Formula One 2017

[MDK]

1 minute ago, Lineker said:

Third paragraph!

I said in the picture. I'm not reading all that waffle.

[JasonM]

3 hours ago, MDK said:

How is a driver supposed to sit in a car that small?

They were going to hire Peter Dinklage to drive the car.

[Lineker]

The Manor Formula 1 team's demise came just when it should have been close to signing off its 2017 car.

Images of the MRT07 that emerged last week give a glimpse into what to expect from F1 2017 and the new regulations.

Manor's two chassis had been constructed and were positioned in their respective race bays at the factory but little else was ready - the diminishing cashflow having meant supplier payments were on hold.

The chassis' rear indicates that Manor had decided to run a liquid-air cooler sandwiched between the fuel cell and front face of the engine, following Mercedes' 2014-16 practice.

It is also understood it had decided to move some of the electronics from within the sidepods to this crevice in order to maximise aerodynamic performance from the car's flanks.

The deltoid shaping of the front wing is a requirement of the new regulations, with the addition of a wedge shape forming the leading edge of the neutral centre section.

The wide shallow nose has been set as far back over the neutral section as possible, rather than perched out over it like its predecessor.

The position of the nose tip has been a focus for teams since the neutral section was introduced in 2009.

Its proximity and shape changes how the neutral section behaves, using it to generate downforce and improve performance downstream.

The front wing has been subject to numerous changes, taking into account the increased width and the tyre.

A more aggressive outwash tunnel is complemented by numerous upper elements, with an outward turning 'r' cascade sat slightly inboard of a three-element open-ended cascade, with lower surfaces curved to match those of the flaps below.

This is a design feature used by both Williams and Caterham on the FW36 and CT05 respectively, and has likely been revived by a need to break up airflow across the face of the wider tyre and push it out around it.

The outwardly curved endplate is also furnished with an upwash canard, assisting in this redirection of airflow around the tyre and improving the shape of the wake shed by the tyre.

The main plane is separated into two main elements and supplemented by additional slots above the curvature of the outwash tunnel.

The upper flaps have been redesigned, their tips meeting as the lower of the two is upturned to meet the other.

There will likely be moves to employ more complex structural designs to improve aerodynamic impact.

The delta shape of the sidepod has expanded the role of the bargeboards for 2017.

The Manor windtunnel model's examples wrap around the sidepod's front face and meet with an extended axe head section on the corner of the floor.

Their forward most section draws alongside the car's splitter, and the serrations help to improve efficiency while the leading serration curves over to form both a support and a horizontal aero surface.

The sidepods have grown in width to suit the car's overall girth and allow the team to play around with the orientation of the radiators and intercoolers to improve internal airflow efficiency.

They are still flanked by an upper leading edge slat, stretching from the cockpit and mounted astride a single vortex generator, before curving around the sidepod's shoulder and finishing several inches above the floor, in a similar fashion to the appendages used circa 2005-08.

The slat and conditioner sit further away from the sidepod's surface compared to recent years' trends.

Having reached their maximum width at the front, the sidepods swiftly taper around the internal structures toward the cooling outlets, which are raised to improve the undercut and expose the floor.

The tyre squirt deck ahead of the rear tyre has two large L-shaped cut-outs, in order to shape the airflow as it is pushed laterally off the tyre into the diffuser, which starts 175mm ahead of the rear wheel centre line rather than on it like its predecessor.

Toward the rear of the car, the 'shark fins' have returned.

The shorter, slanted wings of 2017 will protect the rear wing from turbulent airflow generated upstream that could be problematic to the lower assembly.

The lower, wider, slanted rear wing maintains leading edge slots to take airflow inboard even with the regulated curvature of the new endplate surfaces.

The open-ended louvres pioneered by Toro Rosso and used by several teams last season to displace the vortex generated at the wings tips are also present.

With Manor's difficult financial position clear in early January, the team had begun work an interim solution that required modifying the 2016 car to be designated the MRT05B.

It is understood the changes included a revised underbelly and wing pillars for the nose, a revised splitter and plank installation, bargeboards, sidepod upper covers, a new floor, rear wing and revisions to the height of the diffuser.

Manor's planned MRT07 may well have been the car with the fewest details but it does show how complex aero development is likely to be in 2017.

[MDK]

You can see why Manor are shit. They need more wheels on that car.

