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Ferrari Formula 1

Ferrari announces SF15-T name

2015 Ferrari SF15-T logo

Ferrari will be launching its 2015 F1 car this Friday, but before that the team has revealed the car will be called the SF15-T.

Last year’s car was called the F14-T (Ferrari, 2014, turbo). In 2015 we get the S for Scuderia at the start.

Perhaps part of Sebastian Vettel’s contract with team will be to put his finger away after each win and start waving his F15T?

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Formula 1 Lotus

2015 Lotus E23 revealed

2015 Lotus E23

The Lotus F1 Team has revealed these computer generated images of the E23, the team’s 2015 F1 car. You’ll recall last year the E22 had that shocking twin tusk nose. Thankfully, this season, it looks like we’re back on the way to having visually pleasing F1 cars once more.

Lotus will line up again with Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, which means the most significant off season change is the switch to Mercedes-Benz power.

Matthew Carter, Lotus F1 Team CEO, says his team is ready for better things, after a disappointing 2014.

“The E23 Hybrid represents a new era for Lotus F1 Team,” said Carter. “Not only in the change to a Mercedes-Benz Power Unit, but also it is the fruition of a busy winter behind the scenes.

“Improvements within our Design, Aero and Simulation departments have all contributed to the development of a car which is a huge step forward.

“It is time to put the disappointment of last season behind us and benefit from 12 months of hard work; we are ready to return to our rightful place at the pinnacle of the sport.”

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Formula 1 Lotus

Ayrton Senna Monaco GP illustration

Ayrton Senna, Lotus 98T, illustration by Bruce Thomson

Ayrton Senna’s bright yellow helmet peeking out of the iconic Lotus 98T‘s black and gold livery is one of Formula 1’s most evocative images. Bruce Thomson has captured that perfectly with his digital illustration of Senna at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Thanks again Bruce!

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Formula 1

2015 Williams FW37 images revealed

2015 Williams FW37

After the Williams FW37 broke cover yesterday we had hoped we’d be able to bring you a great selection of 2560px mega images to you this morning. Alas, we’ve got two new pics we’ve nicked from twitter, a dodgy video animation and a press release from the notoriously image shy Williams Martini Racing outfit.

However, Pat Symonds, Chief Technical Officer, does give us some insight into the FW37: “The notion for the FW37 was to look closely at the FW36 and its performances.

“We then went about recognising what had worked well and identifying and resolving the areas that we felt needed to be improved. Although the aerodynamics of the car were impressive there is always room for improvement particularly as we handle the new 2015 nose regulations.

“The desire to beat Ferrari to third place in the Constructors’ in 2014 meant we pushed our development through to late autumn, but the size of the team is now at a point where it was able to sustain this development whilst still working on the FW37.

“We felt we came up against design barriers in the FW36 and so took the opportunity to remove those barriers for the benefit of the performance. The FW36 carried a reasonable amount of ballast, so we were able to make alterations to the design for added performance without the fear of adding excessive mass.

“The change in regulations offered us a slight headache. The new front bulkhead and nose geometry had much more of an impact than we had initially anticipated and the effect on the aero was profound. The team have worked hard on pulling back the deficit these regulations have made for us.”

We’ll bring you more detail on the FW37 when we can.

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Formula 1

2015 Force India VJM08 revealed

2015 Force India VJM08

Ugly anteater noses begone!

The first full reveal of a 2015 Formula 1 car has been and gone thanks to Force India. As you can see the laughable nose of the VJM07 has been scrapped and the VJM08 looks altogether more stylish.

Part of that, of course, is due to the new silver and black livery, which, oddly enough, gives the best hint yet that McLaren will be having a red and white scheme in 2015.

Force India retains its 2014 driver lineup of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. The team will run its 2014 car at the first test in Jerez (1–4 February), delaying the track debut of the VJM08 until the second round of testing, to be held in Barcelona (19–22 February).

A light and fluffy press release and more images are available after the break. More detail is available in the team’s 2015 press pack which can be downloaded below.

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Formula 1 Honda McLaren Video

It’s time to make history

We’re about to see a whole bunch of reveals from F1 teams as they get ready for the opening pre-season test at Jerez on 1 February. McLaren-Honda will reveal their new car on 29 January and have started to pull at the heart strings with this promo.

And, yes, a retro-imspired red and white delivery would be the duck’s guts!

[Thanks to Wes for the tip]

Categories
Formula 1 Honda

Honda NSX Concept coming to Australia

Acura NSC Concept

One of the first tangible signs for car buyers of Honda’s return to Formula 1 will take place at the Australian Grand Prix (15–18 March) when you will be able to get up close to the NSX Concept.

