2022 launch dates

[adrianjordan]

I'd put good money on one of the teams launching on Feb 14th

Alfa Romeo have done a Valentines Day launch before. Maybe they will again!!

[adrianjordan]

When was last season some F1 car looked different to any other from same season? Fair question, I can´t remind

2021

What cars do you think were different?

Seriously?? You couldn't see the difference between a RBR, Merc, Ferrari, McLaren etc??

I would recommend the Car threads as a place to hang out. The differences between the cars were significant. Even AM and Merc were easy enough to tell apart!!

[Stu]

Each of them was unique, you could've paint them all white & still easilly recognize each one. I've heard that "they're all the same" from sunday fans, but reading this on a technical forum is... intriguing

You don't need to compare Tyrell P34 vs. Ferrari 312T to find a difference, RB16B vs. MCL35M differ enough

That’s not really true, though. The cars mostly stand out due to the livery, although there are certain features that seem unique.
Put the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo next to each other in a pure white livery and you would be hard pressed to tell them apart. Same with the Mercedes and Aston (tRacing Point!!)! RedBull and Alpha Tauri were very similar in some aspects. Alpine & Williams maybe stand out due to ‘guppy-like’ mid-sections. But all ten lined up in a random order from any angle and you would probably struggle to directly name any three correctly.

[NathanOlder]

2021

What cars do you think were different?

Seriously?? You couldn't see the difference between a RBR, Merc, Ferrari, McLaren etc??

I would recommend the Car threads as a place to hang out. The differences between the cars were significant. Even AM and Merc were easy enough to tell apart!!

Of course every car was different, but what I think Andres125sx means is a difference like the 2014 with the twin tusk nose on the Lotus or caterhams crazy looking front end. For me, last years biggest difference was Alpines huge airbox but thats not a huge difference compared to differences of the past. Mclarens L shaped side pods was a big difference in 2011. Or Ferrari when they first used their raised opening inlets on the side pods in the hybrid era.

[Andres125sx]

2021

What cars do you think were different?

Seriously?? You couldn't see the difference between a RBR, Merc, Ferrari, McLaren etc??

I would recommend the Car threads as a place to hang out. The differences between the cars were significant. Even AM and Merc were easy enough to tell apart!!

From a normal TV shot, no. And I bet you neither. Obviously they´re not the same, but from the normal distance shown in TV broadcast they are basically the same, all of them, if they would be all painted white you´d need to focus on some detail (bargeboards, inlets. etc.) to tell what car is what, and those differences can´t be spotted on normal TV shots unless you´re watching races on a 100 inches screen

[Andres125sx]

The discussion came from here

I am quite anxious to see the new car reveals, simply b/c I want to see how different the cars look from one another. I fear they are all going to look the same, like Indycar.

If in 2021 anyone think cars were different, obviously in 2022 they will be a lot more with new rules, teams exploring new solutions each etc. 2021 was last season of a ruleset, wich means all solutions were tested by all teams for years and they converged on the best ones, at least on most of them, while 2022 is first season of a ruleset so none know what solution is better yet, and we´ll see a lot more differences between cars than in 2021

[Roman]

Now we have the first car that will be officially launched after the Barcelona test. Will we see a special livery there?

[PlatinumZealot]

What cars do you think were different?

Seriously?? You couldn't see the difference between a RBR, Merc, Ferrari, McLaren etc??

I would recommend the Car threads as a place to hang out. The differences between the cars were significant. Even AM and Merc were easy enough to tell apart!!

From a normal TV shot, no. And I bet you neither. Obviously they´re not the same, but from the normal distance shown in TV broadcast they are basically the same, all of them, if they would be all painted white you´d need to focus on some detail (bargeboards, inlets. etc.) to tell what car is what, and those differences can´t be spotted on normal TV shots unless you´re watching races on a 100 inches screen

I agree with this.

If the cars had the same liveries they would be very hard to tell apart from a distance. The last set of regulations were still relatively tight.

Talking about major features of the cars, the nose cones were probably the biggest differentiators? Side pods were all basically the same.. Bargebords you have to be up close. Front wings the same. Rear wings the same.

[Just_a_fan]

Seriously?? You couldn't see the difference between a RBR, Merc, Ferrari, McLaren etc??

I would recommend the Car threads as a place to hang out. The differences between the cars were significant. Even AM and Merc were easy enough to tell apart!!

