F1 World Championship Grand Prix - bringing sexy back to the track

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

it's time for a treasurey treasure - and I ain't gonna tell you what it is

So, let's talk F1 for a minute.... it's basically a race where all the major companies show off the cars they enter - and they also hold about 20 grand prix(s). This event will be held on March 20th Some of the companies already released what cars they would be entering and some of them do look pretty awesome. Earlier, Ferrari released theirs:

This is the one Renault submitted (which is way cool)

I did hear that Mercedes had one... but I couldn't find it as I saw the ones they had last year and in 2014. Oh and going back to Ferrari's design, I also hear that people think it could stack up to what Mercedes puts out *le shrug*.

Anyway, it's going to be from 3/20 - 11/27, here's a schedule:

Spoiler

 

Australian Grand Prix - 3/20

Bahrain Grand Prix - 4/3

Chinese Grand Prix - 3/17

Russian Grand Prix - 5/1

Spanish Grand Prix - 5/15

Monaco Grand Prix - 5/29

Canadian Grand Prix - 6/12

European Grand Prix - 6/19

Austrian Grand Prix - 7/3

British Grand Prix - 7/10

Hungarian Grand Prix - 7/24

German Grand Prix - 7/31

Belgian Grand Prix - 8/28

Italian Grand Prix - 9/4

Singapore Grand Prix - 9/18

Malaysian Grand Prix - 10/2

Japanese Grand Prix - 10/9

United States Grand Prix - 10/23

Mexican Grand Prix - 10/30

Brazilian Grand Prix - 11/13

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - 11/27

 

-The European Grand Prix will be the first to be held in Azerbaijan

-The US will be held in Texas, so get your tickets now. 

-German will return after they apparently couldn't get a venue last year

Discuss~!

 

[QuantumEdge]

I'd like to point out that the Renault shown is confirmed not to be the actual car they'll be using this year, explaining why it looks exactly like last year's Lotus.

As for who's likely to get the title, I would love to see Ferrari finally one up Mercedes this year, since the past two years have been actually proven to be more boring than the four Red Bull dominated years prior.

 

[TheOcelot]

Ferrari have always looked sexy with that gorgeous red color on their cars.

As for this season:

Due to there not being any drastic changes to the rules in 2016 it's hard to see Mercedes being dethroned. Mercedes' engine is still the best one on the grid. This of course could all change from 2017 when there will be substantial rule changes in the car designs and more freedom for teams to improve their engines.

In the meantime; I think Ferrari will be closer to Mercedes in 2016. The progress they made last season was impressive. They did well to win 3 races and were clearly the 2nd best team behind Mercedes. I can see Ferrari winning 6 or 7 races this season and definitely splitting the Mercedes (i.e finishing second in races) more frequently this year. However, I still think Mercedes and Hamilton will be too strong and Rosberg has impressed over the last few seasons.

Will also be interesting to see if Williams can hold onto 3rd place. Whether they can fend-off competition from Red Bull and Renault. I'd expect Mclaren and Alonso to have a far better season this year. Watch out for 2017, McLaren might be the surprise package!

[QuantumEdge]

1 hour ago, BenderBR said:

Ferrari have always looked sexy with that gorgeous red color on their cars.

As for this season:

Due to there not being any drastic changes to the rules in 2016 it's hard to see Mercedes being dethroned. Mercedes' engine is still the best one on the grid. This of course could all change from 2017 when there will be substantial rule changes in the car designs and more freedom for teams to improve their engines.

In the meantime; I think Ferrari will be closer to Mercedes in 2016. The progress they made last season was impressive. They did well to win 3 races and were clearly the 2nd best team behind Mercedes. I can see Ferrari winning 6 or 7 races this season and definitely splitting the Mercedes (i.e finishing second in races) more frequently this year. However, I still think Mercedes and Hamilton will be too strong and Rosberg has impressed over the last few seasons.

Will also be interesting to see if Williams can hold onto 3rd place. Whether they can fend-off competition from Reb Bull and Renault. I'd expect Mclaren and Alonso to have a far better season this year. Watch out for 2017, McLaren might be the surprise package!

You never know, if the miracle rumours are true that Honda have managed to squeeze out 225 BHP out of the engine, then we might be on the verge of seeing F1's equivalent to Lazarus' comeback  Sadly, I kinda doubt it though.  As for Red Bull and Renault, I just don't think their engine is going to be making any apologies for last year.  The only up side Red Bull have, is its excellent chassis, while Renault's will likely be another midfielder. 

[Phos]

I was at the US gran prix last year, quite the event, and a funny thing about the Honda engines, they weren't the fastest, but they certainly sounded the best. 

[QuantumEdge]

59 minutes ago, Phos said:

I was at the US gran prix last year, quite the event, and a funny thing about the Honda engines, they weren't the fastest, but they certainly sounded the best. 

I noticed how different they sounded just from the telly.  When they head into corners, they almost gurgle like some motorbike engine. 

[E-van]

By the way, here is Williams' 2016 car, the FW38!

(And yes, the Honda does actually sound quite nice, especially in the low speed corners)

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

2 hours ago, Falonso14 said:

By the way, here is Williams' 2016 car, the FW38!

(And yes, the Honda does actually sound quite nice, especially in the low speed corners)

sexiness overload haha

[E-van]

3 minutes ago, Detective Mikgenes said:

sexiness overload haha

Yeah, I do think the Williams looks really nice. I love their Martini livery.

[Ripe]

Honda engines sound the best? I have not noticed that. But that is probably because I have focused more on the fact they sound different than they used to sound.