The NSX Concept will be on display at Albert Park and will also help mark the comeback of the McLaren-Honda partnership.

“This is a new era for Honda in more ways than one,” said Honda Australia Director, Stephen Collins. “The NSX is the rebirth of an icon and represents power, sportiness and efficiency. The NSX Concept will be the star attraction of Honda’s on-circuit display at Albert Park. There will be many fans of the original supercar who we know will enjoy this exclusive preview.”

Australian buyers interested in the NSX should be able to place orders mid-year for delivery in 2016.

Categories
Formula 1

2015 Williams FW37 breaks cover

2015 Williams FW37

The 2015 Williams FW37 has quite literally broken cover and will be revealed in full in the latest issue of F1 Racing magazine.

We can see the long droopy nose from the FW36 has been replaced by a stumpy version, which is hopefully the first small step in seeing a grid of F1 cars that we can finally stop laughing at.

We’ll have more for you on the FW37 when we can, along with coverage of all the F1 team launches which will be kicking off later today with the Force India VJM08.

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Auctions & Sales Ferrari Formula 1

You can buy an F1 car for under $1 million!

1990 Ferrari 641/2

Fancy that, who knew you could buy a race winning Ferrari Formula 1 racecar for less than one million bucks?!

This 1990 Ferrari 641/2 sold for US$990,000 at the recent Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale. Powered by a 3.5 litre normally aspirated V12 this car, chassis #120, was driven by Nigel Mansell for five races during the 1990 season, including his win at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

As an aside you can tell Gooding & Company is an American company with scant regard to the facts of F1, because:

Together in 1990, Mansell and Prost would go on to deliver Ferrari’s best season in years, with Ferrari securing the Manufacturer’ Championship and Prost the Drivers’ Championship.

Except they didn’t. Anyway, the pics are nice and bring back great memories!

Those of you paying attention last week will remember the lime green Lamborghini Miura we featured. It sold for $1,155,000.

Full results from the auction can be seen here.

Categories
Formula 1

Hockenheim to host 2015 German Grand Prix?

2014 German Grand Prix

Those of you paying attention to the 2015 Formula 1 calendar will have noticed no venue had been announced for the German Grand Prix to be held on 19 July. According to an interview with Bernie Ecclestone published by Reuters the race will be held at Hockenheim.

The 2014 race was held at Hockenheim and under the standard alternating agreement that would mean the Nürburgring would host the race this year. However, as many of you know, the Ring has been beset by financial troubles in recent years and despite the influx of Russian cash late last year its financial security is still shaky.

“It’s going to be at Hockenheim, we’re in the middle of doing something with them,” Ecclestone declared. “It can’t be Nürburgring because there’s nobody there.

“We’ve got a contract in place (with Hockenheim), we just have to amend the years of the contract. It was alternating with Nürburgring so we’ll just take that out. Providing the contract goes through as we expect it to, we’ll be in good shape.”

Earlier this week Carsten Schumacher, Nürburgring GmbH CEO, told crash.net: “Formula 1 is welcome at the Nürburgring. It provides worldwide television pictures, a positive image and would bring high sales to the region.

“However, the Formula 1 has to remain affordable. We don’t comment ongoing conversations. We will communicate this, if there is a concrete result.”

Meanwhile, Ecclestone indicated in his interview with Reuters that there had been no recent discussion with Nürburgring GmbH.

“We wanted to buy the Nürburgring, we made an offer and somebody topped us with a few dollars and bought it,” Ecclestone said.

“And then they couldn’t pay and it went on sale again. I said I’d be interested and then they found somebody else. So I don’t know what’s happening.”

[Source: Reuters]

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Caterham Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Video

2014 Hungarian GP four-car quali comparison

2014 Hunagrian Grand Prix qualifying

If you’re missing Formula 1 action during the off season here’s video from the Hungarian Grand Prix that will allow you to cram in four times the action in one go.

Starting from top right and moving in a clockwise direction we’ve got Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson. The footage was filmed during qualifying and it’s no surprise to see who was fastest.

[via WTF1]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2015 Formula 1 car concept drawings

Williams FW37 by Bruce Thomson

Bruce Thomson is an all round good guy. We know this because he hits our inbox from time to time with some seriously cool automotive drawings. Over the last few days he’s been sharing with the world a few illustrations showing how he would like the F1 cars of 2015 to look.

So far he’s given us the Ferrari F15, McLaren MP4-30, the Mercedes AMG W06 and the Red Bull Racing RB11.

If you follow those links then you’ll be treated to much larger versions of these images where you can further appreciate the detail.

Even better, there’s the promise of a Lotus and Williams concept to follow. Keep up the great work Bruce!

UPDATE 11 January: Now with Williams FW37 and Lotus E23 concepts.