It turns out I was completely wrong about the engine rules farce. As I understand it now Ched, it goes like this: Nowhere in the rules does it say that you can only homologate one PU per season, so the manufacturers can introduce the performance upgrades as they want over the season. Each upgrade will be a new homologation. They could upgarde one part with x tokens, and then spend another x tokens later in the season to upgrade the same part again. The FIA have pulled a rule out of their ass to say Honda can upgrade during the season with the average amount of tokens that aren't used by the other three manufacturers after the first race. There is still the question about how these multiple upgrades will fit in with the rule that only one PU can be homologated at a time, as it should mean each upgrade would have to be given to all the manufacturer's customers at the same race, but this rule was already ignored last season with Lotus and Caterham having to wait for engine upgrades which Red Bull and Toro Rosso got first.
I think manufacturers are allowed something like 66 tokens between the 2014 and 2015 engines, but only 32 one the engine has been run. By running the 2014 engine to begin with, the teams can work on having those 34 closed season tokens as good as possible, to maximise how powerful the 2015 engine is once introduced. After the new power unit comes in Spain, the remaining 32 tokens will be spread throughout the rest of the season. So this is how I think Honda gain. They've unlimited development until the end of Feb, then they'll have this strange average number of tokens. But because Mercedes at least will delay introducing the 2015 engine, their mid-season tokens aren't confirmed until after the first race, when the average is taken. So Honda get 32 tokens, whilst after Spain the other teams might only have 8 left, using the numbers from estimates.
That's not quite right. The power unit is separated into parts, in total worth 66 tokens. Some parts are worth 1, some 2, some 3 tokens. This season,Mercedes/Renault/Ferrari have 32 tokens to spend to upgrade the 2014 power unit. They can spend them on any area they like, whenever they like during 2015, except for 3 parts of the power unit which are completely frozen. In later years they get progressively less tokens to spend and more parts of the power unit are completely frozen.
Most complicated season ever? I'm understanding as we go along really some peoples posts really help. Slightly off topic, any reason why Ferrari painted their gearbox cover all black in 2014, really did not find their livery attractive, 2012 livery was much better.
Mercedes launching at Jerez, up to 4 now. Car launches January 21 - Force India (livery reveal only) January 29 - McLaren January 30 - Ferrari February 1 - Mercedes
Good news? A Marussia auction scheduled to take place on Wednesday has been cancelled, amid a potential rescue deal emerging which could see the team make the first race of the season. The outfit entered administration in October which saw it miss the final three races of the 2014 season. Much of its equipment was sold off in December by administators FRP Advisory in an attempt to recover some of the teams £31 million debts. However, the equipment necessary to operate the team remains at their factory - which is now owned by Gene Haas - and was set to be auctioned off on Wednesday. That has now been postponed indefinitely whilst rescue talks are underway. "[We're] at a fairly advanced stage with a new investor - a credible investor," Marussia boss John Booth told BBC Sport on Monday. He said the auction had been postponed "to allow for discussions to continue with a third party, [which] gives us a bit more time to explore [the deal]." When asked how confident he was of a deal happening, he replied: "Pretty high," but added, "time is of the essence." Should the team come to an agreement with the investor, then it would require special dispensation from the FIA to run their 2014 car as time to construct and develop their 2015 chassis would be an impossibility. During a Strategy Group meeting last year, it was agreed that both Marussia and Caterham would be allowed to use their old cars, but it would still require a World Motor Sport Council fax vote.
If so, why paint it black? I know we aren't talking about light rays but wouldn't black absorb and increase the heat energy more, wouldn't that be detrimental? --> I haven't done physics since GCSE
I assumed it was black to mask all the heat shielding that would have been in the area. Plus it stops us seeing any burn marks in the bodywork after a hard days use. please log in to view this image
No idea why they need such a substantial covering, they've survived the last 10 seasons without it I think.
I couldn't quantify it but I imagine the engines were running a lot hotter this year, trying to melt the whole back end of the car.
http://www.f1today.net/en/news/grosjean-cant-reveal-lotus-colours-for-2015-yet So Lotus and mercedes may have a new livery? And Lotus having a new name? I know this is F1Today but sounds interesting
Force India to hold back their 2015 car, the VJM08, until Barcelona tests The Silverstone-based team, who are holding a livery launch in Mexico on Wednesday, confirmed to Sky Sports News HQ that they will instead run their 2014 challenger, the VJM07, at the opening four-day test at Jerez from the end of next week. With the team understood to be keeping the new VJM08 on hold for strategic reasons until the first of the back-to-back Barcelona sessions on February 19-22, Force India's engineers will have two additional weeks to work on their new car before it takes to the track for the first time. Force India enjoyed their best F1 season last year and announced in December that they would be moving all their aerodynamic testing to Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne, a facility considered one of the best in the world. The decision to delay the introduction of a new car into pre-season testing is certainly not without precedence. Although Lotus skipped last year’s Jerez test for what were thought to have been financial reasons, Mercedes began their 2012 programme in southern Spain with a year-old car before introducing their new challenger in Barcelona. Red Bull skipped the opening Valencia test on consecutive occasions in 2009 and 2010 – going on to win the world championship for the first time in the latter year – although in those years pre-season testing ran to four winter meets as opposed to the current three.
Given the struggles they had last year because their wind tunnel data didn't correlate I think that's a sensible step.
Sigh. Seriously how hard is it to make regulation without ugly noses? Another monstrosity. please log in to view this image
