New Season 2013 - Car Launches/Unveiling

First topic message reminder :

The new season is nearly here

Discuss the Teams F1 launches/Unveilings for the 2013 Formula One World Championship.

Lotus will officially kick off the build-up to the 2013 Formula 1 season tonight when it unveils its new E21.

The Enstone-based outfit is hoping that the new car builds on the momentum of its successful E20 - which delivered a victory in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen in Abu Dhabi last November. With only subtle changes to the regulations for this year, allied to the fact that Lotus managed to bounce back from a mid-season loss of momentum, team principal Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT over the winter that he would be satisfied if his team could begin the new campaign in the same shape as it ended last year.

"I would be very happy to start the season with the same car performance we had last year relative to everyone else," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

Lotus's car will be unveiled on its own YouTube channel at 7.15pm GMT. Following the Lotus' car launch tonight, McLaren will follow with its unveiling at its Woking factory on Thursday, before both Ferrari and Force India launch their cars on Friday.

Of course I enjoyed watching the 'lottery' in F1 but there's a limit from where it's acceptable to the other end of the spectrum where it becomes slightly farsical, I just hope the racing drivers actually get to express themselves with their natural skill and speed. There saying we could be back to three, maybe four stop races in the first 1/4 of the season.

There's alot of people saying that Mercedes times are very promising and they could surprise alot of people. On the other hand, McLarens decision to radically change their car in certain areas has led Button to admit the team are struggling to understand the new car and why it's not working. I'm hoping this is correct and shuts up all those Hamilton haters who laughed when they knew he left McLaren for a supposedly weaker midfield team. I still do think that Vettel will probably run away with the title again this season. Also looking forward to seeing if Lotus or Sauber can get this rear-stalling device to work on their cars this season.

Hamilton had a good morning today, setting the fastest time of the morning session in damp conditions:

AT LUNCH
1 Lewis Hamilton 1:23.282 - (44 laps)

2 Jenson Button 1:23.633 - (31)

3 Jean-Eric Vergne 1:24.071, (37)

4 Jules Bianchi 1:25.732, (24)

5 Esteban Gutierrez 1:26.239, (51)

6 Giedo van der Garde 1:27.429, (23)

7 Felipe Massa 1:27.553, (47)

8 Mark Webber 1:27.616 (34)

9 Max Chilton 1:29.902, (21)

10 Romain Grosjean 1:34.800, (19)


As Steve said, Pirelli have designed the tyres for this season with a softer compound, which will wear more quickly, the idea being they will simply lose rubber more quickly, forcing more frequent changes.

The tyres should have a broader operating range, meaning drivers can expect to have maximum grip over a wider temperature range (i.e. thermal degradation, blistering, graining etc. shouldn't be as much of a problem).

In the end it will still come down to how well the cars are set up (how hard they are on their tyres) as to how long they can run before needing to pit, but hopefully drivers won't have to worry about pushing their tyres too hard early on and overheating them.

"Tyre wear - of the dry-weather 'slicks' - has been the hot topic of conversation in the F1 paddock this week as teams and drivers have been surprised by how heavily the new Pirellis degrade. The sport's tyre supplier has deliberately made softer tyres to try to ensure there is more than one pit stop in nearly every race but drivers have been complaining this week that the softer tyres are going off after just one lap. But wiser heads, such as Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button, point out that a) conditions are the worst they can be for tyres with cold weather; b) it was the same in 2011 and the teams soon got on top of it; and c) they don't expect it to be the same in the warmer weather at races. It's also worth noting that Lotus's Romain Grosjean did 24 laps on a set of 'medium' tyres as part of a race simulation run on Thursday, which is perfectly acceptable."

Cogen wrote:It's quite interesting... Most things I've read about the new McLaren suggest it is a good step forwards, but I actually have a friend who works for McLaren, and he says otherwise.

He says the consensus around the factory is that they haven't put together a great car this year, and they will struggle to keep up with the other top teams. Apparently the car needs a lot of work, because a few of their ideas just haven't panned out as expected.

I remembered this post and laughed at it and didn't believe a word of it, seeing as I hadn't heard the posters name before on here. After some time and what we've seen from McLaren during the testing and from the negative talk from Button surrounding the car, I'm starting to think McLaren may be in some form of trouble in terms of being competitive with Red Bull. They made some radical changes to the car and they've struggled to understand the car.

Further to this Paddy Lowe has left the team and put on gardening leave and is a shoe in to replace Ross Brawn at Mercedes in 2014. Paddy Lowe leaving McLaren is a huge loss, especially as he would of had a huge role in the design of this year's car and losing Hamilton and now Lowe to fierce rivals is a major setback to McLaren and alot of information in house being taken to the other side. Thoughts on this whole saga and how Mercedes are really throwing the kitchen sink at bringing a title to the team.

While losing Lowe, this close to the new season, will no doubt hurt McLaren, I don't think they're in as much trouble as some people are making out. Tim Goss will be stepping up to fill his shoes, so at least they've acted quickly to get a replacement in and will have some continuity.

Button has been setting some very decent times in testing so far. He's been making pretty much the same comments about all his cars since he was at Honda...some times they've felt good, other times they're undriveable, so I wouldn't read too much into his comments.

While they may have some design issues to sort out, I'm guessing they're far from the only team to be thinking they've got some improvements to make.

Lowe going to Mercedes could be a big boost for them. Hamilton might feel better at having a familiar face around the place. Also looks like Brawn will be stepping down once the appointment is made official.

Brawn Expected to Leave Mercedes

Think that will be Brawn entering retirement? I mean financially he's set for life and there probably won't be any motivation anymore or a team where there is a significant challenge that interest him.

I suspect most the grid will try and get him to sign up with them Mclaren included but it all depends how determined he is to win again before he retires

A penny for Hamiltons thoughts.

Something Schumi said last season about relationships being the most important aspect of F1 success. Vettel has it with Horner and think Hami was looking to do something similar with Brawn.

SteveG wrote:A penny for Hamiltons thoughts.

Something Schumi said last season about relationships being the most important aspect of F1 success. Vettel has it with Horner and think Hami was looking to do something similar with Brawn.

I'm sure Lewis is not happy about it deep down but there's nothing he can really do. He will work with Brawn this year and then Mercedes have cleverly replaced him with a face that Lewis will know well and, most importantly, trust in the form of Paddy Lowe.