At last!
We have cars that can be identified from their different shapes alone. Mind you, not entirely sure if that’s a good thing when I look at the Caterham.
+1
Absolutely. I love this newfound variety.
The cars WILL homogenize in design come March, and by the end of the year we’ll propably see only a couple variations.
Next year, lets open up regulations on the airboxes & the sidepods, let them do whatever they want with them.
Aaaahahah, I’m crying! I’m literary crying with laughter! :)
These cars are hilarious. Mercedes is the only one that doesn’t look ridiculous.
Ferrari looks like someone broke its ugly snout, making it even uglier. Caterham looks like a tank with a dildo on its forehead, while Torro Rosso looks like a genuine reproductive organ. I mean that car seriously needs pants, it’s that hilarious! You can’t look at it and not see a **** all the time! XD
I was really…well, disgusted by the Caterham at first. Clearly the worst looking car this year so far. But having looked at it again, they must be getting a lot of airflow underneath that car compared to nearly every other team. Leaves me wondering how beneficial that will be.
Mercedes, Force India and Caterham have interesting front wings. Also interesting is the solutions some teams like Ferrari, Sauber, Force India, Caterham and Toro Rosso designed around the exhaust and the rear wing.
And what’s that green thing, it looks like a turtle ‘s head coming out from it’s shell
This reminds me quite a lot of 2009 testing. There were many shapes and sizes. They were more aesthetically pleasing back then (I never thought I’d say that), but so far the only ones I find hideous are Toro Rosso and Caterham. Ferrari, Lotus, Force India and Williams go into my “they aren’t as bad as the stepped noses and I’m sure I’ll get used to them” category. Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren go into the good-looking category.
Saubers are awesome. I was badmouthing Caterham but now I think it’s so ugly that it’s kinda weirdly cool. Force India, it’s the one that most resembles a dong.
All this talk is dominated by the noses, and the rule changes, and the new solutions. Everyone seems to have missed one dominant theme on all these cars.
Empty Paintwork.
No sponsors. No interest. No new money. Nothing. Most teams have lost sponsors this year. Doesn’t anyone in the sport see that? Caterham? One sponsor. Mercedes? Two. Force India? No Mallya money this year. Even Red Bull haven’t picked up a sponsor this year after 5 years of utter dominance. Blank paintwork everywhere you look.
McLaren? A few small long-time partnerships signed in the good days. No title sponsor. Think about that. The team who effectively created the modern sponsorship “partner” system, one of the biggest names in the sport, one with real global reach and which is very very active in its promotional activities announced the loss of their title sponsor a year ago and still haven’t got a replacement. An F1 car on a closed street can generate crowds of thousands, anywhere in the world, and no sponsor was interested. I went to one of the Bavaria street races, and it was fantastic, even if you only heard and felt a car for a few seconds as it thundered past you.
Nobody from the world of corporate sponsorship is interested in F1. Nobody. Not car companies, not technology companies, not energy companies, nobody. No “lifestyle brands”. Nothing. Even bottom of the table no-hoper football teams can get sponsorship. Football is full of the sort of dodgy characters most corporate sponsors would shy away from: a sport where it is actually necessary to have media campaigns and riot police presence to combat virulant, psychotic racism and violence among the fanbase is actually more interesting to mainstream, normal companies than a spotless enterprise where the sort of embarrassing coverage Zoopla got from one of their “brand ambassadors” recently would never, in a million years, happen.
No money coming in, broadcasters cutting back, empty grandstands and empty racing. Yet the sport is beholden to a couple of rich overlords (Red Bull and Ferrari), a doddering old man who can’t get through a door, and is fiddling around with nonsensical bullplop like the double points rule.
We should wait to see if Williams and McLaren get their title sponsorships completed, and other smaller ones may yet need completing.
The only new sponsorships I see so far though are a couple of Mexican ones added to Force India and Sauber, and Swissquote added to Mercedes (they’ve lost MIG Bank, though).
@hairs – I know what your saying but I actually don’t think this is totally a bad thing. F1 has more than enough money coming into it to be a huge success but the few at the top have become too greedy and it’s reached crisis point. You can only suck the life out of something so much until it dies. Once it does, the drivers, tracks, aerodynamicists, engineers, mechanics, tracks, etc will all still be here and most importantly, so will the fans. Motorsport won’t die. Neither will the need for a top level, open-wheel series.
F1 is viewed from the outside as a sport that exists solely to make a select few rich. Dull races are given precedence because they offer the most money. Half the grid is filled are drivers who bought their seats because the teams can’t afford to pay drivers. The sport has been hidden behind a pay-wall in order to make Bernie richer (football is behind a pay-wall but that extra money goes to the teams). Races take place in countries like Bahrain despite the atrocities taking place daily. I could go on but you get the idea.
