In the round-up: Having finished seventh in the championship last year, Toro Rosso is aiming for a top-five finish again in 2016.
Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
Toro Rosso 'convinced' top five finish possible in 2016 (Motorsport)
"I hope this year we will see the chequered flag at all the races, and if this is the case then I am convinced that the team is in the position to finish in the top five."
Ricciardo open to future NASCAR move - but not right now (Crash)
"I would love to do it one day. But now not only is it a bit rushed but I've definitely got targets here in Europe, in F1, which I want to tick off first."
Bottas could benefit from driver feud at Mercedes - Salo (F1i)
"I hope that the Mercedes drivers continue their fight, one of them goes and Valtteri can move in."
Behind the scenes of Ferrari Formula 1 car launch: A quiet confidence is clear (James Allen on F1)
"The most striking aspect of being behind the scenes for two days leading to the launch was to see how much of a sense of 'team' there is at Ferrari today."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
McLaren name Nobuharu Matsushita as test and development driver alongside reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne: https://t.co/5vKGpTyhk7 #F1
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) February 20, 2016
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
@Gt-racer explains why we see so little of helmet camera views in F1 broadcasts:
One of the main reasons you don’t see FOM use that camera more often (the last was at Monaco last year on a Manor during Thursday practice) is that they have to get the permission of the team and driver to mount a camera on a helmet and its something that teams dislike as it disrupts airflow into the air intake and it also add a bit of extra cabling to the helmet which the drivers don’t like.
Also its one thing mounting a camera on a drivers visor for a few test laps, But during a race weekend you have things like tear-offs to consider and you can’t mount a camera their as it will disrupt the drivers vision (hence why the FOM mounted cameras are always towards the top, well away from the visor).
Modern helmet design and safety regulations also prevent the sort of cameras placed inside the helmet that you used to see in the states (and which we also experimented with). The unit used in IndyCar required some of the foam padding be removed to place the camera and also run the wire down the back of the padding which in later test’s was found to have compromised the effectiveness of the padding. NASCAR also banned that particular camera in 2004 as the extra cabling was interfering with driver extraction in certain situations (mainly if they were trapped in the car upside down).
IndyCar played around with Google Glass a few years ago but ultimately never adopted it for use on a broadcast (even though it is capable of live transmission via a cell network).
@Gt-racer
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From the forum
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Biggsy
21st February 2016, 3:03
Too bad Bottas’ driving isn’t as strong as his PR department.
Park
21st February 2016, 7:27
It’s not his PR department, it’s himself.
He is good at making himself likeable, he has got 3 excellent teachers: Toto Wolff, Mika Häkkinen and Didier Coton.
Todfod (@todfod)
22nd February 2016, 7:11
Agree.
I just don’t get why people are linking Bottas to another top drive again. What makes him so worthy for a top drive? The guy is barely better then Felipe Massa, who isn’t on the radar of any of the top teams. If he really was that good, Ferrari wouldn’t hesitate in coughing up the millions to get him from Williams. And let’s face it, if Ferrari isn’t interested in him, there’s a slimmer chance that Mercedes will be.
I think the drivers who might benefit from the Merc driver fued are –
Ricciardo – He’s shown that he’s a proven race winner and a serious challenger with the right equipment. He’s got a great attitude as well
Wehrlein – Depending n how his rookie season goes, he could be a likely candidate due to his association with Mercedes
Max Verstappen – If Max has yet another promising season, I’d expect him to be on the radar of a lot of top teams for 2017
Texasisbiggerthanfrance (@texasisbiggerthanfrance)
21st February 2016, 5:53
In other words, Toro Rosso is totally content with being the Formula 1 equivalent of “Mini-Me” while Red Bull continues to be “Dr.Evil”.
John H (@john-h)
21st February 2016, 8:02
Great insight from @gt-racer. On the aero side, I’ve always wondered why the back of the helmets isn’t more sculpted if that makes sense.
Between the helmet and the head rest part of the seat, there must be all sorts of eddys swirling around. Has a helmet designer ever worked in collaboration with an F1 team to help improve in that area?
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
21st February 2016, 8:50
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think the biggest threat to F1 for viewers is bringing in a raft of rule changes again next year. Merc’s engine will likely be the class of the field again but I think there are a few teams now with some pretty good ideas on the aero side and the tyres still providing a challenge to everyone at particular circuits we should have a much more competitive field.
What we want to see is the cars get closer so we can see the drivers battle in competitive machinery but the only way we’ll get that is if the regulations are stable for longer periods and I’d hate to see a closer year this year but instead of going into an even closer year in 2017 shaking the box to try put someone else at the top for a few years.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
21st February 2016, 12:02
I think there are quite a few better drivers available for that seat. About the entire Red Bull crew to begin with..
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
21st February 2016, 13:25
Lol yeah.. Maybe not Kvyat…
In any case Valteri, teh epic Massa beater is about on level of almost world champions.
Riciardo is atleast a Vettel beater, but we know Vettel had to underperform to get out of RBR contract.
Who else? Alonso probably would never want to be seen with Hamilton, Vettel is living the dream at Ferrari…
Most likeley if things go well at Manor Mercedes… They could get an all black lineout for 2017. Offcorse Nico is on the limit, of how good should he be, and not threaten Lewises title hopes.
Not sure it is in Mercedes intrest to have a driver that is any faster than Nico. Both men are well marketable, ensure Mercedes gets some good press… In short good times.
Bottas is more likeley to land at Force India than force Mercedes.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
21st February 2016, 15:40
Regarding the COTD & helmet-cam’s, Here is a shot of the one that was on Will Stevens during FP3 at Monaco last year:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3tfm9s_f1-monaco-2015-fp3-will-stevens-helmet-cam-brief-onboard_sport
Sadly the local director didn’t show it anymore than that & it wasn’t on any of the extra OnBoard feeds on the Sky red button so I couldn’t grab a full lap or anything.