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2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 09:04
by mario
It does feel a bit odd, given that the 2017 season has not closed out that long ago, but already we are starting to get the announcements for the car launches for 2018.

Ferrari: 22nd Feb
Force India: TBC
Haas: TBC
McLaren: 23rd Feb
Mercedes: 22nd Feb
Red Bull: 19th Feb
Renault: 20th Feb
Sauber: 20th Feb
Toro Rosso: 26th Feb
Williams: 15th Feb

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 12:56
by Collieafc
I'm guessing it will be the now custom covers off at the track on the day of the first test? I miss the days of lavish over the top launches accompanied with grandiose puffery about the car winning titles just based on its looks before finding out by race 3 that the car is doing well to even see the chequered flag

Thats probably why the covers off at testing is so popular, along with cost of the events

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 14:00
by takagi_for_the_win
Collieafc wrote:I'm guessing it will be the now custom covers off at the track on the day of the first test? I miss the days of lavish over the top launches accompanied with grandiose puffery about the car winning titles just based on its looks before finding out by race 3 that the car is doing well to even see the chequered flag

Thats probably why the covers off at testing is so popular, along with cost of the events


Nothing says 1990's F1 opulence like the Spice Girls launching the 1997 McLaren and getting to know Mika Hakkinen.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 14:43
by This Could Be You
takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Collieafc wrote:I'm guessing it will be the now custom covers off at the track on the day of the first test? I miss the days of lavish over the top launches accompanied with grandiose puffery about the car winning titles just based on its looks before finding out by race 3 that the car is doing well to even see the chequered flag

Thats probably why the covers off at testing is so popular, along with cost of the events


Nothing says 1990's F1 opulence like the Spice Girls launching the 1997 McLaren and getting to know Mika Hakkinen.

Both of those look like perfect forfeits for a Mclaren-based avatar bet... :evil:

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 17:28
by mario
Collieafc wrote:I'm guessing it will be the now custom covers off at the track on the day of the first test? I miss the days of lavish over the top launches accompanied with grandiose puffery about the car winning titles just based on its looks before finding out by race 3 that the car is doing well to even see the chequered flag

Thats probably why the covers off at testing is so popular, along with cost of the events

It will probably be like that for most teams, as that is very much the way that things have been going in recent years - probably the last time that we had some of the more elaborate launch events would be McLaren in 2011, when they had people bringing bits of the car together to make up the car on stage.

In this instance, Ferrari's launch is a bit more like their older events - the car will be launched at their factory, then taken over to Barcelona for a "filming day" (which is really just an unofficial shakedown test these days) before the first test (which starts on the 26th Feb): still hardly that much of a revelation.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 18 Jan 2018, 18:40
by mario
OK, so now we're starting to get a few more dates trickle in, with Toro Rosso, McLaren and Mercedes announcing their dates. In the case of Mercedes, they're launching at Silverstone so they can carry out a shakedown test afterwards: McLaren and Toro Rosso have indicated that they'll launch their cars at the circuit.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 20 Jan 2018, 18:43
by The Chicane
I can't wait to see the official Alfa Romeo Sauber livery!

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 30 Jan 2018, 19:10
by mario
OK, updated the thread now with the launch dates for Renault, Toro Rosso and Sauber. It looks like Toro Rosso have tweaked their plans slightly and will now launch the car on the morning of the first day of testing, instead of the evening before.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 12 Feb 2018, 11:05
by IceG
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alon ... g-1004283/

One wonders what he will do if it is a dog. Will he just get out and walk away?

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 12 Feb 2018, 19:07
by mario
IceG wrote:https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-first-to-drive-2018-mclaren-in-testing-1004283/

One wonders what he will do if it is a dog. Will he just get out and walk away?

With a contract lined up with Toyota in the WEC, it might prove tempting to do that (I would hope that McLaren can at least make a modest improvement though).

Meanwhile, Red Bull have finally announced their launch date for the 19th Feb, making them second to launch - only Haas and Force India are yet to announce their launch dates (I hope it isn't a sign that they are running late for the first test, which is only a fortnight away now).

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 12 Feb 2018, 20:06
by AdrianBelmonte_
IceG wrote:https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-first-to-drive-2018-mclaren-in-testing-1004283/

One wonders what he will do if it is a dog. Will he just get out and walk away?