[Lineker]

James Allison has officially joined Mercedes as their new technical director, filling the void left by Paddy Lowe's departure. 

[Lineker]

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The first images of the 2017 Williams Formula 1 car have broken cover, revealed exclusively by Autosport and Motorsport.com.

The team's FW40 - named in recognition of its 40th anniversary - is the first car designed to F1's new rules for this season to be revealed.

The team will unveil the car in full on February 25, two days before pre-season testing starts at Barcelona.

Hints of what to expect from this year's rules came from last year's Pirelli testing - using modified 2015 cars from Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull - and last month when Manor team members posed with its 2017 wind tunnel model following the closure of the team.

However, the Williams offers the first full picture of a new design, with the most striking difference being the reshaped rear wing similar to the design Ferrari added to its Pirelli test car.

At the front of the car, the thumb-tip nose design that first became a feature of some cars in 2014 remains, with Williams's solution very similar to the set-up it used in 2015-16.

The British team starts this season with rookie Lance Stroll alongside Felipe Massa, who reversed his decision to retire from F1 when Valtteri Bottas was signed by Mercedes to replace world champion Nico Rosberg.

 

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The Williams FW40 is the first of the 2017 Formula 1 designs to break cover, and after all the talk of new regulations and the dramatic new look of grand prix cars, the initial impression is to ask if it really is a new car?

Of course it is, and Williams has put a huge amount of work into this design, but the regulations are written around the same basic concept as they were last year so inevitably it's recognisable as being from the same family of cars.

To the casual viewer, the cars will not look so different to what we're familiar with from 2016.

There's no surprise Williams has basically taken the concept of last year's FW38 and updated it to comply with the regulation changes. The DNA of the rules has not changed, so I didn't expect to see a lot of difference and have said as much in the past.

However, don't forget these are early renderings of a car that won't be completed until the last possible moment, so expect changes and more details to appear when we get to Barcelona in a little over a week.

The wider tyres for 2017 make the car look more racey, and the lower rear wing is another obvious change, but actually you could have achieved much of the desired lap time gains for this year at a much smaller cost to the teams just by making the tyre change.

Will all the cars this year look like their predecessors? I hope not, because we all like variety, but it's likely they will have a striking resemblance to what we saw in 2016.

If that is indeed the case then it suggests not enough thought was put into the writing of the new regulations before pencil was put to paper. That would be a shame because it will have cost every team a lot of money for no real gain.

The key to maximising performance under the new regulations will be the underfloor area. How the teams go about making use of the extra grip of the wider Pirelli tyres that will make one car stand out from another. But we will have to wait until the track action gets going later this month to find out who has done the best job.

With that in mind, let's have a look at the Williams-Mercedes FW40 in a little more detail.

Front wing

The angled front wing has more or less the same package of elements as before. It is just moved forward in the middle section to give better airflow to the leading edge of the underfloor.

The main purpose of the external components remains to turn the airflow around the outside of the front tyre. As that is 25% wider this year, you have to work a little harder to do this.

The regulations demand that the front wing now sweeps rearward as it moves outwards towards the front tyres. This, in effect, moves the centre section forward and allows more space between it and the leading edge of the underfloor.

Together with the FIA-defined central profile of the front wing, the objective of this is to improve the consistency of the downforce when following another car.

Outboard of that centre section, the front wing is very similar to the 2016 version - almost certainly a 'launch-spec' for the purposes of producing the images Williams released on Friday - with its five-and-six element main downforce-producing devices and upper turning vanes helping to sweep the airflow around the front tyres.

The front wing endplates again have turning vanes on the trailing edge to help reduce the blockage of the front tyre.

You want to get as clean an airflow between the chassis and the inside of the front tyre as possible, and this is how you achieve it. Remember, everything you do with the airflow at the front of the car influences what happens behind it.

Nose

The regulations governing the nose height and the cross-section area have not changed from 2016, which is why there is no major difference to what we saw under the previous set of regulations. The centre section of the nose has to be further forward, and this is what dictates the length.

I'm not a lover of the 'low' nose design and it's only a matter of time before we see one car go underneath the rear of another car - or another crash barrier, as Carlos Sainz Jr did at Sochi in 2015.

