Formula One

[NedaSay]

I think @PAR is on the money here. Ford are interest and are gearing up for EV, they will definitely put some cash, tech, manpower into this but I don't think they will go as far as retooling a facility to manufacture V6 hybrids when RBPT has already put together everything it needs to supply up to two teams i believe with the generous and naive help of Honda.  Redbull wanted the financial support and retaining total freedom, I think Ford was happy to oblige. I wonder how much the deal is worth. I would be Honda I would throttle back slightly because the transfer of info here is going to be nearly impossible to limit, they essentially sold their IP away and huge chunks of it will be transferable to the 2026 regulation for the ICE. so RBPT x Ford  is far from starting from scratch. Honda said they wanted to comeback/stay in F1 so now their option are buying Scuderia Alpha Tauri or finding a buyer for it and tagging along for the ride and or knocking on the door of Williams  or Aston Martin.

Both teams are Mercedes powered, they are only 3rd and 4th in the Mercedes roster after the factory team and McLaren, which means climbing the F1 ladder is not happening  without taking the risk of getting out of their Mercedes status quo. The Honda powerplant has proven its efficacy  and it would come with the coveted Factory team status. I don't think Aston Martin wants it But Williams would be standing to gain a lot from it.

 

Just talking liveries here, I think this year is going to be underwhelming AF. After seeing Haas, which was a mild if welcome step forward.

 

Redbull is largely the same, except for a few stickers.

And now Williams, despite the arrival of high profile sponsor Gulf remains on brand with last year's iteration very clean, very blue, and without major sponsor on the engine cover  front and rear wings or sidepods.

In the case of Williams, we knew they were losing sponsorship as a result of dropping Latify. But they also lost Bang & Olufsen that only stuck around for a year, and a bunch of brands that were "displayed" by Dorilton (Versa, Honibe...) are no longer in the picture. So yet again, the car appears very bare. Gulf is high profile, but clearly, the level of their investment must be inline or lower if compared with their previous deal at McLaren. I expect some "one of" liveries in Monaco and at the US races with stronger branding, that is it.

However, it appears to be part of Williams strategy to build the brand is working or at least taking root ; they have signed two additional sponsors that are so on brand, it is shocking: the Michelob Ultra light bear (from the anheuser Busch corporation) and Stephens financial services are blending in or hiding into the livery flowlessly. After checking both brands use hues that are very similar to Williams' chosen blue.  In addition to these sponsors, they also acquired Purestream (a fintech company). These deals are good as they lessened the financial burden on Dorilton, yet they are reported to have injected a further $30m into the company, in addition to the $35m Williams obtained from their court case against Rokit. So the team is probably not far from if not above the $135m budget cap for this year, as they have obtained $70m from their Column 1 and 2. So financially at least Williams is going in the right direction. The livery may also have been bare because some of the deals have been firmed just before the unveil of the car as the website itself hasn't been updated yet.

 

[NedaSay]

The Alfa Romeo Racing x Sauber went Red on Black instead of white, still the livery is an improvement.

[NedaSay]

I think we have a very strong contender for the lamest  livery of 2023. I could be wrong because we still have most teams to present their livery but this one will surely rank high in my book.

Orlen became the new principle partner so they plastered a bit of red or is it very bright orange on the halo, mirrors, side skirt, and rear wing. while alpha tauri retains most of the car's body and front wing so it remains as people can see mostly blue and white as a result the red bits do look a bit like an afterthought.

 

[tim_marra]

52 minutes ago, NedaSay said:

Orlen became the new principle partner so they plastered a bit of red or is it very bright orange on the halo, mirrors, side skirt, and rear wing.

The principle of the Principal is to never reveal.

[NedaSay]

We get Mclaren and Aston Martin today.

I did/do not expect neither team to change their livery much from last year.

mclaren just unveiled their car and it looks pretty close to last year's indeed I would say

I could sware this livery had been leaked in the days before the launch, or they used a fan render that  got published on insta but most certainly it was  just last year livery with good lighting.

 

Orange is the new black or black is the new orange... that will save them some weight on track as they will leave the black zone bare carbon.

Edited February 13 by NedaSay

[NedaSay]

the AMR 23 car livery is also out

Aston Martin's take on british racing green with a dash of bright yellow really works for me even though this is a very conservative livery. hopefully the car is better than last year. 

[NedaSay]

SF23 from Ferrari is out and about and it is red with touches of black

Still very conservative, but  it does look good in my opinion, hopefully the car is fast, and if Ferrari can stop effing their strategy up, it could be a contender for a title at the end of the year. They certainly have the drivers able to deliver wins and the budget.

