Old is Gold, Young is Vigour

Personal Commentary.

This year marks the tenth year anniversary of Toro Rosso presence in F1 and truthfully, the team could not have gained recognition if not for Sebastian Vettel. With that being said, that does not mean Toro Rosso has not nurtured other young talent from its programme who manages to reach greater heights in other forms of motorsports. 

For ten years, the livery of Toro Rosso has never changed. It is no different ten years later and I am extremely contented about it. It is no secret that I love the appearance of the Toro Rosso very much no matter how it has been shaped (OK, let's make 2014 an exception because of its rather obnoxious nose). Like come on, don't you feel the Toro Rosso still looks classy without any colour change? 

The only outward difference between a STR10 and STR9 is the nose (it is still pointed but instead of being modelled like a platypus bill, it is flatten to be shaped somewhat like a metal nail file) and a wider airbox. The car changes did not really give me a boost of excitement for the 2015 season just like how some other cars did because there were no visible drastic changes being made. It is the all new rookie line-up that piques my interest. 

Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. are the offsprings of famous fathers Jos Verstappen and Carlos Sainz respectively. It is always exciting to see sons of motorsport drivers making it to the highest category of single-seat auto racing and this year seems to be a fine partnership. Verstappen is now being famed as the youngest driver to drive for a F1 car in F1 history. Having a 2014 F3 and Formula 3.5 champions together sounds like a partnership full of promises but having that in F1 may have its consequences. Both drivers may be experienced drivers of open wheel racing but that does not mean they will be able to fight against the many drivers who have developed a solid footing in F1 after a year of new rules and regulations. Then again, we should not totally dismiss their abilities for they are relatively young rookies and it is said that younger drivers have an advantage of making progress more quickly than the senior ones. Last season has proved itself that the new rules and regulations seem to favour the rookies right from the first race.

With just one more car reveal to be shown (since the W06 has been unofficially revealed on Twitter at Silverstone, we are just left with the RB11), the 2015 season is about to return with many welcoming driver changes! I just hope this year won't turn out like an expectation VS reality meme although I know it would be hard for anyone to beat any Mercedes powered cars at the moment. 

Toro Rosso: 

Max Verstappen 33                                                                                  Carlos Sainz Jr. 55

Ferrari Two Ways

Personal Commentary. 

I have noticed a gain in followers and readers over my previous post. Thank you for stopping by! :) I know my F1 posts can be pretty amateur at times but I hope it is entertaining enough for you guys to enjoy reading my views on current F1 issues. I welcome differences of opinions so do feel free to share your objections over my post and I would be happy to reply you guys on my agreement or disagreement. I will be busy in the next few days so please do be patient on receiving a reply. I am trying my best to keep all of you updated in all my social media sites. I feel extremely guilty for posting photos on Instagram without replying any of my followers back. Trust me, I miss those days when I would be as free as a bird to have a good deal of time to answer everyone. That time will be back pretty soon so just give me a few more days and I promise that I will reply everyone back. :D


Two Ferrari car launches happened this morning/afternoon, the principal Italian racing team removed the covers of their new machine in the Ferrari factory at Maranello after a brand new livery has once again been spotted at Hinwil, Switzerland.

Sauber seems to be one of those prevailing F1 teams to have the most extreme livery changes. They literally have 4/7 (red, yellow, green, blue) colours of the rainbow right from the very beginning of their F1 involvement. I have read on motorsport.com some days back on the possible colour change of livery for the Swiss team but it did not cross my mind that it could turn out to be true because the team posted the countdown with the familiar grey of the C32 and C33. The two colours bring us back to the Petronas sponsored era in some ways. The cars from 1997 to 2005 had a darker blue and way less yellow as compared to the current C34. When they said the team is set for a blue and yellow, I thought the car would have an equal balance of the two colours. Personally, I feel like the car got the colour inspiration from Marcus Ericsson's national flag but at the same time having some yellow set aside for Felipe Nasr's Brazilian flag along with the sponsor that comes along with it, Banco do Brasil. When I saw the C34 on Twitter, my first impression was the car has the nose of the Williams FW36 and the blue base colour of the FW35 before they received the Martini sponsorship. The C34 is definitely a looker.

