2018 F1 Constructor development/techFormula 1 

Dennisch
Christian Horner is worried about the Mercedes engine, which supposedly is pumping out 1000hp this year, and that the gap with the Renault engine might be once again too large.

Battle for the win between the Mercs and Toro Rosso this year!
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Jimlaad43
Christian Horner will moan about the engine regs until his engine is fastest, when he'll go quiet. Just ignore it.
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He isn't wrong to complain, he also wants to make sure oil burn is being well regulated too. The fact is Mercedes have boasted and made a big deal about their power figures, that aren't being exaggerated, as many believe those figures that aren't working for/with Merc and those who are outsiders to F1. Along with boasting about over 50% thermal efficiency on top of that with reliability. I too would be worried and trying to figure out a better way if I wasn't Mercedes.
 
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Jimlaad43
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/martini-and-williams-to-end-sponsorship-deal-1009390/
Martini will stop sponsoring anyone next season. Enjoy the Williams livery for one more year.
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Sad times, but a slightly interesting discussion on what other colours the white team will be adopting from 2019 onwards. I'm going to call red right now for various reasons that can't be discussed here and do not necessarily exist.

On the material and performance front, I do wonder whether Williams have got the talks going with a load of new sponsors at a point this early. They seem to need the money as much as Sauber right now.
 
Red Bull is planning the season with 4 engines, because the advantages of using higher power modes more often is bigger than the disadvantage of starting last once, says Adrian Newey.

Meanwhile, Rich Energy is rumored to buy Force India this week - for 200 million pounds
 
psychoazubi
Red Bull is planning the season with 4 engines, because the advantages of using higher power modes more often is bigger than the disadvantage of starting last once, says Adrian Newey.

Meanwhile, Rich Energy is rumored to buy Force India this week - for 200 million pounds
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Makes sense for RB, just see how well they did in Monza last year with Dan, and Max was even higher before the collision.

Also the Rich Energy thing, isn’t it just a rumor rehashed by some British media? I recall something about that being said before first preseason test and being denied straight away?

Edit:
https://www.racefans.net/2018/02/21/energy-drink-company-takeover-of-force-india-denied/
Happened 2 weeks ago. Some British newspaper picked it up on Monday IIRC
 
yeah I have trouble believing the Rich Energy thing, also considering that is the same number as suggested last time it came up as a rumor
 
I guess it’s just free marketing for Rich Energy or maybe the CEO is Mallya’s buddy and he wants to make sure his trial doesn’t affect FI’s running
 
Adrian Newey takes a step back at Red Bull Racing. The top designer is considered one of the greatest designers of all time in Formula 1, but now makes room for Pierre Waché.

true or fake news (again)?
 
BrainsBush
Adrian Newey takes a step back at Red Bull Racing. The top designer is considered one of the greatest designers of all time in Formula 1, but now makes room for Pierre Waché.

true or fake news (again)?
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True, considering he's taken a step back already, and is more for consulting. His last student is now the main designer at McLaren, and
Wache was a fellow one. They've been designing the cars with less Newey input after 2014, and more of him watching and helping them be in the right direction if need be. That's why other projects from him have come to the light of day. Newey as far as I can tell will still be doing what he has been doing for the past three years, just others now have more responsibility, rather than him with most of it, delegating to others.

http://en.espn.co.uk/redbull/motorsport/story/161943.html
 
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More and more I'm confirming in my mind that the problem was McLaren's stupid philosophy of making everything fit so tight that there's no excess space around the engine. I've heard this was their philosophy as far back as the 80s. What's their longest run of championship winning and worthy contender years? They might have some good streaks here and there but when it's bad it's real bad. Toro Rosso has no such philosophy and the engine runs just fine. Interesting...
 
DesertPenguin
More and more I'm confirming in my mind that the problem was McLaren's stupid philosophy of making everything fit so tight that there's no excess space around the engine. I've heard this was their philosophy as far back as the 80s. What's their longest run of championship winning and worthy contender years? They might have some good streaks here and there but when it's bad it's real bad. Toro Rosso has no such philosophy and the engine runs just fine. Interesting...
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McLaren told Honda to build the engine how McLaren wanted it. Honda told Toro Rosso to build the car around Honda's engine. Marginal aerodynamic gains or significant power unit gains? I know which one I'd choose when we've just seen the power unit be slow and unreliable. Honda wouldn't have had such a good pre-season test session this year if they were still at McLaren.
 
Sauber has similar sized sidepods and they seem fine.

Mclarens problems look to be things we can't see under the engine cover.
 
Jimlaad43
McLaren told Honda to build the engine how McLaren wanted it. Honda told Toro Rosso to build the car around Honda's engine. Marginal aerodynamic gains or significant power unit gains? I know which one I'd choose when we've just seen the power unit be slow and unreliable. Honda wouldn't have had such a good pre-season test session this year if they were still at McLaren.
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When the cracks in the McLaren-Honda relationship were publicly voiced by Honda they blamed McLaren's "size-zero" vision for a proportion of their problems. Once again the McLaren looks to be wearing its trousers pretty tightly and once again we see them struggling. If Red Bull take the fight to the front of the pack again then McLaren might need to zero their philosophy, or loosen their belt, or something to do with that analogy. :D
 
I know it's fun to egg on McLaren right now but I think the reliability issues of McLaren are a little overstated. New unit, new demands of the team and the car design. Sometimes things are smooth, sometimes they aren't.

I also feel that, while McLaren certainly didn't do Honda many favours with the size zero setup, there's no excuse for having reliability as poor as what Honda had, especially last year. No need to be singing their praises yet for the engine not blowing up, as we don't give birds trophies for flying.
 
TenEightyOne
When the cracks in the McLaren-Honda relationship were publicly voiced by Honda they blamed McLaren's "size-zero" vision for a proportion of their problems. Once again the McLaren looks to be wearing its trousers pretty tightly and once again we see them struggling. If Red Bull take the fight to the front of the pack again then McLaren might need to zero their philosophy, or loosen their belt, or something to do with that analogy. :D
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The issue is the designers and engineers. We've had in recent memory three periods of McLaren playing around with size zero, and each time has yielded results that were sporadically good at best, but more often detrimental and caused break downs at worst. This is the third time I can think of them doing this and it's quite interesting to see if it will yield any positives that the previous two size zeros did.

mustafur
Sauber has similar sized sidepods and they seem fine.

Mclarens problems look to be things we can't see under the engine cover.
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Sauber has about 5-6 additional cooling inlets of better design than those jerry-rigged last minute heat extractor McLaren are using.
 
Peter.
I know it's fun to egg on McLaren right now but I think the reliability issues of McLaren are a little overstated. New unit, new demands of the team and the car design. Sometimes things are smooth, sometimes they aren't.

I also feel that, while McLaren certainly didn't do Honda many favours with the size zero setup, there's no excuse for having reliability as poor as what Honda had, especially last year. No need to be singing their praises yet for the engine not blowing up, as we don't give birds trophies for flying.
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The London odds-makers are ranking Alonso an astonishing 6th in the driver's championship!
 

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