Nose duct

Just in front of the top wishbone's forward leg-mounting there is an exit duct. This is probably the outlet of what has been christened as an S-duct.

The inlet for this is on the underside of the nose, with the duct going through the nose and exiting on the top surface.

This duct pulls airflow from under the nose, effectively improving the flow coming off the trailing edge of the centre section of the front wing. Therefore, it reduces the need for that airflow to find a way around the nose blockage.

This airflow exits onto the top surface of the nose, which is an area that suffers from lift as the aiflow speeds up over its original surface. So by having the exit duct here, you will reduce that negative force. It's a win-win situation, reducing lift on top and better managing the airflow underneath.

Bargeboards/aero around the cockpit

The leading edge of the sidepods and the vertical turning vanes are there to control the wake coming off the trailing edge of the front tyre.

If this turbulent wake is not controlled, it will have a very detrimental effect on the downforce produced by the underfloor.

The small vertical turning vanes on top of the sidepods reduce the amount of airflow that would normally spill into the cockpit opening. If you imagine that the cockpit opening is a big low-pressure hole, it tries to suck in as much air as possible.

These vanes help to turn that airflow along and over the top of the sidepod's upper surface, improving the airflow to the rear of the car.

Rear wing

The lower and wider rear wing certainly looks a lot more racey, and closer to what F1 had before the 2009 aerodynamic regulation changes. But its fundamental function remains unchanged, including the presence of the questionable artificial overtaking device that is DRS.

Floor/rear packaging

I'd describe the rear of the car as 'blended' with all of the surfaces neatly converting together. This should maximise the performance of the cooling, the rear wing and the diffuser.

This is a key area for performance gains. In reality, the diffuser itself is the area of most change. From the images, it's difficult to see much detail but that is surely intentional as Williams will want to keep what it has done secret for as long as possible.

The bodywork detail is very well 'blended', meaning that a lot of attention has been put into optimising the airflow to this area. The 'Coke bottle' area between the inner body surface and the inside of the rear tyre is now wider and this gives a larger floor area. Maximising the airflow in this area will help with the consistency of the diffuser.

We will only see the detail when we get to the first test but downforce produced from the underfloor does not suffer from the same turbulence effects as downforce produced from wing surfaces so if Williams, or any other team, can get this area right the car could be a lot better in traffic.

What the new Williams tells us about F1 2017 - Gary Anderson

[Lineker]

Sauber has released the first images of its 2017 Formula 1 car, with the Ferrari-powered C36 sporting a shark fin and a new blue and gold livery.

It is the second car designed to F1's new rules to be revealed, after the 2017 Williams broke cover on Friday.

The Swiss outfit, which finished 10th in the constructors' championship last year, will unveil its new car in full on February 22 during a filming day at Barcelona.

Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein will be the team's drivers, though Antonio Giovinazzi will fulfil testing duties for the injured Wehrlein at the first test, which starts on February 27.

The C36 features a reshaped rear wing, similar to that of the Williams FW40, and a thumb-tip nose design at the front of the car.

There are only a handful of sponsors while the car sports an anniversary logo on its engine cover to mark Sauber's 25th season in F1.

Sauber ran its 2015-spec car at the opening four-day test last year, with its '16 design not arriving until the second test, after having to adjust plans based on the late change to the F1 calendar.

New investor Longbow Finance came onboard last July to secure the team's future, while an early decision to stick a 2016-Ferrari engine for '17 helped ensure its new car would not miss track time for the second successive year.

Team principal Monica Kaltenborn is excited about the future and has set a target of returning to the midfield, having finished 10th in the constructors' championship last year.

"Together with Longbow Finance we have great opportunites to be competitive again and to return to previous successes in Formula 1," she said.

"We want to position ourselves with a new approach and we have already taken the first steps in order to build a solid foundation for the future.

"We clearly have to improve.

"With the Sauber C36-Ferrari we have a solid basis as well as the resources to further develop through the season.

"This will be important to establish in midfield."

New technical director Jorg Zander said the team "put greater emphasis on aerodynamic stability as opposed to maximising downforce" with the C36.

Zander, who joins from Audi ahead of this season, added that the decision to run a year-old Ferrari engine gave Sauber a solid foundation as it is "a tried and tested system with higher durability to begin with.

"Being able to get started early and defining the engine environment was an advantage because the team was familiar with the engine and the transmission as well as the cooling requirements the engine entailed."

