2022 F1 Car launches and liveries

[Everso Biggyballies]

I know the traditional car launches of old, massive media events with fireworks and complex lighting shows are something we dont see any more, with the pitlane reveal on the opening day of testing showing a car that under the skin is nothing like what they will be come the season opening race, but......

None the less, with an intrinsically new car regulated this year it will be interesting to see if there are any new eureka moments, the next downdraft diffuser, f-duct ,or whatever. Some cars will be more advanced than others. We might even get 'leaked' stuff.

Anyway here is the place for posting anything pre-season relating to the launch and look of the new cars......

Just to remind us all the season kicks off with six days of pre-season testing;

3 days are to be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from February 23-25, 2022
3 days at the Bahrain International Circuit from 10-12 March 2022.[/b





By request I am posting a summary of all of the notified launch dates here in the opening post for ease of finding them.
Those in blue have already launched


2022 F1 car launch dates summary. Complete.
Team............. Date................. Where/how/format

Haas.............................February 3rd............The implication is a livery reveal more than a car launch.
Red Bull.......................February 9th............Launch details TBA
Aston Martin................February 10th..........Factory / online
McLaren ......................February 11th..........Total racing programe launch F1 Indycar etc. Woking and online.
AlphaTauri...................February 14th...........Launch details TBA
Williams.......................February 15th...........Online
Ferrari .........................February, 17th .........Not mentioned but presume at Marinello and online
Mercedes.....................February 18th..........Silverstone / online
Alpine..........................February 21st...........Launch Details TBA
Alfa-Romeo................ February 27th...........Post first test launch of new livery. Digital launch. I guess from their factory.

[Everso Biggyballies]

The ball is rolling....

We all though Mercedes were seemingly well advanced with their 2022 plans, one of those moving their focus from this year to next earliest.

No surprise then to see them already firing up their new car first.... of course it is a bit of a tease, and it could be an engine in any car.

Ferrari is planning to unveil its new Formula 1 car for the 2022 season in the middle of February, shortly before the start of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Sometime between 16th-18th Feb is the word.

Speaking in Ferrari’s annual end-of-year Christmas media event, team principal Mattia Binotto offered the first details about next year’s car, confirming plans for a mid-February launch.

“The car will be presented middle of February,” Binotto said. “We have not decided yet the date. From the 16th to the 18th of February, that will be the date, but it’s something that will be finalised in the next weeks.”

[Everso Biggyballies]

Crikey, even Haas getting in on the act... although I suspect most have got beyond this stage by now.

Anyway Niki Temazapam's 2022 WDC campaign is under way....

They (Haas) did opely admit to minimising work on the 21 car so as to hit the ground running in 2022. Maybe they will surprise us and score a point this year.

(After finishing 2018 fifth in the teams’ championship, it was ninth the following two seasons and scoreless / 10th this year.)
They are the only team that know they cannot do worse this year than last.
10th and a single point in 2022 will be a step in the right direction......

Edit: I was wondering who the VF prefix in the Haas chassis # related to.

Other teams seem to often honour a person in their team's history. ie the FW in a Williams chassis # is..... the C in Sauber (now Alfa} ie this year the C-41, is in ref to Peter Sauber's wife, Christine etc etc. Or they are something obvious like the Red Bull RB-16, McLaren MCL 35 etc
(Back in the early days McLaren were just M-xx, then in the RD days they dropped the (Bruce) McLaren "M" prefix and became MP4-xx.... which actually stood for Marlboro (not McLaren) Project 4... Marlboro had funded RD whose company was Project 4 Racing) Blah blah blah.

Meanwhile back with the quest....

Well,(with Haas) the VF prefix doesnt refer to anyone.

The origin of naming the car “VF-xx” goes back to the first CNC machine manufactured by Haas Automation, the VF-1, launched in 1988.

The “V” stands for vertical, which is an industry standard designation for a vertical mill. Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, added “F1” to the name to unofficially designate it as the company’s “Very First One”.

So the VF-22 stands for..... the Very First 22nd car.
Go figure.
Now you know

[caneparo]

The ball is rolling....

We all though Mercedes were seemingly well advanced with their 2022 plans, one of those moving their focus from this year to next earliest.

No surprise then to see them already firing up their new car first.... of course it is a bit of a tease, and it could be an engine in any car.

Ferrari is planning to unveil its new Formula 1 car for the 2022 season in the middle of February, shortly before the start of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Sometime between 16th-18th Feb is the word.

Speaking in Ferrari’s annual end-of-year Christmas media event, team principal Mattia Binotto offered the first details about next year’s car, confirming plans for a mid-February launch.

“The car will be presented middle of February,” Binotto said. “We have not decided yet the date. From the 16th to the 18th of February, that will be the date, but it’s something that will be finalised in the next weeks.”

The engine sounds terrible, an old oanda would sound more aggressive. Another unsensational video to miss the v10s.

[Picci]

Haas should theoretically be much higher up the order next year. The thing is that I read a lot of staff left them so hopefully they have enough designer talent to keep them going.

I like that we have a brief pre-season these days. In a way I wish we had just winter running like in football (October-June) instead of a summer schedule but of course this would never be possible with the European races. It would be nice knowing I don’t have to stay inside watching F1 on a hot summer’s day when I could instead spend it on the beach!

