2016 Car Launch and Pre-season Testing

Ladies and gentlemen, just take a moment to listen to that glorious Ford engine roar.

https://www.facebook.com/grosjeanrom...5797174097721/

🙏🙏

jadeseal7 said:Haas just unveiled their new car.

Haas just pulled the covers off the VF-16. Honestly? It’s out. We finally have a look at what they’re bringing to the grid this year. Not much to write home about, but hey, it’s a car. Let's see if it actually moves faster than last season's headache.

🙏 He’s absolutely unstoppable.

Top two best-looking cars on the grid. 👍
Looking at these photos, the rear end looks an awful lot like last year's Ford. 🤔
Maybe that wasn't actually last year's Ford power unit after all.

I have to admit, I think Haas looks ugly, but honestly, who cares? Good luck to them—I just hope they don't end up being some backmarker outfit like Manor, but actually show up with something serious... 👍
Grosjean managed to test out three different engines in just three years. 😁
Out of everything we've seen so far, Ford's setup feels like the biggest departure from their previous direction. Even if the chassis turns out to be a complete bust, their engine will probably be enough to keep them fighting for second place...

stormybadger8 said:The two most stunning liveries on the grid 👍
Looking at these photos, the rear end seems to look awfully similar to last year's Ferrari 🤔
Could it be that the power unit isn't actually last year's Ferrari unit after all?

I’m leaning toward thinking this one is brand new, while STR is still running the old setup.

jadeseal7 said:Ladies and gentlemen—take note of that Ferrari engine note.

https://www.facebook.com/grosjeanrom...5797174097721/

🙏🙏

Already more reliable than McLaren-Honda 🙏 🙏 :S

Christian Harris11 said:I don't know where some people get this nonsense from. First off, this current Ferrari lineup is probably the first one in a decade that isn't constantly feeding the media hype about their "success." They’re actually staying quiet for once. Secondly, the press is just trying to manufacture drama. Last year, they finally stabilized the team and sorted out their priorities and internal relations.

All this talk about things being ugly or uninspiring? Nothing spectacular, sure. But they've finally started following the same path as everyone else—they slimmed down the nose like most of the grid, minimized the rear end as much as possible (most teams have done similar dimension changes anyway), and kept the rest to minor tweaks. We won't see the final polish until Australia. As for reliability and overheating? I wouldn't worry. From what I know, they were actually more reliable than Mercedes and didn't struggle with heat issues. If this organized crew doesn't take this final step toward total dominance now, they never will.

And as I've said many times before: Mercedes is strong right up until someone puts pressure on them. Once they feel the heat, they crumble. In every race they lost over the last two years, they buckled under pressure and fell apart. So, if anyone—and this year, only Ferrari has a real shot—starts applying constant pressure, that aura of dominance will vanish instantly.

Just fanboy wishful thinking.

graniteharbor502 said:Ferrari seems to have the most aggressive approach. Of course, with an approach like that, it's either a massive failure or a huge hit. My gut tells me it's the latter, and I expect it to threaten Mercedes' dominance.

Fanboy wishful thinking, just like last time.

By the way, how exactly is that "aggressive approach" showing itself?

Otherwise, regarding the W07, the cooling inlets have been enlarged.
It's not like they had cooling issues last season.

I can't think of any other reason, besides perhaps a more powerful engine.
And according to the haters, that won't go well.

For Ferrari to catch Mercedes, they needed a miraculous leap forward, which I simply don't believe they've achieved.
If they haven't, then I can only hope the W07 eats through those new Pirelli tires.

jadeseal7 said:Haas just unveiled their new ride

🙏 Looks absolutely killer to me.

Quote:>

Quote : The origin of naming The Car goes back to the first CNC machine manufactured by Haas Automation, the VF-1, launched in 1988. The “V” stands for vertical, which is an industry standard designation for a vertical mill. Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, added “F1” to the name to unofficially designate it as the company’s “Very First One”.

🙂

We'll hopefully know a little more starting tomorrow. Right now, trying to call it is just a shot in the dark.
But hey, if anyone actually has a solid, well-reasoned prediction, I'm all ears.

Ferrari made a massive leap last year.
If they pull off another one this season, they might actually be in the title fight.

As for Mercedes, I'm skeptical they've made a real leap. Sure, maybe some progress, but a jump? I doubt it.

