F1 Most liked posts in thread: 2017 - F1

Wasn't Prost one of those that quit as a WDC? The Professor, my favorite F1 driver.

 

Car launch week is upon us!

Here's the latest schedule.

2017 F1 car launch schedule.
20th February: Sauber, Online launch.
21st February: Renault, London.
22nd February: Force India, Silverstone.
23rd February: Mercedes, Silverstone.
24th February: Ferrari, Fiorano and McLaren, Woking.
25th February: Williams, TBA.
26th February: Toro Rosso, Red Bull & Haas, Barcelona.​

Sauber launched today with a livery marking its 25th anniversary in F1. I like the blue and gold but the white splotches are unfortunate. I know Sauber typically use a lot of white but given the shape and location it looks more like those patches are meant to show sponsors where their logos can go rather than being an attractive part of the livery.







Shark fins are back.

 

:lol:

In this case, it was an online launch. I assume that means all the pics came from Sauber so they could make things look exactly how they wanted.

 

I was reading about this earlier today in an article from last year by Craig Scarborough: http://scarbstech.com/?p=1241

To summarize (best I can), the idea isn't exactly new. Merc came out with a blade setup a few years (?) ago. The idea is to reduce the overall cross section with less structure by using one central blade rather than a hoop that takes up space all around. This will block a little less air on the way back past the opening. Others expressed concerns it might be too weak, it might not be high enough to adequately protect drivers and that it might be likely to dig in rather than support.

The FIA wrote a rule about these things, but though the rule described how it can be done rather than banning it, the specs did outlaw the much thinner blade Merc was using.

Other teams have run blade roll structures since then but I can't remember which.

 

You can see some of that splitting of the air flow here on the new Renault. The difference is this still uses the roll hoop concept while the Sauber (and the Merc, etc, referred to earlier) use a blade up the center as the roll support structure with the outer edges of their inlet being nonstructural.

 

I like the Renault's colors but I feel sorry for the drivers...

 

On the other hand, it could be worse.