Williams unveil 2016 challenger

Williams have unveiled the FW38, the car with which they will contest the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Having finished third in the constructors' championship for the past two straight seasons, the team are confident their new machine represents a significant step forward - but are in no doubts about the challenge that awaits them.

"Williams has started to cement our position back amongst the front running teams after finishing third in the Championship in the past two seasons," founder and team principal Frank Williams said. 

"This has been a great achievement given the resources of those around us. Staying where we are will be a challenge in itself, but we are determined to keep improving because only winning will ever be good enough. 

"We have a very stable team going into 2016, with Felipe and Valtteri teaming up for a third successive season. They work well together and both have the ideal blend of speed and consistency. 

"Our technical team has also remained very consistent which will be to our advantage and we have some of the best engineering minds on the grid at our disposal."

Deputy team principal Claire Williams added: "2016 promises to be a very competitive year in Formula One and there will be a number of strong teams who have us in their sights. 

"We are confident that we have made a step forward over the winter and that the FW38 will build on the strengths of the FW37 and address some of its weaknesses. We started design work on the car earlier than normal and hopefully this extra development time will stand us in good stead.

"The car we are launching today is by no means the final product. We are already planning updates for Melbourne and will be pushing for constant improvements over the course of the season.

"Williams enters 2016 in a strong place. We have a great team of people and over the past two years we have started to regain our competitive edge.

"Now we need to build on that and take this team back to where we all want it to be."

Williams have retained Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas for a third straight season - the longest they have kept the same line-up since the days of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, whom they fielded from 2001-'04. Bottas finished fifth in the drivers' championship last year, one spot ahead of Massa, with the pair each claiming two podiums during the season.

(source: f1.com)

The 2016 grid looks like this!

Finally we know the full grid! Here it is:

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen

Williams

Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa

Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo

Force India

Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg

Renault

Kevin Magnussen, Jolyon Palmer

Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr

Sauber

Felipe Nasr, Marcus Ericsson

McLaren

Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button

Manor

Pascal Wehrlein, Rio Haryanto

Haas

Romain Grosjean, Esteban Gutierrez

Red Bull reveal 2016 F1 livery

Red Bull have unveiled the colour scheme that will adorn the cars of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat in 2016.

The new livery, which was revealed on an older car at a special launch event in London, UK on Wednesday, retains the team’s traditional colours of navy blue, yellow and red but with a unique matt (as oppose to shiny) finish.

"It's innovative and aggressive," said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "I think it will stand out on the grid and hopefully it will stand out in the mirrors of a few other cars. It looks right and things that look good tend to go well, so hopefully we'll see that on track."

The revised scheme, which Ricciardo described as "pretty funky", is expected to appear on track for the first time at next week’s opening pre-season test in Barcelona where Red Bull will roll-out their RB12 challenger for the first time.

Like its predecessor, the RB11, the new car will be powered by Renault, though the team’s power unit will be branded TAG Heuer after their new timing partner.

"It’s a bit of an understatement to say I’m excited to drive the new car next week – I can’t wait!" said Ricciardo, who was wearing one of the team's new camouflage-influenced racesuits. "We’ve got a pretty intense few weeks of testing ahead but I’m up for that and I’m definitely hungry to get racing in Melbourne.

"The car looks amazing. Normally drivers are more concerned with how it actually performs but looking at this I think it should be good."

Red Bull finished fourth in the 2015 constructors' championship with 187 points, though they failed to win a race for the first time since 2008.

(source: f1.com)

Force India to unveil new car in Barcelona pit lane

This is the car from last year.

Force India have become the latest team to confirm the launch date of their 2016 challenger, revealing that the Mercedes-powered VJM09 will break cover in the Barcelona pit lane on the opening morning of the first pre-season test at Barcelona on February 22. Toro Rosso meanwhile are expected to officially launch their new car on February 29th, with the Ferrari-powered machine running in an temporary test livery until then. Here are the other key dates for your diary as it stands…

Confirmed car launches/roll-outs

TEAM	CHASSIS (POWER UNIT)	DATE	VENUE
Renault	R.S.16 (Renault)	February 3	Paris, France
Red Bull	RB12 (TAG Heuer)	February 17 (livery only)	London, UK
Ferrari	TBC (Ferrari)	February 19	Online
McLaren	MP4-31 (Honda)	February 21	Online
Haas	TBC (Ferrari)	February 22	Barcelona, Spain
Manor	MRT05 (Mercedes)	February 22	Barcelona, Spain
Force India	VJM09 (Mercedes)	February 22	Barcelona, Spain
Toro Rosso	STR11 (Ferrari)	February 29 (official)	Barcelona, Spain
Sauber	C35 (Ferrari)	March 1	Barcelona, Spain

Pre-season testing

VENUE	DATES
Barcelona, Spain	February 22 - 25
Barcelona, Spain	March 1 - 4

Max Verstappen onboard F1 Show Run in the Snow

This is awesome!

New Ferrari to break cover on Friday

Ferrari have announced that they will unveil their 2016 car this coming Friday, three days before the start of the first pre-season test of the year in Barcelona.


The wraps will come of the as-yet-unnamed machine - the successor to 2015’s race-winning SF15-T - at 1400 CET (1300 GMT) on Ferrari’s official website.

According to Formula1.com's technical illustrator Giorgio Piola, Ferrari are set to make a raft of changes to their car for 2016, including radical innovations in the layout of their power unit, the introduction of pushrod front suspension, a shorter nose (which falls somewhere between what Mercedes and Toro Rosso used in 2015), lower sidepods with a narrower ‘coke bottle’ rear end, and a narrower gearbox.

The Italian team finished second in last year's constructors' championship, with Sebastian Vettel taking three wins. The German is expected to share driving duties with team mate Kimi Raikkonen when testing gets underway in Spain on February 22.

(source: f1.com)

A Remarkable Recovery - Coulthard on Vettel's 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix

Take a look at this video from 2012. I have gotta say that this was a great moment in Formula One history. This is the kind of drama you would want in the last race of the season. Remember 2007 Kimi, Hamilton and Alonso? or 2008 with Massa and Hamilton? or with Vettel and Alonso in 2010? I hope 2016 will be like those years were. 2012 was very exciting in the last race and it has been almost 4 years since we have seen something like that.