Grand Prix Rejects

Rob Dylan wrote:https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/williams-reveals-fw43b-with-heavily-revised-livery-for-2021-season/5592395/

I'm not even sure that it is above the threshold Mercedes set for worst 2021 livery so far. I'm quite impressed in just how crazy this one is. There doesn't seem to be any centre to it - that it's four different liveries stuck together. My eyes hurt just looking at it

The front is fine for me, its the rear where I have so many issues. And I have only just noticed the W drowning in the blue

The new Williams reminds me of this:



This is our local bus service for the Wirral/Liverpool area. Quite apt considering it’ll probably be as quick as one for another season

rachel1990 wrote:

Rob Dylan wrote:https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/williams-reveals-fw43b-with-heavily-revised-livery-for-2021-season/5592395/

I'm not even sure that it is above the threshold Mercedes set for worst 2021 livery so far. I'm quite impressed in just how crazy this one is. There doesn't seem to be any centre to it - that it's four different liveries stuck together. My eyes hurt just looking at it

The front is fine for me, its the rear where I have so many issues. And I have only just noticed the W drowning in the blue

I have to agree with Rob Dylan that it is a fairly terrible livery - it really does look like somebody mashed together two liveries from two different cars. It's as if somebody went into "Motorsport Manager", hit the randomise livery option and went "eh, that'll do" - I think it is the worst livery on the grid.

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:The new Williams reminds me of this:



This is our local bus service for the Wirral/Liverpool area. Quite apt considering it’ll probably be as quick as one for another season

It really does look a lot like that - kind of sums things up for the team, doesn't it?

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:The new Williams reminds me of this:



This is our local bus service for the Wirral/Liverpool area. Quite apt considering it’ll probably be as quick as one for another season

Addenbrookes? Trumpington? That's the Cambridge area. I was living there when the numberplate-format-change happened in late 2001, and the bus companies scrambled over each other to be the first with a fleet of 51-plates. So it's entirely possible that I may once have been a passenger on the actual bus in that picture, provided it was on a different route, because (fortunately) I never had any cause to go to Addenbrookes at the time...

Also, am I the only one who can't stand the sight of the two digits not being on the same level? Williams have a habit of doing this - see 2014 and the pre-Rokit-removal 2020 livery...

Is this year's Ferrari livery their worst one yet?



I don't know about y'all, but that green is pure..

Also, shout-out to the whole site debacle for the launch. Ferrari, please, I am free to hire and I won't turn your website into a shambles.

Miguel98 wrote:Is this year's Ferrari livery their worst one yet?

I don't know about y'all, but that green is pure..

Also, shout-out to the whole site debacle for the launch. Ferrari, please, I am free to hire and I won't turn your website into a shambles.

Yeah, really not a fan of the green at all, very jarring. Front bulkhead looks a bit cluttered, those Kaspersky and Mission Winnow logo placements look suspiciously like my attempts at jamming on a few extra sponsors to my GT Sport liveries. Just a bit of a messy effort all round, it shouldn't be this hard to make a Ferrari livery look decent.

takagi_for_the_win wrote:

Miguel98 wrote:Is this year's Ferrari livery their worst one yet?

I don't know about y'all, but that green is pure..

Also, shout-out to the whole site debacle for the launch. Ferrari, please, I am free to hire and I won't turn your website into a shambles.

Yeah, really not a fan of the green at all, very jarring. Front bulkhead looks a bit cluttered, those Kaspersky and Mission Winnow logo placements look suspiciously like my attempts at jamming on a few extra sponsors to my GT Sport liveries. Just a bit of a messy effort all round, it shouldn't be this hard to make a Ferrari livery look decent.

Sainz has said that he wasn't expecting to see that logo in green, whilst according to Leclerc he heard it was a last minute change.

If what they are saying is true, then perhaps it is not surprising that it looks like a rushed and bodged job - because that's exactly what it is. It also begs the follow up question - what on earth happened that forced Ferrari to make a panicky last minute change to their livery?

So many of the teams have empty liveries with only small sponsors. Ferrari have far too many sponsors on their car imo. It's not really red anymore: more red yellow black green white.

I think the green logo is brilliant. Misson Winnow was not even on the car in any race last year, so why would it be this year? But by making it as offensive as this, all we're talking about one again is Marlboro Philip Morris Mission Winnow, while the actual race livery will be pretty darn cool in my opinion.

Can we at least get a pre-emptive DHM of the year for that green on red M/W?

Miguel98 wrote:Is this year's Ferrari livery their worst one yet?

