FINALLY!

Last to debut, one of the first in Australia. Go figure. Looks pretty much like a stamped-out clone of the Honda, truth be told. That may cause problems... if they do anything points-wise before they get to Europe, rest assured the legal battles will be AMAZING!

Gotta love the fully-attached nose wings. Or, at least, I do. But I'm easy that way.

Finally, courtesy of the SuperAguri website, a comparison of the history of SuperAguri cars. Amazing that they have three bodystyles in one year...

Now THAT'S a fast evolution. Now lets see if the car is equally as fast. Only a day to go...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 110 words, total size 1 kb.

There are no words:

I'm not going to talk about the differences in aero or whatever here. I'm going to talk about the paintjob for the new Honda.

Actually, I'm simply wondering who thought this was a good idea:

Yes, it's a marvelous technical achievement, the globe on a F1 car. Bravo. Even better, YOU can put your name, website, or whatever you want on the car as well, just by purchasing some pixels on the image. Proceeds go to a good cause, or chassis development, or something.

What the hell were they thinking?!? They're going to look ridiculous out there. Hell, they look ridiculous now. I can't wait for the first engine fire, it'll look like the aftermath of a nuclear exchange.

The paddock is SO going to make fun of them...

UPDATE: In an e-mail to me, Official First Reader Mallory brought up a good point... namely, what is the pit-crew fire suit going to look like? What if Saudi Arabia ends up on the butt of a tire changer? Will Japan be over the heart of all of them? We need to know the answers to this!

In a similar vein, does anybody see the emergency gear release on the car anywhere? It's supposed to be clearly marked for safety reasons, and I'm not seeing it.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:35 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 223 words, total size 2 kb.

The things I do for you guys... Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you more pictures of the new R27 from Renault:

Boy, who'd have thought that orange, white, yellow and blue would go together so... um... well. more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 199 words, total size 2 kb.

Now for the car that's probably been the most eagerly awaited, the Adrian Newey-designed RB3.

I admire Newey, if for no other reason than he's probably the only car designer to actually use a drafting table. It's certainly more 'swoopy' than last year's RB2, particularly in the sidepods, but that's a Newey trademark. Amazingly, RedBull has the best wind-tunnel in the sport, so one would expect it to be cutting edge in the aerodynamic areas. Throw in the Renault-built engine, and the RB3 should be a substantial improvement over last year's car. Indeed, the leap should be quite large, from 'best of the backmarkers' to, perhaps, high mid-pack... certainly the equal of Williams, perhaps as good as BMW-Sauber, and at the outside, Honda-level?

The front drop in the wing seems lower than the Honda's, and better curved to boot. Unlike the McLaren, the air intakes seem LARGER than last year's car... which makes sense, actually, considering the overheating problems they had.

That rear wing sidepanel is quite interestingly shaped. It must be for aerodynamic reasons, but those cutouts at the back of the panel are... odd. The front wing sidepanels have that mini-winglet (now THAT'S small!) that's become all the rage in F1 circles. Note that the air intake 'hump' is even more brutally shaped than the gargantuan thing on the McLaren. More aerodynamics, or more cooling?

Alas, there weren't any studio shots taken; it was a low-key rollout, really.

In contrast to that, though, was the Renault debut a few days ago. Now that a little time has passed, I've been able to dig up better photos of the R27, and for comparison, similar shots of the R26. I'll be posting that on Saturday, so wait with bated breath until then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 295 words, total size 2 kb.

Okay, this is disappointing. Two rollouts in two days, and LOUSY photographs.

Here's the new Renault R27:

I'm sorry, but it looks like someone with food poisoning painted this... with their lunch. Simply put, I can't tell what's changed on the new Renault, because there aren't any "studio portraits" that I can find.

To make matters worse, here's the new Honda RA107:

While I really like the all-black livery, I also know that it's not going to last. Honda is going to have a 'paintjob party' in about a month, if you would believe it. The black also makes it difficult to see the changes.

For what it's worth, the Honda died on-track about a minute into it's first test. Oops.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 12:30 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 126 words, total size 1 kb.

...um...

...well...

...yeah, that's about it. Haven't found ANY good pictures of the new car, and the ones I HAVE seen pretty much point out that it's not worth the effort. Seriously. It looks identical to last year's car, save for (say it with me) a raised nose with endplates on the wings, smaller air intakes, yadda yadda yadda.

I have great hope for the team, and fully expect Robert Kubica to do well in the car this year, but it sure LOOKS dull.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

Toyota's car was nice. Ferrari's car was nice. But this...

...this is just obscene: the MP4-22 debuted today, and I'm diggin' it! Click below for more pr0n! more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 245 words, total size 2 kb.

Remember when I said that Ferrari was having the debut of their car on Sunday, but the car wasn't going to be ready?

They lied.

Unlike Toyota, Ferrari hasn't made any obvious changes to the bodywork, mostly because last year's 2-4-8 was pretty well-developed. Really, the biggest change isn't visible in the photos released by Ferrari: the wheelbase is a little longer, and the rear is a little narrower.

Another big change is the disappearance of the Vodaphone logo, which to my eyes is like the '80s McLaren cars missing the Marlboro logo. It just doesn't LOOK right... and I just realized that I'm analyzing the paintjob of the car. What is WRONG with me? More pr0n!

Also missing from the car, obviously, is Mitchell Schumacher, aka 'Slappy,' aka 'Parky.' I wonder if that's going to be a killer or not.

Oh. Almost forgot. Last year, Ferrari went back to their 'classic' numbering style, calling their 2006 car the '2-4-8.' This year? Back to their new style: this is the F2007. Woo-yay.

Monday is the scheduled debut of the McLaren challenger... and The Pond will be there! Er... not really, but we'll be HERE, with the pictures FROM there. See you then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 205 words, total size 2 kb.

Oh, baby! The first of the 2007 F1 cars was unveiled today...

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Toyota F107!

For more pictures and analysis, click below: more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 262 words, total size 2 kb.