Mercedes GP Gives Up On Online Launch, Drives W04 Instead

2013 Mercedes-AMG F1 W04

After watching one side of the Superbowl last night, you're probably more comfortable seeing a Mercedes F1 car at an angle as if it's on a NASCAR oval for no apparent reason. So here you go: the new F1 W04. See how easy launching a new car is when you don't use Twitter?

This car has been eagerly anticipated, partly because we didn't really get to see it on Saturday when their online launch plan crashed their website harder than Michael Schumacher crashed into Vergne at last year's Singapore GP, but also because it's Lewis Hamilton's new office, after he left his home at McLaren to move in with his BFF Nico Rosberg, who had a room going spare after the old man retired to a life on his Texas ranch. Seriously. Of course his real plan is to have a fast team in 2014 when the new engine rules come into effect, but having a year to settle in first and see where he can get this new Silver Arrow to finish is good for him and us. Can he pull an Alonso if this car ends up being no more competitive than last year's W03?

Mercedes-AMG F1 are now sponsored by Blackberry, so Lewis can BBM about how he's going H.A.M in the AMG.

Last year's car showed great promise in testing, as well as showing innovation in the form of a clever air channeling system dubbed the "W-Duct", wherein air would enter a little hole in the tip of the nose and go down the front wing struts and out of tiny slots at the front of the front wing's underside, stalling the wing in a straight line and increasing top speed by as much as 10mph with the DRS open. This evolved into a "Double DRS", wherein a little hole was exposed when the DRS flap was up, which channeled air all the way from the rear wing to the front to do the same thing as the W-Duct but more effectively. This along with some solid driving by Nico Rosberg got the team their first ever win in Mercedes guise, making it the German marque's first F1 victory since it pulled out of motor racing in 1955. Although of course, this is what used to be Brawn GP, so the actual team's former successes have been more recent than that.

Naturally the camera car is a Mercedes-Benz. Is the camouflage really necessary?

Photographed doing some promotional filming today, the 2013 F1 W04 features a nose that's the same shape as last year's - with ridges at the sides of the high step - except for the Vanity Panel making the middle of it a much smoother incline. They've also tidied up the usual areas, those being the wings and sidepods, with an exhaust exit that sticks out over the top of the tightly tucked-in rear bodywork, probably as a way to exploit the Coandă Effect like everyone else. Piloting the car today is Nico Rosberg (finally allowed to have the lower racing number), who will be hoping to add to his win tally of one this year with an evolution of a car that actually seemed to get steadily worse as 2012 went on. Hopefully they can flip that trend upside down or just be fast all year. Otherwise Ron Dennis will look smug all winter.

Interesting gills flanking the exhaust pipes. Rear brake ducts are as busy as Lotus's.

Nico Rosberg puts the W04's downforce capabilities to the ultimate test by driving down the side of a building.

Random shot of their new driver pandering to their new sponsor.

And across the line! It's easy to win when you're the only one racing.

Those are some very big seagulls behind them...

[obligatory credit to F1Fanatic for getting these pictures]

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Off With Their Heads

Oh, by the way, there's going to be a convertible version of the ToyoScio'baru GT86-RSRZ. It'll be previewed at the Geneva Motor Show next month as the Toyota FT-86 Open Concept.

Just thought you should know.

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Red Bull RB9: Purple Haze

2013 Red Bull RB9

First of all, there are no official pictures from the launch of the reigning World Constructor's Champion's new car, so I tried opening this post with their official reveal video, but not only will it not embed, YouTube Downloader can't download it. So please click this link to open it in another tab.  All I can do is show you horribly over-exposed cameraphone shots from the launch, as the press was strictly told no photography, and 1080p screenshots from the video. So here some of it is: the Red Bull RB9.

There's also sod-all information about it beyond what we can work out from looking, although team principal Christian Horner has called it an evolution of last year's car, saying that continuity and stability will hopefully be key to them getting their fourth world title in a row.

The other side. Turns out it's symmetrical. Who'd a thunk?

