2018 Pre-Season Thread

[HustleRussell]

January is over and F1 2018 starts this month! So, shamelessly inspired by ukaskew's 2017 pre-season thread, here is the 2018 F1 pre-season testing, car reveals, news, and speculation thread.

Regulations

2018 FIA Sporting and Technical Regulations

Key Sporting Regulations Changes

Three Engines per driver per season
The number of engines has been reduced from four last year, while the number of Grands Prix has increased to twenty-one.

Faster, less durable tyres
In response to criticism that they were too conservative with their tyre compounds in 2017 leading to many one-stop races, Pirelli have made their existing tyre range one step softer across the board. They have also bookended their range with two new tyres- a pink marked 'Ultrasoft' and an orange 'Superhard'. The 'Hard' tyre, which used to be orange, is now blue.



Key Technical Regulations Changes

Chassis
Reduction in static front ride height from the straight ahead steering position to full lock in either direction is now limited to 5mm.

Bodywork
Areas left open for development in 2017 which resulted in shark fins and T-wings are no longer available.

Safety
The 'Halo' safety device is now mandatory. The Halo may carry aerodynamic devices and fairings provided they do not extend more than 20mm from the structure.

Weight
Minimum car weight (including driver) has been increased by 6kg to 734kg.



Winter Testing

Date	Circuit
Feb 26-Mar 1	Barcelona, Spain
Mar 6-9	Barcelona, Spain

Confirmed Driver Line-Ups

Team	Driver	Driver
Mercedes	Lewis Hamilton	Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari	Sebastian Vettel	Kimi Raikkonen
Red Bull	Daniel Ricciardo	Max Verstappen
Force India	Sergio Perez	Esteban Ocon
Williams	Lance Stroll	Sergey Sirotkin
Renault	Carlos Sainz	Nico Hulkenburg
Toro Rosso	Brendon Hartley	Pierre Gasly
Haas	Romain Grosjean	Kevin Magnussen
McLaren	Fernando Alonso	Stoffel Vandoorne
Sauber	Marcus Ericsson	Charles Leclerc

Car Launch

Entrant	Constructor	Designation	Power Unit	Date	Location
Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW41	Mercedes	February 15	London
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB14	TAG Heuer	February 19	TBC
Renault Sport Formula One Team	Renault	R.S.18	Renault	February 20	Online
Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C37	Ferrari	February 20	Online
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	W09 EQ Power+	Mercedes	February 22	Silverstone
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	TBC	Ferrari	February 22	Online
Mclaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL33	Renault	February 23	TBC
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Red Bull Toro Rosso	TBC	Honda	February 26	Barcelona
Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	TBC	Mercedes	TBC	TBC
Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-18	Ferrari	TBC	TBC

Provisional Calendar

Date	Circuit	Sky F1	Channel 4
March 25	Melbourne, Australia	Y
April 8	Bahrain, Bahrain	Y	Y
April 15	Shanghai, China	Y
April 29	Baku, Azerbaijan	Y	Y
May 13	Barcelona, Spain	Y
May 27	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Y	Y
June 10	Montreal, Canada	Y
June 24	Le Castellet, France	Y
July 1	Spielberg, Austria	Y	Y
July 8	Silverstone, Great Britain	Y	Y
July 22	Hockenheim, Germany	Y
July 29	Budapest, Hungary	Y
August 26	Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium	Y	Y
September 2	Monza, Italy	Y
September 16	Singapore, Singapore	Y	Y
September 30	Sochi, Russia	Y
October 7	Suzuka, Japan	Y	Y
October 21	Austin, USA	Y	Y
October 28	Mexico City, Mexico	Y
November 11	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Y
November 25	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Y	Y

Tyre Allocations



In-season Testing

Date	Circuit
May 15-16	Barcelona, Spain
July 31 - August 1	Budapest, Hungary

Other Calendar Events

• Indy 500 May 27
• Le Mans 24hr June 16-17
• Goodwood Festival of Speed July 12-15
• Goodwood Revival September 7-9

UK TV Rights

Sky TV - All sessions live. HD and Ultra HD, subscription service, no adverts during race.

Channel 4 - 10 races (inc. practice and qualifying) live negotiated with Sky. Highlights of all other races. HD, free to air, no adverts during race.

