Diabolical

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Gotta remember these are temporary / on-offs. Season livery is at the 'big reveal'.

For Williams, that looks nearly identical to the FW46 livery. But there looks to be some interesting changes. I can spot some dramatic differences in profile at the front upper floor area, where it looks like the floor is swelled out a bit more than pictures of the FW46 in Abu Dhabi. Near where the lower crash brace/structure is. There also looks to be some re-profiling done with the engine cover - the actual cover seems to duck down sooner, even though the fin looks like it allows the profile shape to remain the same.

<stops trying to discern aerodynamic changes from small images>
I am such a nerd :p.
 

HydraShok

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Is it open? Because I certainly would participate. And probably lose. But I'd sure participate!
Did we end up agreeing to a fantasy league in the end?
I keep checking but they still haven't opened it yet. Definitely setting up an ArsClan league as soon as it does.
 

Technarch

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I’ve always kind of liked the battery.

Duracells are getting enshittified, though not as badly as Energizers. I've had better luck with Panasonics lately.

As for the livery, here's the thing: blue on black with copper trim could be an awesome color scheme. Put copper highlights on the front wing tips and a copper pinstripe down the side to tie it all together and it would be beautiful. Otherwise that copper intake just clashes and looks stupid.
 
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Cranioclast

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Duracells are getting enshittified, though not as badly as Energizers.
This is off topic but I've seen commenters write this more than once, yet have not found anything to support it. It's been owned by Warren Buffet for a while now and I can't find anything about them moving manufacturing or making major changes.

I repeated it the other day when talking about a different instance where private equity gutted a brand (Instant Pot) and was called on it. I was annoyed at myself when I looked into it and realized I was just remembering something I probably read here.

So is there anything behind this or is it just anecdotes?
 

Technarch

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So is there anything behind this or is it just anecdotes?

Just personal experience with new batteries dying long before their expiration date, or 'leakproof' batteries leaking and destroying the devices they're installed in.

I'm curious as to whether there are any Duracells in the car anywhere. :)
 

Ecmaster76

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Just personal experience with new batteries dying long before their expiration date, or 'leakproof' batteries leaking and destroying the devices they're installed in.
I've had the same problem with Duracell batteries leaking stored in a cool dark place not even a few months after I got them. Maybe Costco got some fakes but I doubt it
 

trukker

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Gotta remember these are temporary / on-offs. Season livery is at the 'big reveal'.

<stops trying to discern aerodynamic changes from small images>
I am such a nerd :p.
I wonder how many Euro's the 'hand slap' is for releasing the true livery before reveal day.

The engine cover profile looked similar on the McLaren , despite trying hard to hide it with the Martian camo.
Might be a change in the Mercedes package, although it looks similar to something from last year. Off the top of my head I'm thinking Alpine.

I fired up Multiviewer possibly do some research. :flail:Preseason testing is cued up and ready to go, only 12 more sleeps.
 
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HydraShok

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HydraShok

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How many teams per person, you reckon? Because I’m starting to contemplate team names and memes already.

The 🎱’Chaos demands. I’m certain y’all understand.
Having not created or participated in an F1 fantasy league thus far, I'm not sure what the limitations are on team submissions. You're allowed to create up to three teams under your F1 Fantasy account, but not sure how many can join the same league. That said, I'm game if we want to have a "real" team and a "fun" team or something. Or maybe just do two different leagues? What's everyone else think?
 

Cranioclast

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Is anyone going to watch the launch thing tomorrow? I'm interested, but it seems like it will be able to be summed up with a photo gallery afterwards. Also, I'm old and I don't know any of the music artists. 🤣
No interest. I watched a WRC all-team launch a few years ago when I was desperate for some racing-related content. I fell asleep. I expect the F1 one will be a little more interesting, but not that much.
 

Diabolical

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Is anyone going to watch the launch thing tomorrow? I'm interested, but it seems like it will be able to be summed up with a photo gallery afterwards. Also, I'm old and I don't know any of the music artists. 🤣

I’m not going to watch. 2000Z is noon local for me. I’ll be sleeping.
I DO want all the pictures of the liveries. For pixel related reasons.
You understand.
 