He's partially referring to the fact that their driver lineup is the same for the fifth year in a row, meaning there are just familiar faces testing out a better version of something they already know very well. But what changes can we find? Well, first of all there's the purple highlights on the sidepods, its of the front wing and other places too, although the Red Bull blue still shines through underneath. There's also a large Infiniti logo on the side, showing their increased sponsorship money involvement in the team. Frankly their link with RBR is very tenuous, because they're the luxury brand of Nissan, who's in an alliace with Renault, who supply RBR with engines. Still, being two steps removed from any link won't stop them cashing in on Red Bull's runaway successes.

As for what's under the paint, the stepped nose remains, although the mysterious air intake has vanished, being replaced by a ramp that's at a shallower angle to last year's car courtesy of a short Vanity Panel that doesn't stretch to the tip of the nose, due to the added grams. The exhaust area will no doubt be improved with lots of cleverness as well, although the video doesn't show the rear end at all. Reports are coming in on Twitter that the press have no 3G signal and are being threatened with having their cameras and phones confiscated, which combined with the lack of a live launch like all the other teams have done makes you wonder why the hell they're even bothering to launch the damn car at all. Here's an over-exposed secret snap anyway:

The exhaust is another low-set Coanda affair, while the mullet has been trimmed back, much like the Sauber, McLaren and Ferrari. The front suspension looks like a pushrod setup rather than the lower pullrod system of Ferrari and McLaren. The diffuser isn't really visible, which will cause Adrian Newey to breathe a sigh of relief.

Wait, THIS JUST IN: Three official pictures:

More purple on the rear wing, and the dark blue stripe has been replaced by a purple one as well.

Of course, this won't be 100% accurate anyway, because people might actually learn something that way...

This counts as a shot of the rear end, right?

Lastly, a comparison image from a fan. The angle isn't quite the same from picture to picture.

So now you know what most of it sort-of looks like. Plus we all know that there is something worth hiding on the show car, or else they wouldn't be being such jackasses about letting people take pictures of it. Even McLaren let people get right up close to theirs. It's also ridiculous to assume that nobody will be able to take pictures of it when it's moving at Jerez on Tuesday anyway, so they're just being silly about their secrecy. Regardless, here's hoping Mark Webber - having finally healed from his terrible biking accident two years ago - can knock Vettel off his perch this year. It would be very satisfying to see.

UPDATE: More pictures.

Infiniti are now title sponsors of Red Bull Racing, but like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, you needn't say the whole name.

Typically, Vettel's side of the cover was tweaked to come off faster...

Large turning vane between the front wheels not copied by other teams... yet.

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Sauber C32: 1 Shade Of Grey

2013 Sauber C32, painted grey in tribute to its first ever F1 car in 1993.

Sauber had an awesome year in 2012. Their car was surprisingly quick after testing and Sergio Perez went from zero to hero in only the second round when he weathered the Sepang storm of the Malaysian Grand Prix to finish second behind an almost-as-surprising Fernando Alonso in his supposedly awful F2012. The Mexican went on to score podiums at Canada and Monza as well, the latter race seeing him climb from 12th to 2nd thanks to his famous tyre management skills (hence why he and Jenson Button are a great pairing at McLaren this year). To cap it all off, Kamui Kobayashi scored his first ever podium with second place at the Japanese Grand Prix and the wonderful Suzuka Circuit, a track he doesn't actually know that well, having started racing in Europe. It was the first Japanese home podium and only the third time a Japanese driver had scored an F1 podium at all, which I find odd considering their love of motor racing.

However, with both drivers now gone from the team, it's the car that stays on, with the usual raft of improvements and a new grey livery. The C31 was innovative enough to be copied by Ferrari and even Red Bull around the exhaust area, but its performance level was erratic, going from the aforementioned podiums and high points finishes to a few races of dismal starting and finishing positions, and occasionally having bad luck dealing with other young drivers like Pastor Maldonado at Silverstone and Romain Grosjean causing that crash at Spa-Francorchamps, which took out both drivers. So the new C32 - finished in all-grey as a reference to their first F1 car that raced 20 years ago this year - will be worth keeping an eye on, as its performances in 2013 will be difficult to predict ahead of time...

