🏁 Launch Season: Part Deux

PLP Season 2 Edition 7

13 Days Until the 2024 Season Opening Weekend

Just think - at this time next week we’ll have actual cars-on-track testing to report on, with two full days in the books to overreact to. And while over analyzing based on test laps WILL happen (guilty as charged), don’t forget that two big story lines coming out of test weekend last year were Fernando dazzling in the fast Aston and McLaren looking like hot garbage - both of which played out as accurate in the first few races. Of course we all know what happened after that as McLaren out developed Aston Martin throughout the season, so testing isn’t the be-all-end-all. But first - I’ll take my own advice and not look ahead because we have more car launches to cover from this week.

Quick Quiz!

Answer revealed at the bottom ⬇

Last Week: Over half got 1995 correct as the last year with a full grid. F1 needs to ease up on the bid denials and get back to 13 teams. More the merrier, I always say. Cars will have to get smaller though if they want to fit 26 of them on track.

Launch SZN: Part Deux

All cars are now officially live, with the latest 6 liverys shown above.

Livery, from the French livree, meaning to hand over. Used to describe the matching clothes lords would dispense to servants, and then adopted by London guilds as the term for uniforms they used to identify themselves. The more you know ✨ 

VCARB

• Floor edges and sidepods set to change before testing

• Front suspension now pull-rod, with both front and rear systems provided by Red Bull

• Radiator inlet changes to better control airflow that spills when capacity is exceeded at high speed, an extended lower lip of which helps prevent this spill from disrupting downforce around the floor and down the sidepod ramp

Aston Martin

• Tech Director Dan Fallows: “There’s quite a lot of stuff under the hood which hopefully you won’t see” - including a likely heavily reworked floor

• Reworked nose, now joined by bottom flap to create better airflow to the floor - but likely increased weight here in order to pass the crash test

• Radiator inlet and sidepod changes, with extended mirror mount as a “mid-wing”, heavily ramped sidepod, push-rod rear suspension supplied by Mercedes, shortened gear box to move cockpit seating backwards.

Ferrari

• Tech Director Enrique Cardile: “a big departure” from predecessor

• Red Bull-esque lower lip radiator inlets, a wider nose, and shortened gearbox casing for more volume around the diffuser (convert high velocity airflow under the car into slower air once it passes through)

• More conventional undercut sidepod vs. previous out-wash style, more airflow around floor edges, changes made to improve last year’s problem of lack of aero grip at the rear of the car at high speeds - which should give drivers more confidence to push it to the edge.

Mercedes

• Reconfigured sidepod, pushrod rear suspension, cockpit moved back (Hamilton’s wishes), rear wing changes to improve straight-line speed boost from DRS

• New monocoque (vehicle structure where chassis is integrated with the body) and gearbox casing to achieve bodywork and floor changes, focus on improving previously unpredictable rear axle

• Innovative new front wing, upper flap attached by single wire (attempting to circumvent detached wing element ban), look is quite an elaborate departure from the norm

McLaren

• First car developed at new onsite wind tunnel, follow last year’s development direction

• Upper side impact bar now exposed, enhanced radiator inlet lip to accelerate flow down the sidepod, enhanced sidepod to enhance airflow through the underbody - where a lot of potential performance improvement lies

• More radiator area moved away from front of sidepod, improving aero performance at the cost of raising the car’s center of gravity

Red Bull

• Though they took an aggressive approach, they hope for no big changes in performance (obv, look at last year). Christian Horner was also present at the launch - no updates to report in the saga that started last week.

• Changes including long cooling gulleys run back from the halo along the engine cover, a vertical sidepod radiator inlet, and more heavily undercut sidepods have some comparing it to Merc’s W13 and W14

• Did not launch with testing floor, in an attempt to keep it’s most important aero elements secret as long as possible

Some of the new tech details pictured here 🔽 

DTS Teaser Drop

Alright folks time to get hype because 1 week from today, we’ll all be able to sit down and binge last season’s F1 content. Does it matter that we already know the outcome? Nah. Or that it’s heavily produced almost to the point of manufactured drama? While it’s certainly over dramatized, I do enjoy the stories they present.. just take it with a grain of salt (fun fact: this phrase can be traced back to 77 A.D. to Italian author and philosopher Pliny the Elder, referring to the fact that a grain of salt might enhance the properties of an antidote to a poison. Thanks Plimy!).

The trailer looks have clips from Lance’s pre-season injury recovery, potential bad blood between Alpine drivers (remember what Plimy said), George’s Singapore crash, and a burning Haas. Notably missing from the preview? Max Verstappen. Some internet fellow quipped, “It’s became Max doesn’t drive to survive.. he just drives for fun.”

Check out 49 seconds of adrenaline inducing action here

Reader Question: What’s the deal with required pit stops?

Shoutout to our reader who asked, why are at least two different tire compounds required to be used during a race? You’ve likely seen this scenario on a Sunday - someone stops but for the same tire compound, and now you know that they’ll require another pitstop later due to the rule.

Going back to 2005 - tire rules for that season stated that only punctures and wet weather could initiate a change - encouraging teams to use hard tires with less grip, to reduce speeds and thus increase safety (This fact requires a deep dive of it’s own. The rule was changed again for 2006.) Anyway tires had become very hard as to last a whole race, and with refueling no longer allowed in pit stops as of 2010 (again, due to safety concerns), pit stop strategy basically disappeared.

F1 mandated that tire suppliers introduce tires with higher degradation, as a way to spice up strategy decisions and improve overtaking through some tires that were faster than others. Prior to the change, the more aerodynamically reliant cars producing dirty air made overtaking more difficult. With the change in place, pit strategy played a more important role and led to more overtaking on track when teams were on different tire strategies - which you see a lot of today. Tire strategy is yuuuuuge.

So bottom line? More pit stops + different tire compounds = more exciting racing.

Down the Grid

Tech Talk

• A great deep dive thread from Sam Collins (@NorthHertsSam on X) on the drastic concept changes on the Mercedes W15

• As @FDataAnalysis shows here, stable rules lead to a convergence in design, as teams ditch sub-optimal choices and adopt the ones that are working, which in turn leads to a convergence in competition 🔽 

Off the Grid

• Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan says high testing mileage that will be accumulated this year makes him the best non-F1 driver option for a seat in 2025

• Did you know there’s a Ferrari Land in both Barcelona and on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi? I sure didn’t. The former has their own version of Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka, among other thrill rides. Group field trip to Spain in the future?

• ALERT: WE HAVE NEW PICS OF ZHOU’S CAT I REPEAT THERE ARE NEW PICS OF ZHOU’S CAT 🔽 

Back next week with TWO days of testing to report on. I’m absolutely giddy.

Next year Valentine’s Day idea: “Are you Max Verstappen? Because you’re P1 in my heart” 🔽 

Questions? Comments? Did we get something wrong (never 😁)? Let us know ▶ [email protected]