Red Bull, Lotus and Sauber yet to reveal launch plans

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: The first test of the 2015 season begins this week but three teams are yet to confirm their launch plans.

Among them are Lotus, who did not have their new car ready in time for the first test of last season. Red Bull and Sauber are also yet to announce when their new cars will appear.

The same also goes for Marussia (Manor) and Caterham, though if either of those teams are able to participate this year they are expected to use their 2014 chassis.

The details of the car launches and tests announced so far can be found in the F1 Fanatic Calendar:

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Renault director: We’re aiming for at least five F1 wins in 2015 (NBC)

"We estimate that our gap to Mercedes at the end of the 2014 season was about 60 horsepower. We hope to close this gap by half in Melbourne."

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This weekend’s Caption Competition winner is @Jethro:

Pujolar points out they can’t fit a 1,600W subwoofer and chrome spinners to the STR10.

Thanks to everyone who joined in this weekend, especially Mickey18, Glynh, Maxx Silver, Corey, Craig Wilde and Tristanh who also made excellent suggestions.

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On this day in F1

Carlos Pace took his only F1 win at the circuit now named after him on this day 40 years ago. Pace won his home race at Interlagos ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi and Jochen Mass.

Jean-Pierre Jarier had taken pole position again, but this time dropped out with a broken fuel meter.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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84 comments on “Red Bull, Lotus and Sauber yet to reveal launch plans”

  1. So Renualt claim they have spent two-thirds of their 32 tokens on their 2015 engine already? is this correct?

    1. no they are have merc engines now

    2. Seems to be right. And going by their words, they expect to use all the tokens before Melbourne.

      Bold tactic, but it might work if Mercedes are playing the waiting game. It will also reduce the amount of tokens Honda can use.

      1. They need all the upgrades they can get. Although, if Mercedes do indeed start the season with their 2014-spec PU, does that mean Honda will get 32 tokens?

        1. So Renault say they hope to close half the estimated 60 horsepower gap to Mercedes 2014 PU at the season opener with their new 2015 PU. 66% token used to recover approximately 30 horsepower. Quite interested to see what they have specifically improved.

          1. So Renault say they hope to close half the estimated 60 horsepower gap to Mercedes 2014 PU at the season opener with their new 2015 PU.

            That’s how it sounds indeed. They’re starting with their 2015 PU, they think Mercedes will bring their 2014 PU, and they aim for “only” a 30 HP deficit.

            That is a massive, massive failure. Surely their 2015 PU should be better than Mercedes’ 2014 PU? Mercedes will bring big gains as well, that means the deficit will be just as big as last year, if not way bigger (Mercedes is said to have found about 60 HP).

            Renault has not handled these past few years very well.

        2. Mercedes have (reportedly) denied that they will be starting the 2015 season with their 2014 power unit. http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-denies-old-engine-for-2015-claims-report/
          Also, if that article’s sources are accurate, then Renault may find it difficult to “close the gap by half in Melbourne”:
          “Omnicorse claims that Mercedes’ 2015 engine will be significantly different this year, including a new Bosch injection system capable of turbo pressure to the regulations-maximum of 500 bar.

          The report claimed Mercedes’ 2014 turbo was limited to little more than half that figure.”

          1. The Renault PU was never as bad as it was made out to be. Just Redbull trying to shift blame coz 60 horsepower can not account for Merc total domination even on circuits where power is less critical. They have always had a deficit but they managed to win 8 Championships

          2. @blackmamba the Renault PU really was as bad as it was made out to be. Well, maybe not so – maybe the Renault and Ferrari PU’s were not bad but the Mercedes unit was just so good.

            There are two general misconceptions in your post that I’d like to address.

            The first one is the part about the total Merc domination. It doesn’t mean that a circuit is less power critical than others, that a 60HP deficit can be overcome easily. Power will count everywhere and anywhere. A less power critical circuit will just mean that the deficit gets smaller. The W05 still was a great car though – it’s hard to tell which chassis and aero was the best. So both great cars, but one with a definite power advantage.

            Secondly, “they have always had a deficit”. Maybe, but minor. The Renault V8 was on par with any engine. It might have been a little bit lower in peak power output (but then we’re rather talking about 20HP max) but it shined in other areas. Fuel consumption was said to be one of its strong points, as well as low-end torque and driveability. Which, all in all, meant that it was as good, possibly better, than any other engine out there.
            The 2014 Renault V6 PU, however, didn’t really have any perceived advantages. It didn’t consume less fuel, it had a large power deficit, driveability was horrible during a good part of the season (and likely didn’t surpass that of the Merc by the end of the season).

          3. Hm, hard to tell really what the “old” engine is. In reality just changing the boost system from Bosch would seriously improve the engine and it would take only 2 tokens.