It's nice that the exhibition centre in Birmingham is still sponsoring them. No Chelsea FC logos on this one, though.

If you've read any of the other four unveil posts on here (or elsewhere, of course), then you'll know that the changes are basically developed wings, an improved exhaust system and a new nose. This one's new nose is very interesting, however, because not only is the Vanity Panel a complex shape unlike the other three, but the nose itself is a lot lower than before, which is the exact opposite direction of everyone else. Sauber say they've gained a better understanding of the C31's qualities and set about "eliminating its few weaknesses", so clearly they've devised something clever with the front end.

Ah, there's a Chelsea FC logo after all, ahead of the cockpit.

The Vanity Panel looks from the side like it just rises smoothly up like everyone else's, but actually, it just has high sides to channel air into much the same step as last year (it also appears to be the first VP with a visible seam). Perhaps it makes some downforce and the vertical sides clean up the airflow? Who knows? Well, Sauber's aero people do. What's more, the apparent vent on the front chassis, just behind where the nose attaches, is still there. You can sort of see it in this image, just ahead of the telemetry aerial that looks like an Allen Key:

Right click and select Open Image in new Tab to view in full size

From this angle it also looks like they've got a Force India-style "chin" under the nose and between the vertical front wing struts, so maybe that Coanda's the air into a secret intake that then shoots it up and out of the vent? That's a complete guess and it may not even be legal, but I can't for the life of me think what that vent is for, as there's no little hole in the tip of the nose like some cars have (McLaren treat theirs like a little grille and put a tiny badge on it). At the end of the day though, as long as it's fast it's not overly important to us what it does... unless it's too fast. They have also said that they'll experiment with a passive Double-DRS in pre-season testing.

Also of note is that the show car is on Medium-compound tyres because the white suits their livery better. It's the little things.

Sauber's driver line-up this year comprises of Force India defectee Nico Hülkenberg and Mexican person Esteban Gutierrez, a man I harbour a certain amount of irrational hatred for as he's the same age as me and is about to start his first Formula 1 season. The 21-year-old has been part of Sauber for a while now, being their most recent third driver. His presence means they can continue being sponsored by Mexico, by which I mean the quite incredibly rich Carlos Slim, whose Telmex company is apparently a long-term sponsor. So that probably means that he'd support their finances even if Gutierrez wasn't there. Well, they've been called BMW-Sauber without a whiff of BMW in their car before, so it's not unusual for them. On the subject of names, Sauber is of course not really run by Peter Sauber anymore, after the 69-year-old transferred a 33% stake to Monisha Kaltenborn, who ascended late last year to his ex-position as team principal, becoming the first woman to do so in F1. This will be her first full season in charge, and therefore the first ever full season that sees a team run by a woman, of course. She's playing down expectations, but is quietly confident about this season.

The Hulk-Gutierrez pairing will be an interesting comparison, because they both raced for the ART team in junior formulas (they're good at bringing skilled young 'uns into the sport), so in some ways Esteban is like Nico three years ago. Let's see how long it takes to even out, although of course The Hülk is fast around Interlagos, having nearly won last year and put a Williams on pole in his debut year (2010) at the Brazilian venue, so comparing Australia to Brazil might not be strictly fair. But who knows where Esteban is quick? Its not a scientific comparison at all, really...

From left to right: Robert Frijns (new Dutch third driver), Esteban Gutierrez, Nico Hülkenberg, Monisha Kaltenborn, Peter Sauber

So now you know about five of the eleven different 2013 cars (HRT went bust), and the others aren't far away aside from the Williams. Patterns are starting to emerge, but if Sauber has pushed the boat out early with its Vanity Panel, who knows what Red Bull have done with the RB9? It could be anything. They could've stretched the mysterious air scoop, done the same thing as the C32, left it the same as last year, put a tiny hole in it that channels air all the way to the diffuser, hidden a red shell launcher in it, anything. We'll find out a 13:00 tomorrow.