I don't know about y'all, but that green is pure..

Also, shout-out to the whole site debacle for the launch. Ferrari, please, I am free to hire and I won't turn your website into a shambles.

At first glance would you know for sure it was a Ferrari? Sad to say but I think the Williams FW20 from '99 was more red than that. Is this it? Is this the start of Ferrari becoming just another struggling F1 team cramming their livery with as much sponsor crap as they can? Ironically, much like the FW20......

Discussion on the Pre-Season Testing is on!

Mercedes were the first car to meet problems today. Shocking.

And some cars... cough cough, Ferrari... look incredible crap while on track. Dear god.

Aston Martin looks really good, Ferrari not so much.

Mercedes paying homage to the other W12 chassis by breaking down 30 minutes in

Rob Dylan wrote:https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/albert-park-layout-2021-australian-gp/5416110/?ic_source=home-page-widget&ic_medium=widget&ic_campaign=widget-1

Changes to Albert Park - the hard right-hander in sector 2 which then turns left going by the lake, that's all been smoothed out a bit so it's a much faster corner. Less slowdown, so the laptimes will be much faster from this year whatever year the race happens onward.

Part of gradual but inexorable elimination of corners in F1. Taken to extremes for the Sakhir GP, it's part of the dumbing down that leads the way to NASCAR.
I'm being silly. But all these flat out corners that just require steering from the driver are reducing the skills we see from an F1 driver

With regards to the design of the cars, is it just me, or has anybody else looked at the A521 and felt that the rather bulky nature of the airbox reminded them of the version of the Ligier JS5 with the high airbox?

Mario, that comparison has been made on Twitter more than once...

dr-baker wrote:Mario, that comparison has been made on Twitter more than once...

You seem to have forgotten that mario is smart and smart people do not use twitter unless they are promoting something.

Klon wrote:

dr-baker wrote:Mario, that comparison has been made on Twitter more than once...

You seem to have forgotten that mario is smart and smart people do not use twitter unless they are promoting something.

True. I do sometimes forget that not everyone uses the same social media platforms. Sorry.

Although Twitter can also be used as a professional networking site, and for professional education and dissemination of information.

dr-baker wrote:

Klon wrote:

dr-baker wrote:Mario, that comparison has been made on Twitter more than once...

You seem to have forgotten that mario is smart and smart people do not use twitter unless they are promoting something.

True. I do sometimes forget that not everyone uses the same social media platforms. Sorry.

Although Twitter can also be used as a professional networking site, and for professional education and dissemination of information.

That's OK - I can understand why you'd make that association, though you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that I'm not on twitter either (it was after seeing some shots of the car on track that the thought occurred to me).

mario wrote:That's OK - I can understand why you'd make that association, though you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that I'm not on twitter either (it was after seeing some shots of the car on track that the thought occurred to me).

I've been on here long enough to know that that observation would have been an original thought for you. But there was the question of whether anyone else had noticed and the answer was yes...

Mercedes with issues in testing, though I'm sure we can assume it's sandbagging and teething problems like they do every season. I will make an avatar bet with anyone that Mercedes will win the opening round of the season like they do almost every year. Who's up for it?

I could be missing something here (let's face it, I'm definitely missing something here), but it strikes me as odd given how stable the regulations have been over the winter for Mercedes to have fallen off the pace. Now, there could be some small changes to the regulations that I'm unaware of, but for Merc to have had such a dominant edge last season, make small tweaks over the winter, and come out with what appears to be a poorly balanced car with a relative lack of pace seems odd. It would shake things up a bit if they genuinely were struggling, but I can't shake the feeling they're holding quite a bit back.

takagi_for_the_win wrote:I could be missing something here (let's face it, I'm definitely missing something here), but it strikes me as odd given how stable the regulations have been over the winter for Mercedes to have fallen off the pace. Now, there could be some small changes to the regulations that I'm unaware of, but for Merc to have had such a dominant edge last season, make small tweaks over the winter, and come out with what appears to be a poorly balanced car with a relative lack of pace seems odd. It would shake things up a bit if they genuinely were struggling, but I can't shake the feeling they're holding quite a bit back.

Even the Mercedes team themselves were on the edge of their seats seeing whether Hamilton would sign a 2021 contract that they are now three months behind everyone else on car development!

I feel like doing some livery rankings. Is this the right place for it? Well, the silly season and testing threads are supposed to be separate, so who cares, I guess.

