[Other Sport] F1 2023

[Audax]

Red Bull + Ford 2026 announcement leaked a day early:

Ford set to announce F1 return with Red Bull engine deal - The Race

Red Bull and Ford are set to announce on Friday that they will work together on a Formula 1 engine for 2026

the-race.com

 

[Audax]

Ford's return to Formula 1 (from 2026) now officially announced:



The team they'll be partnering with (very open secret by now, it's Red Bull) will be launching their new livery in a live stream from 2pm today.

 

[Shippers]

FIA has now officially launched a bidding process for up to 2 new F1 teams to join from 2025.

FIA starts bid to find up to two new F1 teams as early as 2025 - The Race

The FIA has formally opened the process for up to two teams to enter Formula 1 as early as the 2025 season.

the-race.com

24 cars on the grid, much more like it with more cars comes more drama. Shame they can't get this done for 2024 season.

 

[Audax]

new livery

"New". Red Bull once again launch the same livery.

Red Bull reveals 2023 F1 look - The Race

The Red Bull Formula 1 team has officially unveiled what it claims to be its 2023 challenger, the RB19, becoming the first team to do so.

the-race.com

However ... they're going to run a Livery design competition and pick 3 winners. Each winner will have their design used in the US races.

 

[Icy Gull]

President of the FIA on shaky ground, for various reasons and he may have said this 20 years ago but….

"like women who think they are more intelligent than men, because they are not in truth".

”Everyone thinks he's got to go," said one Formula 1 team boss, on condition of anonymity. I wonder who said this?

The knives are out of their sheaths.

 

[Audax]

Williams "new" livery revealed. Gulf Oil sponsorship confirmed, but not as title sponsor and therefore only a logo and not a full livery.

 

[Audax]

Alfa Romeo become the first team to launch not just a livery, but an actual 2023 car design. Only have time to drop in the official launch tweet for now, but I'll come back later today with some more as it looks like there's some interesting new ideas on the car itself.

As far as the livery is concerned - it's substantially the same as last year, except a lot of the white has been swapped for black / dark grey (in reality, I expect it will be left as bare carbon fibre for weight saving reasons). Orlen has left as a sponsor (gone to Alpha Tauri) and been replaced by Stake.

 

[Audax]

First one of these for this year (thanks to the first 3 car launches being liveries on old cars). The Alfa Romeo C43 and a look at some of its new features:

 

[Audax]

Catching up on all the launches I've not posted about because, frankly, until the last couple of days the launch season has been pretty boring. Lots of livery-only-on-an-old-car launches (seriously, teams!?).

Here's the AlphaTauri launch tweet:



The McLaren one (real 2023 car!):



Aston Martin (real 2023 car!):



And Ferrari (real 2023 car!):

 

[Audax]

We've also now seen images of the actual 2023 cars that Haas and Williams will run.

Haas analysis:



Williams analysis (Kyle not done his yet, I think because there aren't many good images for proper analysis):



McLaren analysis:



Aston Martin analysis:




We should get an analysis video for the new Ferrari later today, and there's the much-anticipated Mercedes launch - will we see a real 2023 car, and if we do will it retain the tiny sidepods or have they got something new (Red Bull or Ferrari copy?).

So far we've seen Haas go further refine their version of the Ferrari approach. Ferrari have refined their own design. While elsewhere, we've got variations on the Red Bull design sidepods. McLaren's new car is a refined version of what they finished last year with (but they've been pretty open that they are behind where they want to be developing the car, so McLaren fans brace yourselves for another troubled start to the season...). The new AMR looks aggressive and might be an interesting threat in the upper midfield with Alonso at the wheel.

 

[Audax]

Ferrari analysis video:



And the new Mercedes - tiny sidepods still present, but to my eye not as extreme as last year:

 

[Audax]

Mercedes 2023 car analysis:



And the Alpine launch tweet:



Alpine have confirmed they'll be running an all-pink version of the livery for the first 3 races, similar to last year.

 

[RandyWanger]

I got so bored with F1, mostly because of the commentary. All they do is shout. Dullards. The only way I watch F1 now is on Drive to Survive. Looking forward to seeing what happened last season.

 

[Audax]

I got so bored with F1, mostly because of the commentary. All they do is shout. Dullards. The only way I watch F1 now is on Drive to Survive. Looking forward to seeing what happened last season.

I haven't tried it myself (don't have Sky, so can't watch live) - but if your problem is with commentary, it might be worth switching off the TV commentary and using an alternative. IIRC BBC Sport does radio broadcast. Syncing the video with the audio might be a little fiddly, though.

