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Now that we have seen a few 2017 cars I have a few thoughts.

I like the wider tyres, wider cars & lower/wider rear wing. I think the sidepods not extending outwards to the edge of the floor looks a bit weird but overall I think those changes are all cool. The sweptback design of the front wing/rear wing endplates I don't really care about either way & to be honest I don't really care either way about the width of the front wings.

However I'm really not a fan of some of the flaps & other aero bits that are starting to reappear on the cars. Things like the shark-fin, The weird T-wing at the back of the Ferrari engine cover & some of the stuff towards the front of the side-pod's & down the side of the cockpit & especially the front wing's.

A part of me kind of appreciates the detail & complexity of some of that stuff & tries to understand what there designed to do, Where there directing air & what the air going from there does etc... However aesthetically I think there all ugly & think most of it is a negative from a racing perspective.


The new rules were supposed to make the cars look more aggressive, Faster & racier. However while wider & more complex aerodynamically, overall I don't think any of the cars launched so far really look too much different to the cars from the past few years. Wider with some more aero nonsense on them, But the basic shapes & designs are the same.

I've said it in the Ferrari thread but the FIA really missed a trick by not outlawing pencil noses and shark fins in the regs, then these new rules could really be something cool, visually.

However, expecting the casual fan to notice the difference between last year's regs and this year's is a fools errand unfortunately, they don't look MASSIVELY different and the casual fans that just tune in for the racing, that the sport depends on, will just judge it on entertainment levels, as always.

The 2017 regs will live and die on the quality of the racing no matter how good they look.
Hell, 2012 is still my favourite season despite all those atrocious stepped noses.

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Williams officially launched the FW40:

That Red Bull better be a super base line just for the launch. Barely any details on it, it seems.

I have this bad feeling Mercedes will be even further ahead in Melbourne.

mercedes tried to tell everybody that if the FIA changed the rules it would just serve to give them more of an advantage.

reverse psychology? i guess we're about to find out

Just seen the first few pics from testing and why oh why have the FIA left the rules open to the stupid shark fins....and the horrid T wings? The T wings are an abomination.

Edit
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Craig Scarborough's twitter is updating all the time, can see the pics here.

https://twitter.com/ScarbsTech

From the early photo's, to me only the Merc and the Toro Rosso look like proper race cars. The others look like shit....starting off 2017 in a positive note

Gary Anderson has repeatedly suggested that the teams make use of jigsaws in the pits at the order of the FIA, and I don't disagree. I don't think they look awful, but they will only get worse.

He can sit there and admire it for a few hours, Honda already has problems

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Honda are a mess.

Almost a full race distance already covered at 12pm by Valtteri Bottas ...

Yes, Mercedes racking up the laps as they have done in testing since 2014. Ferrari are just about there in terms of mileage, but no promising signs this early on...

Supposedly, Mercedes will test the shark-fin on Wednesday.

By that time, the McLaren Honda will almost be ready for it's first run...

Red Bull also hits trouble, mostly the Renault engine I guess

How to package a little F1 turbo, +/- 29 years




Also Merc are happy enough with the car to have the fin on it already - note the opening at the top.

On another news, the sky is blue....

Mclaren's livery, unlike Toro Rosso's, is hideous. Can't understand how some people like it


Finding Nemo, indeed

Haas is so fucking bland/dull/boring/unimaginative too


Also, don't blame the sharfins on Red Bull and pray this speculation materializes(by nature, I'm pessimistic)
http://www.f1technical.net/development/ ... ty-grounds?

McLaren