            So its quite possible that Mercedes have spent less than 1/4th of their tokens on the new engine so far but still are in a great position @polo, @stigsemperfi

          4. Surely you mean fuel pressure. A turbo can never produce 500 bar. The highest boost I have ever seen is 50 psig which is approximately 65 psia or 4.48 bar.

    3. Could read it as, “Help! we’ve only got 9 tokens left and we have only managed to increase power by 30 bhp and we haven’t heard that Mercedes have used any of theirs yet.”

    4. Well, if memory serves me well, Renault was about 50-80bhp down at the first race of 2014 as well, which means no progress during the season, so I’m somewhat sceptic (even considering the engine unfreeze) that they might outdevelop Mercedes this time out.

  2. “We estimate that our gap to Mercedes at the end of the 2014 season was about 60 horsepower. We hope to close this gap by half in Melbourne.”

    I had to reread the article in case I missed something… Do Renault really think that Mercedes will not improve from 2014? If I was calling the shots at Renault, the question I’d be asking of the engineers, what else can we do to the engine above and beyond spending tokens that the other engine manufacturers haven’t thought of… Its only then will they then claw back the gap…

    1. I guess you misunderstand what they are saying. Its not as if Renault found “only” 30 horsepower @dragoll.
      They have found enough to expect to close the gap, taking in account an estimate of what Mercedes will have improved (I heard about 40 horsepower or even more from their injection system alone)

      1. @bascb

        They have found enough to expect to close the gap, taking in account an estimate of what Mercedes will have improved (

      2. @bascb (please ignore the above)

        They have found enough to expect to close the gap, taking in account an estimate of what Mercedes will have improved

        That is not what I’m reading. I’m reading that they hope to have brought back the gap to 30 HP by Melbourne. Since they are saying they will be in Melbourne with at least 21 tokens used, and that they are saying they expect Mercedes to debut in Melbourne with the 2014 version of their PU, the only conclusion I can draw from this is that they are cutting the deficit to 30 HP compared to Mercedes’ 2014 PU.

        I would love to be proven wrong in my thinking though.

        1. I see your point @mattds, but given that they know full well, that Mercedes has this new injection module which on its own gives a significant boost to the power, while maybe leaving the rest of the engine untouched for now (i.e. in effect its the same as the 2014 engine then, leaving all the scope they need to react to any surprises), that would not fit with expecting to have agood shot at 5 race wins next year.

          1. @bascb well he isn’t saying he expects them to have a good shot at 5 race wins… He’s saying that that is his goal. I agree that said goal is not really in agreement with the idea that they will only cut the deficit in half to the 2014 Merc PU.
            But then still, if it is as you say, how would 5 race wins be realistic? By Melbourne Renault would have used up 21 tokens, Mercedes only a couple. Mercedes will still have 30HP advantage, which is not easy to overcome, and on top of that they’ll still have serious headroom to improve their PU during the year.

  3. Haha, that CotD was hilarious! His expression is just perfect XD
    Good work @Jethro

  4. Good luck to Renault. the new Mercedes GE engine, the one with the adjustable length intakes is already 60hp up on last year’s engine so the deficit will be more. Mercedes apparently never ran their engines at 100% last year either. Nobody will touch Mercedes in 2015.

    1. It seems like it, unfortunately…

  5. Where does Lewis call “home”? Obviously was not taken anywhere in the United Kingdom…

    1. I believe it’s Monaco. @mtlracer

    2. His twitter account lol?

      Look at me, look at me!

      1. Some would say that is the point of Twitter…

      2. Isn’t it just. Disgraceful. Can’t stand him.

        1. Indeed, it is things like this that cause people to have less respect for him.

    3. He lives in Monaco. That is his home. Simple.

    4. I think he uses the term interchangeably depending where he is talking about, He has a “home” in London, Monaco & America. Whenever he is in a certain place he will say my home is not far from here etc…

    5. “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” according to Marvin Gaye and Paul Young…

      1. Or “Papa was a rolling stone” from the Temptations :)

    6. Sure looks like California to me. Now that he’s trying to be a pop star or whatever, it makes sense…
      Although southern California is one of the only places in the world considered a ‘Mediterranean sub-tropical’ climate outside of the mediterranean, so I guess the coast near Monaco and near LA are similar.

    7. He has more than one home. Why is that so hard for you?

      And don’t tell me that Lewis has failed to contribute to his home country. He has contributed, more than most. Not as much as he could have done, but who are you or I to tell him where to live, or where to call home?