Edited by HustleRussell on Monday 12th February 13:54

[Pericoloso]

Looking at the live tv list ,who TF chooses CH4's allocation ?

Why can't they have Spain ,France ,Germany,Italy and Hungary ?.....all on at sensible European times but Japan is live at

silly o' clock.

Thanks for all the info but I might just switch off now.

ETA.....How TF did I forget Monza ?...

[tight fart]

It's getting very silly with these tyre names.

[Vaud]

ash73 said:

All race start times pushed back, and no longer on the hour, ffs! Japanese and Aussie F1 fans won't be happy.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12430/11232101/f1...

The on the hour move is good, let’s tv companies run a package that starts on the hour, and provide some build up. Anything that makes it easier for tv companies right now...

[HardtopManual]

Pericoloso said:

Looking at the live tv list ,who TF chooses CH4's allocation ?

Have to say, they've picked some absolute duds there. I count four circuits that usually produce a decent race.

[Vaud]

HardtopManual said:

Pericoloso said:

Looking at the live tv list ,who TF chooses CH4's allocation ?

Have to say, they've picked some absolute duds there. I count four circuits that usually produce a decent race.

There is a process

https://f1broadcasting.co/2017/11/05/predicting-th...

– Channel 4 pick three races (pick 1, 2 and 3)
– Sky pick three races (pick 4, 5 and 6)
– Channel 4 pick one race (pick 7)
– Sky pick one race (pick 8)

This continues until there are no races remaining.

[NM62]

Cheers HR for starting this thread.

Is the “in season” testing 31st July to 1st August still going ahead?

[Vaud]

NM62 said:

Cheers HR for starting this thread.

Is the “in season” testing 31st July to 1st August still going ahead?

Yes:

May 15-May 16 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
July 31-August 1 Hungaroring, Budapest

[NM62]

Vaud said:

NM62 said:

Cheers HR for starting this thread.

Is the “in season” testing 31st July to 1st August still going ahead?

Yes:

May 15-May 16 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
July 31-August 1 Hungaroring, Budapest

TY.

Can’t wait for it all to start again!

7 weeks and counting.

[ajprice]

Williams launch is 15th February https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134068/williams-...

[Teppic]

Vaud said:

HardtopManual said:

Pericoloso said:

Looking at the live tv list ,who TF chooses CH4's allocation ?

Have to say, they've picked some absolute duds there. I count four circuits that usually produce a decent race.

There is a process

https://f1broadcasting.co/2017/11/05/predicting-th...

– Channel 4 pick three races (pick 1, 2 and 3)
– Sky pick three races (pick 4, 5 and 6)
– Channel 4 pick one race (pick 7)
– Sky pick one race (pick 8)

This continues until there are no races remaining.

Having to have the British Grand Prix as one of their live events also hinders Channel 4's selection process, as their picks have to be arranged around that. What isn't mentioned in the above link posted by Vaud is that Channel 4 cannot show more that two successive races live, and Sky can't show more than two successive races exclusively live.

Edited by Teppic on Friday 2nd February 17:58

[anonymous-user]

Vaud said:

ash73 said:

All race start times pushed back, and no longer on the hour, ffs! Japanese and Aussie F1 fans won't be happy.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12430/11232101/f1...

The on the hour move is good, let’s tv companies run a package that starts on the hour, and provide some build up. Anything that makes it easier for tv companies right now...

Why should it be made easier for the TV Companies? They’re on board, for now, it’s the fans who need to be accommodated. Perhaps you mean cheaper?

Seems infinitesimally insignificant to me. The TV Companies all start their programmes much more than 10 minutes before race time in any case, and struggle to fill that time.

A tiny little shuffle of the deckchairs.

[Vaud]

REALIST123 said:

Why should it be made easier for the TV Companies? They’re on board, for now, it’s the fans who need to be accommodated. Perhaps you mean cheaper?

Seems infinitesimally insignificant to me. The TV Companies all start their programmes much more than 10 minutes before race time in any case, and struggle to fill that time.

A tiny little shuffle of the deckchairs.

Programs are generally scheduled to start at on the hour or half hour. So the logic is that if the race starts at say 1:10, then they can maximise their returns by starting a schedule at 1:00 and not "waste" an extra 30 mins of build up?

