F1 - General discussion and 2017

Norris joins McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme

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McLaren-Honda has announced the recruitment of another exciting talent to its Young Driver Programme, following Stoffel Vandoorne's successful graduation to a Formula 1 race seat for the 2017 season alongside Fernando Alonso.
Lando Norris, the champion of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Formula Renault 2.0 NEC and Toyota Racing Series last year, Nobuharu Matsu****a and Nyck de Vries as they aspire to follow Stoffel's winning trajectory all the way to the pinnacle of global motorsport.
Reaching that goal has never been more challenging. Even the most special talents need support on the journey, which is why the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme offers focused and personal guidance in every aspect of a young driver's craft.
To maintain peak physical and cognitive performance throughout the season, all members of the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme will benefit from the McLaren Applied Technologies Human Performance Programme, led by Dr Adam Hill. As part of that Programme, drivers will receive data-driven training support from the in-house Human Performance team.
McLaren is proud to have played a decisive role in building the careers of many stellar talents, both via the Young Driver Programme and via its ongoing support of the annual and prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
Since the inception of the Award in 1989, McLaren has been a great deal more than merely a name on a trophy: finalists are physically assessed in the McLaren Fitness and Wellbeing Centre; they are required to drive McLaren cars in on-track tests; senior McLaren personnel sit on the judging panel; and a real (and much-coveted) job with McLaren-Honda is part of the prize package. Lando is consequently starting that job this year.
In alphabetical order, McLaren-Honda's 2017 Young Driver Programme line-up is as follows:
Nobuharu Matsu****a (aged 23)
Having added to his tally of GP2 Series wins with an outstandingly dominant performance at Monaco last season, Nobu is setting his sights on attempting to become 2017 GP2 champion as he returns for another campaign with the ART Grand Prix team. He will also continue to act as a Formula 1 test and development driver for McLaren-Honda.
Lando Norris (aged 17)
After racing in - and winning - three complete series last season, and contesting selected events in British and European Formula 3, McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Lando will mount a full-time FIA European Formula 3 Championship campaign with Carlin in 2017.
Nyck de Vries (aged 22)
Twice a race winner in GP3 in 2016, having won the final race of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2015, and having taken the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship with five race wins in 2014, Nyck is now in the process of finalising a deal to run in a major international racing championship in 2017.
All the members of the programme will conduct extensive work in the team's Formula 1 simulator, alongside 29-year-old Oliver Turvey, who will retain his position as a test and development driver for McLaren-Honda, which role he has performed with distinction for the past eight years.
Oliver's remit will now expand to include mentoring McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme members as they familiarise themselves with the complex demands of the McLaren Technology Centre simulator and the technical feedback required to achieve correlation between the virtual world and on-track actualities. Oliver is a hugely experienced and valued member of the McLaren-Honda team, and in 2017 will dovetail his McLaren-Honda test and development duties with a Formula E race programme.
"I'm very excited by how fruitful the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme has been in bringing talented young drivers to the fore," said Eric Boullier. "It's a grand testament to the success of our Programme that first Kevin [Magnussen] and now Stoffel [Vandoorne] have succeeded in their ambitions to become Grand Prix drivers. And, although the Programme is a relatively recent creation, in truth we've been nurturing and developing the careers of up-and-coming drivers for many decades.
"It's our mission to equip the members of the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme with all the tools necessary to break through - because ours is a highly competitive world in which the difference between success and failure is mapped out in tiny nuances. It's a hallmark of McLaren-Honda's approach that we leave nothing to chance."
"For 2017, we are working with some fantastic young prospects," added Zak Brown. "Nobuharu [Matsu****a] is now the most senior driver on the programme. He's grown a lot during his time with us, and he's tackled what was a very steep learning curve for him - the transition from Japanese Formula 3 to GP2 - with great aplomb. Meanwhile, he's also provided valuable support to our Formula 1 project, through his extensive work in our simulator. GP2 is a tough championship to win, but we believe he's got what it takes to do it, and importantly he'll benefit from the stability of remaining with the ART team for his 2017 programme.
"Nyck [de Vries] is aiming to continue to push his racing career forwards, after marking himself out as a racer to be reckoned with in GP3 last year. He's been with McLaren since his karting days, and he combines real speed with a tremendous passion for racing, a steely determination and a super-professional attitude to everything he does. He's a very impressive young man and he'll be confirming his 2017 schedule shortly.
"New to us this year is Lando [Norris], with whom I've been working for some time. I regard Lando as a fabulous prospect - he blew the doors off his rivals in not one but three highly competitive race series last year, then capped that by establishing himself as the clear winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. It was an impressively mature performance, and we'll be developing him this year as part of our simulator team, whereby he'll be contributing directly and importantly to our Formula 1 campaign at the same time as honing and improving his technical feedback capabilities.
"In that task he has an excellent mentor in the form of our longstanding test and development driver, Oliver [Turvey]. Ollie is the linchpin of our simulator programme and a great role model for all members of the McLaren-Honda Young Driver Programme."
"I'm delighted that Nobuharu will continue to play an important role with McLaren-Honda as one of our Formula 1 team's test and development drivers," added Masashi Yamamoto (General Manager, Motor Sports Division, Honda Motor Co. Ltd). "Nobu is a promising young driver from Honda's Young Driver Programme; therefore I hope he absorbs much from the team through the Programme as well as contributing to the development of the car."
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http://www.pitpass.com/58308/Norris-joins-McLaren-Honda-Young-Driver-Programme
 