Jason Campbell70 said:It feels like nothing more than fans trying to bolster their own confidence, much like what we saw last time.

By the way, what exactly do you mean when you say the approach is aggressive?

Call it whatever you like, but to me, it just seems incredibly bold.
As for that "aggressive" nature, I suppose it stems from the fact that, out of all the cars they've shown us so far, Ferrari has opted for the most radical changes imaginable...

Roger Wright94 said:We'll know more starting tomorrow. Trying to predict this right now feels pretty ungrateful.
But hey, if someone actually has a solid, well-reasoned prediction, I'm all ears.

Ferrari made a massive leap last year.
If they pull off another one this year, they might actually be title contenders.

As for Mercedes, I doubt they've made a huge jump. Maybe some progress, sure, but a leap? Unlikely.

It's just that such a massive leap isn't realistic. Honestly, it’s incredibly hard to pull off—if not outright impossible...
At the end of the day, the only ones capable of a massive leap are at McDonald's, but what does that even mean? They might jump from the bottom of a well to halfway up, or maybe miraculously near the top, but jumping out of the well and leaping over Mercedes? Yeah, definitely not happening...

A slightly more plausible story is Ferrari. They made a huge jump last year, but mostly because they were absolutely trashed the year before. Still, overtaking the leaders is extremely difficult because those last few hundredths of a second are the hardest part to find...

Here’s my top pick for following the testing updates

http://www.f1today.net/en/live/f1/20...from-barcelona

So far, nobody has stepped up, and they've run into some issues too.

northerncobra31 said:Personally, I think this is the absolute best site for keeping up with all the testing updates

http://www.f1today.net/en/live/f1/20...from-barcelona

http://beta.autosport.com/live/comme...ona-test-day-1

RB12 is such a gorgeous little machine. Honestly, it’s probably the best-looking car on the grid, even if that nose isn't exactly winning any beauty pageants—though they did a pretty clever job hiding it with that black paint and yellow contrast in the back. The sidepod air intakes are almost non-existent, and with how tight the rear looks, the whole car just seems to flow perfectly.

stormybadger8 said:It’s just that such a massive leap isn't really believable. Honestly, saying it's nearly impossible might be an understatement...
At most, McDonald's might make a big jump, but what does that even mean? They might climb from the bottom of a well halfway up, or maybe miraculously get near the top, but they definitely aren't jumping out of that well and clearing Mercedes...

A slightly more realistic scenario is Ferrari. They made a huge leap last year, but mostly because they were absolutely screwed the year before. Still, overtaking someone else is incredibly hard because those final hundredths of a second are where the real battle happens...

The jump is definitely possible; the only question is how big it actually will be.
There was plenty of room for improvement, both technically and in how they handled the car during races and qualifying. And don't even get me started on the second driver.
Even at Mercedes, they aren't aliens.

It’s not exactly rocket science to say we won't know the true situation until we hit Australia.
But we'll know a hell of a lot more than we do now after these first few days of official testing.
We could have seen the relative gaps clearly after the first sessions in Barcelona last year.

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1OyKAzNazOgGb
...

Sean Torres4 said:https://www.periscope.tv/w/1OyKAzNazOgGb

👍👍

Midday results...

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:24.939 36 laps
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.409 66 laps
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.091 43 laps
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:26.704 20 laps
5 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:27.180 35 laps
6 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.691 35 laps
7 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:28.165 36 laps
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:28.399 13 laps
9 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:29.406 21 laps
10 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:31.351 15 laps
11 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:33.455 8 laps

Times don't really mean much right now...
But looks like Honda finally sorted out the reliability. They actually finished 35 laps without blowing up.👍

Also, kind of funny seeing Hass immediately faster than Renault—and by a noticeable margin too.😁
Guess Grosjean isn't missing his mark after all. Not even close.

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1zqKVgrkPOlGB

Live from the track

The engine notes sound so much better now—thank goodness we aren't just listening to a bunch of vacuum cleaners anymore! 👍

Test 1 - 2014
Test 1 - 2015

Same goal, same gap...
Ferrari is about half a second faster than Bear again, just like in 2014 and 2015. Looks like zero progress here.

Give me a break. If the day ends with Vettel at the top, that’s three seasons in a row where Ferrari is the fastest in the first test of the season—and that's three years straight in the turbo era. But we'll see 😬