Formula 1 Off Season, Launches and Testing thread 2019-20Formula 1

[Tired Tyres]

Does anyone remember about this time last year when the FIA announced that helmet specifications were going to change for 2019 and visor gaps were going to be a lot smaller, and everyone was up in arms about it for some reason?

Me neither because it wasn't a problem at all.

Trump! This is NOT funny! Stick to "Some People Say"

And stick to Twitter. No wait.....

 

[twitcher]

Laurence Stroll buys a major share in Aston Martin. Racing Point will be rebranded as Aston Martin for 2021

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/...ionaire-stroll-takes-major-stake-aston-martin

Im pretty sure this is good news all around...although I doubt the Aston F1 cars will be pink, and I have to admit the pink panthers have grown on me.

 

[Veinz]

The pink cars got old fast for me. Looking forward to having a british racing green car on the grid.

 

[AshenGraey]

Laurence Stroll buys a major share in Aston Martin. Racing Point will be rebranded as Aston Martin for 2021

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/...ionaire-stroll-takes-major-stake-aston-martin

Im pretty sure this is good news all around...although I doubt the Aston F1 cars will be pink, and I have to admit the pink panthers have grown on me.

And it looks like they are going to be in it for the long haul too.....what I'm wondering though, does that mean Lance will get to drive this whole time since daddy Stroll owns the team?

 

[ScottPuss20]

And it looks like they are going to be in it for the long haul too.....what I'm wondering though, does that mean Lance will get to drive this whole time since daddy Stroll owns the team?

Stroll isn't going anywhere.

 

[twitcher]

And it looks like they are going to be in it for the long haul too.....what I'm wondering though, does that mean Lance will get to drive this whole time since daddy Stroll owns the team?

Pretty sure that was basically the case before this Aston Martin rebranding exercise. I suppose if Lance was offered a drive by a top team, he’d leave Racing Point / Aston Martin, but I can’t see Daddy Stroll firing Lance.

On one hand, I’m not a huge fan of that arrangement, as I feel the 20 F1 seats should go to the 20 best drivers based on merit. On the other hand, if Laurence Stroll wants to own a team, he can put whoever the hell he wants in those seats. That said, I find that pill easier to swallow when we’re talking about a team like “Racing Point,” but it gets weird for me when you start thinking that one of the most historical car brands in motorsport has become the plaything of a filthy rich Canadian who grew up in Belgium.


On a different note, how will this news impact the prospects of seeing an Aston Martin Valkyrie race at Le Mans?

 

[Jimlaad43]

On a different note, how will this news impact the prospects of seeing an Aston Martin Valkyrie race at Le Mans?

It'll help as it gives Aston a better financial platform to fund it with.

Stroll already said that the Valkyrie is safe, as it's being run by Multimatic anyway, so they're the ones in charge.

 

[EngieDiesel]

That said, I find that pill easier to swallow when we’re talking about a team like “Racing Point,” but it gets weird for me when you start thinking that one of the most historical car brands in motorsport has become the plaything of a filthy rich Canadian who grew up in Belgium.

At least he's not likely to reduce it to portfolio padding, like what happened to TVR and Lotus (though TVR managed to escape that purgatory, thankfully).

 

[Jimlaad43]

Haas VF-20 Revealed
Haas have won the race to be the first team to show off their 2020 challenger. They've gone back to the red, grey and white livery obviously, as anyone would want to distance themselves from Rich Energy ASAP.
https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/06/first-pictures-new-haas-vf-2 0-2020-f1-car/

 

[MisterWaffles]

Well it's certainly a repainted SF90, as if anyone was doubting it would be.

 

[FutureF1]

Haas VF-20 Revealed
Haas have won the race to be the first team to show off their 2020 challenger. They've gone back to the red, grey and white livery obviously, as anyone would want to distance themselves from Rich Energy ASAP.
https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/06/first-pictures-new-haas-vf-2View attachment 888424 View attachment 888425 View attachment 888426 0-2020-f1-car/

Haas VF-20 = Ferrari SF90? I’m seeing a lot of VERY similar design cues

EDIT: Tree’d

 

[MisterWaffles]

Credit to F1Addicts on Instagram.

Aside from some minor details it’s essentially the same car.

 

[ScottPuss20]

View attachment 888504

Credit to F1Addicts on Instagram.

Aside from some minor details it’s essentially the same car.

How can they get away with this? I thought the technical regulations stipulated that teams had to make their own chassis instead of using someone else's. Why don't the FIA look into this?

 

[TenEightyOne]

How can they get away with this? I thought the technical regulations stipulated that teams had to make their own chassis instead of using someone else's. Why don't the FIA look into this?

Who said they didn't design or make it? At what point is copying another design illegal? All the teams copy designs from one another, there will be subtle differences in this one to suit this year's accoutrements... it can be substantially similar without being the same one that Ferrari designed.

In any case it wouldn't surprise me to find that a Ferrari designer works one day a year for Haas to legitimise the Haas designs, F1's a clever sport

 

[twitcher]

The final clip of Russell



Wish they also showed it at full speed.

 

[Veinz]

The livery looks alright, I hope this car isn’t another disaster. I enjoy seeing the smallest team on the grid take the fight to the larger teams.

 

[DK]

Grosjean and an SF90? Let the crapposting begin!

 

[Torneo]

2020 engine fire-ups:

Mercedes


Ferrari


Honda


Renault

 

[SuperDiscoDaz]

The livery for the Mercedes W20

 

[LumpiestFish]

Not a fan to be honest. They’ve simplified the teal streak far too much and now it just looks like knock off of last years car. The addition of Ineos to car doesn’t help at all, the logo itself looks really nasty and the red really doesn’t work the way that they’ve tried.

We’ll wait and see how it looks in natural light, might help.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Welcome to the most bizarre news report of the year so far
https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/11...l-and-latifi-to-race-under-american-licenses/

 

[FutureF1]

Welcome to the most bizarre news report of the year so far
https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/11...l-and-latifi-to-race-under-american-licenses/

Well that’s very strange. And as an American who has longed to see a deserving American in F1 (RIP Alex Rossi), this kinda stings

 

[PeterJB]

Welcome to the most bizarre news report of the year so far
https://www.racefans.net/2020/02/11...l-and-latifi-to-race-under-american-licenses/

Latifi is half-Iranian so you think he'd have picked that, and as far as I know Stroll has no claims to America other than it being nearby.

 

[theschledy]

The Ferrari car launch is beyond brutal. I feel like I'm watching the livestream of a church sermon.

 

[BrainsBush]

 

[Jimlaad43]

Soooo, that's last year's car, right?

Nothing has changed

 

[BrainsBush]

Soooo, that's last year's car, right?

Nothing has changed

That's indeed more or less what Binotto also said. Not radical changes but small into detail changes on every part of the car.

Meanwhile a lot of better pics shows up on social media.

 

[Quakebass]

It looks like the engine cover shrank dramatically, almost looks like the car is a few ins shorter.

 

[Ether]

Anyone know if Red Bull or Renault will live stream their launches tomorrow? Didn't see anything on their twitter regarding such.

 

[BrainsBush]

Talking about more or less the same. Ok ok it just another livery and a livery does not make you a champ. Right?!