Sport The Formula 1 Thread

[Agent L]

It's exactly the same as last year but longer!!

[Agent L]

I can't see the raised veins along the side of the top of the nose cone as per the other cars though.

[JPR]

Interesting to see the shark fin back.

[murray]

I can't see my Tweets anywhere.

[p1nseeker]

Jamesallenonf1 #f1 "It should handle better than last year's car" says Hamilton. "I hope so!" says Button

5 minutes ago from web

[Agent L]

Hadn't realised the fin meets the rear wing. Interesting.

[DarthSquirrel]

That looks really long. And where's the T and nose cameras? Pretty ugly really.

[Agent L]

Sidepod swooping down and narrowing towards the exhaust exit is a nice detail.

[morcs]

Good God that's ugly

[p1nseeker]

I thinks it looks pretty nice to be honest.

[morcs]

I might change my mind as I see different angles. That photo of the Williams looks much nicer to me though.

[JPR]

Some closer pics from James Allen's twitter. Interesting nose, those side pods look really small and are really cut away at the back, apparently the shark fin is integral to the back and is part of the cooling so not just an extra bit of carbon fibre as in the past.

[Monbee]

Side on.

[zxcvbnm]

That is a gorgeous piece of machinery!

[p1nseeker]

The Mercedes twitter is pretty bitchy!

TotalMercedesGP McLaren appear to have bolted a barn door to the engine cover, presumably to make the car weave around dramatically in crosswinds #F1 #MP425

about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

TotalMercedesGP McLaren have an optimal sideburn management system in place, seemingly. Lewis edging it so far... #F1 #MP425

[Sidewaysbob]

I think it looks the best of the bunch so far...... i think i may be turning into a Mclaren fanboy ! worrying times !

[marsh]

I see Ferrari have stolen last years redbull then?

The front end of that Mclaren looks horrendously busy, I think that car could be a pain in the arse to setup, but if setup well, either of them will bag the drivers title. Do we have any odds going yet for this year?

[morcs]

Can't be arsed to reformat it, but here you go:

Lewis Hamilton 13/5 BET Adrian Sutil 100/1 BET

Fernando Alonso 7/2 BET Vitantonio Liuzzi 150/1 BET

Michael Schumacher 4/1 BET Jarno Trulli 150/1 BET

Sebastian Vettel 11/2 BET Heikki Kovalainen 150/1 BET

Felipe Massa 8/1 BET Timo Glock 150/1 BET

Jenson Button 9/1 BET Lucas di Grassi 150/1 BET

Nico Rosberg 12/1 BET Pedro de la Rosa 150/1 BET

Mark Webber 20/1 BET Bruno Senna 200/1 BET

Robert Kubica 40/1 BET Sebastien Buemi 250/1 BET

Kamui Kobayashi 50/1 BET Jose Maria Lopez 250/1 BET

Rubens Barrichello 66/1 BET Jamie Alguersuari 250/1 BET

Nico Hulkenberg 66/1 BET

I reckon Alonso and Schumacher are overrated here, and Rosberg, Massa and Webber are underrated. It's all about the names!

[marsh]

Button's worth a sniff at that.

[GwiDan]

The exhausts on the McLaren look so sleek!

[Christoph84]

The Mercedes twitter is pretty bitchy!

That's not the official Mercedes GP twitter, it is far more interesting than the real one though.

[LowCostMonkey]

Looks like we on for yet another row about double diffusers this year! FFS, thought we were passed this now.

Diffuser row could hit 2010 season

By Jonathan Noble Friday, January 29th 2010, 14:10 GMT

Formula 1 could be heading for more controversy surrounding double diffusers this season, amid predictions from leading teams that some of their rivals have pursued 'extreme' solutions in the area of car design.

With the opening rounds of the 2009 championship overshadowed by protests and an FIA appeal court hearing about the legality of the twin floor concept, there had been hopes that the subsequent clarity of the rules would help the sport avoid a repeat this time out.

However, amid suggestions that teams have exploited the rules even further, there are now fears that there could even be more protests in the weeks ahead.

McLaren engineering director Paddy Lowe said at the launch of his team's 2010 challenger on Friday that his team had pushed the diffuser regulations as far as it felt was possible.

"This is the first car in which we have had a clean sheet of paper to really exploit the interpretation [of diffusers] that was developed last year for a design of floors," said Lowe.

"You will see we have produced a fairly extreme incarnation of that but we won't be alone in that. We believe you will see some pretty extreme solutions on our competitors' cars as well."

The potential for these extreme solutions has led to Ferrari voicing fears that not every team is operating within the interpretation of the regulations that it feels is in place.

"We were and still are convinced that the double diffuser concept was illegal," Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa told Gazzetta dello Sport. "We feel there may still be interpretation over this, as the rules leave the door open to many possibilities. It's up to the FIA to supervise, but we are rather worried."

Piero Ferrari added: "I expect a Ferrari worthy of the title, unless someone interprets the rules differently."

Lowe is more confident, however, that the rules are clear enough - and that the matter will not require intervention from the FIA.

"We think the interpretation is very clear," he said. "In certain aspects we have sought guidance from the FIA and they have come out with very clear interpretation, understanding and guidance - and we think that has been made available to all the teams.

"We are hoping for a much cleaner start to the season then we had a year ago in terms of the teams' collective understanding of the basis from which we go racing."

[Wilbo]

May not be the best place to ask about this, but the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) looks awesome, especially the Monte with that new Fiesta. It's shown on Eurosport, but does anyone know anywhere one could download HD video of the event?

[Christoph84]

May not be the best place to ask about this, but the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) looks awesome, especially the Monte with that new Fiesta. It's shown on Eurosport, but does anyone know anywhere one could download HD video of the event?

I don't know where you can dload it sorry. I sky+ed loads of the live stuff from the Monte, it's incredible. It was a good season last year (won by Brit Kris Meeke) and this yeah looks even better. Loads of manufacturers and proper old skool rallies.

The regs are what the WRC will be in 2011 so it's a good way to see how the cars perform before the WRC adopts them.

[marsh]

Does that mean the IRC is going to cease to exist after next year?

[Sigourney Beaver]

I think I just came.

That's the best looking F1 car I've ever seen. I don't car if it struggles to keep up with USF1, it looks STUNNING.

[morcs]

Honestly it looks to me like the bloke who make the Airfix kit hasn't bothered to file down the rear end.

It looks awful!

[Sigourney Beaver]

What?!

Look at the engine cover. There's the horizontal line of the shark fin. Then lower down there's the way the head protection blends down to the exhausts. And finally the sidepods, which melt away to nothing at the back.

Beautiful

[morcs]

Achh I can't explain why I hate it so much, it's just an incoherent mix of right-angles and curves!

The Williams looks natural - hanches and sweeping sharp curves, like it's all compressed and tensed up ready to pounce. The McLaren just looks like a techno-bodge.

I'm very likely to change my mind though

[Sigourney Beaver]

Yeah, the Williams has a "shoulders" thing going on with it. Looks really nice. I just hate their paint job of the last few years.