Well, if such a thing happens, i hope Ricardo Zunino is close (and fit, don't forget he's 68) enough to take the wheel

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 12 Feb 2018, 20:30
by Aguvazk
AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:
Well, if such a thing happens, i hope Ricardo Zunino is close (and fit, don't forget he's 68) enough to take the wheel


Well, if you want an argentinian, why not J M López? (Or the zombie of Fangio, lol)

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 12 Feb 2018, 22:07
by dr-baker
Aguvazk wrote:
AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:
Well, if such a thing happens, i hope Ricardo Zunino is close (and fit, don't forget he's 68) enough to take the wheel


Well, if you want an argentinian, why not J M López? (Or the zombie of Fangio, lol)

If we are talking Argentinians, what about the legendary Gaston Mazzacane?

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 12 Feb 2018, 22:30
by good_Ralf
Or...

Image

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 13 Feb 2018, 01:10
by Aguvazk
Or Norberto Fontana... Man, here in Argentina we have a lot of rejects, i'm so proud. Argentina! Argentina! Argentina!!

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 14 Feb 2018, 15:38
by Wallio
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/head ... 8-car.html


So Haas launched their car today. No announcement, no fanfare, no nothing. Just here it is. Doesn't look bad, although the airbox is a blatant rip off of last years Ferrari. Engine cover is cleaned up, giving it an Indycar look. I do hope the fact that the halo is black is because Haas runs black in their scheme. SOMEONE will paint theirs, right? Right?

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 14 Feb 2018, 21:14
by novitopoli
That car and its launch shout "dull" and "average" like nothing else does.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 14 Feb 2018, 22:00
by mario
Wallio wrote:https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2018/2/haas-first-to-reveal-2018-car.html


So Haas launched their car today. No announcement, no fanfare, no nothing. Just here it is. Doesn't look bad, although the airbox is a blatant rip off of last years Ferrari. Engine cover is cleaned up, giving it an Indycar look. I do hope the fact that the halo is black is because Haas runs black in their scheme. SOMEONE will paint theirs, right? Right?

Not just the airbox - the sidepods are also strongly reminiscent of the SF70H's design, particularly the way in which they have used the loopholes in the bodywork regulation to have a sidepod inlet that is perpendicular to the airflow, rather than angled (which is what the 2017 regulation package intended them to be, mainly for aesthetic grounds). There is also the way in which they've effectively pulled the side impact protection structure out of the sidepod and turned it into a turning vane, whilst the bargeboards and front of the floor also follow the SF70H's lead (the flow deflectors under the nose seem similar too).

There have been a few jokes that this car looks a bit like a B spec version of the SF70H, which is probably not all that surprising given the links between Haas and Ferrari - particularly given that, after the upheaval in the regulations last year, the teams are now in a position where they can begin refining their concepts.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 14 Feb 2018, 22:41
by UncreativeUsername37
They finally got rid of the ugly red on grey. They even made the grey white like I said they should! (At least I remember saying that.) And even better, it's still on the car, just confined to a place where it works. And yeah, the sidepods are pretty Ferrari. But it's Haas, so, you know, what a surprise.

The halo is... there. Yep, it's there. I'm finding it difficult to care.

And it's all just a rendering anyway....

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 15 Feb 2018, 22:30
by Wallio
https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2018/ ... paign.html

Williams launched today and glory of glories, they painted the halo! And it actually looks good! Also as Mario said, you can see the evolution of the designs. Yay for rules stability.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 11:26
by Rob Dylan
Well so far this launch season has been a damp squib. We haven't actually seen any cars yet...

As the car shape changes each year, for some reason the Williams looked pretty bad in the initial pictures for me. It might grow on me, but the bright white halo I wasn't a fan of. At least on the Haas it blended into the design and so wasn't so jarring for me.

Still waiting to see some real-life cars before Melbourne!

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 22:19
by mario
Wallio wrote:https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2018/2/Williams_launch_their_2018_F1_campaign.html

Williams launched today and glory of glories, they painted the halo! And it actually looks good! Also as Mario said, you can see the evolution of the designs. Yay for rules stability.

Well, the question of rules stability is always a difficult one - after all, making too many changes in too short a period of time can place quite a large strain on the finances of the smaller teams, and often we've seen greater field spread as the larger teams break clear of the midfield pack.

What is interesting to note is that we have now had two cars that have both been moving towards Ferrari's design philosophy, particularly with the way in which they have designed the sidepods (and it does seem that Williams have made a more pronounced step change in that area). I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more teams begin to shift in that direction, since it seems that it was a fairly successful innovation for Ferrari in 2017.

