2023-24 Formula 1 Off-Track Thread

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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Bortoleto signs for Kick Sauber. So that basically confirms Bottas and Zhou out of F1.
Only real question now is what happens at Red Bull / VCARB
No Finnish drivers for the first time since Hungary 1994.

(Excluding non-starters)
 
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Middle Eastern countries with poor human rights records want to use an overtly opulent sporting event to try and pretty up their public image.

In other news, the sun will rise in the east and water continues to flow downhill.
 
I can already imagine the insanity of the ticket prices.

EDIT - £58 to £113, less than I thought but still a bit silly for livery unveiling.
 
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Ticket prices will be silly money but as a concept I like the idea. Got to be better than releasing a render of last years car in a new livery.

I'm for it.
 
"Car launch? All the cars at the same time?!"
"No, livery launch."

Unless we're talking about a McLaren switching from Marlboro to West type scenario for all ten teams, you are paying to see this year's liveries on this year's cars. They'll keep gouging and squeezing every drop of money until the King starts coughing.
 

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Also in other news, the thing I don't like is happening after all:


Presuming there's going to be a video or live feed of this, I feel like it would be an event worthy of a bingo card. Possible squares:

  • At least 3 cars with liveries almost identical to last year's
  • Stupid and avoidable technical glitch disrupts things
  • Closeup shot of driver who clearly doesn't want to be there
  • Presenter struggles to say interesting things about all of the cars
  • Pointless interview with someone not connected to the sport
  • At least two over-dramatic video packages used to fill time
  • Colapinto and/or Bortoleto's name gets mispronounced

Those are all the obvious ones I can think of at the moment, anyway.
 
For me it's just the drivers and team principals saying the exact same monotonous, PR drivel repeatedly, 10 times in a row.

"I'm sure we will have a good package this year and be able to fight for the championship."

That one will be in there I'm sure of it.
 
Hm spicy


I give you a translation since it's German, Translated with DeepL.com (free version):

Dispute over new customer team rule
Self-build penalty for too much success?

Haas' success is a thorn in the side of the competition. The opponents want a racing team to have to produce more parts in-house. If a team is too successful, it should be forced to do so in future.

Michael Schmidt
15.11.2024

The dispute is as old as the Haas model in Formula 1. The US racing team used a loophole in the rules to enter the premier class in 2016. All parts that did not have to be built in-house according to the regulations were ordered from engine partner Ferrari. This saved costs and reduced the risk. The team boss at the time, Guenther Steiner, had thus made the premier class palatable to CNC machine king Gene Haas.

The concept was controversial from the outset. Force India, Williams, McLaren and Sauber felt cheated. They took the view that you have to work hard to earn your place in the formula. In their opinion, this was not the case with Haas. 60 percent of the car came from Ferrari. Steiner countered the critics at the time by saying that the Haas team would not have existed without this special approach.


Toro Rosso is also planning the Haas model

After Haas plunged deeper and deeper into the basement from 2019 onwards, the criticism fell silent. That changed abruptly this year. The US racing team currently has the fifth-fastest car in the field and is battling with Alpine and Toro Rosso for sixth place in the Constructors' Championship. To make matters worse, the team that finished last in the previous season has now also formed an alliance with Toyota.

At the same time, Toro Rosso is also moving closer to the Haas solution. The synergies with its brother team Red Bull are growing from year to year. From 2026, external production will be utilized to the maximum. The engine, gearbox, suspensions, hydraulics and steering will then come from a single source. From next year, the engineers will also be working in their own building on the Red Bull campus in Milton Keynes. This fuels mistrust.

These joint ventures are suddenly a thorn in the side of the teams that produce everything themselves. Aston Martin, Alpine and Williams in particular are campaigning against this rule and demanding a higher percentage of in-house production. The problem is that Haas would not be in a position to design and manufacture everything itself from one day to the next. This would require a new factory, more people and tools.


Three years' lead time to do it yourself

In the dispute over the customer teams, a compromise has recently emerged that will be included in the regulations for 2026 if it receives the necessary majority. According to this, a so-called customer team that finishes fifth or better in the Constructors' World Championship must then build everything itself with a lead time of three years - including the so-called “transferrable components” (TRC). Success is therefore penalized.

While Toro Rosso is open to the proposal, Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu has already announced his opposition. “That would be a killer for the small teams. If Formula 1 wants as many teams as possible to be competitive, then it will reject this rule. What better thing can happen to the sport when David wins against Goliath?”

Komatsu is also of the opinion that the in-house production of certain parts is overrated: “What fan cares whether the gearbox or suspension comes from Ferrari or ourselves?” The accusation that Haas has a competitive advantage by purchasing certain parts bounces off Komatsu: “We are given a nominal equivalent value in the budget cap for the components we buy. This is so high that we have no advantage.” In fact, Sauber returned to producing the gearbox in-house two years ago because it was cheaper than buying the transmission from Ferrari.

TRC:
Transferrable Components (TRC)

Transferable Components are components whose design, manufacture and Intellectual Property resides within a single Supplying Competitor, or third party, but can be supplied to another Customer Competitor. This group includes all the parts that teams can share with those rival teams that they aim to work with. It can refer to such alliances that Haas and Ferrari or Red Bull and Visa Cash App RB have established, but it can also lead to transfer of parts between engine supplier and customer teams.


• Rear impact structure
• Gearbox carrier
• Gearbox cassette
• Clutch
• Clutch actuation system
• Clutch shaft
• Gearbox internals
• Gearbox auxiliary components (oil system, reverse gear, etc.)
• Inboard front suspension
• Front suspension members
• Front upright assembly (excluding axles, bearings, nuts & retention system)
• Front axles (inboard of the contact surface with the wheel spacer) and bearings
• Inboard rear suspension
• Rear suspension members
• Rear upright assembly (excluding axles, bearings, nuts & retention system)
• Rear axles (inboard of the contact surface with the wheel spacer) and bearings
• Power-assisted steering
• Fuel system components not listed as OSC or SSC or LTC
• Hydraulic pump and accumulator
• Hydraulic manifold sensors and control valves
• Pipes between hydraulic pump, hydraulic manifold & gearbox or engine actuators
• Secondary heat exchanger (in oil and coolant system)
• Power unit mountings to gearbox and survival cell
• Exhaust system beyond turbine and wastegate exits (covered by PU rules)
• Electrical looms
from https://www.f1technical.net/news/24388
 
Butthurt losers.

After Haas plunged deeper and deeper into the basement from 2019 onwards, the criticism fell silent.
Tells you all you need to know.
 
Hm spicy


I give you a translation since it's German, Translated with DeepL.com (free version):



TRC:

from https://www.f1technical.net/news/24388
I guess he wouldn't really appreciate customer entries from 50's F1 in that case. Teams today would kill just to be able to buy a Ferrari or McLaren and run with it like back then.

Not to mention the whole Cosworth DFV thing.
 
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Slightly interesting, Mercedes has shown the convoluted shape of its fuel tank (which, as we know, doesn't exist):

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I'm just curious as to why Michael Andretti was the problem. Now that it's just GM, things seem to be progressing all along 🤔. I just saw an F1 article able the statement on GM joining in 2026 and from reading it, it sure sounds like a done deal.
 
I'm just curious as to why Michael Andretti was the problem. Now that it's just GM, things seem to be progressing all along 🤔. I just saw an F1 article able the statement on GM joining in 2026 and from reading it, it sure sounds like a done deal.
At long last.
 
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