Selection box - Seeing is believing - A whistle stop tour of our first glance at F1's new year
Published by Christine
The number of teams unveiling their new look cars for 2015 creeps ever higher, with McLaren joining the fold today. Their toned down livery has caused some consternation, and their Back to the Future inspired video was received to mixed reviews, but they are, at least, putting the effort in. With McLaren at the forefront of our minds today, let's start with some thoughts about the longevity of Jenson Button's F1 career.
Jenson and Jacques never got along throughout the whole of 2003. Jenson outperformed his team mate easily with a number of great point scoring results like Austria and Japan where he achieved a 4th place. He scored a total of 17 Points with a 9th place in the World Championship. Jacques was kicked out from BAR and was replaced with Takuma Sato for the final race at Japan...
Lotus were one of the teams opting to reveal a computer generated image of their car rather than whip covers off the actual carbon fibre. The pictures do allow those of a more technical nature to get fully involved, though, with a fantastic analysis here.
Intriguingly the E23 features two airbox shoulder ducts that sit just a little lower than the airbox itself, their purpose at the moment is unknown especially as the PU106 (Mercedes PU) seemed to be the most thermally efficient of the bunch, however as we know changes for 2015 mean the PU will produce more power and so may require a little more cooling.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Sauber have opted to go in a different direction and are the first to reveal what their car will sound like this year. The sound is likely less important compared to last year when it was brand new, but for the many who are invested in the sound these cars make, it's good to get a sneak preview.
2 days to go! You may have SEEN other 2015 cars already, we let you HEAR ours!
It's not just the cars that are new this year, we've also got the addition of Mexico to the calendar. Some have been concerned about what kind of event Mexico will put on, but after the media got to visit (thanks to Force India's launch), many are happy to put your mind at rest.
Will put it best when he said that for being touted as astute mathmeticians, the Aztecs certainly didn’t seem to get the heighth/width ratio for these steps quite right. Both the climb and the descent were equally terrifying, not helped by the high altitude and thinning oxygen levels. All I have to say is the Aztecs had to have been sporting some massive quads to climb the 218ft pyramid like that on the reg.
Spare a thought, if you will, for the four times World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who is heading to Ferrari this year for a) a new challenge and b) to escape being embarrassed by Daniel Ricciardo again. It's no surprise, really, to hear Christian Horner describe how unsettled Vettel really was last year but it is fun that he uses the toy analogy.
“It was like someone had taken his toy away. It took him a while to get to grips with that. It was not something he was used to. He went through a period of disillusionment about the direction Formula One was going in. There was a stage last year when he thought whether he wanted to stop or not, whether he was getting the same level of enjoyment or not and whether or not he wanted to continue.”
It's not often Formula One items get into the local news, but McLaren have managed to upset local residents and become a headline on Surrey's local website. The team want to be bigger and better, but the neighbours aren't so sure.
McLaren has defended its expansion plans and reminded objectors of its role as an important employer in the area, calling its continued growth "of ever-greater benefit to Woking". The Formula 1 team and technology company already has planning permission for what it calls the McLaren Applied Technology Centre, on the eastern side of the A320, but it now wants to relocate this to the opposite side so its new buildings are closer to the current operations.
January always heralds the return of the Autosport International trade show, held in Birmingham annually. It's been a long time since we went, and even longer since we went for the very first time, so it's great to read a piece about a debut visit to the show - crammed full of pictures, too.
I had to be quite restrained for this show, as it would have been all too easy to spend hundreds of £’s at this show. There’s much to see and do, but there’s also a lot to be spent on. Not only merchandise of all shapes and sizes, but also a Go-Kart track in one of the other halls, as well as the opportunity to get taken for a few hot laps in a Ginetta Cup car.
Regular Sidepodcast contributor Adam Barton has been pondering the future of Formula One, particularly with regards to the cost saving initiatives - are they enough and will they make any difference?
While it is great for F1 to recognise that its technology does need to be relatable to road cars to be sustainable, the six part power unit was developed and manufactured at great expense, which Marussia and Caterham couldn't afford. What was most galling that Bernie Ecclestone said the teams should have worked within their means, citing Jordan as an example of a team that thrived doing it, but the argument simply doesn't hold water...
Finally, a little bit of fun and/or a really hard test from Joe Saward, with a mugshot picture of a handful of different F1 driver helmets. Can you recognise them and how many can you get? I was surprised how many felt vaguely familiar but actually putting names to colours was harder than I thought.
The questions over whether the modern helmets are too samey and overly-complicated led me to wonder how many people can actually recognise helmets at all these days, and how many people can look at a helmet design and know who the driver was. So, here is a challenge.
