The halos in Formula 2 for 2018 are the only ones worth discussing at the moment because they're permanent, load bearing halos (the F1 ones are not, yet). They were designed by a team including the FIA personnel and supplied and made by an outside supplier under direction of the FIA. Remember that Formula 2 has been brought back to the FIA so that the FIA could control the ascent of the single seater race from early on right up to Formula One. I was trying to get as much info on the halo as possible because it could be slightly different for F1 for when they're eventually mandated - i.e. the FIA could mandate the design parameters and the teams have to produce and integrate them into their respective chassis. The Formula 2 cars are undergoing a series of tests this week before the teams get their hands on them and it's chance for the respective suppliers to test their products for the new car as well.
Thanks. I didn't realize they were introducing it in F2. Should be straightforward there since it's a spec chassis from Dallara. The mandate for halo in 2018 F1 came from the FIA over the summer. All the teams have been working on this furiously since summer because the monocoque manufacturing lead time is very long and they lock that specification pretty early. If your company is a supplier teams should be able to give you relatively clear direction since the FIA fully defined the test in September.
Finally Kubica beat Stroll but with 5 times the laps. And Stroll is really not on the sharp end of the field. Beating him barely means Massa would have still been faster than Kubica and that's not saying much either since he retired and rightfully so. I'd love to see the Kubica comeback but given these times it is hard to justify.
Was Kubica driving Stoll's car or Massa's? I understand that no changes were made from the race setups of Sunday. From his interview on Tuesday afternoon I sensed that he might not have been as happy with the setup of the Williams as he was in the Renault he tested after Hungary. But with Williams he is dealing with a team that he has no prior history with, and with a car he has zero experience in. All this said, seventh for the day would be a good place for Williams to find itself right now. For 2018 I think Kubica would bring the most interesting driver talent and dynamics to race F1 since...Robert Kubica in 2010.
Well he beat Stroll, Alonzo, Hulkenberg, Vandoorne, and 14 others, all with more seat time in their cars than he's had. I admit to be a Kuibica fan, and it would have been fun if he had set a lap record, but let's be realistic about what this was...a tire test day.
We are clear with the direction of the halos. What’s not clear is if they will need us to develop something special to go with them. Thats the reason I had a sit down to discuss the future of the halo; in order to anticipate what those needs would be should they arise with short notice.
A) Stroll just raced an ENTIRE SEASON in that car. Kubica has barely had time to get it to where he's comfortable with it. He's running in Massa's car. B) Stroll just finished 4 practice seasons, one qualifying, and one race on that track within the last 4 days. I'm guessing Stroll has more time in that car than Kubica on that track.
I am a Kubica fan but I am thinking that his time has past. Wouldn't be surprised to see Kvyat in the Williams next season.
Just reading some other reports on today's test. Kubica's fastest time was just 1/10th of a second off Massa's qualifying time on Saturday. Though Williams is not making any comments re the tests, Paddy Lowe has stated that there is no concerns over Kubica's physical ability to race in F1. Kubica's seventh place today is very strong when you look at the above chart and see who was faster than him (and in what cars) and who was slower than him in what cars.
Something i'm noticing isn that Leclerc was a full second faster than the mobile phone guy..on the same tyre....i know one is fast and the other one is slow...but surely there should be diferent fuel loads on the cars....
During the Abu Dhabi testing, Williams changed the cockpit for Kubica to give his right hand more space (Kubica has the red helmet). Image Unavailable, Please Login
NOVEMBER 30, 2017 Drivers happy with new Pirelli hyper soft Top F1 drivers have shown a thumbs up to Pirelli's softer new tyres for 2018. As he tested the brand new 'hyper soft' in the post-Abu Dhabi GP tyre test, world champion Lewis Hamilton said it was Pirelli's best ever. Pirelli reports that the pink-marked tyre is "about a second per lap faster" than the ultra-soft. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fastest on Wednesday with the pink hyper-soft. "The new tyre is really a surprise," said the German. "It's a real step forward, but of course it's up to Pirelli to decide on what tracks we get to use it. "It's really fast on one lap and then it degrades more noticeably than the others, but it's within limits. All in all it was a really interesting test," Vettel added. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas also admitted that he "really felt the difference" between Pirelli's 2017 and 2018 tyres.
DECEMBER 1, 2017 New tyres to help F1 car designers says Isola Pirelli's softer new tyres for 2018 will open up new car design possibilities for F1 teams. That is the claim of Mario Isola, the Italian tyre supplier's F1 chief. This week, top drivers gave a thumbs up to Pirelli's all-new 'hyper soft' tyre for 2018, with next year's compounds also being softer across the range. "The feedback from the drivers was positive and the hyper soft turned out to be 1 second faster than the ultra soft," Isola told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The other compounds were a little closer together in performance than we expected, but it's not a problem because we are not obliged to bring similar compounds to the races and skipping a step will mean more flexible strategies," he added. Isola also said Pirelli wanted to produce a tyre for 2018 that allows either one or two-stop strategies. "We wanted to leave the door open for one stops, yes," he confirmed. "We believe that these tyres will allow designers to be free to explore two schools of thought: making a car either very fast but hard on the tyres, or kinder with the tyres in order to exploit the softer compounds," Isola said. He said the 2018 tyres have also been designed to reduce blistering, and be less sensitive to pressures and temperatures.
These results are not very telling - Hamilton 1s behind Vettel on a track where his very same car was clearly faster than the same Vettel's Ferrari, just a few days before... I do not believe that the Ferrari miraculously works so much better with the new tyres, my guess is that all teams / drivers had specific testing programs which make comparisons very unreliable.
