Car & Bike Formula 1 2018 Discussion thread

[prabs]

@Renegade , @rdst_1 , @bottle ,@Obi-Wan , @soggy316 ,@onlyravi , @hotshot05 , @sbhas2k , @Fenix ,@aZZu ,@Arjun ,@Crazy_Eddy, @dingodile_r89, @Sudarshan_SMD, @latino_ansari, @vishalrao, @Jakob, @xtremevicky, @su30mki117, @Chaos , @GPMlore , @rajan1311 , @RS4 , @Bugabear , @fleshfragger, @Vagabond

About time a thread for the current season was created.

Car Releases so far -

Haas -

Williams -

Redbull -

Sauber -

Renault -

Source of Images : formula1.com, sauberf1team.com

News so far -

• Ferrari in a bid to ensure that Max can't win again have hired Kvyat as a development driver so that Red Bull can't demote him again.
• Robert Kubica contested for the second Williams seat but will drive only a few practice sessions.
• Williams hire Sergey Sirotkin to partner Lance Stroll.
• Red Bull launch their car with a one off livery (which in my opinion should be the full time livery).
  
• Toro Rosso this year probably a very weak line up (possibly their worse of all time).
• Alonso will participate in WEC races this year and to accomodate him the WEC Fuji's race date was changed.
• Alonso will also race in Le Mans with Toyota Gazoo Racing this year.
• Pascal Wehrlein will drive in DTM this year.
  
• Ferrari protege Leclerk will replace Pascal at Sauber.
• Hard to believe but Marcus Ericcson survives the axe again.
• Sauber drop Kaltenborg and all plans of a Honda engine and continue to partner with Ferrari and will also get Alfa Romeo sponsorship. The deal also gives them access to F1 engines of current year. So it is a win win situation for them.
• The line up in the rest of the teams remain the same but there a few drivers whose contract will expire at the end of this season. Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Riccardo will be the catalyst. Kimi will most probably retire and Daniel can either stay at Red Bull or move to Ferrari. Mercedes I am sure are happy with Bottas playing rear gunner to Lewis. If Ferrari do not sign Daniel then Red Bull will have the upper hand because they have lent out Sainz for a year to Renault.
• Apart from the eyesore that is Halo. Pirelli have added two more compounds to their line up - Pink Hyper Soft and Orange Super Hard.
• Nearly forgot - Formula One has changed their logo. The new logo looks so similar to McLaren P1 (-_-)

Let's hope that this year is a better year for racing.

 

[Chaos]

• Apart from the eyesore that is Halo. Pirelli have added two more compounds to their line up - Pink Hyper Soft and Orange Super Hard.

The compounds themselves are one grade softer than last year. So ultra soft of last year is equivalent of super soft this year. Hopefully this should make races more compelling.

 

[prabs]

The compounds themselves are one grade softer than last year. So ultra soft of last year is equivalent of super soft this year. Hopefully this should make races more compelling.

Ultra Soft - Purple still exists but this is an even softer compound. Similarly - Orange Super Hard does not replace last year's Orange Hard but will be an addition. Last Year's Orange Hard will be Ice Blue and the new Orange will be harder. The tyres across the spectrum of colours have been improved.

 

[Chaos]

Ultra Soft - Purple still exists but this is an even softer compound. Similarly - Orange Super Hard does not replace last year's Orange Hard but will be an addition. Last Year's Orange Hard will be Ice Blue and the new Orange will be harder. The tyres across the spectrum of colours have been improved.

Yep Ultrasoft of this year is one grade softer than ultra soft used in 2017 and hyper soft on top of that is one grade softer than the new ultra soft. The ultra hard is the same as last year's hard tyre and the hard this year is last year's medium.

Hopefully more tyre degradation = more pitstops = more fun races.

 

[prabs]

Sauber and Renault car reveal added in the original post.

A few things I forgot to add in the original post -

• There were rumors that Aston Martin was looking to get into F1. Some thought they would join as a Constructor but it looks like they are only here as a sponsor for Red Bull.
• The Red Bull Livery is temporary and will be updated.
• A new rumor that surrounds Force India is... There is going to be a name change and some are linking Brabham Racing with it stating that Brabham are buying Force India. I don't see how that is possible considering Project Brabham was a bust. Force India is the only team with no reveal date.

 

[hotshot05]

@prabs Did Red Bull really loan Sainz?
As far as I remember, they let Sainz go. Not on loan.

 

[soggy316]

@prabs Did Red Bull really loan Sainz?
As far as I remember, they let Sainz go. Not on loan.

I think he was part of the overall deal with Renault, and he was transferred mid season so that they could give Hartley some experience in F1.