10. Ferrari
The Ferrari liveries the past couple of years have been horribly boring. Yes, a Ferrari should be mostly red, but just plain red is so boring. But for this season they've spiced it up: now it's red and different red. Oh, and the Mission Winnow logo is bright green, because bright green on red is... er....
Seriously, what were they thinking?

9. AlphaTauri
I'll tell you the problem: it's the dip on the side. It's such an ugly shape. The colours are as cool as they've ever been, because they're the same ones, and if that turn down on the sidepod didn't exist this would easily be one of the better liveries. But it does, and every time I see it I'm sad about it.

8. Mercedes
The AMGs don't look as bad when the thing's moving, but really, they should've stuck with the stars. It's a shame, the red is worked in much better than before, the turquoise or spring green or something stripe looks nice, black and silver is cool, it would all work if they just... didn't randomly put something ugly on it....

7. Aston Martin
Not content to take so many of their parts from last year's Mercedes, they've copied the concept for the livery too. The problem is that green and magenta isn't as good a pairing. It isn't terrible – it was the first time I saw it, but since then it's been all right – but it's neutral, not actually good. Metallic green fading into black is so nice, why you gotta put a clashing stripe over it.

6. Williams
I wish they'd go nuts with the blue and azure stripes. Put that all over the car. Paint it over the boring white bit that makes the car have different designs depending on the angle, paint it over the black bit that's only there to put an ugly vertical border on the side. Engine cover: 5/5. Rest of the car: 2/5.

5. Red Bull
The main colour is so dull and it's in a matte finish that makes it look even duller. I've said it before and I have no problem saying it again, I want shiny purple back. Or at least go back to the glossy dull blue. That said, the colour isn't really ugly, and the car's got just enough extra bits to make it decent. But why are so many teams changing their liveries for the sake of change and Red Bull are keeping the boring thing they've got. I want to know.

4. Alfa Romeo
You've got a base colour and then an accent colour for the wings and sidepods. It reminds me of liveries I make for GP2 when I'm not feeling very creative. Oh, and there's some big Alfa Romeo iconography and a couple stripes, but that doesn't really affect how it feels. Same problem as the Red Bull, it's slightly too plain.

3. McLaren
It's like the Alfa Romeo but the engine cover gets to be part of the accent too.

2. Haas
Part of me says it's mostly white and therefore boring, but a much bigger part says that the swooshes of Uralkali colours that just coincidentally happen to match something that's supposed to be banned give it this bright, spectacular look on the engine cover and fin, the same thing the Williams Martini concept and big diagonal "BWT" failed at. And the red stripe on the sidepod keeps that part from standing out in a bad way. You know those shots of milk in advertisements that make plain white look so good? That's how this design feels to me.

1. Alpine
The Ligier... sorry, Prost... I mean Alpine this year looks great! It's mostly blue because it's France and then it's got some white and red for another layer of France, simple enough, but the diagonalness and the hatched bit and the fortunate coincidence that a letter A goes well with the shape they're already doing make something that "should" be basic really pretty. And the black wings make for a fourth colour that still goes with the rest of it. The specific shade of blue is... too bright to be Prost blue, the greatest colour in racing car history, but it's got some of its feel. Even though most of it is one block of the same colour, it's one fine design.

I actually love everything about Alpha Tauri's livery.

But nothing beats that Alpine.

Two quite interesting news coming today from the paddock.

The first is that George Russell has been nominated, alongside Vettel, to be the new presidents of the GPDA, replacing Romain Grosjean. Vettel comes as a no surprise, but I'm quite impressed that George has found himself in this position so soon. I think it shows his maturity and the respect his peers have for him, but also showing that there's a clear interest to build for the future. Give the man a 2022 drive Mercedes!

The other news also comes from the Williams department, as Joest Capito has started to make moves within the team, by bringing in Francois-Xavier Demaison to the team. Like Capito, he has been associated with VW in the past.

Miguel98 wrote:The other news also comes from the Williams department, as Joest Capito has started to make moves within the team, by bringing in Francois-Xavier Demaison to the team. Like Capito, he has been associated with VW in the past.

Williams-VW confirmed. Or Williams-Audi, Williams-Skoda, Williams-Seat, Williams-Lamborghini, Williams-Bugatti, Williams-NSU, Williams-DKW... any I've missed?

dinizintheoven wrote: Williams-VW confirmed. Or Williams-Audi, Williams-Skoda, Williams-Seat, Williams-Lamborghini, Williams-Bugatti, Williams-NSU, Williams-DKW... any I've missed?