 

[Audax]

Pre-season testing starts tomorrow. Just 3 days testing this year.

The news ahead of testing starting is that Lance Stroll was injured in a cycling accident and is not fit to drive during testing, and there's not been confirmation yet whether he's expected to be fit for the first race. Drugovich was drive instead of Stroll for at least the first half day of testing.

Current expected schedule of driving duties for the 3 day test:

TEAM	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3
Red Bull	Verstappen	Perez (am) / Verstappen (pm)	Perez
Ferrari	Sainz (am) / Leclerc (pm)	Sainz (am) / Leclerc (pm)	Leclerc (am) / Sainz (pm)
Mercedes	Russell (am) / Hamilton (pm)	Hamilton (am) / Russell (pm)	Russell (am) / Hamilton (pm)
Alpine	Gasly (am) / Ocon (pm)	Ocon (am) / Gasly (pm)	Gasly (am) / Ocon (pm)
McLaren	Piastri (am) / Norris (pm)	Norris (am) / Piastri (pm)	Piastri (am) / Norris (pm)
Alfa Romeo	Zhou (am) / Bottas (pm)	Zhou	Bottas
Aston Martin	Drugovich (am) / Alonso (pm)
Haas	Hulkenberg (am) / Magnussen (pm)	Magnussen (am) / Hulkenberg (pm)	Hulkenberg (am) / Magnussen (pm)
Alpha Tauri	Tsunoda (am) / De Vries (pm)	Tsunoda (am) / De Vries (pm)	De Vries (am) / Tsunoda (pm)
Williams	Albon (am) / Sargeant (pm)	Sargeant	Albon

Edit: I post, and Mercedes go and announce their schedule immediately after...

 

[rool]

President of the FIA on shaky ground, for various reasons and he may have said this 20 years ago but….

"like women who think they are more intelligent than men, because they are not in truth".

”Everyone thinks he's got to go," said one Formula 1 team boss, on condition of anonymity. I wonder who said this?

The knives are out of their sheaths.

They have brain size of squirrel

 

[Icy Gull]

They have brain size of squirrel

Team bosses, drivers or FIA officials?

 

[Icy Gull]

Pre-season testing starts tomorrow. Just 3 days testing this year.

The news ahead of testing starting is that Lance Stroll was injured in a cycling accident and is not fit to drive during testing, and there's not been confirmation yet whether he's expected to be fit for the first race. Drugovich was drive instead of Stroll for at least the first half day of testing.

Current expected schedule of driving duties for the 3 day test:

TEAM	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3
Red Bull	Verstappen	Perez (am) / Verstappen (pm)	Perez
Ferrari	Sainz (am) / Leclerc (pm)	Sainz (am) / Leclerc (pm)	Leclerc (am) / Sainz (pm)
Mercedes	Russell (am) / Hamilton (pm)	Hamilton (am) / Russell (pm)	Russell (am) / Hamilton (pm)
Alpine	Gasly (am) / Ocon (pm)	Ocon (am) / Gasly (pm)	Gasly (am) / Ocon (pm)
McLaren	Piastri (am) / Norris (pm)	Norris (am) / Piastri (pm)	Piastri (am) / Norris (pm)
Alfa Romeo	Zhou (am) / Bottas (pm)	Zhou	Bottas
Aston Martin	Drugovich (am) / Alonso (pm)
Haas	Hulkenberg (am) / Magnussen (pm)	Magnussen (am) / Hulkenberg (pm)	Hulkenberg (am) / Magnussen (pm)
Alpha Tauri	Tsunoda (am) / De Vries (pm)	Tsunoda (am) / De Vries (pm)	De Vries (am) / Tsunoda (pm)
Williams	Albon (am) / Sargeant (pm)	Sargeant	Albon

Edit: I post, and Mercedes go and announce their schedule immediately after...

Go Lewis!!!

 

[zefarelly]

Team bosses, drivers or FIA officials?

One of each makes one whole squirrel.

 

[Audax]

President of the FIA on shaky ground, for various reasons and he may have said this 20 years ago but….

"like women who think they are more intelligent than men, because they are not in truth".

”Everyone thinks he's got to go," said one Formula 1 team boss, on condition of anonymity. I wonder who said this?

The knives are out of their sheaths.

They sort-of got what they wanted. Ben Sulayem has "stepped back" from being actively involved in F1 stuff, and is leaving the FIA work related to F1 to Tombazis (FIA Director of single-seater racing) instead.