Regardless, I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen with these cars. It feels a bit like 2009 when we had that jumbled up order. In a way that sort of defined the next decade or so with the emergence of Brawn (Merc), RedBull and Ferrari and Mclaren behind them.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I like that we have a brief pre-season these days. In a way I wish we had just winter running like in football (October-June) instead of a summer schedule but of course this would never be possible with the European races. It would be nice knowing I don’t have to stay inside watching F1 on a hot summer’s day when I could instead spend it on the beach!

That is the one area where we darn sarf finally get an advantage, having always to put up with races at night other than the few races in 'friendly' time zones.We are now well into summer so by the time we get the season going we are moving into our winter. (No doubt @MonteCristo will remind me of the Queensland, where he is, Tourism line “Queensland..... Beautiful One Day, Perfect The Next”. I will remind him that at least we can swim from our beaches with less fear of sharks joining in, and certainly we are unlikely to be joined by killer jellyfish or, as in Far North Queensland Salt Water Crocs.
Today in Melbourne is a pleasant high twenties with clear skies and tomorrow is well into the thirties.....

[Picci]

I haven’t actually seen the article itself, only a snapshot of it - but it looks like Leclerc wants Kimi’s 7 on his car and he’s going to apply to get the number changed.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I haven’t actually seen the article itself, only a snapshot of it - but it looks like Leclerc wants Kimi’s 7 on his car and he’s going to apply to get the number changed.

Yeah I read the same thing..... however I have also read that under the regulations it cannot happen, certainly not in the next couple of years. It seems that the #7 is registered to Kimi and technically is his 'property', at least for two years after he has left F1. The regs by the word seems to say that in effect Charles cannot change his number unless he has left F1 for over two years.

Im not sure of the reasons..... maybe something to do with in terms of the #7, im sure Kimi merchandise will still be available for the diehard fans. I can understand that if I as a Kimi fan wanted next year to have a #7 Kimi hat as a memory thing Im not going to buy a hat with #7 on it if Lecerc is using the number.

It seems the only allowed number change is like with Max this year taking #1, his entitlement as WDC, and resting #33 until such time as he is not WDC and has to revert to #33..

It seems strange for the numbers to be so fixed even after retirement..... I mean, we used to see each drivers number change annually when they were tied to the teams WCC finishing position. Certainly for the top 10 teams when there were more than 10 teams involved.

The reality is that with Leclerc, although he might have used #7 in his Junior career which seems to be his reason for wanting to change, he has created more worthwhile (ie F1) memories with his #16, ie first GP win, pole, Fastest lap, podium finish etc

FWIW the reasons are that his birthday is on the 16th (October which is irrelvant). So as a junior he used #7 (1+6=7)
Because 7 was not available when he rose to F1 he just took the 16.

Personally I think now they could keep the number they started with in F1. I have got used to drivers having a certain number to identify them.... especially now the helmets change by the race, so it isnt like their helmet is their ID any more. It seems crazy to have a "life" number in F1 and then change that number every couple of years. It gets confusing.. Either go back to the old system or stick with the new, not people chopping and changing at their whim. Its easy to say well its ok as it is only one driver wanting to change. But it then sets a precedent of it being OK, and next year it will be someone else, then next year someone else again.

Anyway, here are the official rules relating to numbers.

[PTRACER]

Haas should theoretically be much higher up the order next year. The thing is that I read a lot of staff left them so hopefully they have enough designer talent to keep them going.

On account that they spent their entire 2021 presumably developing their 2022 car?

[Everso Biggyballies]

Haas should theoretically be much higher up the order next year. The thing is that I read a lot of staff left them so hopefully they have enough designer talent to keep them going.

On account that they spent their entire 2021 presumably developing their 2022 car?

That was always said by them to be their modus operandi for the year, hence the zero development on the 2021 car. They put all their budget into 2022 and hopefully getting that right. We shall see what the outcome is.

[XcraigX]

Haas should theoretically be much higher up the order next year. The thing is that I read a lot of staff left them so hopefully they have enough designer talent to keep them going.

On account that they spent their entire 2021 presumably developing their 2022 car?

That was always said by them to be their modus operandi for the year, hence the zero development on the 2021 car. They put all their budget into 2022 and hopefully getting that right. We shall see what the outcome is.

And just maybe they can put their Russian money to good use!

[Picci]

I was quite sure as well @Everso Biggyballies that indeed Leclerc couldn't take the 7 next year but I originally let it go since I saw Autosprint was the source. But your argument is well researched and sounds like you're perfectly right there!

[Everso Biggyballies]

I know @Star posted this yesterday in a different thread, but that has disappeared now and the news seems to have fallen by the wayside. So for the sake of it being here...

Aston Martin first to name launch date

So as usual here is a summary of all the launch dates, which will be updated as news becomes available. Looks a bit forlorn and a waste of space at the moment but.....



2022 F1 car launch dates


Team............. Date................. Where/how/format

Aston Martin................ February 10th............. Factory / online
Ferrari ............Hinted at Mid Feb, 16th-18th but exact date and format TBA
McLaren TBA
AlphaTauri .............. February 14th
Alfa Romeo TBA
Red Bull TBA
Mercedes TBA
Alpine TBA
Haas TBA
Williams TBA

[Star]

Yes, I did post it. I asked for the thread to be deleted and then didn't think to come and post in here, duh! My bad.

[Star]

Right, I'm on the correct thread this time.

Ferrari have announced they're launching their cars on 17th February, so a few days after Aston Martin. So far I don't think any of the others have announced their launch dates.

Full story here: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... bjhBy.html