Bonus picture comparing it with the three previous Saubers:

BONUS PICTURE OF A MAN MAKING GESTURES AT IT:

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C63 AMG Edition 507: Not Quite A Black Series, Hence It's Grey

Pictured: 1521 horsepower.

Tyres beware. There's a new AMG out. Three of them, actually, although they're all the same when you disregard their bodies. It's called the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Edition 507, and by reading its full name you've just read how much horsepower it has. Yup, that's right, it has 63 horsepower. Not.

The POWERRRRRRRR comes from the usual "6.3 AMG" engine - famous for actually being a 6.2 - but it makes 20bhp more than the version of the AMG version of the C-Class that in turn makes 30bhp more than the AMG version of the C-Class, called the C63 AMG AMG Performance Package. Got that? Nope? I'll stop being fatuous and spell it out then: First the C63 AMG makes 457bhp. Then adding the AMG Performance Package adds 30bhp to make 487. Now there's this, which makes 507 and replaces the Perf' Pack.

Where did they find another 20 horses? In the Secret Shed, that's where. You see, if you want a Very-AMG version then you have to wait patiently with a cheque for Really A Lot Of Money while the Black Series team - a performance division of Mercedes-Benz's performance division - takes an AMG and make it literally mental. They did this a year ago with this very car to make the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupé Black Series, a car with a mouthful of a name and gobs of power to spew all over the rear tyres until they either pulled themselves from the rims in protest or embraced the sweet release of death. Fitting that it looked like a monster from a children's book, really, because to drive it was literally mental. However, the thing about a Black Series car is that they only unleash a small-ish number of them on the world, and all 800 of them have been sold to unsuspecting victims. So what if you can't find one but want a 507bhp version of that awesome V8? Enter the Edition 507, with its Black Series engine in the normal AMG body. Well, normal aside from the bonnet nostrils required to keep that beast alive for longer, no matter how angry it gets.

With its forged pistons, SLS crankshaft and improved conrods, the growling V8 also makes 450lb/ft of torque and is a whopping three kilograms lighter than before. As a tribute to its black origins, you get more black than a black hole's shadow, with the grille surrounds, door mirror casings, wheels (aside from the rims), front spoiler, boot spoiler, "designo" leather and alcantara all painted black, as well as the optional (black) carbon fibre or Piano Black interior trim, and a black AMG side stripe that's black. Even the headlights are black! But not when they're on, obviously...

Speaking of optional extras, a locking differential - essential in a car like this and standard on the full-on Black Series - is something you have to pay extra for, along with improved suspension to cope with the extra, er, 20 horsepower. Sounds like some sneaky business dreamt up by the accountants to me. Or perhaps it's to keep a slight gap between this regular version and the Black Series, which to be fair is also distanced from the Edition 507 by the absence of rear seats, presence of bucket front seats, weight loss and a rollcage, along with that mad bodykit. Perhaps this is meant as a Black Series that's less of a cartoonish pretend track weapon and more of a road-biased car for people who aren't Jeremy Clarkson. Actually, that's an ironic name choice, because an equally-powerful C63 that rides properly is something he would really like. In fact that sounds like something many people would like, especially as it's also available as a four-door saloon or even an estate, which is just plain awesome. You could put orange lights on it and be an F1 Medical Car! Or use it to feed your unbridled hatred of tyres and let the 6.2-litre V8 loose on those two 19" black rear wheels. Because to an AMG engine, tyres are the enemy. Tyres are the great censors of fury. They try to harness and control the engine. Tyres are EVIL and THEY MUST DIE.

Of course, if you don't want to die as well, there's always the traction control systems to play with. Tyres are an old enemy the engine knows well, but computers? It can only do so much. They're next...

Interested in one of the great German muscle cars of our time? We will probably learn of the prices at the Geneva Motor Show in March, where it will be officially unveiled by Germans going "here is ze new C63 AMG with 20 more horsepower, some black paint and a side stripe. It's yours for €10,000 more zhan ze normal price." You should also know that the Designo Magno Platinum paint finish - or satin silver to humans - is an optional extra as well.