Rob Dylan wrote:Well so far this launch season has been a damp squib. We haven't actually seen any cars yet...

As the car shape changes each year, for some reason the Williams looked pretty bad in the initial pictures for me. It might grow on me, but the bright white halo I wasn't a fan of. At least on the Haas it blended into the design and so wasn't so jarring for me.

Still waiting to see some real-life cars before Melbourne!

As I understand it, only Mercedes have really organised what might be considered a "traditional" launch event - most of the others are going for the digital launch strategy, or simply showing the car off in the pit lane before immediately heading onto track for a shakedown run.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Feb 2018, 13:52
by Rob Dylan
New Red Bull has been on the track.

It's the testing livery, but it still looks fantastic.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 19 Feb 2018, 18:54
by takagi_for_the_win
That Red Bull livery is bloody gorgeous. Obviously won't see the light of day at a race, but still gorgeous nonetheless.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 20 Feb 2018, 15:08
by Wallio
I don't know, I know I may be the only person on earth to say this, but I don't much care for the RBR's testing gimmick. I'm not sure why, I loved the camo-bull. The front wing on the RB14 looks huge, even by the standards of these rules. Reminds me of the 2009-spec snowplows.

And the Sauber. Oh dear. Plain in every shape of the word.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 20 Feb 2018, 16:39
by Wallio
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comme ... on_a_film/


It also appears that Danny binned it yesterday........

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 20 Feb 2018, 18:16
by dinizintheoven
Wallio wrote:And the Sauber. Oh dear. Plain in every shape of the word.

Except the airbox. How many twists and turns does it need? It's like one of those novelty straws.

That Renault needs more yellow and less black.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 20 Feb 2018, 19:27
by mario
Wallio wrote:I don't know, I know I may be the only person on earth to say this, but I don't much care for the RBR's testing gimmick. I'm not sure why, I loved the camo-bull. The front wing on the RB14 looks huge, even by the standards of these rules. Reminds me of the 2009-spec snowplows.

And the Sauber. Oh dear. Plain in every shape of the word.

I have seen a theory that the main reason for that livery is to try and render some of the pre-season spy photographs less useful by using those irregular patterns of squares to cause image artefacts, especially when the images are processed via some of the common algorithms for compressing the files.

dinizintheoven wrote:
Wallio wrote:And the Sauber. Oh dear. Plain in every shape of the word.

Except the airbox. How many twists and turns does it need? It's like one of those novelty straws.

That Renault needs more yellow and less black.

Sauber's car does seem to have a number of cooling slots and vents popping up all over the bodywork - they've introduced an additional set of intakes above the sidepods that have reminded a few of the upper air intakes on the B188 and B189, whilst there is an additional intake running down the side of the shark fin and a vent along the centreline of the engine cover. There does also seem to be some rather interesting ducting on the nose of the car too (if you look more closely, you can see that there are ducts either side of the nose tip - possibly feeding the S-duct further up the nose), whilst they have followed Ferrari's lead on the mid wings and side impact structures as well (as, it seems, have quite a few teams).

Maybe it is just me, but whilst the Sauber might look a bit of a conservative design, there do seem to be a few interesting flourishes when you start looking more closely at it. If anything, the RS18 looks like a much more conservative design - they've tightened up the rear bodywork a bit compared to the RS17, but resembles the RS17 quite strongly and comes across as more of a minor evolution of that car. It's so similar that I'm wondering if this really is the RS18, or a lightly modified RS17 chassis that's been put together for the launch photos.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 20 Feb 2018, 20:00
by Wallio
2017 Haas and Willaims vs. 2016 Ferrari. Interesting........


Image

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 21 Feb 2018, 15:13
by dinizintheoven
I'm still somewhat annoyed, given what we all know the halo looks like (and did so before Giedo van der Garde pointed it out to us) that no team so far has announced a sponsorship deal with Havaianas.

Is it because there are no Brazilian drivers yet?

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 22 Feb 2018, 15:18
by Wallio
https://drivetribe.com/p/new-ferrari-un ... ce=organic

The words "extreme" and "aggressive" get overused so much to describe new car aero bits, but I'm struggling to find other words to describe the Ferrari's sidepod treatments. They also have so aero bits on the halo to channel air, wonder how long until that's banned?

