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McLaren have unveiled the first fundamentally new colour scheme on their Formula 1 car for 18 years.
The team have ditched the predominantly silver livery they have sported since 1997 in favour of graphite grey, with day-glo orange highlights.
It is only the second major change of colour scheme for the team since 1974.
A spokesman described the new design as "a dynamic, predatory graphite-grey colouration, complemented by McLaren day-glow 'speedmarks' and key lines".
He added that the idea was to "optimise (the car) not only for bright sunshine but also for floodlights used in twilight and night race".
The livery will make its first appearance at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The team hope for a step forward in performance at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, following a troubled start to the season in which they have begun a new engine partnership with Honda.
McLaren have failed to score any points so far and have only once managed to get a car through the first knock-out part of qualifying.
The team have upgrades on both chassis and engine for this weekend's race.
Racing director Eric Boullier said: "We know that one fix or upgrade won't provide a significant upturn in performance, so we're united in our continued efforts to bring further gains to both chassis and power unit, in terms of both reliability and outright performance, step by step."
"New package in Barcelona for Ferrari that can bring up to 0.3s per lap"
It was from a German website, here is the translation of the article:
European race of the Formula 1 season . All teams make new parts and modified aerodynamics at the start.
Sebastian Vettel receives as Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen a new front and rear wings, an improved diffuser (increased pressure) and updated software for the engine. The full power package can accommodate up to three tenths per lap.
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Ferrari is definitely the place to be this year, sounds like the lads are having a fantastic time in the garage and out on track:
Sharing his thoughts on his relationship with his team-mate, Raikkonen told CNN's The Circuit: "The feeling inside the team is just great. We are trying to get Ferrari in a winning position every weekend.
"We know each other. He's a very normal guy and he's easy to work with.
"There's no politics, if there's something wrong we can say to each other and work it out."
He added: "We are trying to beat each other.
"But it's a nice friendly fight and it's great for the team. The whole atmosphere inside the team is great."
As for his future and whether or not he'll be a Ferrari driver in 2016, Raikkonen says "yes, of course" he wants to stay on.
He added: "They know very well what I would like to do, and we have a very good understanding but until there is something 100% you don't know.
"We all know what we want to achieve this year and in the future."
I'm so ready for this weekend, bring on Catalunya!
Racerx
Hamilton revealed in March that a new deal with the Brackley outfit was all but done, stating that the negotiations were "99.6 percent" complete.
After splitting with his advisors last year, the 30-year-old now represents himself, and prior to the Chinese Grand Prix he indicated that a new contract had been delayed due to this fact.
"Obviously at the last race I said it would be done within a week, this is my first time negotiating myself and you don't know how many times I've had to read about 80 pages — it is so much reading and it is all in lawyer jargon. So it has been a quite a pain in the backside to be honest," he told Sky Sports.
This delay has only further fuelled suggestions that Hamilton is considering a switch to the Scuderia, who have enjoyed a resurgence this season after a number of campaigns on the periphery.
The prospect of Hamilton battling for internal dominance with Sebastian Vettel is certainly a mouth-watering one for F1 fans, but whether such a battle becomes a reality remains to be seen.
However, Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has downplayed the speculation.
"Why do I need Lewis Hamilton when I have a heavyweight like Vettel?" he told the Bild newspaper.
The Italian went on to say that he would "rather look around for a young, talented driver to unite with Sebastian."
Those comments have led to some suggestions that Valtteri Bottas has signed a pre-agreement with the Italian outfit but Arrivabene refused to confirm or deny that rumour.
He said: "I promised in the pre-season that I would never lie to you [the media], but for this question it is too early to give a precise answer."
Pit Row
The level people will go to to keep stuff secret is unreal, i have heard tales of seat fitting sessions in the dead of night with one guy present and sworn to secrecy..
With everyone knowing everyone else , its pretty much impossible for anything to happen in secret , even top level staff transfers are cloak and dagger.
That said , everyone said that Hamilton was brave to leave McLaren for Mercedes , but he knew where they were at , the Mercedes HPE factory was years ahead of everyone on the new power unit development, im pretty sure they were on it before it was even confirmed what the rules would actually be, because at the time , there was rumours of a 'global' powerplant that would power F1, WRC, and WTC using the same basic power unit to drive all 3 series, at Ilmor im sure we had feasability stuff done , to see if we could attract a manufacturer, but it didnt happen , the numbers involved after it went only as F1 meant it wasnt possible to make money , without a manufacturer to back it up.
My friend was the Manufacturing Engineer on the block machining , and he was working on it when i left Ilmor in 2010, and i think it ran it 2011.
So Hamilton knew he would be having the same engine , so the risk was of that not working out was low, and with Ross Brawn involved, it was always going to work.... now Lauda is there , im not so sure how long it will last, he ran Jaguar F1 into the ground full throttle .
