With pre-season testing starting on Wednesday it's time for a new thread - although last year's really died a death, and I was one of the guilty parties.

Hardly any change to the driver line-ups - just one genuine newbie, with Latifi in for Kubica at WIlliams, and Ocon returning to replace the unlucky Hulkenberg at Renault.

Will Hamilton hold off what will probably be even stronger challenges from Verstappen and Leclerc to equal Schumacher's seemingly impossible record, and overtake his other remaining figures (total wins, total podiums) while he's at it?

Will Ferrari continue to shoot themselves in the foot, effectively having two Number 1 drivers and messing up strategy again and again?

Will Vettel call it a day if he gets hammered by Leclerc and has no top drive to move to?

Will Verstappen at last have the car to beat Hamilton in a straight fight?

Will McLaren's very heartening revival continue, to see them regularly challenging for podium places once more?

Will Renault finally get pretty decent with two excellent drivers and a better car?

Will newly rebranded AlphaTauri's performance be as spectacular as their radically altered livery?

Will WIlliams finish as high as ninth?

Gentlemen, start your engines...

Looking forward to Hamilton breaking more records.

Years ago I attended a seminar at the Williams HQ and museum and found it most enthralling. They have a plaque in the wall that follows the chronology of Williams F1 cars for however many years but it suddenly struck me that since Nigel Mansell’s time the chronology could actually have been about the decline of a once top team.

For some reason though, they are the only team I’ve ever bought merchandise from and I love their team short sleeve shirts.

[GreenThing]

Looking forward to Hamilton breaking more records.

Years ago I attended a seminar at the Williams HQ and museum and found it most enthralling. They have a plaque in the wall that follows the chronology of Williams F1 cars for however many years but it suddenly struck me that since Nigel Mansell’s time the chronology could actually have been about the decline of a once top team.

For some reason though, they are the only team I’ve ever bought merchandise from and I love their team short sleeve shirts.

I have a part of Damon Hill's FW18, framed with a signed photo of Damon in the car. Mrs GreenThing gave it to me for my 40th birthday. She's a legend!

[GreenThing]

How about using this thread as a general motorsport thread? What’s the thoughts of you guys, F1 only or all motorsport?

I want to keep things separate myself - if various motorsports appeared in the same thread it would get pretty messy.

I don't really see the point, anyway - after all, if someone wants to start a dedicated MotoGP thread, for example, it's very easy to do!

[GreenThing]

That’s fair enough Micky.

So, Merc’s system of removing toe from the front wheels by pulling the steering wheel out. Genius, cheating or an accident waiting to happen?

That’s fair enough Micky.

So, Merc’s system of removing toe from the front wheels by pulling the steering wheel out. Genius, cheating or an accident waiting to happen?

Well, it's damn clever, you've got to give them that - and I assume that it's to improve straight line speed and reduce tyre wear. I suppose it will come down to whether the FIA consider it "active suspension" or some such.

[GreenThing]

That’s fair enough Micky.

So, Merc’s system of removing toe from the front wheels by pulling the steering wheel out. Genius, cheating or an accident waiting to happen?

Well, it's damn clever, you've got to give them that - and I assume that it's to improve straight line speed and reduce tyre wear. I suppose it will come down to whether the FIA consider it "active suspension" or some such.

Interesting idea just come up by the testing commentary team. They think that the benefit from such system will be minimal. Mercedes have shown their hand and let it be known about the system on purpose to distract the others. They’ll be busy designing their own system when they should be cracking on with next years car.

That’s fair enough Micky.

So, Merc’s system of removing toe from the front wheels by pulling the steering wheel out. Genius, cheating or an accident waiting to happen?

Well, it's damn clever, you've got to give them that - and I assume that it's to improve straight line speed and reduce tyre wear. I suppose it will come down to whether the FIA consider it "active suspension" or some such.

Interesting idea just come up by the testing commentary team. They think that the benefit from such system will be minimal. Mercedes have shown their hand and let it be known about the system on purpose to distract the others. They’ll be busy designing their own system when they should be cracking on with next years car.

That sounds like a serious case of over-thinking to me! (Crofty or Kravitz, I'd guess? They're usually the ones who come out with the mosr faceitious nonsense - especially the Tedster.) I'd imagine that the DAS system was very complex and expensive to develop, and I'm sure that Merc have better things to do with their time and money than to come up with gimmicks just to throw other teams off.

Anyway, a minimal benefit in F1 can mean the difference between overtaking or not, or a tenth of a second a lap or whatever, so that minimal benefit can turn out to be pretty huge over a race or a season. After all, the teams look to shave thousands off lap times with tiny aero tweaks, so everything counts!

[GreenThing]

That’s fair enough Micky.

So, Merc’s system of removing toe from the front wheels by pulling the steering wheel out. Genius, cheating or an accident waiting to happen?

Well, it's damn clever, you've got to give them that - and I assume that it's to improve straight line speed and reduce tyre wear. I suppose it will come down to whether the FIA consider it "active suspension" or some such.

Interesting idea just come up by the testing commentary team. They think that the benefit from such system will be minimal. Mercedes have shown their hand and let it be known about the system on purpose to distract the others. They’ll be busy designing their own system when they should be cracking on with next years car.

That sounds like a serious case of over-thinking to me! (Crofty or Kravitz, I'd guess? They're usually the ones who come out with the mosr faceitious nonsense - especially the Tedster.) I'd imagine that the DAS system was very complex and expensive to develop, and I'm sure that Merc have better things to do with their time and money than to come up with gimmicks just to throw other teams off.

Anyway, a minimal benefit in F1 can mean the difference between overtaking or not, or a tenth of a second a lap or whatever, so that minimal benefit can turn out to be pretty huge over a race or a season. After all, the teams look to shave thousands off lap times with tiny aero tweaks, so everything counts!

It was Jolyon Palmer or the bloke who does the F2 commentary who came up with the tin hat theory.

I think that any advantage gained by such device would be apparent over a race distance rather than a single lap. It’s likely to help them control the tyre temperatures and slightly reduce tyre wear rather than decrease lap time and there also the possibility of running a higher toe than usual as the cons of doing so could be negated down the straights.

Apologies to Ted and Crofty this time! Here's Ted explaining the system and sticking to what he's best at: tech talk.

https://youtu.be/FJ2EI0Ecj5g

[GreenThing]

Ferrari under the spotlight for their engine again. So, why is it in the regulations that fuel flow is limited? Surely the quicker you pump fuel into an engine, the quicker you’ll run out of fuel so will have to save fuel later in the race. If fuel flow is unlimited, there will be a chance of using a really rich mixture to do some overtaking, but it will leave you venerable later when you have to lean off the engine. Wouldn’t that open up an avenue for better racing?

I think the problem is that engines are so fuel-efficient these days that there's no chance of running out of fuel, so messing with the fuel flow is considered an articial aid outside the regs, which these days are designed to maximise efficiency. According to https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/51688538:

In F1's complex turbo-hybrid engines, the fuel-flow limit works to promote efficiency and is effectively a ceiling on the amount of power an engine can produce.

It means teams cannot increase power simply by increasing the rate of fuel flow through the engine, and must do so instead via efficiency savings, in other words increasing the amount of power extracted from the available fuel by advances in the engine/hybrid system.

Regardless, the FIA announcement, outlined in the same piece, lacks transparency, to put it mildly. If I didn't know better I'd wonder whether Ferrari didn't sometimes receive preferential treatment for some reason!