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I gather the green led's the cars have below the camera on the roll-bar is something to do with the ERS?

The cars seriously sound awesome IMO.

Holy moly that Force India's......can't dare to say it.
Guess F1 comics will be Hentai from now on.

F1 is still comfortably the fastest category on a non-oval circuit. The designers are currently predicting that the cars will be around 1 second per lap slower than last year, or thereabouts, so I don't see how a GP2 car will get anywhere near them still.

Much as we all prefer the big V10s and V12s, the fact is that we no longer live in the early 90s, and those engines have precisely zero relevance to any other car these days. It's a shame, but the manufacturers are the ones putting the money in to propel the cars, so they need something that is at least mildly related to their core business. Plus, they still sound awesome.

...oh, and well done to whoever designed the RB10's livery - I actually couldn't see the nosewang at first!

I think they will be slower 3 or 5 sec. Why? First weaker engine V6, less HP. Lower rpm 15 000 then last year.
Even if they have double HP on ERS and DRS is still there i dont think they will be close to last years cars...
Maybe in Monaco or Hungary but the rest not..

But i hope im wrong, 1 or 2 sec would be ok

The lower RPM won't really influence things, as the limit on fuel flow will be far more important. But to be honest, I don't think getting fixated on the outright performance of the cars is worth it. Historically, the racing tends to be crap whenever the cars near their theoretical maximum performance - think 2002, 1992-93, 1988, etc.

On the other hand, reducing the performance in some area always seems to spice things up - think Pirelli, any time it rained during the Bridgestone era. 1995 always stands out for me - they trimmed the available downforce, and it seemed as though anyone could make a small error and throw the car off the track. It's not all about horsepower.

I wonder if the penis appendage actually works as a crumbling structure for crash-tests. It seems that any impact that is not fair and square will just break it off and let the rest of the nose do the job (especially the FI one).

AFAIK the nosewang* is the crash structure. The teams have been trying to balance the slimmest nose possible, for aero reasons, against the mass necessary to pass the frontal impact test.

* I do like how we've all come up with different names for this appendage.

I never read anybody claim the cars to be only 1s off. Given that the tyres will be slightly harder, according to Pirelli, the cars will be some 50kg heavier, there will be inevitably much less downforce, and surely less power on parts of the lap, it's highly unlikely to be only a second off from last year's car.

I think alex's prediction is far closer to what we'll have and that would leave F1s quite close to GP2s(which have 610HP engines)

Like with all rule changes that slow them down, I'd expect much of the performance loss to be clawed back pretty quickly.

Maybe at the start of this year cars will be upto 3-4 seconds slower than in the past, But by the end of the year & especially for 2015 I'd expect that difference to be lower.

Do the new engines have any problems with throttle lag?

This video is seriously awesome.

[youtubeidiot]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAqsrI9f3-Y[/youtubeidiot]

Yes, I think you're right, and I've mis-remembered somewhere. Bernie thinks about 5 seconds, although that is Bernie, and Charlie had predicted 2-3 seconds slower. It remains to be seen, but they do always manage to claw back any time difference pretty quickly.

I'm treasuring the concept of reliability not being utterly bullet proof for the first time in years.

Also, someone has to say it - did Force India deliberately paint the gigantic dildo crash structure black?

Some vids of cars out on track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwD68EefdP4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpwYb0ZbLM0

if those at Durex don't come back this year as a f1 sponsor they will never do!

Also, will they have to pixelate the TV coverage of the FI and Torro Rosso in case children are watching?

They did, and so did Red Bull. Pre-watershed coverage is going to be a nightmare

Looks like the teams are heading for an early lunch, so time for the current standings:



Yes, that's all. Raikkonen, Perez and Gutierrez have done a smattering of installation laps, and the rest of the teams have yet to venture out. Gary Anderson is apparently surprised at how little running there has been.