Force India F1 car 2017 reveal


Force India unveiled its 2017 Formula 1 car, the VJM10, at Silverstone on Wednesday.

The Mercedes-powered design will be driven by team regular Sergio Perez and former Manor driver Esteban Ocon, who replaces Renault-bound Nico Hulkenberg.

It is the 10th F1 challenger produced under the Force India name, with the sometime Jordan, Midland and Spyker team now nearly a decade into its stint under Vijay Mallya.

As was the case with the previous three F1 cars unveiled so far this year, the VJM10 features a thumb-tip nose and a shark fin, as well as significantly different front and rear wings to meet the new aero regulations come.

Force India enjoyed its strongest season to date in 2016, when it finished in fourth place in the constructors' championship with 173 points, beating the likes of Williams and McLaren.

"I'm very excited," said Mallya as the car was unveiled.

"Many commentators have said we punch well above our weight and to add to that we are world champions for the amount of money spent.

"It is a huge compliment, it speaks volumes for the passions, creativity and talent of my team and everyone at the factory.

"This passsion will get more intense and the passion to improve further is going to be pretty relevant in 2017."

Technical director Andy Green said the scale of design change prompted by the new regulations was much higher than usual.

"Compared to previous seasons, this is as close to brand new - it is 95% brand new," he said.

"The philosophy is similar but we are effectively starting from scratch.

"It was a jigsaw to put togther but we have the basis of a car now."

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128208
 
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2017 Mercedes breaks cover at Silverstone

World champions Mercedes have put the first laps on their 2017 car ahead of its official unveiling later on Thursday. Lewis Hamilton was at the wheel of the W08 for its track debut at the UK’s Silverstone circuit.

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Source
 
What the heck tires are those?
I foresee lots of argy-bargy accidents this year.
 
Heavyonthemagick said:
Ja, doesn't look very wet. I assume at some point they did a bit of artificial rain.
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Yeah, my thoughts too when I saw that; the track is bone dry. That being said, they might just have slapped on for some promotional pictures. Not the first time a team would've done that.
 
Agent_Smith said:
Yeah, my thoughts too when I saw that; the track is bone dry. That being said, they might just have slapped on for some promotional pictures. Not the first time a team would've done that.
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Might even be a mini test to see how quickly wet get chewed up by a dry track... Lewis have used the tactic before where he would weight up the options and stay on wet while some are using intermediates or even slicks. In F1, virtually any and all info is useful info.
 
Well according to Ferrari on twitter the above link is live.
I just get a blank screen.
So much for the Ferrari Launch, they can't even get that right.
Roll on McLaren at 1PM, that we know will work.
 
caroper said:
Well according to Ferrari on twitter the above link is live.
I just get a blank screen.
So much for the Ferrari Launch, they can't even get that right.
Roll on McLaren at 1PM, that we know will work.
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Works for me, but getting this:
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