As for this season, it is pretty safe assumption that Mercedes and Ferrari are still going to be the best teams. I just hope that the gap is smaller and for example Williams woyld be better than last year.

[TheOcelot]

Would be nice to see Williams return to their winning ways like when they dominated F1 in the mid 90's, but they simply don't have the financial muscle to compete with Ferrari and Mercedes. Regardless, Williams are still doing well. The last two seasons they finished 3rd, which was quite an improvement over where they were at the start of decade.

Perhaps they need a bit of Sonic speed to help them move up the grid...

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

1 hour ago, BenderBR said:

Would be nice to see Williams return to their winning ways like when they dominated F1 in the mid 90's, but they simply don't have the financial muscle to compete with Ferrari and Mercedes. Regardless, Williams are still doing very well. The last two season they finished 3rd which quite an improvement over where they were at the start of decade.

Perhaps they need a bit of Sonic speed to help them move up the grid...

Told you there should be a Sonic x F1 game haha

[TheOcelot]

4 minutes ago, Detective Mikgenes said:

Told you there should be a Sonic x F1 game haha

That's why we have the Sonic Drift games

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

1 hour ago, BenderBR said:

That's why we have the Sonic Drift games

#NotF1Worthy

Well..... maybe it is haha

[Ripe]

Yeah, back in the 90s things were so different in the F1 and Williams was once the best team. And now for example budgets have become way too high for smaller teams to compete with big ones. I seriously would like to see some smaller team to get success in the new season. To me that team would be preferably either Williams (yeah, I might be a bit bias with this one) or Force India.

Come to think of it, I think that only teams which have lasted in F1 since the lats 90s are Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Sauber.

[E-van]

Oh yeah, I forgot that Sega sponsored Williams in 1993. Sega also sponsored the European Grand Prix at Donington in the same year, which was won by Ayrton Senna, and he got this trophy.

[Ripe]

1 minute ago, Falonso14 said:

Oh yeah, I forgot that Sega sponsored Williams in 1993. Sega also sponsored the European Grand Prix at Donington in the same year, which was won by Ayrton Senna, and he got this trophy.

Sigh, times really have changed. For both F1 and SEGA

[QuantumEdge]

I know how awesome the Martini livery is on the Williams, but I can't be the only to notice it's almost a carbon copy from last year's car?

 

[Ripe]

1 minute ago, QuantumEdge said:

I know how awesome the Martini livery is on the Williams, but I can't be the only to notice it's almost a carbon copy from last year's car?

 

Yeah, it is exactly the same. Only difference I see is that instead of "Kemppi" there is "Wihuri" in the front wing

[E-van]

4 minutes ago, RipeFIN said:

Sigh, times really have changed. For both F1 and SEGA

At least F1 is far better off than Sega, in my opinion.

Anyway, as an Alonso fan, I obviously want to see McLaren return to the front of the grid this season. I'm hopeful that they'll finish in the points regularly, and maybe get a podium, or 2.

[Ripe]

2 minutes ago, Falonso14 said:

At least F1 is far better off than Sega, in my opinion.

Anyway, as an Alonso fan, I obviously want to see McLaren return to the front of the grid this season. I'm hopeful that they'll finish in the points regularly, and maybe get a podium, or 2.

Yeah. Although even F1 could be better.

What is my the most preferred way? Well, as a Finnish that Ferrari and Williams would both be on par with Mercedes and even beat it.

By the way, apparently Manor is still in F1 and again changed both drivers. Sigh, when Minardi was that small team it was sympathetic but Manor is just too pathetic.

[E-van]

9 minutes ago, RipeFIN said:

Yeah. Although even F1 could be better.

What is my the most preferred way? Well, as a Finnish that Ferrari and Williams would both be on par with Mercedes and even beat it.

By the way, apparently Manor is still in F1 and again changed both drivers. Sigh, when Minardi was that small team it was sympathetic but Manor is just too pathetic.

I personally like Manor. I think they're a cool little team, but I do feel bad for Alexander Rossi, since he, yet again, got cheated out of an F1 drive.

[Ripe]

Just now, Falonso14 said:

I personally like Manor. I think they're a cool little team, but I do feel bad for Alexander Rossi, since he, yet again, got cheated out of an F1 drive.

I don't. Maybe it's because we got three equally pathetic teams at the same time.

Yeah, Rossi said it best. Pretty hard to compete when other one has whole country supporting him. Have to admit, lately things have not been that good to North American drivers. Last one who really succeeded was Villeneuve and that was 1997

[E-van]

2 minutes ago, RipeFIN said:

I don't. Maybe it's because we got three equally pathetic teams at the same time.

Yeah, Rossi said it best. Pretty hard to compete when other one has whole country supporting him. Have to admit, lately things have not been that good to North American drivers. Last one who really succeeded was Villeneuve and that was 1997

Yeah, Caterham and HRT were pretty terrible, to be honest. However, I do think Manor is at least a little bit better than those two, and I actually think they might improve quite a bit this year.

But yeah, it is honestly annoying how there hasn't really been a successful American driver in ages.

[Ripe]

7 minutes ago, Falonso14 said:

Yeah, Caterham and HRT were pretty terrible, to be honest. However, I do think Manor is at least a little bit better than those two, and I actually think they might improve quite a bit this year.

But yeah, it is honestly annoying how there hasn't really been a successful American driver in ages.

True. I did a little research about F1 drivers. American F1 champions: Phil Hill (1961) and Mario Andretti (1978). Two championship combined. Last race win was  in 1978 (Do I even need to compare that to for example Finlands stats, a country which has under 2% the amount of inhabitants that USA has). I thought that motor sports were quite popular in America.