM10. It’s clear from the differing designs that this is an area ripe for development: the McLaren MCL32 currently has a series of slats along its pillar wings, whilst Renault and Ferrari have opted for a smoother, sculpted philosophy.
The back end
One of the most striking by-products of the 2017 regulations has been the return of the engine cover shark-fins last seen in 2010, needed once again to provide stability to the lower rear wing and downforce through the corners.
Just as with the front, there has so far been no one consensus on how best to tackle the challenges of this newly-profiled rear. The fins displayed by McLaren and Williams, for example, are large and sail-like, whereas Sauber and several others have chosen to reduce theirs in size by virtue of a inward-curving rear edge—a compromise, it seems, between having the most effective fin for the smallest price in weight.
Ferrari’s SF70-H features a distinct alternative of its own. A full-size fin is present, but it is also adorned with a T-wing, a horizontal bar placed parallel to the rear wing to maximise the airflow directed over the rear of the car. The Mercedes W08 unveiled at Silverstone also appeared to be aiming down this route—albeit with the T-wing mounted on a standalone pillar rather than atop a fin—although the team has said it will trial a more conventional shark fin in Barcelona before making a final decision on this area of the car.
The sides
With the 2017 generation of cars being wider as well as longer than before, airflow around their sides has thrown up just as many challenges for the teams as around the front and rear—and once again, the launch-spec cars seen so far have shown a variety of different answers.
As per the new regulations, teams have been allowed to widen their sidepod air inlets by 100mm per side, and the majority have taken up this option to one extent or another. Mercedes and Ferrari have exploited this allowance to the extreme with air inlets that extend almost to the very edge of the wider floor, whilst attempting to offset the resulting drag by making the inlets incredibly shallow, and carrying out heavy sculpting on the lower face and edge of the sidepods themselves.
By contrast, teams such as Sauber and Haas have instead maintained or even decreased the size of their sidepod inlets, foregoing any gains to be made for the sidepods’ internal systems in exchange for less drag. At least for now, there has been a clear pattern of the customer teams’ inlet designs being more conservative than their works rivals—expect them to become more experimental in this area after testing, once they have a clearer sense of their respective power units’ cooling demands.
Also slated for rapid development early in the season are the bargeboards, which have been increased in size and thus importance by the 2017 revamp. By and large, the teams have launched their cars with watered-down bargeboards to prevent their competitors poaching any innovations prior to testing, but the factory teams have nonetheless laid down the gauntlet in terms of complexity here.
The Mercedes W08 especially has given insight into the attention that will be paid to developing this part of the car in 2017. With numerous slats, serrations and fins dressing up the bargeboards themselves, and not to mention the array of further fins and winglets set up alongside them, the level of detail present on the Silver Arrows’ supposedly toned-down launch car must be ominous for the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari
But even here, there is still apparently room for debate on the best way forward. Where the W08 looks to have already undergone half a season of focused development, the challengers released by Red Bull, Toro Rosso and McLaren look spartan by comparison.
On display here, it seems, is the ‘clean lines’ mantra that has been a hallmark of Red Bull’s past chassis success (the McLaren MCL32 being helmed by former Red Bull man Peter Prodromou), with the car set up as a single, cohesive aerodynamic structure, as opposed to being micro-managed by a raft of specialised elements.
Of course, with so many secrets for the teams to protect, the designs we have seen so far via renders and launch cars will be a far cry from what actually hits the track on Monday in Barcelona, and even then will undergo extensive revision before the first race of the season in Australia.
But nevertheless, even the most secretive of prototypes has shown us that F1 engineering is going to be a very diverse practice in 2017. With the new regulations creating up so many new boundaries to push and loopholes to exploit, success really could be anyone’s for the taking—all it takes is a little nerve to try something different.