[thegreenhell]

Vaud said:

REALIST123 said:

Why should it be made easier for the TV Companies? They’re on board, for now, it’s the fans who need to be accommodated. Perhaps you mean cheaper?

Seems infinitesimally insignificant to me. The TV Companies all start their programmes much more than 10 minutes before race time in any case, and struggle to fill that time.

A tiny little shuffle of the deckchairs.

Programs are generally scheduled to start at on the hour or half hour. So the logic is that if the race starts at say 1:10, then they can maximise their returns by starting a schedule at 1:00 and not "waste" an extra 30 mins of build up?

Not everywhere has a dedicated F1 channel with more time to fill than they know what to do with. In some countries the coverage only starts on the hour, just as the cars are heading off on their warmup lap to the grid, leaving no time for any sort of buildup. The extra 10 minutes will allow them a 5 minute intro and an extra advert break before the race gets going.

[Vaud]

thegreenhell said:

Not everywhere has a dedicated F1 channel with more time to fill than they know what to do with. In some countries the coverage only starts on the hour, just as the cars are heading off on their warmup lap to the grid, leaving no time for any sort of buildup. The extra 10 minutes will allow them a 5 minute intro and an extra advert break before the race gets going.

Well put.

[HustleRussell]

Bonus points to Vaud and NM62 for mustering a glimmer of optimism and positivity about the coming season.

People are flipping pessimistic about F1 for 2018- seems the realisation of Halo, the Sky exclusive deal and now the exclusion of grid girls have conspired to create a lot of negativity around the sport which is regrettable.

IMO there are lots of reasons to be cheerful, and 2017 was the best season we’ve had possibly since 2010 (or ’13)?

• Liberty Media are more inclusive and more transparent. They seem to have a big-picture view and they also appear to have some scruples. They are more proactive and they are investing.
• On-demand broadcast platform, a big step into the 21st century
• Ross Brawn is heading a team which for the first time ever is scrutinising the regulations with a view to sorting out dirty air and the 2021 regulations overhaul
• Debates are taking part with teams and engine manufacturers past , present and possibly future to ensure competition on and off the track
• Distribution of funds is being proactively discussed hence the inevitable sabre-rattling of the wealthier teams (which you must see through)
• Mercedes are no longer runaway winners every time
• Resurgence of Mclaren?
• Four champions on the grid with 11x championships between them
• Exciting new driving talent in Charles Leclerc, Kubica back in a car, a number of other fresh faces compared to the beginning of the 2017 season
• Depth of driving talent is as good or better than it’s ever been
• Cars are faster than ever in real terms and they are set to go whole seconds faster again this season
• Penalties must remain but they have been simplified for this season
• French and German Grands Prix are back

So in the spirit of all of that- predictions?

[HustleRussell]

ash73 said:

HustleRussell said:

• On-demand broadcast platform, a big step into the 21st century

What does that mean?

Basically everywhere except the UK will have an official on-demand internet streaming service where consumers can get pay-per-view access to FOM coverage, feeds from cars, data etc.

ash73 said:

Scrutinse, debate, discuss... let's see some action.

On the contrary- No! enough of the knee-jerk sticking plaster solutions. Remember elimination qualifying? Double points Abu Dhabi? What about DRS? There is some talent looking to tackle the fundamental flaws of modern grand prix racing. IMO 2017 was a good season so radical and immediate change would be detrimental.

[slipstream 1985]

Three Engines per driver per season
The number of engines has been reduced from four last year, while the number of Grands Prix has increased to twenty-one.

Is that correct so a team could go for max power on engines and dump the driver every 3 races take a new driver who gets 3 brand new engines?

[Vaud]

ash73 said:

Scrutinse, debate, discuss... let's see some action.

It takes time. Quick fixes are what created today's lack of overtaking, etc.

[DanielSan]

slipstream 1985 said:

Three Engines per driver per season
The number of engines has been reduced from four last year, while the number of Grands Prix has increased to twenty-one.

Is that correct so a team could go for max power on engines and dump the driver every 3 races take a new driver who gets 3 brand new engines?

If it’s the same as last season then no, engine allocations are per car not driver