Tell Hammy that it's better looking than the "hoop" and he could probably now hear himself singing in the car while he's driving.
Looks like the photographers are going to need polarizing lenses if we want to see the driver behind all that glare. Still, while I don't like the look on this year's car very much, if the car were designed with it in mind it wouldn't be so bad. I'm betting it has some terrible effects on drag though, totally messes the flow down the rear body and into the air box. But again, if the car were actually designed to have it, that would be part of the philosophy.
I'm not a fan of the looks of those things at all. But I am a fan of drivers surviving crashes. Hope they come up with a design that looks ascetically pleasing some of those designs look space balls weird. Now when will they add safety devices to Moto GP bikes? Seatbelts would help. :wink:
A design like this could open up the potential for a HUD on future cars, which could be interesting. Imagine real-time streaming of fuel consumption, lap times (for the driver and for the competition). And it potential creates another job on the pit team...window washer.
I thought about cleaning that thing too. Rubber dead bugs oil & other shirt that gets on there. In the rain it will be tough to see where you're going.
I don't really care about visibility from the outside. That is, whether you can see what the driver is doing through the glare. Doesn't really matter to some of us but maybe we're in the minority. On the other hand, in the same way they would surely redesign the aero around something like that "aeroscreen" I'm sure someone is already thinking about an interior camera or cameras focused on the driver. Someone asked a Red Bull rep (might have been Horner) how they would deal with oil debris, etc, and he claimed they already have a plan to deal with it. I wonder whether that means full size tear-offs to replace the visor tear-offs.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quOc-eNYH6g"]The Aeroscreen: Static Test - F1 Wheel @ 225kph - YouTube[/ame]
I know I'm in the minority on this but I agree with Button. Button: F1 cars look better with Aeroscreen (motorsport.com)
What a mess that race was. I like seeing Rosberg finally getting his turn. But the Merc domination is going to cost F1. When Ferrari and Red Bull were dominating the rules changed every year, sometimes during the year, to try and end it. With the way the rules making happens now everyone has to agree. The winning team will never agree, no matter who they are. A majority system would be better. Merc must have been asleep when they first agreed to the new rules for next year. They have been trying to back peddle ever since.
It could provide for new innovative ways to keep windscreens clean that would trickle down to road cars (sic):cornut:
I wonder if Kvyat will get sanctions for the next race, maybe enough grid penalty spots that he can't hit Vettel in the first turn again? And the supposed "Ferrari challenge"? Doesn't look like it's happening to me....sounds like MBZ propaganda to keep things as they are. Even in Qually they're .5 -.8 seconds back, that's not a serious challenge......
The first hit was on Kvyat, but the second not so much. Why did Vettel slow so abruptly? Was that an F1 version of a brake check? Starts are tough & stuff happens, that's just hard racing.
Who knows why he slowed, could have been trying to set up for the corner, or trying not to hit the car in front of him that slowed suddenly, could have been something to do with the first hit.....like I said, who knows? But you have to feel for Vettel...... Looks like we have our new Maldododo..........
Couldn't watch the race live, so I avoided all social media during and after auto-x to avoid finding out who won. Got home and watched about half the race and then just fast forwarded to the last 6 laps. With Seb out and Lewis getting past Kimi, I really wasn't concerned about the outcome (even though I'm still waiting for Lewis to get a win).
At least there are two Mercedes drivers who are team equals and can legitimately win races. This is unlike the Red Bull and particularly Ferrari years, where there was a designated #1 driver who was pre-ordained to win and team orders were used. Mercedes did a great job optimizing for the rules. The others need to work harder to catch up.
Kvyat got 3 points, I think that brings his total to 5. An automatic race ban takes 12 points. The biggest difference between this conflict with Vettel and that from the previous race is this time Kvyat is apologetic rather than fully defiant.