  6. I searched and noticed LH posted the same pic on his Facebook page with a slightly different caption: It’s not often I get to come home to Monaco. It was so beautiful here today, I had to take my baby out. #Zonda #AMG #Beast #BOSSmobile #Batmobile #760LH #1of1

    1. 140 characters possibly?

  7. I do not like him bragging that something is “exclusive”. All you are doing is bragging that no one else can have your toy. It is childish and frankly, not very nice.

    Make no mistake, I do not begrudge people having money. Good on him. But the #1of1 hashtag is incredibly distasteful for me.

    1. @mike
      Lol! “Make no mistake, I do not begrudge people having money…”

      And then you go ahead and begrudge.

      Oh some people!

      1. But I didn’t…

    2. Nobody can be low profile driving such a beast. The car itself, like most supercars, are just “too loud” to go unnoticed, even if Lewis posted the picture without any text, it would look like bragging…

      My question is, would Mercedes let him buy a McLaren P1 GTR?

      1. How keen would McLaren be about giving him one of their cars? I would think that Mercedes wouldn’t like it at all.

      2. Eh, alot of people have nice cars. That’s a good thing. I don’t like his use of the hashtag #1of1.

        1. It is unique, though. Apparently it’s a road spec Zonda F with a manual gearbox

      3. Isn’t the Zonda powered with a Mercedes engine? I guess that answers your question @jcost.

        1. @bascb I know has Mercedes-Benz AMG power, my question is if Merc would allow him to buy a P1 GTR and grab about it, apparently they don’t mind when he shows off his Cobras but a McLaren is a different conversation isn’t it?

          IMHO, McLaren P1 GTR is better than Zonda.

          1. Well, given that its almost a decade younger, it should be!

            But to the point. Yes, I think its quite likely that Mercedes would keep Hamilton from actually “promoting” a competitors car online @jcost

      4. Mclaren have some new F1 GTR’s on offer but only if you can win 3 world titles for Mclaren… hope Alonso gets one…

      5. I can’t see any reason why McLaren could object, unless he was to do something that would embarrass McLaren. Of course, his current employee might think differently. Mind you, there isn’t any reason why Mercedes can’t make a Super Car.
        My guess is he likes the Zonda.

    3. My first reaction: LOVE that car, i need to get one some day. Your first reaction: I’ll never be able to afford that car – what a show off. Go figure.

      1. My first reaction was, wow. Because I’d read about him getting a one off but I’d never seen pictures and I was quite keen to see it. Zonda is perhaps you could say, my dream car. So my first thought was very much wow.

        1. And its a beautiful sight on top of that cliff too, with the low sun.

        2. The Blade Runner (@)
          26th January 2015, 9:16

          My first reaction was:

          “Is that Dappy from N Dubz?”

          As I’ve said before though, Lewis really broadens F1’s appeal (and is unbelievably talented).

      2. @davidwhite Zonda F: 25 units ever produced.
        Sure you will get one.
        Lewis is like “Hey guys, look at my super-exclusive-car-you’ll-never-have”.
        I personally don’t care but it’s bragging :)

    4. So you don’t begrudge somebody having money as long as they don’t show anything the own otherwise they are distasteful or childish.

      1. That is clearly not what I said.

        1. That’s how I read it. You seem to have a problem with him sharing an image with a hashtag of 1of1 , which for me…makes no sense at all.

    5. @mike

      the #1of1 hashtag is incredibly distasteful for me

      How on earth is it ‘distasteful’? I’m struggling to think of anything I could care less about.

      1. You really need to add comment liking system to the website, +1

      2. Give this man COTD :)

      3. Another +1

      4. @keithcollantine

        Ok, so maybe it’s something only I feel. For me, if someone has something special and unique, that is a good thing, that car is something that he has worked for and earned and he deserves it.

        I don’t like the #1of1 hashtag because it is waving exclusivity in peoples faces, there is no modesty in pointing out that it’s a one off. I find that, as I said distasteful.

        And yeah, it isn’t really important, but then neither is F1. I mean really, it’s not. Frankly. But we as a group like it and talk about it. In that same way, I saw the picture, I saw the post, I didn’t like the hashtag so I posted what I thought.

    6. That is a nice looking car, and it looks immaculate. What is wrong with posing with your immaculate looking car? If you had an immaculately kept car, wouldn’t you want to have your photo taken with it too?

