Hamilton expects to feel the pain as F1 gets back on track

Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton is expecting to feel the pain, no matter how much he has worked out over the winter break, when Formula One’s first pre-season test starts today.
 Aching backs and stiff necks are likely to keep the team physios busy as drivers get up to speed at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya and begin to rack up the miles in the shiny new cars.
 The gym work and outdoor training, and the kilos of extra muscle added to cope with new regulations bringing significantly faster cornering speeds and greater G-forces, will be put to the test over four days this week.
 “After the first day I’ll know exactly where I’m weak,” Hamilton told reporters at the launch of his Mercedes team’s W08 car at Silverstone last Thursday.
 “Whoever it is, it doesn’t matter how fit you are and how hard you trained. You get in that car and it beats the crap out of you. It just does,” added the 32-year-old Briton. “There’s just no simulation for it.
 “So whether you feel it in the neck — there’ll be a muscle you didn’t even know you had, deep down under your rib cage, and you’re like ‘what the hell?’ — through those testing days you figure those weak areas out.”
 Hamilton will be in the car in the afternoon, with new teammate Valtteri Bottas taking care of the morning laps after replacing retired world champion Nico Rosberg. All 10 teams, one less than last year due to the demise of Manor, will be out on track once the pitlane lights go green today.
 The technical boffins will be taking a closer look at what their rivals have come up with, and any innovations they might have missed, as well as watching out for signs the pecking order might be about to change.
 Renault, ninth last year with a car inherited from Lotus but confident in their new engine and chassis, could be early contenders to move up the grid.
 “That was really fun,” said Renault’s Jolyon Palmer after a filming session in the RS17 at the track on Saturday. “Loads of downforce, loads of grip, a few laps, no hiccups and a big smile on my face.”
 “The new beast is FAST!!” the Briton, who will be back in the car tomorrow, with Nico Hulkenberg testing today, added on Twitter.
 Formula One’s new motorsport supremo Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari technical head and ex-Mercedes team boss, will be in Barcelona as the sport enters a new era of fatter tyres and wider, lower cars.
 Just how successful the revised rules are in creating more entertainment for the fans remains to be seen.
 The new aerodynamic ‘shark fin’ features leading off the airbox have already triggered some ripples of concern, and particularly the angular solution seen on the Williams when images of that car were posted online on Saturday. The season starts in Australia on March 26.

New Red Bull car takes superstition by the horns

Reuters/Barcelona

Former world champions Red Bull unveiled their 13th Formula One car yesterday, applying an innovative tweak to the nose and laughing in the face of superstition.
 “Stroke that rabbit’s foot, grab that four-leaf clover, fling that horseshoe and crank up the Stevie Wonder, because after a long winter’s wait our 2017 challenger, the RB13, is here,” the team said in a short video on their website (www.redbullracing.com).
 Wonder had a hit with ‘Superstition’ in 1972 and a number of supposed portents of good and bad luck flashed up in the video, including broken mirrors, slot machine jackpots and crossed fingers.
 “RB 13 — Unlucky for some,” declared a neon sign, with the ‘UN’ part flickering on and off. The team used the Twitter hashtag #breaksuperstition.
 The number 13 is considered unlucky in Britain, where fear of it is recognised as triskaidekaphobia, but lucky in some other parts of the world such as Italy, home of Red Bull’s rivals Ferrari.
 It was perhaps unlucky for Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado, who raced with the number 13 and had a reputation as a crasher, but was seemingly a good omen for design ace Adrian Newey’s McLaren MP4-13 that won both championships in 1998.
 Newey, who joined Red Bull from McLaren in 2006 and won four titles between 2010 and 2013, remains the designer behind the RB13 and the car triggered immediate intrigue with what appears to be a prominent hole at the end of the nose.
 The launch car is likely to differ notably from the one that starts the season in Australia on March 26, however, with teams keeping their real aerodynamic secrets under wraps for as long as possible.
 “Looking forward to taking her for a spin,” commented Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo on Twitter, while his 13-year-old teammate Max Verstappen signalled his approval with a heart-eyed emoji.
 Red Bull were the only team to beat champions Mercedes last season, with a win apiece for Verstappen and Ricciardo, on their way to second place overall.
 The once-dominant team, who won their four successive titles with Sebastian Vettel, are seen by many as the ones most likely to give Mercedes a real challenge this season.
 “I think the RB13 is one of the prettiest cars that we’ve designed and made because the geometry of the car under these new regulations means the proportions look right,” commented team principal Christian Horner.
 “It looks mean, it looks fast. The old adage is that, if it looks right, it tends to go alright — and this car sure looks right.”