 

Sauber is probably the team that has the most to gain from Formula 1's regulation changes for 2017. Over the past couple of years, it has struggled for budget, which has led to a lack of developments and a lot of time spent at the rear of the field.

It was only the wet race at Interlagos that brought Sauber its vital first points finish of last year, which allowed it to move ahead of Manor into 10th in the constructors' championship. That also brought with it a decently-sized cheque, which could be put together with the investment from new ownership to employ some much-needed, more experienced design staff.

After seeing the early renderings of the new Williams last week, I was a bit worried that the 2017 cars would mostly be a cut-and-paste exercise based on the previous models. But Sauber seems to have found some extra areas to optimise.

FRONT WING AND NOSE

The close-up view of the front wing shows the effort the teams are having to go to to turn the airflow around the outside of the wider front tyres.

If this airflow hits the front tyre and disperses around the sides and over the top of it, it will create lift on the top surface of the tyre and lots of turbulence on the inside of the wheel, which will adversely affect the performance of the underfloor.

The front wing itself is the now-common multi-element design. This is to keep the airflow separation problems under control, in effect ensuring the consistency of downforce.

The nose follows very similar lines to the Williams, retaining the 'thumb tip' design Sauber has used for the last two years. This is because the position of the cross-sectional areas for the impact tests are well defined in the regulations. This leads to the low nose, because it's the obvious solution.

SIDEPODS

The sidepods are very sculptured at both the leading edge and the Coke bottle area to the inside of the rear tyres. But it looks like Sauber is not using the maximum width possible.

This would be to allow the Coke bottle to help pull the airflow around the sidepod and in effect scavenge the airflow from under the front of the chassis. The airflow is so joined up along the length of the car, that the Coke bottle also has a significant influence on the performance of the front wing.

The regulations for 2017 allow for more prominent barge boards. This, with the sidepod undercut, works on the airflow coming underneath the front of the chassis and helps scavenge the airflow coming off the trailing edge of the front wing. It also helps control the airflow going under the leading edge of the side pods, so if it is working correctly the barge board is a very influential component.

AIR INTAKE AND ENGINE COVER

The air intake is split with the main roll bar structure being central, which we have seen a few teams experiment with in recent years, including Mercedes. This allows the cross section of the outer sides to be thinner, which will help with the airflow to the rear wing - especially when the airbox can't cope with any more airflow and it starts to spill around the sides.

Sauber has gone back to the reduced cross section engine cover with a central fin. This was common a few years ago, but in the interests of aesthetics the FIA came up with a dimensional regulation to eliminate it. For 2017, this seems to have been missed.

The fin helps with the airflow coming off the engine cover when the car is in yaw. This improves the performance of the rear wing mid-corner, which is just where you need the most consistent rear downforce. However I'm not so sure it is as effective on a windy day!

Underneath that engine cover is a 2016 Ferrari engine - albeit the end-of-season Abu Dhabi GP spec that Sauber didn't run last year.

Sauber has gone for this now out of date package because it felt that understanding how to get the best out of it and having a better idea about the packaging ahead of time was an advantage. But as we saw last year with Toro Rosso taking a similar route, as the season goes on, that could make things increasingly difficult.

The team is also expecting an early-season reliability advantage from taking this route, and it also means Sauber is not paying top price for something that in reality it may not be able to make best use of, but it is a gamble.

REAR WING

The rear wing endplates have an angled trailing edge. Most teams have louvres in the lower area of the end plate to help the low pressure area behind the rear tyre to 'talk' to the trailing edge of the diffuser.

If these two work together it will help scavenge the airflow from underneath the car, creating more downforce from the underfloor and diffuser. Sauber has opened this area up significantly, it will be interesting to see who else goes down this route.

SUSPENSION

The front suspension is the conventional pushrod setup. The launch pictures don't show the rear, but I assume it will be the normal pullrod. The suspension emphasis will be on what we don't see and how all the teams will adapt to the FIA's potential re-interpretation of how the aerodynamic platform control system will work.

Looks can be deceiving, but overall the new Sauber appears to be a major step forward from what the team had during a difficult 2016 season. To me it looks like a good base to start from.

 

Sauber's big steps under F1's new rules - Gary Anderson

[JasonM]

I hope the white part is gonna have a major sponsor on them, because else it looks really really weird and cheap.