I really like the fact that the grid is so colorful this year, we are only missing a green colored car.

 

[prabs]

Car Releases -

Mercedes

Ferrari

Toro Rosso

McLaren

Force India

Source of Images : formula1.com

News so far -

• The winter test was a disaster especially Day 3.
• Martini has decided to leave Williams.
• Force India will be taken over by some company called Rich Energy. Wonder what will happen to BWT...
• McLaren started off with a mechanical failure thanks to a wheel nut.
• Petty Alonso decided to overtake a Toro Rosso using an escape road.
• Toro Rosso though not the fastest have had no issues so far.
• The collective team payments have dropped by $47 million in the first year under the new owners - Liberty Media.

 

[soggy316]

Well that was session that inspired hope for a close season at the top right up until the last 2 minutes.

The midfield looks close though, hass, force India, McLaren and Renault will probably be in a scrap. I guess Sauber, toro rosso and Williams will fight for the scraps.

 

[hotshot05]

Good to see that McLaren is up to speed. Now we have to see how much Force India can improve over the course of the year. Their in season development is phenomenal. Whereas Haas is crappy at inseason development. Let's see how this season turns out.

 

[prabs]

Good to see that McLaren is up to speed. Now we have to see how much Force India can improve over the course of the year. Their in season development is phenomenal. Whereas Haas is crappy at inseason development. Let's see how this season turns out.

McLaren upto speed? They should have been faster than Renault and Haas in my opinion.

Toro Rosso and Williams have the worse line up. There's no way to tell how fast those cars are. Someone let Kubica drive one Williams and Kvyat drive one Toro Rosso. Both of them are way better than the current line up.

 

[hotshot05]

McLaren upto speed? They should have been faster than Renault and Haas in my opinion.

Toro Rosso and Williams have the worse line up. There's no way to tell how fast those cars are. Someone let Kubica drive one Williams and Kvyat drive one Toro Rosso. Both of them are way better than the current line up.

The engine change was very late. And engine component placement is totally different compared to Honda.
As far as I remember, Renault and Ferrari engine component placement are similar.

Kubica was great. He was away too long. It will take quite some time for him to come up to speed (if ever. His hand function is not 100%)

 

[prabs]

The engine change was very late. And engine component placement is totally different compared to Honda.
As far as I remember, Renault and Ferrari engine component placement are similar.

Kubica was great. He was away too long. It will take quite some time for him to come up to speed (if ever. His hand function is not 100%)

Kubica was already faster than Sirotkin.

McLaren's incompetence is the issue here.

 

[hotshot05]

Kubica was already faster than Sirotkin.

McLaren's incompetence is the issue here.

Where was Sirotkin slower? Pre season testing?
They run a lot of different fuel loads and tyre combinations. So very difficult to compare (I guess).

 

[Chaos]

Kubica was already faster than Sirotkin.

Sirotkin is a pay driver. Williams needs the funds.

 

[soggy316]

Holy crap Ferrari didn't botch the strategy and got a win, albeit luckily. Mercedes are not all that good in dirty air. BOT was uninspiring, Poor Hass, they lost like 20 points for no good reason. Alonso back in Alonsoth.

 

[prabs]

Race highlights -

Mercedes is fast in both Qualifyng and Race trim. Vettel was lucky that the 2 Ferrari powered cars had horrible pit stops and one decided to park in a place that resulted in a VSC and later a proper safety car.

McLaren got really lucky while Honda continues to explode in the background. Williams and Toro Rosso have a horrible line up. It is hard to tell the true pace of the car with these amateurs driving.

 

[Chaos]

Feel sorry for the poor Haas drivers. Merc still has the best 1 lap and race pace. Red bulls are close to Ferrari on race pace.

I don't think Ferrari will have it this easy in the other upcoming races. Vettel winning was a pure stroke of luck.

 

[sid1712]

Saw the whole race on Hotstar instead of on the TV. Experience is so much better without ads.

Good to see Alonso finally being competitive again with Renault power. The honda engine was trash

 

[prabs]

Saw the whole race on Hotstar instead of on the TV. Experience is so much better without ads.

Good to see Alonso finally being competitive again with Renault power. The honda engine was trash

We can't say Honda engine is trash because Toro Rosso is not a team that is known for chassis or deep pockets. They are a team that Red Bull uses for evaluating things like - Drivers, Engines etc., There were times when Toro Rosso had the Ferrari in the back and Red Bull was using Renault. In 2008 Toro Rosso with the Ferrari in the back and Vettel in the seat beat the Red Bulls of David Coulthard and Mark Webber with the Renault in the back. The current line up of Toro Rosso is abysmal.

The only way we can judge Honda is if there are 2 teams using Honda engines.