On the budget side, Ferrari decided to bring back their name on the rear wing, which is an elegant solution that only Ferrari can have, the ghost title sponsor, Officially Philip Morris International - Mission Winnow is just a major official partner, but it is still arguably the first partner of the reds, however it won't be displayed at all on the car this year.

Santander and Shell are officially the biggest Scuderia partners but if they get prime real estate on the car, and that is debatable, their treatment could be much bette,r but Ferrari is bigger than all the sponsors, and sponsors should be happy to be allowed to feature on the car even if they are barely visible on it.  I guess the amount of airtime they get from being on the car and the association with the brand outweighs any of the negative, hence Bang & Olufsen switching from the struggling Williams to the gorgeous red cars. and AWS agrees to pay a reported $10m for the front wing inner end plates. It is good to be Ferrari.

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Ferrari used to have a “premium” brand only rule for their F1 sponsorship. They stuck to it for many years, until this:

Marlboro: ✔️ 

Shell: ✔️ 

Bridgestone: ✔️ 

FedEx: ✔️ 

tic tac: err…

 

[nello]

One of my son's had a good day at work yesterday............ 

[NedaSay]

Today's mercedes turn to present their car and here it is.

after they annus horribilis last year, the team decided to go back to black and a livery similar to the ones they used when LH won is 7th title. The surprise is that they are sticking to the size 0 sidepod aero concept  that proved so difficult to master last year. It is not as extreme maybe with slightly more pronounced curves but still the vertical air intakes. the car looks slick.

But gosh is it me or the grid is going a bit dark this year. after 2 years in white Haas went back to black and red, Alfa Romeo went red and black, Ferrari chose a brighter shade of red... and black, Redbull night blue is even darker than it was. Same at Alpha Tauri. and McLaren is less orange than it is black this year after their issues making the weight last year. Car should look good at night races. Las Vegas will be a big show the Netflix fans of f1 are set to see beautiful images in 2024...

[nello]

I'm told its to do with less paint on the car................

[NedaSay]

less paint = less weight

Last launch this year is Alpine

 

And the anglo-french team will again have two liveries to play with this year the one above Blue, black and pink and the predominantly pink

[PAR]

Re Honda, now that Red Bull has ag.reed with Ford, realistically this is the end for them. They can’t keep funding teams to get to the top and walk out then (BAR then Red Bull…). I assume when the rumours that they wanted to go back was when negotiations with Ford and red bull were going on and it helped red bull to leverag it in their negotiations.

[jep]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/64704532

Honda President Koji Watanabe - tell us what you want, what you really really want....

 

 

 

 

 

[NedaSay]

I could see Honda teaming up with a team like Williams. It appears Honda new boss is keen on staying and they never stopped developing the engine, they must have kept some of the IP on their engine, they haven't disarmed Sakura so if they are keen on continuing their involvement, they will need an independant team and Williams is the one independent team in F1 until the foreseable sale of Alpha Tauri. I don't see Haas leaving the Ferrari fold, and for the same reason I do not see Aston Martin leaving the Mercedes Fold. However it has been hinted that McLaren could also jump ship to Honda which would be ironic and poetic considering the two entities recent and storied past

[exeterjeep]

So not too long before the circus starts again.... from the 3days pre testing it looks like RB again this year? Hope not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Weird Q3 yesterday. Not liking this strategy of teams giving up after one run to save tyres for Sunday, leaving just the odd car on track. There’s no point bothering with Q3 in that case: they can just declare the grid after Q2. I wonder what the F1 owners Liberty Media thought of it? The absolute opposite of the spectacle they are trying to promote worldwide.

[exeterjeep]

Overall it was surprisingly close from the top to bottom of the grid. Aston for a win this year?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Because it was so tight, it was doubly frustrating that no-one else went for pole in Q3. The other teams just handed the front row to RB on a plate. That must have been Verstappen’s easiest ever pole position.

[chipp]

For that reason RB wasn't pushed to the end and they easily seemed to have more in the bag, Max took another 2 tenths off on his last run as a matter of course.

[Rambo]

2 hours ago, exeterjeep said:

Overall it was surprisingly close from the top to bottom of the grid. Aston for a win this year?

Alonso @ 11/1 and Stroll @ 80/1 today

[pete]

Surprised Alonso is that short

[pete]

9 minutes ago, pete said:

Surprised Alonso is that short

20/1 on betfair is more like it

[Steve V8]

Great to see Fernando and Aston Martin on the podium.

I hear that Lewis refused to remove his piercings and Prince Albert has been seen in Bahrain...

[pete]

So Alonso looses his third place and then has it reinstated on appeal.