[Adam]

I think that livery is beautiful, love it. The white side bits do need a decent sponsor though.

[Chris2K]

Holy crap, if it's Sauber's 25th year that means this is my 25th year of being an F1 fan. I'm so old.

[Adam]

New Renault is out and it also looks lovely.

[Lineker]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

New Renault is out and it also looks lovely.

That it does!

Renault has become the third Formula 1 team to reveal the car it will use in the 2017 season.

After Williams and Sauber shared the first images of their new F1 challengers, Renault launched its RS17 in London on Tuesday.

GALLERY: Renault launches its 2017 RS17

Black has been added to Renault's traditional yellow livery, in the French manufacturer's second season back as a works team.

The re-shaped rear wing and the thumb-tip nose design are similar to that of the two 2017 cars seen so far, and it also sports the shark fin expected to feature on all cars this year.

It will be powered by the new RE17 engine, which is a departure from last year's power unit, having undergone a radical overhaul after Renault felt the old design had reached its maximum potential.

"The objectives is very simple, since we have for the first time a car that has been developed by us, we expect to be fifth in the championship," Renault Sport Racing president Jerome Stoll said.

"We have the team, the drivers, the partners and an organisation that is now managed under the leadership of Cyril [Abiteboul], and Bob Bell, so frankly I would say that we are hungry for the podium and hungry for success now."

Renault is aiming to bounce back from a dismal 2016 season it finished in ninth position, having scored just eight points.

The team spent a big part of 2016 restructuring and recruiting new staff, although team principal Fred Vasseur parted company with Renault last month, citing differences of opinion among the senior management.

Its recent hires include former Red Bull man Pete Machin as its head of aerodynamics, and Ciaron Pilbeam from McLaren as chief race engineer.

Four-time world champion Alain Prost will also act as a special advisor in a new position.

"We are the fastest growing F1 team, we have increased by 25% the headcount, some targeted recruitment," Abiteboul added.

"We have been investing to catch up - I think we lead [in that aspect]. "Looking at the regulations, we have best of what the technology can offer."

Nico Hulkenberg joins Renault from Force India to partner Jolyon Palmer, replacing Haas-bound Kevin Magnussen, while Sergey Sirotkin has been promoted to an enhanced third and reserve driver role.

 

Renault's 2017 Formula 1 power unit is 95% different to last year's, after it reached the end of the development curve for its previous concept, says engine chief Remi Taffin.

The French manufacturer made a significant step forward with its F1 engine last year, with chief technical officer Bob Bell saying it was "there or thereabouts" with Ferrari in terms of performance by the end of the season.

Renault has chosen to introduce a new concept for 2017, which includes an all-new architecture on the internal combustion engine, as well as a second-generation Energy Recovery System.

"The engine is 95% different," said Taffin at the launch of Renault's 2017 challenger - the RS17 - in London on Tuesday.

"We put a lot of effort to gain on the weight on every single part, as we knew we need to make an effort on that."

Taffin admitted it was a risk to make such a dramatic change, but Renault ultimately had no option given it had reached the limit of its previous concept.

"This engine is more based on what we'll be doing for the next three years," he said.

"It's definitely risky to change anything in the power unit, because when you change something here it could have a knock on effect on everything so you have to be careful."

Taffin said Renault knew it needed to find even more performance to challenge the other manufacturer teams, and decided "15 months ago" that its engine concept would need to change to achieve that aim.

"From what we saw last year we got to the limit of the concept we had," he added. "[So] then we move on."

Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul said Renault had unlocked 0.3 seconds per lap of extra performance with its new engine, and hopes to make a similar further gain through in-season development.

In terms of closing the gap to Mercedes, Taffin said he was hopeful that could be achieved by the end of the year.

"Last year, I said we were trying to half the gap and try to get the second half this season," he said.

"We have some good opportunities to do that.

"We will try to close the gap by the end of the season, that's the plan but you never know what the other guys are doing."

F1's token system was abolished ahead of this season, as part of a push for power convergence by governing body the FIA.

Taffin said this move has given engineers "more freedom", but the French manufacturer would still have likely been able to make its 2017 changes under that system.

"I guess [we could have introduced the concept under the token system] because the only thing you do differently is you do not count the tokens," he said.