Williams-Bentley

Williams-Kubelwagen

Porsche engines are finally back, everyone!

takagi_for_the_win wrote:I could be missing something here (let's face it, I'm definitely missing something here), but it strikes me as odd given how stable the regulations have been over the winter for Mercedes to have fallen off the pace. Now, there could be some small changes to the regulations that I'm unaware of, but for Merc to have had such a dominant edge last season, make small tweaks over the winter, and come out with what appears to be a poorly balanced car with a relative lack of pace seems odd. It would shake things up a bit if they genuinely were struggling, but I can't shake the feeling they're holding quite a bit back.

The speculation is over whether there might have been an aerodynamic calibration issue for Mercedes that is resulting in an inconsistent aero balance and poor rear traction - the regulation tweak in that case being the reduction in the rear floor area, which came in an area particularly important in controlling tyre squirt. Asides from that, the gearbox issues that both Mercedes and Aston Martin had did also make some wonder if a few reliability gremlins had crept in.

On the other hand, there is the caveat that it's not clear quite how much fuel or how aggressive the engine modes that the drivers used were, with some wondering if the engines were turned quite far down. Still, there do seem to be some suggestions that things did not go entirely to plan during testing.

Whether that would shake things up a lot is another matter though, or whether we'd just have to put up with Verstappen dominance and the gloating of his fans instead...

Miguel98 wrote:Two quite interesting news coming today from the paddock.

The first is that George Russell has been nominated, alongside Vettel, to be the new presidents of the GPDA, replacing Romain Grosjean. Vettel comes as a no surprise, but I'm quite impressed that George has found himself in this position so soon. I think it shows his maturity and the respect his peers have for him, but also showing that there's a clear interest to build for the future. Give the man a 2022 drive Mercedes!

The other news also comes from the Williams department, as Joest Capito has started to make moves within the team, by bringing in Francois-Xavier Demaison to the team. Like Capito, he has been associated with VW in the past.

With regards to the GPDA, Vettel was already a director of the GPDA - he's served in the role continuously since 2010. I believe that Vettel is actually now the joint longest serving director of the GPDA, as he will equal Schumacher's 11 years as a director of the GPDA this year.

I agree it is a mark of respect for Russell from his peers - though, whilst uncommon, it's not unheard of for a driver to be appointed despite having limited experience. Vettel is one of those examples, as he was only slightly more experienced than Russel is now when he was made a director in 2010.

If anything, I would say that the more interesting news is the appointment of Anastasia Fowle, who is the legal advisor to the GPDA, as a director - she is the first person who is neither a former or active F1 driver to hold that position.

As for Demaison being head hunted, well, it's perhaps not that surprising that he's looked to colleagues he knows well from VW - Brivio has been appointing a few former MotoGP colleagues at Alpine too, but that hasn't sparked rumours of Suzuki taking over the Alpine team.

Schumacher Jr ‘very similar’ to Michael, say Haas' Ferrari staff
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/steiner-schumacher-mick-similar-michael-haas/5773724/

Well, yeah. They look quite alike, for one

Sorry, I just think it's a really dumb headline

Good grief, do Alpine look bad.

Quite a few surprises in this FP1. Let's see how the weekend evolves.

Miguel98 wrote:Good grief, do Alpine look bad.

Quite a few surprises in this FP1. Let's see how the weekend evolves.

It is perhaps not entirely surprising though - their 2020 car was an evolution of their 2019 car, mainly because they were shifting their focus to the new rules that were meant to be coming in for 2021.

Given their focus has been on updating their power unit for 2022 and on the new regulation package, this is effectively a development of a two year old car, and one that will not be receiving a lot of updates this year. It's a case of hoping that taking a bit of pain now will put them in better shape for 2022.

That was pleasingly close at the front and delightfully topsy-turvy behind. My only issue is how similar the head-on angles of the Mercedes, Alpha Tauris and Aston Martins all look - at least under the lights!

I just hope it lives up to it tomorrow!

Agree, too many cars looking black under floodlights.

C4F1 have amazingly cloned Smashy and Nicey's DNA child for their new commentator.

Lewis Hamilton: 'We're not the fastest car...Hang on, I didn't actually mean it!'

We say no to Mazepin competing in this race.

Mazepin lasted two more corners than I expected!

Wow. What a finish to the race! I real sickener for Red Bull.

It looked as if there was a real danger there of a race being decided by one driver passing another, but sadly it wasn't to be. You have to stand up and salute Hamilton for pulling that off, though.

But great that we had a race which kept so much excitement to the end. Fingers crossed we get a lot more like that through the season!