F1 Season 2024 - Pre-Season Thread

[Slam62]

Horner looking a bit down at the redbull launch, must be quite a strain on him.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Woa. RB have taken the W13 style inlets / wing but merged it into their sidepods.

Wonder if the Newey magic can make them work better than Mercedes could.

 

[Jimbeam3678]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68310273 choosing his words very carefully and not quite as chipper as normal

 

[Blackvault]

Seems the Redbull photos have leaked before the official reveal today. It seems that everyone is excited about an S-Duct

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1arny3k/2024_red_bull_rb20/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

 

[AlphariusOmegan]

redbull launched yesterday evening.

 

[Blackvault]

redbull launched yesterday evening.

Doh! I thought it was due later this afternoon.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Woa. RB have taken the W13 style inlets / wing but merged it into their sidepods.

Wonder if the Newey magic can make them work better than Mercedes could.

I wish Mercedes stuck with it. It seemed it was mainly their floor/suspension that was the biggest issue that year. Although at least that car actually won a race! Now they've taken the RB rear suspension philosophy they might sort their floor issues.

However looking at RB this is a bold move regardless. They had arguably the most dominant F1 car ever last year and they've decided to make some massive changes to the car design in the search of being even faster!! Imagine being an RB boss. You've just wrapped up you 4th drivers, 3rd constructors championship and you're staring at an awesome model of the 2023 car that brought all that success. Then there's a knock on the door and Newey brings in the sketches of the 2024 car and it looks massively different.... That's got to knock you back a bit.

However, being a Newey car i'd be more shocked if it was **** than it not being even better. Just for the racing i'm hoping its at the very least a bit of a diva. Really fast at some tracks completely blowing everyone away and then **** at other tracks where its over hauled.

 

[Stumble Bum]

Is Australia really at 4am this year....

And Suzuka being the 4th race this year feels weird.

 

[Feek]

Hearing that DRS will be enabled after one lap now, rather than two. Although that two often seemed a bit random, sometimes it seemed like it wasn't until lap three, depending on when the race director remembered to push the 'allow DRS' button.

 

[Scam]

Hearing that DRS will be enabled after one lap now, rather than two. Although that two often seemed a bit random, sometimes it seemed like it wasn't until lap three, depending on when the race director remembered to push the 'allow DRS' button.

God. Can't we just bin it entirely It's like they're trying to stop an arterial bleed by putting a sticking plaster over it and saying "there, there".

At least one lap might stop the clearly fastest car at the front completely bolting it, getting the 1sec lead and disappearing off.

 

[Feek]

At least one lap might stop the clearly fastest car at the front completely bolting it, getting the 1sec lead and disappearing off.

That's probably the main reason for it.

 

[Mr Jack]

Hearing that DRS will be enabled after one lap now, rather than two. Although that two often seemed a bit random, sometimes it seemed like it wasn't until lap three, depending on when the race director remembered to push the 'allow DRS' button.

Blergh.

Just what the sport doesn't need :/

 

[Scam]

That's probably the main reason for it.

Oh I got that. It's just so frustrating that they can't seem to realise how much better the racing would be without it at all.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Oh I got that. It's just so frustrating that they can't seem to realise how much better the racing would be without it at all.

Without DRS?

 

[cainer]

3 days of testing starts tomorrow at the Bahrain International Circuit from 7am, Live on Sky Sports F1 at the following UK times....

Wednesday February 21 - Day One

• 6.50am-11.05am: Morning Session
• 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
• 8pm: Testing Wrap
• 8.30pm: Ted's Testing Notebook

Thursday February 22 - Day Two

• 6.50am-11.05am: Morning Session
• 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
• 8pm: Testing Wrap
• 8.30pm: Ted's Testing Notebook

Friday February 23 - Day Three

• 6.50am-11.05am: Morning Session
• 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
• 8pm: Testing Wrap
• 8.30pm: Ted's Testing Notebook
• 9pm: Development Corner

DRIVER LINEUPS....

RED BULL​

Wednesday: Max Verstappen

Thursday: Sergio Perez (AM) & Max Verstappen (PM)

Friday: Sergio Perez

MERCEDES​

Wednesday: George Russell

Thursday: Lewis Hamilton

Friday: Lewis Hamilton (AM) & George Russell (PM)

FERRARI​

Wednesday: Charles Leclerc (AM) & Carlos Sainz (PM)

Days 2 & 3 TBC

MCLAREN​

Wednesday: Oscar Piastri (AM) & Lando Norris (PM)

Thursday: Oscar Piastri (AM) & Lando Norris (PM)

Friday: Lando Norris (PM) & Oscar Piastri (AM)

ASTON MARTIN​

Wednesday: Fernando Alonso (AM) & Lance Stroll (PM)

Thursday: Fernando Alonso (AM) & Lance Stroll (PM)

Friday: Lance Stroll (AM) & Fernando Alonso (PM)

ALPINE​

Wednesday: Esteban Ocon (AM) & Pierre Gasly (PM)

Thursday: Pierre Gasly (AM) & Esteban Ocon (PM)

Friday: Esteban Ocon (AM) & Pierre Gasly (PM)

WILLIAMS​

Wednesday: Alex Albon (AM) & Logan Sargeant (PM)

Thursday: Logan Sargeant

Friday: Alex Albon

RB​

Wednesday: Yuki Tsunoda (AM) & Daniel Ricciardo PM

Thursday: Yuki Tsunoda (AM) & Daniel Ricciardo PM

Friday: Daniel Ricciardo (AM) & Yuki Tsunoda (PM)

SAUBER​

Wednesday: Valtteri Bottas (AM) & Zhou Guanyu (PM)

Thursday: Zhou Guanyu (AM) & Valtteri Bottas (PM)

Friday: Valtteri Bottas (AM) & Zhou Guanyu (PM)

HAAS​

Wednesday: Kevin Magnussen (AM) & Nico Hulkenberg (PM)

Thursday: Nico Hulkenberg (AM) & Kevin Magnussen (PM)

Friday: Kevin Magnussen (AM) & Nico Hulkenberg (PM)

 

[KiNgPiN83]

We'll finally see what the cars actually look like. (Rather than what they've wanted to show so far..)

 

[bayo000]

Hearing that DRS will be enabled after one lap now, rather than two. Although that two often seemed a bit random, sometimes it seemed like it wasn't until lap three, depending on when the race director remembered to push the 'allow DRS' button.

Thought it was 3 at the start of the race and two laps on restart?

 

[Scam]

Without DRS?

Yes of course. We might actually get some overtakes round corners and stuff. Not cruising down the motorway type drivebys.

With DRS, drivers actively wait for the straights to push to pass. Why risk it round the corners or do anything hard when if they’re within 1sec they can just wait for the next long straight with the DRS zone.

With the cars able to follow closely now, DRS just overly exaggerates the natural slipstream. You’d still get DRS style passes on the long straights, but they wouldn’t be as easy, or cut and dry. Hence, better racing.

 

[Quartz]

Hence, better racing.

We shall see.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

I was just thinking, imagine if some other teams turn up with no/minimal sidepods like current RB and the post first test W13. Not sure we can handle any more excitement to be honest. We've been spoilt.