Other than the 'toned makeover', the Ferrari SF15T looks mostly the same as the previous F14T. There is less black on the livery this time round which is a gratifying sight to see (I can never understand why a Ferrari would incorporate black as part of its livery even if the colour may evoke aggression and mystery). The slimmer SF15T is supposedly more technically advantaged than the F14T. One thing's certain, the 2015 contender will no longer have a part time job of vacuuming any of the dust and debris off the race tracks this season! xD


Sauber:

Marcus Ericsson 9                                                                                       Felipe Nasr 12     

           

Ferrari: 

Sebastian Vettel 5                                                                                        Kimi Raikkonen 7

Half Mercedes, Half Honda

Personal Commentary. 

Today is the start of the consecutive F1 car launches and it is the day I get to see the pictures of how the MP430 would turn out to be. With its renewed partnership with Honda, I was most eager for McLaren's MP430 reveal. I expected something refreshing and yet a car with some room for colours of the past successful years with Honda, as a representation of appreciation.

Alas, all my expectations for the MP430 have simply gone down the trash. The presence of a chrome livery is still present and the lack of red was a let down. It did not paint the MP430 in a way that McLaren has moved on from Mercedes. In all honesty, it took me a few minutes to actually believe that McLaren will be driving car that not only look like a Hispania/Force India/Sauber but they will basically just be driving a car with an unfilled livery. It is such a plain sight as compared to the first car reveal of the VJM08 our eyes were given to feast on last week. Fernando Alonso's, Jenson Button's and Kevin Magnussen's race suits looked too bright whereas their challenger looked too dark. I am surprised by the lack of sponsors they have on their cars.

For the most part, I like the colours of the livery and shape in some ways but I can't help piecing the different F1 car models of the past, ending up with the image of the MP430. It looks like the 2015 F1 cars have been produced in a copy and paste fashion. I kinda dislike the colours too because they won't be the first car to draw my attention at all. It is in dire need of the dazzling factor to make it stand out on track.

Rumour has it that the colours we see on the MP430 is just a test colour and that it will change in time for the Australian GP in March. If that turns out to be true, I sure do hope they will get rid of the chrome and black because we have too many cars on the dark side (if you know what I mean). If they decide to retain these colours, good luck to us on differentiating which car is which in the first few races of the season.


McLaren:

Fernando Alonso 14                                                                             Jenson  Button 22

Familiar yet Different

Personal Commentary. 

Feliz año nuevo a todos! I meant to say "happy new year to all" in Spanish. I hope Google did that simple translation right. If it did not, you know who to blame. ;p But yes, I had to say it because Force India is the first F1 team to finally (after forty minutes of Spanish ramblings on my laptop speakers) uncover a... Wait, a McLaren? Oh right, since when did McLaren have Kingfisher and Claro as their sponsors? 

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I love to be frank with everyone and I will do now. Frankly (I did warn you :p), the VJM08 is like a mix between a McLaren and Marussia. You take the base colour of McLaren-Mercedes (chrome) and the nose of a Marussia MR03 (the tip and the orange streaks), add in splashes of black and you get Force India's 2015 contender. It is a grand sight to look at. It was so much so of a drastic restyle, just like last year when we saw the FW36 revealed on the front cover of F1 Racing magazine! :O 

Opting chrome over white did make the car sleeker and it does create a more aggressive impression. By giving the car a complete new look, it has however given up the colours of its origin of the green and white. The orange may be present but it was not emphasised on the livery. Team principal Vijay Mallya believes that the addition of silver "reflects the growth of the team and the global brands" they are working with and at the same time appeal to the fans.  

One has to take note that what we saw two hours ago was just the exterior look of the VJM08 on the old VJM07. Most of the interior and some minor changes to the exterior are yet to be completed. Having postponed the actual car launch to the first Barcelona testing on 19th February, changes will involve the sidepods, cooling intakes, rear suspension and etc. 

