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McLaren announces 2016 car unveiling

The Honda-powered MP4-31 will be revealed on February 21, on the eve of this year’s opening pre-season test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

McLaren hope the new machine will revive their fortunes after a hugely disappointing 2015 campaign, in which the Woking team dropped to ninth in the standings as drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button scored just 27 points between them.

The MP4-31 is the second car of McLaren’s revived partnership with Honda, and despite the extensive teething problems experienced last year, they are expected to retain the ‘size-zero’ design concept for the car’s packaging.

The two pre-season tests of 2016 both take place in Barcelona, the first on February 22-25 and the second on March 1-4. The opening Grand Prix of the year is in Australia on March 20.

(source: f1.com)

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Marussia appoint Tombazis as chief aerodynamicist

Marussia have recruited former Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis as their new chief aerodynamicist ahead of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Tombazis, who joins the team with immediate effect, has a prestigious history in the sport, having served as chief aerodynamicist at Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren over the past 23 years. He has spent the last nine years as Ferrari's chief designer.

"I am very happy to be joining the Manor F1 Team at this exciting time in its development," Tombazis said.

"The team has impressive plans and is investing in all the right areas to achieve its on-track ambitions, so I am very much looking forward to being part of that journey.

"The existing design team is already very strong and I look forward to working with a great group of people to make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead to help us progress through the field over the next few seasons."

Tombazis will work under the leadership of technical director John McQuilliam, who hailed the new appointment. "I believe this will help to amplify the efforts of a very talented design team that, in recent years, has not had the opportunity to showcase the full extent of their experience and capabilities," McQuilliam said.

"I am confident that, together with our new Mercedes power unit and Williams gearbox and technical partnership, our new aero structure will provide us with the strength to design and develop consistently competitive racing cars to help steer us towards our long-term ambitions."

Marussia, who are yet to reveal their driver line-up for the 2016 season, experienced a staff shake-up at the end of last year following the departures of team principal John Booth and president and sporting director Graeme Lowdon, and the arrival of Dave Ryan as racing director.

However, the team remain on course for the first pre-season test of the year in Barcelona on February 22, having successfully completed the final crash test on their now fully homologated new chassis.

(source: f1.com)

McLaren appoint new race team CEO

The McLaren F1 team have appointed Volkwagen Director of Motorsport Jost Capito as their new Chief Executive Officer.


Capito, who will take up his new role in due course, succeeds Jonathan Neale who, having been acting CEO of McLaren Racing for the past 22 months, has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of McLaren Technology Group.

Capito and Neale will work closely with Eric Boullier, who retains his position as Racing Director, and will report directly to the McLaren group’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron Dennis.

“I first approached Jost last summer,” said Dennis of his move for Capito. “He is an extremely impressive, competitive and ambitious individual, who comes to us with a very wide range of automotive and motorsport experience, encompassing senior positions at BMW, Porsche, Ford, Sauber and, since 2012, Volkswagen, leading the latter company’s World Rally Championship team to consecutive world titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

“From a motorsport perspective he has experience in not only the World Rally Championship but also Sports Cars, Touring Cars, Motorcycle Racing and Formula One, about which he is hugely knowledgeable and infectiously passionate.

“I am therefore delighted to welcome Jost to McLaren, and I am certain that he will work extremely well with Eric and all at McLaren Racing, building on the very good work they have already done to take the McLaren-Honda programme forward towards Grand Prix victories and world championship successes.”

The management change comes as McLaren go into 2016 looking to recover from the worst season in their F1 history.

(source: f1.com)

Pirelli confirm tyre choices for Russia

Pirelli have announced the three tyre compounds they’ll bring to the fourth round of the 2016 championship in Russia, and they’re exactly the same as for the first three races of the season - supersoft, soft and medium.

As per the revised 2016 rules, Pirelli have also nominated the two sets of tyres that the teams must have in their race day allocation, and as with the first three events these will be the soft and the medium. Each driver must use at least one of these mandatory sets during the course of the race.

Every team must also save a set of supersoft tyres for Q3, but they have a free choice over the remaining compounds that make up their 13-set weekend allocation. The teams must inform the FIA of their choices no less than 14 weeks ahead of the race.

The 2016 tyre choices so far:

1. Australia – supersoft, soft, medium

2. Bahrain – supersoft, soft, medium

3. China – supersoft, soft, medium

4. Russia - supersoft, soft, medium

(source: f1.com)