Diabolical

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HydraShok

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Still going to be basically listening to a podcast :p.

Yeah, I think it's basically admission that the only way to get cars to pass each other is to have them compete on strategy rather than racing. The Monaco race is gorgeous scenery, but maybe it's time for it to be retired for tracks better suited to today's cars.
 
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Cranioclast

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Yeah, I think it's basically admission that the only way to get cars to pass each other is to have them compete on strategy rather than racing. The Monaco race is gorgeous scenery, but maybe it's time for it to be retired for tracks better suited to today's cars.
I was about to write that I don't think it's the fault of the current cars, since overtaking at Monaco has never really been a thing and certainly not for the past 30-40 years. However, it might be that the current cars make overtaking SO impossible that drivers get to back off to 80% and avoid the mistakes that used to mix up the results.

Before that thought, I was going to write that any unexpected results at Monaco have historically been due to reliability issues and crashes, often influenced by the weather. Not overtaking.

To a long-time fan, the reliability of the modern cars is just unbelievable. Any race without a retirement was a big story just 25 years ago. Now we could have a Monaco or Spa without a retirement and not even notice. It would be dumb to try to bring back unreliability, but it did add an extra element of unpredictability that's missing now.

The lack of crashes lately also makes the sport almost unrecognizable compared to what it was when I started watching in the 80s. How much of that is the aforementioned reliability, track changes or driver preparation, I can't say. Again, I wouldn't want to change anything to increase the likelihood of crashes, but when we get a Monaco, Singapore or Baku without half the field ending up being craned behind the barriers, it feels like a different sport than the one I used to watch.

Anyway, I don't think there's much that can be done to improve overtaking at Monaco. Even if we got the cars back down to 1990s dimensions, I don't think you'd see any passes for the lead, nor would it bring back the attrition that led to only six cars making it to the finish. Forcing teams to mix up strategies a bit might be the best move the could make. Still, I imagine every team in the top ten is going to end up with identical strategies, because with the quality of simulation data they have, they all come to the same conclusions.
 

HydraShok

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Thanks for your perspective. I'm still a relatively new fan that made it into the sport via DtS just a couple years back, so having the historical context does help. I know that reliability and safety have played large parts to develop the sport into what it is today, and really done wonders for the standard road car's longevity with it.

Maybe I should watch one of the archived Monaco races from that era on F1TV. I figured Monaco was, at least at one point, a proper racetrack, but perhaps that hasn't been the case for far longer than I suspected?
 

trukker

Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
164
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The lack of crashes lately also makes the sport almost unrecognizable compared to what it was when I started watching in the 80s. How much of that is the aforementioned reliability, track changes or driver preparation, I can't say. Again, I wouldn't want to change anything to increase the likelihood of crashes, but when we get a Monaco, Singapore or Baku without half the field ending up being craned behind the barriers, it feels like a different sport than the one I used to watch.
While all those are likely factors for the lack of crashes, heck even the rookies these days shine first time out, I think the big change from the 80s is that the cars are rarely driven on the limit. Tire management being such an important factor to performance. When you shift the limit and make everybody drive on the edge for ALL the laps, you end up with Brazil 2024.

Mandatory water trucks might be a better option than pitstops for the race at Monaco, or just accept that it's F1's All Star race and really only fun for the locals.

<SocialMediaTag>BringBackDeCrasheris - Maybe that might be a little too ghoulish.
 

swiftdraw

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I wonder how much money F1 brings into Monaco, and whether that would be enough to fund some changes to the road layouts.

I'd also love to see a WipeOut style underwater tunnel for part of the race, perhaps bypassing the swimming pool/marina... you can do anything with enough money of course.
I think that the sport takes itself too seriously for that sort of thing… Though the Saudi’s could probably push the water tunnel thing.
 

Technarch

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I wonder how much money F1 brings into Monaco, and whether that would be enough to fund some changes to the road layouts.

I'd also love to see a WipeOut style underwater tunnel for part of the race, perhaps bypassing the swimming pool/marina... you can do anything with enough money of course.

Corkscrews, man, I'm telling you.