New F1 cars on the runway
FERRARI-POWERED HAAS AND MERCEDES-POWERED FW41 AND MORE TO COME Plus new owners’ proposal to guarantee every race has you glued to your seat.
The F1 world witnessed the launch of the Haas VF-18 and the Williams FW41, the first cars revealed for the 2018 season, last week. The Haas, not surprisingly, is heavily reliant upon Ferrari technology and components and has been classified as the Maranello B team by some.
With Ferrari engine, transmission, steering, instrumentation and steering wheel it is not difficult to understand why. The USAbased team will be pushing hard for an improved season following eighth overall on just 47 points.
There could be extra pressure as a result of high expectations of improved performance of both Renault and McLaren.
Williams will also push for a big improvement after a below par performance for a few seasons.
The Mercedes-powered FW41 is expected to be an improvement on its predecessors, but there is a general concern within the media that the driver line-up may be a problem.
Paddy Lowe does not seem to share that opinion. With Lance Stroll, Sergei Sirotkin and the returning Robert Kubica, he is confident that Williams will be back in the fight. Despite his disabilities, Kubica has proved he has lost none of his ability behind the wheel of an F1 car and as reserve driver will bring a wealth of experience to the team.
Earlier this week, Aston Martin Red Bull launched the RB14, Renault the RS 18 and Alfa Romeo Sauber the C37. And later this week both Mercedes and Ferrari will reveal their championship contenders, followed tomorrow by McLaren then the Force India and Toro Rosso launch on Sunday.
Monday next week marks the start of the first four days of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and we may glean some idea of relative performance.
Meanwhile, those supposed to take F1 to new heights have come up with yet another idea to ensure it attracts more fans by monitoring individual events. In an interview with British Airways Business Life magazine, F1’s managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn laid out a proposal to guarantee that every race has you glued to your seat. The concept is a so-called “league table”. Each race on the calendar would be evaluated and only the best would be retained. This season the teams face 21 rounds of the championship with Liberty Media contemplating more, possibly 25 races, which is a heavy schedule for all.
Brawn said: “The crucial thing is the quality of the race. There is no value in just putting the number of races up. But if we can provide great races in great locations throughout the world, then we should consider it.
“I’d love to see, in the future, a league table of races, where over time we’ve got a waiting list of top class circuits and promoters that wish to get into Formula One. Then, if there is any race that is not working well, you relegate that and put a strong race in.”
A couple of points about this concept concern me. Who would judge the success of an event and what would the criteria be?
We are told that all the moves the new owners are making are for the fans. But I am baffled about how placing television broadcasts behind a pay wall is going to benefit the average enthusiast. Consequently, I am dubious that selecting the best races is in fact going to be based purely on revenue returns. It is also difficult to imagine circuit owners and promoters being excited at the prospect of spending large sums of money on an event that may only last for one race dependent on an as yet unknown set of parameters.