"When we had the token system, you think 'if I change this, then I can change this, and this as well, and then I can move onto the next package'.

"This time, you do not even think about that, so it's just freeing up your mind."

Renault believes it has found 0.3 seconds per lap with its all-new Formula 1 engine, and hopes to make a similar leap forward over the course of the season.

The French manufacturer made good gains with its 2016 power unit, but has elected to introduce an all-new design for this season.

Speaking at the launch of the team's 2017 F1 contender, Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul revealed that progress had been strong with the new design that will be run by the works team, Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

"What I know is that we started from scratch, which was quite brave because we had a good product last year that was quite decent, more than decent actually," he said, when asked by Autosport about performance gains.

"I think we were quite surprised in terms of reliability. But we made a decision to start from scratch again.

"Clearly in F1 if you don't attack you are dead.

"We saw that if we were serious about our ambition to catch up with, and if not overtake, the best in class which is Mercedes, we had to envisage a completely different philosophy, which is what we have done this year.

"So the first thing to get right is reliability. That is what will have to come first.

"In terms of performance gains, we are targeting 0.3 seconds in terms of how we finished the season and how we start the season - I am just talking about engine to engine.

"Nothing related to the rest of the car. And we hope to make more or less an equivalent step over the course of the season."

Renault is already scheduling a development step that will likely come on course for the start of the European season.

However, Abiteboul insists the priority has to be reliability, because if it struggles early in the campaign that could hinder its progress later on.

"We think that between 0.3 - 0.4 seconds is what we want to achieve over the course of the season with in-season development," he said.

"But all of that will only be possible if we have the reliability, because if we don't have the reliability then it really screws your engine introduction plan.

"And then what you were supposed to bring for engine number two or engine number three will not be available because you have to fix your reliability issue."

[Gazz]

I like big butts.

[Lineker]

Last year was a dismal one for Renault. It dawdled for far too long at the end of 2015 before taking over the Lotus team, and because of this the engineers were put in an impossible position in terms of coming up with a car concept and optimising it. So the team suffered for the whole season.

The concern is this suggests the management is naive when it comes to understanding the enormity of a project like this. To be successful in Formula 1 is about snap decisions, commitment, budget stability and ensuring people can get on with their responsibilities.

During the car launch, there were many references to what Renault has to achieve in 2017. The big bosses were saying that fifth in the constructors' championship was the minimum. So let's look at that.

On recent performance, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari is the big three. Beyond that, anything can happen so, in reality, the big target is really fourth. Talking about fifth is a bit of a let off and for a works team such as Renault, anything less than that should be looked at as a disaster.

But on the positive side, the car looks like it is a major step forward compared to the 2016 package. And it needs to be.

There is lots of aerodynamic detailing in evidence - from the front wing mounting to the rear wing endplates, you can see the work that has gone into it. Packaging is everything in F1, and the stability that the team did eventually get appears to have offered the design engineers the chance to get this right.

FRONT WING

The main assembly is the now customary multi-element package. The objective of this is to maximise the overall downforce while keeping the downforce consistency. The driver can only drive the lowest point on the downforce curve so peaky downforce is a waste of time and only leads to driver errors.

The concept of turning the airflow outside of the front tyres has been around for a long time and most teams will basically have moved the outer part of the wing outboard by 10cm per side to replicate the same airflow around the now wider front track. After getting some initial track data, developments in this area will come regularly.

The front wing mounting details are extended turning vanes, which help with direction of the airflow under the chassis and onto the underfloor's leading edge. This area is again vitally important to the consistency of the overall package, and it looks like Renault has put a lot of effort into it.

FRONT SUSPENSION

This is a twin wishbone with a pushrod-operated spring and damper unit. I am pleased to see that the suspension geometry is not as radical as we have seen over the last few years.

Getting the best from these much wider Pirelli tyres will need a lot of effort in suspension geometry. Gone are the days of compromising suspension design so much just to satisfy aerodynamic requirements.

SIDEPODS

The vertical sidepod turning vane is another area where the shape is more three dimensional than we have seen with the Williams and the Sauber images revealed so far. This component is there to help control the turbulent airflow wake coming off the trailing edge of the front tyre.

It streamlines the airflow and helps to introduce it to the sidepod undercut without affecting the airflow coming out from underneath the chassis.