All of these things put potential sponsors off. It’s no longer a good thing for companies to be tied in with F1. It doesn’t make your brand look good anymore – it makes it look snobby. If I see a company on the side of an F1 car, my first thought is “I bet their products are really expensive.”
Hopefully Bernie will not return to his role, F1 can be sold to someone who understands the modern world and F1 can begin to recover. A sport where no-one can afford to compete isn’t attractive to sponsors or fans and without those things, it won’t be worth anything to the owners either.
Apart from all the people, I liked the stepped noses in 2012, but looking at this year’s noses I think it couldn’t be worse. The Ferrari looks awful, the Torro Rosso looks ridiculous and there are no words to describe the Caterham apart from vomiting. I’m really depressed by the Force India because it looked so good in that first picture…. but the nose had to be a horrible solution. But on the other side the Red Bull looks incredible, with a simple and good looking front wing, also the Mercedes, these are my highlighted cars of the year, the best of an ugly bunch.
Being totally honest, looking at those pictures, I’m finding myself less and less drawn to the noses. They look a bit odd but considering some only got released today, I think I’m already starting to get used to them.
It’ll only go as far as the stepped noses. I won’t even think it looks good but I can see past them now and they only bother me as much as the stepped noses, weird front wing flaps that went over the noses, sidepod wings on poles etc etc did.
They’re ugly but whatever. I’d rather a season of great racing with ugly cars than a boring season with beautiful ones.
I don’t mean to pick on Red Bull, but given Newey’s track record of genious design I tend to look at his cars quite attentively. I noticed that the nosetip is a bit different from the one in the launch pictures: the nosetip itself now seems less rounded, plus there is a slit encircling it. So there is probably some airflow gizmo going on, similar to the oval slits in the nosetips of other teams’ cars, but still different. To the nosetip’s right there is also a turning vane visible inside the front wing pylons. Is this normal? Because I thought most teams would use the pylons themselves as turning vanes.
Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
28th January 2014, 14:42
At last!
We have cars that can be identified from their different shapes alone. Mind you, not entirely sure if that’s a good thing when I look at the Caterham.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th January 2014, 6:54
I feel much like that @timothykatz – great to see differences in approach, but not everything is pleasing to look at.
UNeedAFinn2Win
29th January 2014, 7:23
+1
Absolutely. I love this newfound variety.
The cars WILL homogenize in design come March, and by the end of the year we’ll propably see only a couple variations.
Next year, lets open up regulations on the airboxes & the sidepods, let them do whatever they want with them.
Beto (@chebeto)
28th January 2014, 14:44
I just think the Toro Rosso looks just hilarious =D. The nose of the Mercedes looks well, but imo bordering a bit with boring.
The Blade Runner (@)
28th January 2014, 15:31
I have to agree @chebeto, the Toro Rosso really does look indecent! I’m not sure I’ll be able to let my kids watch F1 anymore!
OmarR-Pepper (@)
28th January 2014, 15:05
Kimi got a car nose as a trophy to put it at the top of his car!
OmarR-Pepper (@)
28th January 2014, 15:10
Sauber is testing his car without the rectangular side flaps. It looks so strange in that way.
Ben (@scuderia29)
28th January 2014, 15:19
what an ugly bunch, the ferrari livery is terrible!
matt90 (@matt90)
28th January 2014, 20:11
I swear the black underside just accentuates how contorted the nose is.
The Red Bull looks surprisingly elegant to me though (although I’m still not a fan of the purple tinge or red endplates).
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
28th January 2014, 23:07
@matt90 I’m hardly a fan of that livery, but with that shape, it looks brilliant.
The Ferrari is just a nightmare. I didn’t like the black bit last year, and neither I do this year.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
28th January 2014, 15:20
Gotta say from those angles, the Sauber looks epic.
Also, it looks incredibly long !
BJ (@beejis60)
28th January 2014, 15:31
What? No Lewis crashing his car? I figured half of the members here would love to see that.
Chris Brighton
28th January 2014, 17:39
It wasn’t his fault. A front wing failure isn’t driver error.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
28th January 2014, 21:55
And if you look at a close picture of that front wing and how it is tied to the chassis, you’ll understand why it felt.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
28th January 2014, 21:57
*fell*
Debjit
28th January 2014, 16:18
Toro Rosso’s the biggest of em all.. ;)
OmarR-Pepper (@)
28th January 2014, 17:21
But as it was said yesterday, it needs a blue pill urgently.
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th January 2014, 16:21
So Lotus completed as many laps as McLaren and Marussia together. Great job :)
The Red Bull looks almost too simple, I’m really curious if they will be as competitive as in the last 5 years.