Before all this Spanish conversation took place at Mexico City, F1 Racing gave us again another Williams contender tease on its February issue. Lotus has taken this opportunity to show us some tongues of some creatures in the animal kingdom and I personally think #F1Deer comes the closest to describe the nose of the FW37! :p However, I beg to differ on Lotus' tongue references. In my eyes, it looked more like a puzzle piece. Yes, it does look way better than the FW36 (bless them for getting rid of the anteater nose) but it did not have any eye-catching trait to it. It looked like it was done in a haste. Comparing the FW36 and FW37, the FW37 just seem to have a shorter and chubbier nose. Did they just reuse the nose of the FW36 and just add fillings to the side of the nose cone? It does look cute like a pacifier but I thought they could have done better... Never mind that, as the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its cover". I am certain Williams will have another dominant season like Mercedes.

We can now strike out Force India from our list of 2015 car launches. Williams will still remain on the list for their first images of the FW37 did not involve any unveiling of the real car to the world. In addition to the latest STR10 launch date from Toro Rosso (31/1/15), we will have four back-to-back car launches starting next Thursday. We have yet to hear any official dates from Red Bull, Lotus, Sauber, Caterham (?) and Marussia (?). 

Force India: 

Sergio Perez 11                                                                                   Nico Hulkenberg 27

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I am Back from Outer Space!

Personal commentary. 

As the title and the absence of my F1 race reviews suggest, I have been MIA for quite some time. Let's just say that I was pulled into a far, far away land that did not have any WiFi. Yes, I was in... *dramatic drumroll* Narnia... 

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Naw, of course I am kidding! I was in fact on the same page as all the F1 drivers and teams: making full use of the "winter break" (Ok, it's more like my summer break since I am following the Aussie holiday. Yep, even I still can't get used to the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. O_O). Then again, I have technically been working my every living fibre out as a barista at Starbucks. Gone are those days I have dreamed of spending the hours away binge watching. I wake up at 0600 and only get back at about 1800 for five to six days a week, chitchatting with customers till my throat gets dry, making innumerable cups of hot and cold beverages... I sleep at 0100 just so I can post some F1 pics and updates on my Instagram (That is where I am most active. Follow me at @rach1turbotastic, I'm sure it will turn out to be one of your favourite F1 source, image style. :D). It is tiring to even keep my Instagram and Twitter alive. Working at Starbucks just wears me out like running a marathon. Moving along from myself, I would like to apologise on being MIA for so many months. I hope you guys have not lost hope and carried on away from me. If you do, it is fine. I hope I will be able to make amends in the next few months, right from the beginning to the very end and beyond! I am planning to make blogging a part time job of mine now, no excuses! :) 

I hope all of you are doing fine and have enjoyed the Christmas break as much as some of the F1 drivers did. ;) Seeing the drivers tweeting or posting pics of them working out give me so much joy that the 2015 F1 season is about to begin. The wait is close to the finishing line! Can you actually believe the first car reveal is just in two days' time? And look at how many shocking driver changes are there in some teams... :O It still felt like the 2014 season had just ended! x)

In case you guys have just returned from Tatooine, Panem, the Maze, Hogwarts or Jurassic World, here are some key dates you might want to take note. 

Pre-season tests: 

1/2-4/2: Jerez, Spain
19/2-22/2: Barcelona, Spain 
26/2-1/3: Barcelona, Spain 

Car launches: 

Force India: 21/1

McLaren: 29/1

Ferrari: 30/1

Mercedes: 1/2

To be perfectly honest, I do not have access to Sky during the F1 testings and I believe there won't be any live streaming on such a minor event. I will however try my very best to keep you guys informed by my own means. The car launches will not be an issue since I will have plenty of time to follow the live updates, seeing that I will resign from Starbucks at the end of this month. 

I can see that I am already so pumped to be in the F1 mood once again. How ready are you guys? ;p 

Anyways...

I hope the VJM08 doesn't come up with another revolting nose (personal opinion on the VJM07)... :S