But what else is it? The last new model to use this almighty engine that sounds like a NASCAR in a thunderstorm? Well, technically it was announced after the literally mental SLS Black Series and all new AMG models are now getting the downsized 5.5-litre BiTurbo engine instead, so it might just be. So consider it a celebration of a time when it was socially acceptable to shoehorn a huge naturally-aspirated V8 into an executive car and give it flared wheel arches and four exhaust pipes. Perhaps it's also nice that the final year of V8 Formula 1 cars coincides with it (or depending on your outlook, sad that the word 'final' applies to either of these things), and speaking of which, this is a nice little distraction from the fact that we won't see the F1 W04 until Monday the 4th. This has been your break from reading F1 posts on SBV8.

Why call a 6208cc engine a 6.3? In reference to the very first AMG car, the legendary "Red Sow".

Technical Specnicals:

Layout: Front-Engined, Rear-Wheel-Drive

Engine: 6208cc V8, Naturally Aspirated, 7-speed automatic gearbox with paddles

Power/Torque/CO2: 507bhp / 450lb/ft / 319g/km

Weight: 1727kg / 1777kg / 1792kg (Coupé / Saloon / Estate)

Acceleration: 0-62mph in 4.2s (Coupé and Saloon, 4.3s for Estate)

Top Speed: 174mph (280km/h) - Limited

Price: TBC

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Force India Reveals Daring One-Driver Plan

The entire Force India driver line-up, plus one of two cars he'll have to drive at each Grand Prix.

Oh dear. It seems Paul di Resta will seriously have his work cut out this year at Force India F1. It seems at this point that the Scottish driver and former DTM champion will have to drive both VJM06s for the Indian team, as no other drivers have been announced. With Nico Hülkenberg defecting to rival team Sauber - whose car will appear tomorrow - and whoever their test driver was apparently gone as well, he may not have a choice in the matter unless the team formerly known as Jordan get their act together and announce in the next four days who else will pilot the new car, which becomes the third to add the Vanity Panel and make Lotus GP look a little foolish for not having one. At the moment it might be returning club brawler Adrian Sutil or last year's apparently AWOL test driver Jules Bianchi, but it probably won't be Kamui Kobayashi, despite the fan favourite raising over a million pounds (in Yen, of course) in supporter's donations. He has said that he will have to look at returning in 2014 instead...

Last year was mixed for Force India, as they ultimately came 7th in the Constructor's Championship (a drop of one place from 2011). They did still get some high finishes, such as a 4th place at both Belgium and Singapore, and Hülkenberg getting damn close to winning the closing round at Brazil, before losing the back end under braking in greasy conditions and clattering into race leader Lewis Hamilton, while trying to avoid the Caterham they were both lapping. He seems to be good at that track, having also put a Williams on Pole Position there in 2010 against all odds, so watch out for a rouge Sauber at the sharp end of the Interlagos grid this November.

Anyway, Force India's steady rise throughout 2012 was impressive given that the seemingly effective upgrade packages stopped coming about halfway through the season, at which point they'd decided to focus on the car you see here instead. With that much time lavished on it and at least one driver who knows what it'll be like, they could be a dark horse this season. When Honda put that kind of development into a car, and that car ended up having a Mercedes-Benz engine squeezed inside it, we had the dominant 2009 Brawn GP001. Can the Merc-powered Force India emulate that to some extent and score podiums? That's certainly their aim, and they tend to have a good all-rounder of a car, which helps them at all-rounder tracks like Spa, where they got their only ever Pole Position and podium finish in 2009, coming second to Kimi Räikkonen's Ferrari F60 in the race.

Until the first test session starts next week, keep an ear out for any driver announcements. Paul di Resta certainly is, otherwise he'll be demanding that they double his salary......

BIG PICTURE. Carbon fibre mullet present and partying out back.

Seeing as they're based at Silverstone, why not use up the allocated promotional filming time while everybody's watching?

The nervous smile of a man who may have to drive two cars this year...

Black-painted "chin" under the nose is a long-standing Force India feature to improve air flow under the car.