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
28th January 2014, 16:26
I’ve given up all hope and just accept that red bull will win every year.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
28th January 2014, 20:45
@full-throttle-f1
Really? Given how close 2010 and 2012 were?
obviously
28th January 2014, 16:32
Aaaahahah, I’m crying! I’m literary crying with laughter! :)
These cars are hilarious. Mercedes is the only one that doesn’t look ridiculous.
Ferrari looks like someone broke its ugly snout, making it even uglier. Caterham looks like a tank with a dildo on its forehead, while Torro Rosso looks like a genuine reproductive organ. I mean that car seriously needs pants, it’s that hilarious! You can’t look at it and not see a **** all the time! XD
I’m crying! XD
Patrick (@paeschli)
28th January 2014, 19:46
I’m waiting for someone who photoshops a condom on the STR ^^
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
28th January 2014, 22:04
@paeschli
Here and here. Not the STR, but…
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
28th January 2014, 16:46
I was really…well, disgusted by the Caterham at first. Clearly the worst looking car this year so far. But having looked at it again, they must be getting a lot of airflow underneath that car compared to nearly every other team. Leaves me wondering how beneficial that will be.
celler (@celler)
28th January 2014, 17:11
Mercedes, Force India and Caterham have interesting front wings. Also interesting is the solutions some teams like Ferrari, Sauber, Force India, Caterham and Toro Rosso designed around the exhaust and the rear wing.
And what’s that green thing, it looks like a turtle ‘s head coming out from it’s shell
OmarR-Pepper (@)
28th January 2014, 17:26
Was Vettel running light-rain tyres?
W (@yesyesyesandyesagain)
28th January 2014, 18:51
I’m pretty sure it started raining right at the end of the session, which was when Red Bull ran.
f1freek (@f1freek)
28th January 2014, 18:05
Im expecting quite a lot of Freudian slips by the commentators this season
Oople
28th January 2014, 21:54
“He cocked up that lap.”
Deej92 (@deej92)
28th January 2014, 18:05
This reminds me quite a lot of 2009 testing. There were many shapes and sizes. They were more aesthetically pleasing back then (I never thought I’d say that), but so far the only ones I find hideous are Toro Rosso and Caterham. Ferrari, Lotus, Force India and Williams go into my “they aren’t as bad as the stepped noses and I’m sure I’ll get used to them” category. Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren go into the good-looking category.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
28th January 2014, 20:46
Well, as opposed to 2009 and every year since then, the front wings on these cars actually look proper and proportionate.
eljueta (@eljueta)
28th January 2014, 19:00
Saubers are awesome. I was badmouthing Caterham but now I think it’s so ugly that it’s kinda weirdly cool. Force India, it’s the one that most resembles a dong.
Nick (@npf1)
28th January 2014, 20:19
I think I can get used to this, but the boxy ‘real nose’ on the Caterham looks so poor, I wonder if it’s efficient at all.
Aandrcole
28th January 2014, 20:44
With the finger nose choice does it also mean a whole front wing change every time there is a first corner rub-up?
Chaz (@chaz)
28th January 2014, 21:12
It’s great seeing the new car shapes and designs and wondering about the inspiration behind some are. I’m looking forward to the start of the season.
Friendly comment – Is there any chance in integrating a slideshow to tap through the pictures on the next site upgrade?
Hairs (@hairs)
28th January 2014, 21:16
All this talk is dominated by the noses, and the rule changes, and the new solutions. Everyone seems to have missed one dominant theme on all these cars.
Empty Paintwork.
No sponsors. No interest. No new money. Nothing. Most teams have lost sponsors this year. Doesn’t anyone in the sport see that? Caterham? One sponsor. Mercedes? Two. Force India? No Mallya money this year. Even Red Bull haven’t picked up a sponsor this year after 5 years of utter dominance. Blank paintwork everywhere you look.
McLaren? A few small long-time partnerships signed in the good days. No title sponsor. Think about that. The team who effectively created the modern sponsorship “partner” system, one of the biggest names in the sport, one with real global reach and which is very very active in its promotional activities announced the loss of their title sponsor a year ago and still haven’t got a replacement. An F1 car on a closed street can generate crowds of thousands, anywhere in the world, and no sponsor was interested. I went to one of the Bavaria street races, and it was fantastic, even if you only heard and felt a car for a few seconds as it thundered past you.
