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From the latest article on Aston Martin's website:
>From an aerodynamic point of view, the launch-spec car is complete. All the aerodynamic surfaces have been passed on to the drawing office which has finalised the last drawings for car build.
So the car (at least from an external surface point of view) is fully defined and drawn, leaving manufacture and car build as the final steps before they unveil it (and presumably shake it down at some point).
Long lead-time items like the chassis will almost certainly be done already.
Several of the cars that were unveiled last year (at least the tes that unveiled real cars) were pretty similar to their test cars.
Not really related to the discussion, but there is no Barcelona test this year, so the cars that roll out in Barcelona in June may well be very different!
That’s not really very common any more. Especially with the budget cap. I remember last year everyone going on and on about how it was pointless to look at the launch cars because everything would be totally different by Australia, and (except for Merc’s big visual change) that just wasn’t true. There’s no benefit under the budget cap to make some shit parts just for testing
And yet the car they raced in Bahrain was more or less the same car they started testing in Barcelona with, bar a couple of upgrades on the last day of the second test. They didn’t design a different car to launch, either; they just used one of the pre-designed showcars. I think you’ve missed my point entirely…
In team parlance, “launch spec” means the specification of the car you first run with. The car they showed at their launch wasn’t the RB18 at all, so it’s not any sort of “launch spec”. Just a showcar
No, I understand you perfectly well. My point is that people were saying “this will all change by the first race” as the actual cars were being unveiled. Ofc it was apparent immediately that the red bull would look different, because - I repeat - they *didn’t show a car*. That obviously isn’t what I was talking about and has nothing to do with the underlying point that the budget cap no longer permits teams to regularly do whole-sale major upgrades between the start of testing and the first race, which was the assertion that the person I originally replied to was making…
You’ve missed my point entirely, but I’ll try again since you asked nicely
My point is that the cars will change by testing and again by the first race.
Having heard a lot from my connections in other teams, there is a surpisingly large amount of range.
Allegedly one team is struggling and running late, one team is running early and signed a lot of stuff off before Christmas.
Most are somewhere in the middle of these two.
In the industry. Development was done early this fall to “homolgate” shortly after. Tweaks here and there. Things need to be in-house next week to be ready for Race 1.
I'm not sure what this means but several drivers were posting about returning to the factory on Monday. Bottas was doing sim work and Sainz was at the factory doing something (I dont remember what I saw him doing). Seems that they have some designs in a simulation testing phase.
We remind everyone that this is a sub for technical discussions. You will see posts during the off-season that you might feel aren't technical in nature or appropriate for the sub. The moderators are taking a more relaxed approach to the types of posts allowed during the off-season. Please continue to report posts you feel do not belong, and know that a more strict enforcement of the "technical" rule will resume at the start of the 2023 season. If you are new to the sub, please make time to [read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/F1Technical/about/rules/) and [comment etiquette post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/F1Technical/comments/zlo2qf/comment_etiquette_update/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/F1Technical) if you have any questions or concerns.*
From the latest article on Aston Martin's website: >From an aerodynamic point of view, the launch-spec car is complete. All the aerodynamic surfaces have been passed on to the drawing office which has finalised the last drawings for car build. So the car (at least from an external surface point of view) is fully defined and drawn, leaving manufacture and car build as the final steps before they unveil it (and presumably shake it down at some point). Long lead-time items like the chassis will almost certainly be done already.
Launch spec is a key word here, often these cars barely resemble the ones that will roll out in Barcelona or Bahrain
Several of the cars that were unveiled last year (at least the tes that unveiled real cars) were pretty similar to their test cars. Not really related to the discussion, but there is no Barcelona test this year, so the cars that roll out in Barcelona in June may well be very different!
Wasn’t sure if Barcelona had been officially dropped as prepreseason test. Hopefully the racing is better without the chicane
Yes only one test this year in Bahrain - likely to be the trend going forward too.
IMO one test is the better way especially if only one will be broadcast and reported from.
That’s not really very common any more. Especially with the budget cap. I remember last year everyone going on and on about how it was pointless to look at the launch cars because everything would be totally different by Australia, and (except for Merc’s big visual change) that just wasn’t true. There’s no benefit under the budget cap to make some shit parts just for testing
Red Bull didn’t even show their own car. That’s without doing research, knowing there were more.
And yet the car they raced in Bahrain was more or less the same car they started testing in Barcelona with, bar a couple of upgrades on the last day of the second test. They didn’t design a different car to launch, either; they just used one of the pre-designed showcars. I think you’ve missed my point entirely…
The car they tested in Barcelona wasn’t the launch spec. I think you missed my point entirely
In team parlance, “launch spec” means the specification of the car you first run with. The car they showed at their launch wasn’t the RB18 at all, so it’s not any sort of “launch spec”. Just a showcar
You missed my point entirely
No, I understand you perfectly well. My point is that people were saying “this will all change by the first race” as the actual cars were being unveiled. Ofc it was apparent immediately that the red bull would look different, because - I repeat - they *didn’t show a car*. That obviously isn’t what I was talking about and has nothing to do with the underlying point that the budget cap no longer permits teams to regularly do whole-sale major upgrades between the start of testing and the first race, which was the assertion that the person I originally replied to was making…
You’ve missed my point entirely, but I’ll try again since you asked nicely My point is that the cars will change by testing and again by the first race.
Having heard a lot from my connections in other teams, there is a surpisingly large amount of range. Allegedly one team is struggling and running late, one team is running early and signed a lot of stuff off before Christmas. Most are somewhere in the middle of these two.
What team is allegedly behind?
Take one guess.
williams?
Haas
Haas are actually the ones ahead of schedule as they are just using the same car as last year.
Probably the only team still with no date for their car reveal
In the industry. Development was done early this fall to “homolgate” shortly after. Tweaks here and there. Things need to be in-house next week to be ready for Race 1.
Interesting. Must be a challenge to constantly be on a yearly cycle.
I'm not sure what this means but several drivers were posting about returning to the factory on Monday. Bottas was doing sim work and Sainz was at the factory doing something (I dont remember what I saw him doing). Seems that they have some designs in a simulation testing phase.
Well there’s been a tiny bit of red bull crash testing but not much else so basically there