      1. Nothing. I didn’t say there was. I would take many photos. And I would post them on twitter too.

    7. Do people even read the # part of a post? I generally stop reading at a full stop. My understanding is that # is used by computers to group posts and identify trends – I wouldn’t read a ridiculous list of hashtag words, let alone be offended by them. #whocares

    8. You clearly do begrudge people with money. And don’t know much about Pagani. If you read all the #s you’ll read that it’s the full name, albeit separated by #s of the car itself. It’s a personalised 760 Zonda, of which only 1 exists. The #1of1 is purely the car not Hamilton referring to himself.
      Talk about getting the wrong idea 👎

      1. Oh my God, so Hamilton should park it in the garage and never be seen in it. I have upgraded several cars myself over the years to reflect my income, primarily because I wanted to show that I was moving on in life. All of my friends show-off when they get something nice. But do I think it’s distasteful? Not a chance.

    9. @mike lots of people collect unique items. Lads tart up their Fiestas to make them unique. They value their uniqueness and nobody finds fault with it.

      Stick ‘unique’ into Autotrader you get 2,600 cars being advertised, as 1of1.

      So it’s rather a forced criticism.

      1. But I didn’t criticize that the car is unique?

    10. Surely it is only “distasteful” if he were showing this to someone in very bad financial times, or living on the street . .

      Lewis: hey check out my sweet ride
      Homeless guy: Erm nice car . . you must be doing well, can I have a tenner?
      Lewis: its one of only one and super expensive
      Homeless guy: I’m really hungry . . . please?
      Lewis: Well if you don’t want to rejoice in my car, be off with you and your cardboard sleeping bag!
      Homeless guy: I have no money though. . .

  8. “We estimate that our gap to Mercedes at the end of the 2014 season was about 60 horsepower. We hope to close this gap by half in Melbourne.”
    Sounds good!
    Merc found 50hp more!
    Calculation is: power_deficit = 0.5 * 60 + 50 = 80hp
    Sounds bad, very bad…

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      26th January 2015, 9:56

      to me “close this gap by half” means sitting at a deficit of some 30bhp come Melbourne (whatever Merc does).
      But more importantly Renault aims to get 5 race wins versus 3 in 2014 with (probably) only half the amount of cars. That’s good news and and a good target for 2015.
      I hope they will be competitive enough to achieve that.

      1. Mercedes PU has much greater development potential, because of that I agree with Bernie on this one: “Merc could dominate three more seasons”.
        Does anyone know where Bob Bell is? He was in talks with Ferrari. Anything official?

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          26th January 2015, 11:59

          Mercedes PU has much greater development potential

          Quite the opposite: as Renault and Ferrari are trailing Mercedes one would expect those two to have the bigger ‘development potential’.
          And with the FIA now taking away the deadline to present their improvements there is no excuse for them to close in on Mercedes over the course of 2015.

          1. Development potential is not defined by performance deficit, rather with technical concept you’re pursuing. Mercedes has conceptually stronger platform to develop – power deficit of the competition notwithstanding.

      2. Hmmm that’s not how it reads to me @coldfly. I read that they’ve halved the 60bhp deficit to the 2014 Merc PU, having spent 20 tokens. They can’t even know what bhp Merc will be bringing, apart from making that assumption.

        The 5 wins is dreaming, surely. Merc are unlikely to give them the opportunities to take even the 3 they inherited last year.

  9. Renault could have 1 million engine tokens, they just don’t have the resources to build a power unit as good as Mercedes.

    Love that pic of Lewis and the Zonda, I wonder if there is a high res version somewhere.

  10. People will find any excuse to hate Hamilton.

    All those hash tags and the actual post itself are probably contractual obligations for getting a one of one car at the price he got it.

    For your average Jo millionaire a car like that may be a status symbol. Hamilton is a car guy through and through. That car to him is like a one of a kind guitar for a guitarist. It encapsulates his passion.

    He wants to share it with people who want him to share it with them. That sites like F1 fanatic repost it for those of us who don’t really care isn’t his fault.

    Lewis Hamilton is far from a bad person and people need to stop hating on him (or upwards to him as the saying goes) just because they don’t share his tastes.

    1. Exactly. I’ve known about Hamilton’s Zonda for a while, but I’ve never really got to see a good picture of it, so I was hoping he would post something like this – it looks awesome. To me it just feels like he is sharing a little bit of his personal life with us, rather than showing off.

      Besides, his posts on social media are generally just supposed to be little insights into his personal life intended for his fans and followers. People often seem to get the wrong impression if they get reposted on other websites.
      Honestly, the way some people react to it, it’s as if Lewis went out of his way to shove it in their face or something. This post is basically just a little treat for his fans/followers, not some kind of public announcement.

      1. *Typo*: it’s as if they think Lewis went out of his way

  11. Woo, old Interlagos. Such a classic, although I must say (I think for the second time here on F1 Fanatic) that if there’s one reconfiguration which preserved the character of the original track it’s the 1990 redevelopment of Interlagos – no wonder, considering that AFAIK Ayrton Senna himself advised the plan.

  12. Sauber & HP partnership.

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