As powerplants go , the Honda Indy V8 was a great motor, we built it for Indy, and HPD built it for American Le Mans, it only died a death because they wanted engine competition, and a fresh motor was the only way to go.. was funny that while we were running the tail end of the Honda project, we were also developing the Chevy engine to be the competition to its replacement.
The big problem with the F1 engine rules now is that because you have so few engines at your disposal , the unit cost is huge because the development costs have such a small amount to be spread over, i think we did 80 motors a year for Indy , which were rotated between the 25 odd cars (33 for Indy) , and it ran for years, cost next to nothing by the end, and was bulletproof, which also kept costs down.
I sometimes wonder who thinks up these stupid ideas, but then you see Bernie interviewed , and you need look no further.
Watch Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso's reaction to racing Ayrton Senna's iconic MP4/4 at the Circuit de Catalunya.
https://youtu.be/Mt-QOtOeQk0
Spanish GP: Tear-off caused Fernando Alonso's McLaren brake issue
McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has raised concerns about the disposal of Formula 1 visor tear-off strips after a freak incident caused the end of Fernando Alonso's Spanish Grand Prix.
Alonso was forced to retire with a brake issue, resulting in "a scary moment" as he overshot his pit box, sending the front jack flying.
The cause has now been confirmed by Boullier as a tear-off strip that lodged in the right-rear brake duct, blocking the air intake and so boiling the fluid.
"It was a tear-off, and we have video footage that shows this," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.
"It went straight into the brake duct, obstructing the airflow, so there was no more cooling and that was why, in two laps, the temperatures went through the roof.
"The brake fluid boiled and we lost the brakes, so it was a complete fluke the tear-off should get lodged in there."
It is not the first time Boullier has encountered such a problem as the same occurred to Kimi Raikkonen during his time at Lotus in the 2013 Belgian GP.
"To be honest, I remember the same stupid thing happened with Kimi, that a tear-off went into the front brake," added Boullier.
"Obviously the drivers need them, but we need to maybe think about how and where we throw them. Maybe we need to think about something for the future."
Boullier has expressed relief the front-jack man was uninjured after showing lightning reflexes to avoid being run over by Alonso.
"Everybody knew Fernando had brake issues," added Boullier.
"The brakes had started to fall off the cliff when he came into the pitlane.
From autosport.com
"Obviously it was a very good reaction from the front-jack man. Thankfully nothing happened to him."
Red Bull are frustrated with partner Renault's failure to master the hybrid engines introduced into F1 last year.
Motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said Red Bull were interested in doing a deal that would see Audi enter F1.
"If we don't have a competitive engine in the near future, then either Audi is coming or we are out," said Marko.
But he denied Red Bull had already been in formal talks with the German company, which is part of the Volkswagen Group.
Marko told BBC Sport: "There are so many rumours. Officially there was no request or talks. The VW Group first has to sort out who will be the new chief of support, who will run the brand of VW, and when they have sorted all these things maybe then they can think about what they are doing in motorsport.
"I was on the phone but not to the people you think."
Like all teams, Red Bull have a contractual commitment to race in F1 until 2020. They also have a contract with Renault at least until the end of the 2016 season.
Marko's remarks are a reference to a power struggle taking place at the very top of the VW Group, which also has Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda and Seat among its brands.
Ferdinand Piech, who had led the German giant for more than 20 years, resigned as chairman last month.
The 78-year-old was a staunch opponent of any of VW's brands entering F1, partly because of his personal antipathy towards F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Uncertainty continues to surround the senior management of Audi as a replacement for Piech has not yet been announced. His two nieces were appointed to the board to replace him and his wife, who resigned at the same time.
Senior sources in the German car industry believe Audi chairman Rupert Stadler is keen on an F1 entry, but that idea was vetoed in January by Piech.
The team had further trouble with their Renault engines at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend.
Reliability problems mean Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has already used four engines this season - which is as many as each driver is allowed to use throughout the year.
Red Bull, whose other driver Daniil Kvyat has also suffered engine failures, know it is inevitable they will be hit by grid penalties for using extra engines.
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, by contrast, have used only one engine for all five races so far.
Marko said: "I hope the reliability issues are solved pretty soon because it is really depressing how much we are losing on the straights."
He added: "Renault see the problems themselves and we have to try and find out these problems together. It is not only reliability, it is also that we did not run most of the practice sessions because of other issues. It is also a quality problem. "
Look at what McLaren is going thru with the new Honda engine this year. How good do you think a new Audi, Porsche or Volkswagen package would be?
Red Bull are smart enough to wait for Sauber or Force India or someone like that to spend all the development time and heartbreak and then swoop in to get the fully-sorted package (assuming it ever got sorted)
These new engine-power units are really hard to get right, and then to get them packaged properly in the chassis is another challenge.
Mercedes and Ferrari have the best packages, and it is not a coincidence that they have their own chassis built around the power units and control the complete final product.
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