Nobody from the world of corporate sponsorship is interested in F1. Nobody. Not car companies, not technology companies, not energy companies, nobody. No “lifestyle brands”. Nothing. Even bottom of the table no-hoper football teams can get sponsorship. Football is full of the sort of dodgy characters most corporate sponsors would shy away from: a sport where it is actually necessary to have media campaigns and riot police presence to combat virulant, psychotic racism and violence among the fanbase is actually more interesting to mainstream, normal companies than a spotless enterprise where the sort of embarrassing coverage Zoopla got from one of their “brand ambassadors” recently would never, in a million years, happen.
No money coming in, broadcasters cutting back, empty grandstands and empty racing. Yet the sport is beholden to a couple of rich overlords (Red Bull and Ferrari), a doddering old man who can’t get through a door, and is fiddling around with nonsensical bullplop like the double points rule.
What a shambles.
Airrider
28th January 2014, 22:52
I’ll admit I’m pessimistic about this coming season, but isn’t this a bit premature? It could be testing livery…
Deej92 (@deej92)
28th January 2014, 23:07
We should wait to see if Williams and McLaren get their title sponsorships completed, and other smaller ones may yet need completing.
The only new sponsorships I see so far though are a couple of Mexican ones added to Force India and Sauber, and Swissquote added to Mercedes (they’ve lost MIG Bank, though).
petebaldwin (@)
28th January 2014, 23:38
@hairs – I know what your saying but I actually don’t think this is totally a bad thing. F1 has more than enough money coming into it to be a huge success but the few at the top have become too greedy and it’s reached crisis point. You can only suck the life out of something so much until it dies. Once it does, the drivers, tracks, aerodynamicists, engineers, mechanics, tracks, etc will all still be here and most importantly, so will the fans. Motorsport won’t die. Neither will the need for a top level, open-wheel series.
F1 is viewed from the outside as a sport that exists solely to make a select few rich. Dull races are given precedence because they offer the most money. Half the grid is filled are drivers who bought their seats because the teams can’t afford to pay drivers. The sport has been hidden behind a pay-wall in order to make Bernie richer (football is behind a pay-wall but that extra money goes to the teams). Races take place in countries like Bahrain despite the atrocities taking place daily. I could go on but you get the idea.
All of these things put potential sponsors off. It’s no longer a good thing for companies to be tied in with F1. It doesn’t make your brand look good anymore – it makes it look snobby. If I see a company on the side of an F1 car, my first thought is “I bet their products are really expensive.”
Hopefully Bernie will not return to his role, F1 can be sold to someone who understands the modern world and F1 can begin to recover. A sport where no-one can afford to compete isn’t attractive to sponsors or fans and without those things, it won’t be worth anything to the owners either.
bigwilk (@bigwilk)
28th January 2014, 21:24
Anyone else think Red Bull did a surprisingly good job of hiding the freakish nose? It just looks…normal!
Swindle94 (@swindle94)
28th January 2014, 21:50
Perez’s new black helmet looks amazing with the Force India
Cocaine-Mackeine
28th January 2014, 22:34
Apart from all the people, I liked the stepped noses in 2012, but looking at this year’s noses I think it couldn’t be worse. The Ferrari looks awful, the Torro Rosso looks ridiculous and there are no words to describe the Caterham apart from vomiting. I’m really depressed by the Force India because it looked so good in that first picture…. but the nose had to be a horrible solution. But on the other side the Red Bull looks incredible, with a simple and good looking front wing, also the Mercedes, these are my highlighted cars of the year, the best of an ugly bunch.
petebaldwin (@)
28th January 2014, 23:15
Being totally honest, looking at those pictures, I’m finding myself less and less drawn to the noses. They look a bit odd but considering some only got released today, I think I’m already starting to get used to them.
It’ll only go as far as the stepped noses. I won’t even think it looks good but I can see past them now and they only bother me as much as the stepped noses, weird front wing flaps that went over the noses, sidepod wings on poles etc etc did.
They’re ugly but whatever. I’d rather a season of great racing with ugly cars than a boring season with beautiful ones.
Ryan
29th January 2014, 3:32
Well it’s official… the “F” in F1 stands for flaccid
GeeMac (@geemac)
29th January 2014, 6:44
Was I the only one who did a double take when I read “Felipe Massa, Williams”? Still not used to seeing him in anything other than Ferrari gear!
WimBR
29th January 2014, 8:22
I don’t mean to pick on Red Bull, but given Newey’s track record of genious design I tend to look at his cars quite attentively. I noticed that the nosetip is a bit different from the one in the launch pictures: the nosetip itself now seems less rounded, plus there is a slit encircling it. So there is probably some airflow gizmo going on, similar to the oval slits in the nosetips of other teams’ cars, but still different. To the nosetip’s right there is also a turning vane visible inside the front wing pylons. Is this normal? Because I thought most teams would use the pylons themselves as turning vanes.