The sidepods themselves drop off very quickly to allow the airflow that is going into the Coke bottle area to sort itself out as early as possible. This could potentially reduce the lift induced on the upper surface of the sidepods as the airflow accelerates over this area.

ROLLHOOP

The airbox intake is a different shape to most. It is more of a horizontal opening and a bit like the 1997 Jordan.

That car is 20 years old, but the reasons for doing this don't change. It moves the intake away from the driver's helmet, which being basically spherical is the worst shape you could have to aerodynamically optimise.

This shape allows for a more pronounced undercut between the top of the driver's headrest and the intake, again improving the airflow consistency to the rear wing.

ENGINE

The engine cover adopts the central fin design in a similar way to Sauber. While complying with the regulations, this allows the engine cover cross-section area to be reduced fairly early, improving the airflow to the rear wing.

What is underneath that engine cover will be more important than if the engine cover was just a barn door, though.

Over the past couple of years, Renault has made many winter statements on how engine development has gone and 2017 is no exception. The talk is of improvements between 0.3 to 0.5 seconds from the engine between the end 2016 and the start of '17.

If Renault has achieved this it is going to be right up there in the engine stakes. And we will be able to judge where Renault the chassis maker is because it has frontrunner Red Bull and now front-of-midfield Toro Rosso using the same power unit package. In other words, there is no hiding place for the works team.

REAR END

Most teams are keeping the rear end of the car under wraps. The new regulations permit a much more powerful diffuser, so that's the golden bullet for 2017 if there is one. Keeping this hidden for as long as possible will give others less time to try their own version of a good idea and integrate it for the early races.

The rear wing endplates and rear wing follow what we have seen already. As this is basically a bolt on component, initially complying with the new height and width regulations is all everyone will be doing.

As teams come to terms with the levels of downforce and drag that will be required development in this area will be fairly regular.

The rear suspension is the common pushrod operated system and the exhaust detail has the mandatory twin wastegate tailpipes. This was mandated to help improve the noise level. It has helped but long gone are the 20,000 rpm screamers we came to love.

 

Renault reveals new F1's most detailed car yet - Gary Anderson

[JasonM]

Renault's line of thinking is 'The more it looks like the batmobile, the more chances of winning races.''

[Lineker]

Quote

Force India unveiled its 2017 Formula 1 car, the VJM10, at Silverstone on Wednesday.

The Mercedes-powered design will be driven by team regular Sergio Perez and former Manor driver Esteban Ocon, who replaces Renault-bound Nico Hulkenberg.

It is the 10th F1 challenger produced under the Force India name, with the sometime Jordan, Midland and Spyker team now nearly a decade into its stint under Vijay Mallya.

As was the case with the previous three F1 cars unveiled so far this year, the VJM10 features a thumb-tip nose and a shark fin, as well as significantly different front and rear wings to meet the new aero regulations come.

Force India enjoyed its strongest season to date in 2016, when it finished in fourth place in the constructors' championship with 173 points, beating the likes of Williams and McLaren.

"I'm very excited," said Mallya as the car was unveiled.

"Many commentators have said we punch well above our weight and to add to that we are world champions for the amount of money spent.

"It is a huge compliment, it speaks volumes for the passions, creativity and talent of my team and everyone at the factory.

"This passsion will get more intense and the passion to improve further is going to be pretty relevant in 2017."

Technical director Andy Green said the scale of design change prompted by the new regulations was much higher than usual.

"Compared to previous seasons, this is as close to brand new - it is 95% brand new," he said.

"The philosophy is similar but we are effectively starting from scratch.

"It was a jigsaw to put togther but we have the basis of a car now."

 

[Katsuya]

Apparently the McLaren is going to be orange and white. Which just makes me think of that god awful Renault from 08/09.

[Gazz]

New Mercedes

[Lineker]

As Williams has learned over the last few seasons, it's a lot easier to slip backwards in the constructors' championship than it is to move forwards.

Force India had a great 2016 and the paycheque for finishing fourth in the championship will be a big bonus and help with the cost of developments that '17 will require.

With a change in regulations of this magnitude, every team will have had to at least double its development budget. If, for some strange reason, all that budget isn't used then all the better, but you need to ensure it's available if required.

