{"id":1611,"date":"2016-02-21T18:45:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T18:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=1611"},"modified":"2016-02-21T18:45:48","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T18:45:48","slug":"f1-today-21022016-testing-preview-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/f1-today-21022016-testing-preview-special\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Today \u2013 21\/02\/2016 (Testing Preview Special)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes launch their new car <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mercedes have unveiled their first pictures of the 2016 car the W07 ahead of pre-season testing.\u00a0 Last week the team showed off videos of WO7 showing there fire-up and first runs during a filming day on Friday.<\/p>\n

The new cars studio images show a larger air intake above the driver’s head. Executive director Paddy Lowe says the team is confident of making a another clear step forward despite stability in the regulations.<\/p>\n

“It’s very tough to find performance under a stable set of regulations and we were particularly pleased with how the car turned out in 2015 when we had the same situation,” Lowe said. “The team did a fantastic job – digging very deep to find all sorts of innovations in areas that might have been considered static.<\/p>\n

He said it easier to carry over from season and gains maybe harder this season. He says this is what tests the engineers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Haas launch first F1 car <\/strong><\/p>\n

Haas has launched their first Formula One car ahead of preseason testing in Barcelona this week. The Ferrari powered VF-16 follows two years of preparation for their first season in Formula One.<\/p>\n

The name VF-16 goes back to the first CNC machine manufactured by Haas Automation, the VF-1, launched in 1988. The \u201cV\u201d stands for vertical, which is an industry standard designation for a vertical mill. But Gene Haas also joked the V stood for \u201cVery First One.\u201d The American team is closely associated with Ferrari and is based in K and in Banbury during the European season.<\/p>\n

Team Principal Guenther Steiner said the team goal is to score points this season. He said \u201cFirst, we need to go out there and show that we can do the job, that we can finish races, that we are respected by the fans and other teams in the paddock. Then, we want to score points. That is the ultimate goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sauber launch their livery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sauber have launched their 2016 livery in Barcelona. This week the team will not be running there 2016 car the C35 after the test was brought forward.<\/p>\n

This week the team will run an updated version of last year\u2019s car after not altering their schedule. The cars design is the same as last year\u2019s blue, yellow and white with new sponsors IFS and CNBC on the rear wing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

New innovations on the MP4-31<\/strong><\/p>\n

McLaren has also launched its new MP4-31 for pre-season testing saying that the stability in technical regulations has allowed them to strengthen and mature many of the design concepts developed on last years car.<\/p>\n

The team says the car features a significant number of all-new innovations. With the result is a balance of remarkably elegant aerodynamic solutions with a highly space-efficient integration of Honda\u2019s new-for-2016 power unit. They add that the team had a very strong winter.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso said \u201cLast year the spotlight was very much on McLaren-Honda as we embarked on the first year of our renewed partnership. It was a tricky season for all of us, but we learned a hell of a lot.<\/p>\n

Adding \u201cLikewise, it\u2019s been a very productive winter for me. I\u2019ve been training extremely hard, as usual, but also enjoying time with my family, and keeping tabs on all the hard work going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenson Button said \u201cI really can\u2019t wait to take the wheel of the new MP4-31 tomorrow. All Formula 1 drivers need a winter break, but I\u2019m massively excited to get started on the 2016 season now, and I have to say the brand-new McLaren-Honda MP4-31 really looks the part.<\/p>\n

\u201cdespite the challenging yet steep learning curve we all travelled along in 2015.\u00a0 In fact, the immense amount of sheer hard work that has gone into the development of the MP4-31 over the winter makes me immensely proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tamara\u2019s husband charged <\/strong><\/p>\n

The husband of Tamara Ecclestone Jay Rutland, has been charged with helping an international drugs baron to avoid justice. Rutland is accused of helping James Tarrent to escape capture.<\/p>\n

He was arrested at his office on suspicion of assisting an offender to avoid capture while awaiting trial for drugs and gun charges. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said he was bailed to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, March 16. Reports say he was formally arrested and charged with his lawyer today.<\/p>\n

Ms Ecclestone who has a 23-month old baby with Rutland according to The Sun newspaper says “Tamara is sick with worry about him being banged up but is putting a brave face on it. She is understandably very concerned about Jay and what could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has come as a bolt from the blue and is potentially very bad news especially given that they have a young daughter. However she is sticking by her man.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many more years at Mercedes \u2013 Rosberg <\/strong><\/p>\n

Nico Rosberg says he convinced that he will be at Mercedes “for many years”, ahead of his last season of his current deal. The contract negotiations are expected to be the main off track talking points this year.<\/p>\n

Rosberg joined the team in 2010 and his latest deal was a two year deal in 2014. Some reports say the German could leave at the end of 2016 if the intra-team balance of power does not change, the German isn’t anticipating a move anytime soon. Speaking to Sky Sports he said \u201cI’m sure there is going to be many more years to go here at Mercedes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding \u201cI feel comfortable here, I really enjoy being part of the team, we’ve achieved so much, and there’s even more to achieve in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has been warning that he or Hamilton could be forced out if there relations deteriorated to the point where the wider harmony inside the team was damaged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can read our preview<\/a> here and we will have extended reports through-out the week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercedes launch their new car Mercedes have unveiled their first pictures of the 2016 car the W07 ahead of pre-season testing.\u00a0 Last week the team showed off videos of WO7 showing there fire-up and first runs during a filming day on Friday. The new cars studio images show a larger air intake above the driver’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[42,664,675,707,754,808,871,882,884,1019,1031,1287,1289,1298,1424,1770,1773,1843,1952,1973],"class_list":["post-1611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-42","tag-f1","tag-f1-today","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-formula-one","tag-gene-haas","tag-guenter-steiner","tag-haas","tag-haas-f1","tag-jay-rutland","tag-jenson-button","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-honda","tag-mercedes","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-sauber","tag-sauber-ferrari","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-tamara-ecclestone","tag-testing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}