I think that the whole driving two cars thing will be fine for Practice and Qualifying, but in the race he'll either have to switch cars and lose all his progress, or get a lookalike to drive the other one while lying about having a time machine. It's a risky strategy, we'll just have to see whether Force India go with after all or not...

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Ferrari F138 Forsakes Fugly Front For Fans

2013 Ferrari F138

Finally finding favour with Ferrari fans (man I love alliteration), the evolved version of the F2012 becomes the second Formula 1 car to use the new Vanity Panel, covering up that unsightly step in the nose. Well hey, if any car company is vein, it's Ferrari. While their reliability has been in question almost constantly, something perhaps equally consistent is their beauty, often defining a decade with cars like the Testarossa, 250 GTO and 458. So an ugly Ferrari just won't do, and while I along with most people largely got used to the idea of stepped noses, the Ferrari's unceremonious ramp just didn't work for me, especially as they even highlighted it by putting the white race number on it, having a similar effect to adding a headlight in some ways. From the front it somehow also made the front tyres look like big floppy dog ears...

But enough whining of a car we'll barely ever see again. This is the 2013 F138. Why not call it the F2013? Because thirteen is unlucky, that's why. Also, as it's the last year of the V8 engine, mentioning it with an 8 simultaneously sorts out the Triskaidekaphobia and commemorates the closing of an era. The smooth nose joins onto yet another evolutionary design, while the revised livery features a white stripe dividing Rosso Scuderia and black highlights the shape of the car a little, and looks good. That said, the front wing struts jutting out to meet the tip of the nose can make it look a little blunt from some angles in my opinion.

Pictured: one of "some angles"

Aside from the new nose, exterior changes once again boil down to revised wings (the rear featuring slots all the way up the back of the endplates, which is unusual) and improved Coandă exhaust. The Coandă effect can be demonstrated with a straw and a hanging teaspoon, and can be more visually demonstrated with tap water, although with water the effect is actually Surface Tension, which is very similar (here's a video of those things with a slightly inaccurate description). The diffuser is a mystery, seeing as it was covered up at the official presentation. Interesting........

Open wide! Rear-facing camera almost looks like tonsils from this angle...

Internally, the KERS has been lightened and improved, while the all-pullrod suspension has been improved at the front and completely revised at the back to make it better in the corners. The exhaust system has also been completely revised.

The driver lineup this year is the same as it was last year, despite a poor showing in the first half of the season from professional second fiddle Felipe Massa. Why did he stay on for another year? Partly because Ferrari don't like newbies and would struggle to find another top driver willing to be Fernando Alonso's number two, but also because in the second half of last season, Massa was the fourth highest-scoring driver, compared to being the fourteenth best in the first half of 2012. His comeback saved his bacon. With his confidence well and truly returned to pre-Hungary-2009-accident levels, perhaps this pairing will be more Button and Hamilton than Batman and Robin. Personally I'd love to see Massa have some success this year. He got so much stick last year and I hate to see someone just as driven as anyone else become the big famous team's whipping boy. I mean come on, this guy was temporarily the 2008 world champion! Give him a chance to be a permanent world champion, even if Alonso generally out-qualifies him and made a truly heroic effort last year to outperform the dodgy car and come second in the championship against much better-sorted opposition.

We'll see how the F138 gets on against the opposition relatively soon, but for now here are some more pictures of it, starting with a comparison with the five previous Scuderia Ferrari machines:

Compare it with last year's car and tell me it's not an improvement.

"I don't sell cars; I sell engines. The cars I throw in for free since something has to hold the engines in." - Enzo Ferrari

The phrase "this is all you'll ever see of it" probably doesn't apply to this image.

Blocked-off diffuser is hiding secrets. Photographers of Jerez, take note! Also you can see the slots in the rear wing here.

Front wing has more layers than an emotionally complex soufflé. FIA Road Safety logo at the centre of the front wing.

Ferrari's current road cars look over the unveiling of their king. Fernando and Felipe avoid holding hands at the last minute.

More pics here, as always.

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