Merc seems to have just chopped off the T-wing and shark fin off of last years car, and added a halo, although I do admit I haven't seen any really good photos yet.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 22 Feb 2018, 21:02
by mario
Wallio wrote:https://drivetribe.com/p/new-ferrari-unveiled-for-2018-season-Zz9TSthIShKju_qfqTY-Jg?iid=DcT8j2IvRUGWO1tJRjTerA&utm_campaign=formula1&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=organic

The words "extreme" and "aggressive" get overused so much to describe new car aero bits, but I'm struggling to find other words to describe the Ferrari's sidepod treatments. They also have so aero bits on the halo to channel air, wonder how long until that's banned?

Merc seems to have just chopped off the T-wing and shark fin off of last years car, and added a halo, although I do admit I haven't seen any really good photos yet.

I believe that the regulations do allow the teams to have small aerodynamic appendages on the halo, so I expect Ferrari (along with many others) will be exploiting this area.

The sidepods are a marked evolution of their 2017 solution, and the enlarged airbox does make me wonder if they've relocated some of the smaller radiators into that area for packaging advantages. There are also signs that the wheelbase has been lengthened compared to their 2017 car - a figure in the order of 50mm has been mentioned - which might go a little way to explaining the tighter packaging (if they could move some ancillaries a little closer to the car centreline by lengthening the wheelbase).

In the case of Mercedes, perhaps in some ways it's not surprising that they've not made sweeping changes given they already had a fairly strong car to begin with - kind of a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". It's a more nuanced evolution than Ferrari's car, though it does seem as if Mercedes have made some rather unusual modifications to the suspension geometry (especially at the front of the car).

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 09:32
by madmark1974
The new McLaren does not look good ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/43162270

I don't know what it is, I don't mind the colours, but maybe it's just too plain? Like they could only afford 2 colours of paint with no intermediate shades or accents or highlights or anything ...

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 10:12
by Rob Dylan
Certainly looks a bit like a toy, but in terms of F1 cars it's sporting the Spyker colours, which raises no objection from me!

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 12:26
by yannicksamlad
Still no real sponsors for McLaren, so at least they could have written the driver's name in big letters ( HRT style ).

And more generally - the cars are so long! They have a wider track, but don't want to use the space inside. They want thin, to keep the flow all the way back to the gap between rear wheels, so they keep getting longer .
Wouldnt it be better to have shorter, edgier cars, less stable and easier to overtake? And with some mechanicals between the rear wheels?

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 13:25
by Rob Dylan
And on the note of sponsors, it didn't appear that the Ferrari chassis had many sponsors on it either. Both of them and the Haas came across as slightly plain to me, just because they weren't really decked out or alive in that way. Many have just appeared like really big toys - though I will very likely change my tune the moment I see them actually out on the track.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 13:35
by dinizintheoven
Orange and blue, McLaren. Orange and blue! I don't want to sound like Gok Wan here, but that is not a winning combination. Orange and black, orange and white, orange and red, orange and yellow, all fine; orange and blue, not so.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 15:49
by madmark1974
dinizintheoven wrote:Orange and blue, McLaren. Orange and blue! I don't want to sound like Gok Wan here, but that is not a winning combination. Orange and black, orange and white, orange and red, orange and yellow, all fine; orange and blue, not so.


I was going to be smart and post something in response with the traditional Gulf livery, but that's more "blue and orange" than "orange and blue", I guess? ;)

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 16:45
by Aislabie
dinizintheoven wrote:Orange and blue, McLaren. Orange and blue! I don't want to sound like Gok Wan here, but that is not a winning combination. Orange and black, orange and white, orange and red, orange and yellow, all fine; orange and blue, not so.

Stick IRN-BRU logos on the wings.

Re: 2018 Car Launch Thread

Posted: 23 Feb 2018, 16:58
by Wallio
Rob Dylan wrote:And on the note of sponsors, it didn't appear that the Ferrari chassis had many sponsors on it either. Both of them and the Haas came across as slightly plain to me.


Fun fact about Ferrari, none of the "sponsors" on the Ferrari actually sponsor Ferrari (well aside from Shell). Phillip Morris buys all the ad space on the car, and resells it at a profit. So Ferrari actually have 200-250mil in sponsorship despite the bare car. Hence why all the logos are crammed on the sidepods. Rumors online are that the airbox has been sold, and a logo will appear for Melbourne. I hope not, I like the plain car.

For Mclaren and Haas its a bit more worrying. Honda may or may not have paid Macca an exit fee, and Gene Haas is Oprah rich, but still, they need more money somewhere......