From a normal TV shot, no. And I bet you neither. Obviously they´re not the same, but from the normal distance shown in TV broadcast they are basically the same, all of them, if they would be all painted white you´d need to focus on some detail (bargeboards, inlets. etc.) to tell what car is what, and those differences can´t be spotted on normal TV shots unless you´re watching races on a 100 inches screen

I agree with this.

If the cars had the same liveries they would be very hard to tell apart from a distance. The last set of regulations were still relatively tight.

Talking about major features of the cars, the nose cones were probably the biggest differentiators? Side pods were all basically the same.. Bargebords you have to be up close. Front wings the same. Rear wings the same.

It's no great surprise that the cars are broadly the same to look at. They're all converging towards an optimum design within the allowances that the rules give them.

It's the same with road cars - if you want to make a car that is economical to drive, you need one that is low drag. That tends to push the manufacturers towards similar looking designs. It's only the bolt-on "styling details" that really make one stand out from another in most cases.

[PlatinumZealot]

I blame the regulations for the convergence. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, but FIA wanted to avoid the spending. Now that the budget cap is in place I think it is a good time to open up the regulations, but keep some sort of standard to prevent too much dirty air from rolling off the cars. Not sure how you would police that though.

Some years ago, I offered my solution, an under-body suction fan, years before the Gordon Murrary T-50 I might add . You simply turn the fan on when the following cars come within the dirty air. (I called it "fan-boost"). Another alternative put forward was an active double-diffuser. Anyway back on topic.

[tomazy]

[Schuttelberg]

Loved the new cars so far.

[Zynerji]

I blame the regulations for the convergence. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, but FIA wanted to avoid the spending. Now that the budget cap is in place I think it is a good time to open up the regulations, but keep some sort of standard to prevent too much dirty air from rolling off the cars. Not sure how you would police that though.

Some years ago, I offered my solution, an under-body suction fan, years before the Gordon Murrary T-50 I might add . You simply turn the fan on when the following cars come within the dirty air. (I called it "fan-boost"). Another alternative put forward was an active double-diffuser. Anyway back on topic.

I disagree with the highlighted part. Within a finite rule system, there is only 1 "perfect" solution.

There may be 99 "almost perfect" solutions within a fraction of percent of each other, but there can be only 1 True Perfect.

[PlatinumZealot]

I blame the regulations for the convergence. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, but FIA wanted to avoid the spending. Now that the budget cap is in place I think it is a good time to open up the regulations, but keep some sort of standard to prevent too much dirty air from rolling off the cars. Not sure how you would police that though.

Some years ago, I offered my solution, an under-body suction fan, years before the Gordon Murrary T-50 I might add . You simply turn the fan on when the following cars come within the dirty air. (I called it "fan-boost"). Another alternative put forward was an active double-diffuser. Anyway back on topic.

I disagree with the highlighted part. Within a finite rule system, there is only 1 "perfect" solution.

There may be 99 "almost perfect" solutions within a fraction of percent of each other, but there can be only 1 True Perfect.

No car has reached true perfect though. Not even in the last era that we had. High rake, low rake, different noses etc. Some amount of convergence but there was no single solution.

The less-finite the regs are... The more "degrees of freedom" so to speak and the more solutions to achieve your 99% perfection.

[Hoffman900]

I blame the regulations for the convergence. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, but FIA wanted to avoid the spending. Now that the budget cap is in place I think it is a good time to open up the regulations, but keep some sort of standard to prevent too much dirty air from rolling off the cars. Not sure how you would police that though.

Some years ago, I offered my solution, an under-body suction fan, years before the Gordon Murrary T-50 I might add . You simply turn the fan on when the following cars come within the dirty air. (I called it "fan-boost"). Another alternative put forward was an active double-diffuser. Anyway back on topic.

I disagree with the highlighted part. Within a finite rule system, there is only 1 "perfect" solution.

There may be 99 "almost perfect" solutions within a fraction of percent of each other, but there can be only 1 True Perfect.

No car has reached true perfect though. Not even in the last era that we had. High rake, low rake, different noses etc. Some amount of convergence but there was no single solution.

The less-finite the regs are... The more "degrees of freedom" so to speak and the more solutions to achieve your 99% perfection.

I think some of that was baked into how the token system works and costs. Unlimited budget and no tokens, I bet you would have saw a convergence in design.