A general hub for 2017, a season which will have some of the most radical rule changes in recent history.
Looking forward to seeing how quick they are this season. And how they will feel in the F1 2017 game when it comes out. Wondering just how much they will have to lift off the throttle in the fast left/right at Melbourne, should pull some Gs through there.
I'll kick it off with some of the launches thus far with some very blunt opinions on the aesthetics. Williams: Meh. Martini livery still looks the business but is very much stale. Could have at least tried a new base colour. It's a car with racing stripes though, and really is there anything wrong with that? 6/10 Sauber: Didn't like it when it launched, but each day I like it more and more. But after seeing it on track, wow. Amazing what a metallic paint job can do. Looks way too much like a '96 Ligier but that's not a bad thing. Needs some sponsors on the white and it'll look epic. Looks a hell of a lot better on track than in the showroom! 5/10 at launch, now an 8/10 Renault Sport: Droooool... Love it love it love it! Bumblebee livery is super, and I love the yellow stripe on the sharkfin. Reminicent of the B&H Jordans, this is easily in my 10 best looking cars of all time. Not quite the 2010 car, but easily trumps the fake JPS liveries.. 9/10 Force India: Yuck what the f*** is this? The stepped nose is terrible, the nose looks like the face of an N64 controller, and the sharkfin is ghastly. We have enough bland liveries in F1, how did SFI make this ok-ish livery terrible I'll never know. A poor effort indeed. 2/10 Mercedes AMG: I want to like it, I really do. But this is still basically the same they've had since 2010/11, surely it's time for something new. Blue streaks just don't cut it. Still, it is a pleasing car to the eye, and we'll be seeing a lot of it. I just want the white back ground for the numbers back on the cars which they had before the hybrid era. Unlike the other teams, they've once again kept it simple but the devil is in the detail. 7/10 Ferrari: I should be used to these guys disappointing me year after year. Seriously, give Santander the flick, get rid of the horrible logo on the engine cover and make it rosso corsa. Darker red with black and yellow wings just ooze Maranello. And dear god what is going on with those sidepods... To me it's better than last year's, but that's like saying I'd rather Brett Lee bowl at my face than at my groin... 4/10 I'm really looking forward to the rest of the launches, and keep in mind, no one cares how ugly a car is if it's winning!
With what seems to be a lot of flexibility in some aspects of the designs I can't wait for what Adiran Newey cooks up for RBR ..... and what is up with the Ferrari barge boards
McLaren: It's Orange. Finally. It's a good looking car but the livery designer needs the sack because this is as backmarker spec as it gets. If the orange was red no one would scold you for thinking it was a Marussia. Hopefully the black goes, as the rear end is a total disaster. Still, it as close as we're going to get to a ROOZ style F1 car for real. A few tweaks and this will be a classic. However, forget the fact that at least 1000 fan made renders look better than this, just be glad that McLaren have finally sported an eye catcher for the first time in many, many years. 7/10, has the potential to be a 10.
Don't forget that Williams picture is only partly-legit. It's a CGI image so the real car would be expected to look a little different. Like most Livery wise, i adore the Renault. Love it! Best Chassis so far probably goes to Renault too in Asthetics terms, however that Merc is very clearly not at Racing Spec with many Trial Parts on the car, so i can only imagine that will be much different come Melbourne. Despite Seb leaving i still remain a RBR/STR fan; so i look forward to what they both come up with! I saw a White Toro Rosso concept and boy do i hope it becomes reality.
Despite all the radical rule changes, i still expect mercs to be way out in front. The increased downforce for all cars will make them a lot faster sure, but i think its only going to make the fast cars faster, and the slower cars slower in comparison. As for overtaking and general show in a race format, i expect with the increased downforce that passing on track will be way down, and we'll be looking more at stratergy to get by the car in front. As bad an example it might be, in 2015 NASCAR had the most aero they'd had in a long time. Pack racing was much harder, and passing was way down, and as a result, fans tuned out. For 2016 they drastically reduced the top side aero, passing went back up and pack racing became much easier and fans tuned back in. I expect a lot of fans will be disapointed with the on track action and may look to other open wheel catergories such as Indycar which is really giving F1 a run for its money once they, like NASCAR took away a fair bit of top side aero and the passing went way back up. On a more positive note, the cars look good (except for SFI), and I'm keen to see the sort of numbers they can produce in all forms of the sport. I also hope now that Chase Kerry and Liberty Media are in charge we'll see a growth in fans, social media coverage and easier accses to the races through a dedicated paid streaming service similar to what WEC offer
Niiiice!!! I'll have to catch up with you at some point. I just got mine ordered then General Admission but for the 4 days! Yayayaya Getting my 2017 Merch now too. Keeeen. Haven't been since 2014 since the races have been dull, but i've got faith in these new regs to bring more excitment, even if there isn't much overtaking, they should be much quicker.
I'm general admission, but i'll probably be hiding in a tree anyway from the Dan Fans with my Verstappen gear
I go every year with my mates, there are about 12 of us. You'll prob see us all dressed in our Red Bull gear.
Red Bull: No surprises here, it's the same as last year. But just like Mercedes, the detail is astounding. Note the tip of the nose, I wonder what letter Duct this would be? Overall another stunning looking car from RBR. Loving the new rims and ultra tight rear end too. 8/10.
