The Official 2016 Formula One Season

The Manor MRT05:



The Red Bull RB12:



The Force India VJM09:



The Toro Rosso STR11:



The Renault RS16:





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 12:23PM by madotter.

Imo the cars look uglier with each year, chassis and livery.

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Some F1 CSM mods
1996 | 2000 | 2002 | 2007 | 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | 2018

I quite agree with you, but IMHO they look better this year with their new nose.

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I saw that Manor and thought of this car, only in reverse (also to be fair, it's not that similar):

I'm probably unusual in that I actually liked the 1999 BAR.

I don't think any of this cars are truly ugly to be honest. We've had time to get used to the annoying 'nob' noses now and the shapes of this generation of cars tend to look sleek if pretty much all the same but that's simply a symptom of these regulations and modern times.

There's been one or two changes in branding/livery/colour scheming and I'm sorry but there will always be some random on the internet who thinks having a hooky copy photoshop on their computer makes them better qualified to design a livery. I don't think any of the actual liveries are too bad plus there's a couple which WILL change before the season starts.

It's plainly obvious that visually pretty much all the cars are 'evolutions' with very few strikingly obvious visual differences to their previous models unless you happen to be a complete F1 nerd you aren't going to spot fine details.

It's only logical that for this year at least cars are evolutions as there's little sense in making drastic changes for a single season before the supposed next big shift in technical regulations. And as McLaren proved in the winter of 12/13 to risk that can backfire in a big way.

On first glance it looks like Ferrari and Mercedes have made the biggest changes which is hardly surprising given their resource advantage over the rest of the field. I suspect they'll be out front on their own again but I sense or hope that the midfield will bunch up again. It'd be good to see the smallest of mistakes costing a tenth of a second on a qualify lap being the difference between a heroic P5 on the grid and a disappointing P17.

I sincerely doubt McLaren Honda will be as embarrassing as last year and I think Renault will get a move on with their engine too with Red Bull taking full advantage of any gains.

In spite of the constant negativity we always hear about F1 (either within or from outside) I genuinely believe that quality of teams and drivers is higher than it's ever been. The jury will still be out on Manor and Hass but it's not like we have an Andrea Moda in F1 these days.

I also can't think of a driver. in this field who doesn't deserve to be there. Gutierrez and Hyranto are probably the weakest but having both won races at GP2 level they are far from a disgrace either.

I'm looking forward to the season ahead, I think we could be in for a competitive year of racing.

J i m Wrote:
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> I'm probably unusual in that I actually liked the
> 1999 BAR.

I liked it too, and I loved their attitude during the winter when they were approaching that season. High 555?

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Haha!

What do you mean our cars have to be the same colour??

There doesn't seem to be a quote on this from Honda or McLaren so taking it as a *rumour* but word is this current power unit is a test version aka 2015 B spec and that at the second test they will use the full 2016 unit.

I hope this turns out to be true as this unit appears to have much better reliability and at least deploys properly over a long run now! So maybe they can squeeze a little bit more from the next unit and keep us in a decent midfield position at Australia.

DON'T SAY IT'S MORE RELIABLE! They've had to change it overnight now.

Oh no! Lol.

Still I hope this "proper" 2016 spec unit for the next test is true.

Although I'm under no illusions that there going to be anywhere near Mercedes/Ferrari this season.

gav Wrote:
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> DON'T SAY IT'S MORE RELIABLE! They've had to
> change it overnight now.


That's because they're testing different specifications of engine. In doing so over the two tests, they'll be able to select which parts the power unit will comprise of.

Anyway, the new quali system seems like fun; it'll keep everyone on their toes, especially if track conditions are evolving or weather plays a part.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

The rumours are that they are introducing the other spec at the next test, not this one, then working out what to take to Melbourne after that. I'm not sure how much faith to place in the rumours though as if I remember correctly the engine is meant to be homologated on the 28th.

Fair point that Gav forgot about that.

Maybe the 2nd test Spec is a baseline for the first update in the season?

Still the only team to not have competed a race distance. The only team.

Meanwhile Grosjean was 2nd top today in a Haas.

I doubt we can read too much into the lap time leader board at the moment but for sure, that's a impressive showing from Hass.

New nose on the Merc

Well... That's ruined the aesthetics

What's an S duct?

Laton Wrote:
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> What's an S duct?


An example of an S-duct is here:



Because of the sharp change in shape between the nose and the chassis bulkhead due to the new rules, the airflow over the front of the car risks detaching and producing turbulent air, which can't be manipulated by the rest of the car to produce downforce at the rear. The S-duct directs air from the underside of the car to the topside, and this keeps the airflow attached through the Coanda effect, which is the phenomenon experienced in using a jet of air which stays attached over a curved surface. Keeping the airflow attached over the top of the chassis ensures that the subsequent aerodynamic components on the car work to their full effectiveness.

Secondly, the low noses create a "dead zone" under the car, which may create a high-pressure area. This would generate a bit of lift, affecting the characteristics of the front end in a negative manner, and so the S-duct bleeds this high-pressure air out from under the car and brings it to the top of the car. This would ensure the front end generates marginally more downforce, and so the handling becomes more predictable in the hands of the driver.

That's the simplified version, I didn't want to venture into boundary layer mechanics and the like...that would take hours!

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2016 10:46PM by Incident 2k9.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the Coanda effect doesn't seem to be a good explanation in this case. The Coanda effect requires the gas jet to have a speed significantly higher than the surronding "normal" airflow. I can't see this happening with this geometry without increasing overall drag. Looking at the differnt approaches to this duct it seems the teams are actually trying to move the outlet as close as possible to the kink in the nose or even behind it, I suppose that the flow from the s-duct would separate quickly as well if the duct is placed in front of the kink. Nontheless I agree that it's a fancy way to move air from the bottom of the car to the top and in some way control the boundary layer.

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used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld