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Pretty much as the title says:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134376...018-engine

Sounds promising, I like that Ferrari have released details about the failed piston head concept Sassi proposed, and essentially have suggested / hinted that's why he left. Nice little dig there.

I remember trying to point out how big a deal it was when Sassi left Ferrari:

https/f1/news/130583/ferrari-splits-with-f1-engine-chief

Yet not many seemed to give a damn at the time, probably because the championship was so close at the time. However, I always felt he was a big loss to Ferrari, after all he is attributed with being the main man responsible for Ferrari's improved engine performance, and is widely seen as the KERS guy in the paddock. Many feel the Ferrari engine package has better KERS performance than Mercedes.

I also felt there was more to his departure. Marchionne got involved, heavily, and his departure was sudden and had the whiff of a firing. Sassi was known to be outspoken, and had been critical of the way Ferrari were being run in the past. I also felt it was interesting that post Sassi leaving the FIA made some engine rule clarifications, which seemed to me to be targeted at Ferrari.

So fast forward to now, I honestly expected to see Sassi rock up at Honda or Renault to help with their efforts... But no...

http://www.planetf1.com/news/mercedes-se...-engineer/

So now Mercedes really do have an utterly bewildering array of engine talent. I'm absolutely amazed they felt the need to swoop, even when the rumours surfaced in December last year I felt it was a bit fantasy football esque wishful thinking from Mercedes fans, but no, today it is confirmed. Going forward, for a very long time, do not expect anyone to get close to matching Mercedes engines.

PS. Also given proposed changes to F1 engines in 2021, and given his areas of expertise, Sassi is the guy you'd want heading any preliminary work.

Upcoming F1 seminar to discuss track limits.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/889454/1/wh...ia-seminar

Let's hope they finally get their shit together and nail down the rules that apply to every track, every race weekend. MotoGP don't have these issues, they have rules they adhere and enforce them, baffling the "pinnacle of Motorsport" struggles.

Well Mercedes, Ferrari, and Honda had all already given varying degrees of "hell no" to the proposed 2021 engine changes, and now Renault have publicly poured cold water on the idea:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134221...f1-changes

So what odds the current engine regulations remain in place past 2021, or that the current engine configuration is basically left unchanged with minor differences.

I think this has been touched on already in another thread, but as we are stuck with it what scope do the teams have for being creative? Not much I wouldn't think, but what do I know?  These F1 engineers are very creative thinkers, what can they do aero wise with the ugly monstrosity? Or are they all going to look identical apart from being painted to match liveries?

I know the link is in German, but for those who can use Google translate / read a bit of German:

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form...55687.html


The rough gist is that the Honda engine isn't that bad, and Marko believes it's comparable to the Renault engine already. He also states that the Honda team were heavily restricted by the McLaren chassis design / philosophy, and that with those restrictions lifted by Toro Rosso Honda have already found significant gains. He also states Honda are still pumping in vast sums of money into R&D, and that he's essentially been surprised by the PU performance given the flak they received from McLaren. Which leads onto his final point, a dig at Alonso, who he thinks is responsible for the falling out between Honda and McLaren, and also partly responsible for making Honda look bad.

So what do we think? Is Marko right? Is he just stirring because McLaren now have the same PU as Red Bull? Thoughts welcome.

As launches & testing are fast approaching. Why not a thread to throw all the buildup in.

Mercedes: I've read a rumor(!) that they are having heating issues. Being caused by a shorter wheel base design. How short they have gone has not been divulged. I thought that they would not go for such a radical change to their philosophy. For a "heating issue" to arise one might assume its quite a substantial shortening. Less cooling, denser around rear suspension and diffuser compacting onto the rear tyres. Bringing back the old gremlin of the Mercedes eating its rear tyres?

Circuit de Catalunya: Has had a resurfacing. It was quite an abrasive surface which contributed to it being hard on the rears. The resurface is apparently quite very smooth, so this may have an impact on what compounds Pirelli will bring. Also as per resurfacing comes the oils and grease. Could be a slow first few days of testing as teams wait it out to rubber the track in.

Question: Do testing engines account for the seasons allocated 3 engines? I don't think they do, but unsure.

Excited or any liveries in particular? Hyped for McLaren and hope they go a good orange, not the Papaya orange but a more vivid, as they has in 2017 but more dominant and much more effort to the whole livery and not just the top of the car (because last year under the side pods was a 2 second doodle wreck.

Horner has apparently warned that Danny shouldn't take too much time deciding on his future, as they have other drivers ready to fill the spot.  Though does say he understands, that Danny (understandably) wants to wait to see how the 2018 car performs.

A couple of things, I find strange, they've now 2 unproven rookies at TR, so who does he mean, Sainz perhaps? can't imagine Renault would be too happy about that.  Which brings me to my second point, We all know RBR can build a car, what they need is a competitive PU, and if Renault does make a substantial step forward, it's of little relevance, since most believe that it will be a Honda engine for 2019.

Perhaps they should sit Danny down, and tell him whatever they told Max

With Jacques Villeneuve having recently brought up (again) about Stroll having tested in between races last year (a bit rich coming from JV who famously covered huge miles in private testing also), it got me thinking, what are the rules and regs for testing an older car in season? (or out of season for that matter)

Must there be someone from FIA in attendance and are the cars subject to any form of scrutineering?
Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me

Yesterday marked the half-way point of the winter break, which means today we're officially closer to lights out in Melbourne than we were the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi!

I think that deserves a cold beer or five this evening!