Vijay Mallya mentioned gunning for the top three, but realistically holding onto fourth is the big task for this year. Points-wise, Force India hasn't joined the big three just yet to make it back into the old big four, and closing that gap will not be easy. But remember, a lot of points were lost last year - look how many times Nico Hulkenberg was wiped out of some fairly high positions in races like Singapore.

The big three have budgets way out of reach for Force India, so that's why it is right to describe it as a team punching above its weight. Long may that continue for a team that I know very well from my time there when it was Jordan.

As for the car, on the outer surface it has a couple of interesting solutions and a couple of less-than-aesthetically pleasing components.

NOSE/FRONT WING

The nose retains the 2016 snorkel-style design, with its two eyelets. It uses the outer parts of this to mount the front wing, allowing airflow in between the wing mountings and the central crash section of the nose. Most teams do the same, but Force India's is just a little bit exaggerated.

The airflow that goes through here was used to feed an s-duct last year. I didn't spot that on this year's car, but I'm sure we'll see it.

The front wing is again a multi-element device. I'm pretty sure it is a derivative of what they ended up with last season adapted to the 2017 regulations, but this area is a bolt-on goodie and it is where a substantial amount of that development budget I spoke of earlier will end up being spent.

The nose-to-chassis intersection is a bit dramatic, and the flat top on the chassis is about as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as a shoe box but in the end if whatever the high-mounted pushrod inner end is driving works in their favour all will be forgiven.

Inner suspensions systems that might just control the aerodynamic platform are still up for interpretation by the FIA, so allowing yourself with room for manoeuvre in this area might just be a wise thing.

SIDEPODS

In front of the sidepod leading edge is what is called the barge boards, this vertically mounted turning vane is a very powerful component and helps scavenge the airflow out from underneath the front of the chassis.

In doing this it helps the front wing and underfloor performance. In the long and distant past when I was a boy they used to be worth about 10% of the overall car's downforce so if they are still as powerful as that it will also be an area of consistent development.

The second of the vertical turning vanes on the outer leading edge corner of the sidepods is there to control the turbulent airflow coming off the low-pressure area behind the front tyre. With the wider front tyres this component will be very important to the performance of the sidepod undercut and general underfloor performance.

ENGINE COVER

The headrest area and engine air intake are like the Renault. At Jordan, we did this style of intake in 1997 to help separate the airflow coming off the driver's helmet and the airflow going into the air box intake. As can be seen, the undercut area underneath the intake is sculptured to allow the airflow through this section with the minimum blockage.

The bulk of the engine cover itself sweeps down to the rear of the car nicely, allowing the maximum airflow to get through to the underside of the rear wing.

However, as for the rather large and rectangular air box fin, the others we have seen so far have at least some shape to them. But this one is what it is and for sure wasn't designed with aesthetics in mind. If it needs a handle, we could start calling it a billboard because, basically, that's what it looks like!

It has been used in the past so obviously, it has a function, but the regulations were changed to outlaw it and perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to go down that route again and very soon. After all, most teams carry a jigsaw on their test trucks...

REAR WING

This is now mounted lower and is wider than in 2016. The treatment of the rear wing endplates is like Sauber and Renault in that the trailing edge angles rearward as they go upwards.

This lower area will allow the low-pressure area behind the rear tyre to influence the performance of the underfloor and diffuser.

DIFFUSER

Most teams will be keeping this area under wraps until the last possible moment. Not only that, but the black floor and black lower half to the paintwork makes it doubly difficult to see anything.

But Barcelona is just around the corner and there will be very few hiding places there, so that is the area I will concentrating on when I get there.

FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION

The front suspension is the conventional double wishbone, pushrod-driven concept. But as I said earlier it is not what is seen that will make the big difference, and whether or not whatever that system is will be allowed to be used by the FIA.

The rear is again the conventional double wishbone pullrod design that has been in use for quite a few seasons.

With the wider front and rear tyres, the suspension geometry will now be more important. This is an area that over the last few years has been put on the backburner because aerodynamics have been more important.

But with a grip increase from the tyres, looking after them will now be more important than ever.

 

Will Force India's ugly duckling sink or swim? - Gary Anderson

[Adam]

The new McLaren is out and I've seen a lot of criticism. It reminds me of Arrows but I don't think it's too bad, though I would have preferred an orange/white livery to combine McLaren's old branding and the Honda brand, rather than so much black.