Tag: F1

New F1 Logo and a new Era in Formula One!
Formula1 has a new logo. And it is right in a way. The new F1 Logo is an attempt to rejuvenate the F1 style and showcase the future of F1 in the hands of Liberty Media, the current owners of F1.
The new logo intends to signify the heading of Formula One and its future. The change is the only constant, we know. However, at times change is necessary to be induced. Or at least that is what the men and women behind Liberty Media think and have acted now to rebrand F1.
An era that was…
The need for a new image for Formula1 was necessary. However, the logo was not to be on this list. They started off with taking away control from Bernie Ecclestone, representative of previous owners and a father figure (visually).
He had an iron fist dealing with a lot of partners and competitors in Formula 1. His iron fist was also made of sponge for select teams or individuals as well. It made him a negative figure in many corridors all the same.
Decoding the new F1 logo
The logo appears to be a radical departure from the outgoing logo. It is designed to showcase ‘Bold’ and ‘Aggressive’ nature of F1 cars and race tracks. The flowing ‘F’ denotes the race tracks, and red color signifies speed and energy.
The ‘1’ in the logo though, is an odd man out to me. It appears to me as a barrier than anything else to speed. However the way the designers envisioned it, the ‘1’ in the new logo is a finishing line. Many made fun of the way ‘F’ has been designed, some reading it as RR1 instead.
The old logo had a bit of magic going, where the ‘1’ was designed to appear in the negative space. It was damn creative back then and hold true even today. However, the new management did not see it making sense to them and negative space, after all, is negative.
The new typography
The best way to read more about the designs is to visit Creative Review, who had a first hand interaction with the team behind designing of new F1 logo. They have given a detailed account of the reason and the background work they undertook before coming up with the final logo that we see today. They give you an interesting look at the future. Here are a few snap shots from their site.

F1 typography Regular – Image from https://www.creativereview.co.uk

F1 typography Torque – Image from https://www.creativereview.co.uk

F1 typography Turbo – Image from https://www.creativereview.co.uk

F1 visual identity examples illustrative – Image from https://www.creativereview.co.uk
New Era
Liberty has already started bringing many changes after its acquisition. Like the social media exposure of the teams has immediately struck gold. Bernie had a strict policy of social media sharing of relevant F1 content like images and videos of races or its cars. The new regime has relaxed, to no small extent, sharing media on social networks, thus giving more freedom for teams and fans to collaborate.
It was important to let Formula One fans see that we are entering a new era.
– Ross Brawn, Motorsport Director, Formula One
Also, upcoming changes in the engine regulations led jointly by an ex-F1 team boss Ross Brawn (who bought out Honda to make Brawn GP and won a championship before selling out to Mercedes) and other interested manufacturers. Ross Brawn knows and understands F1 as few do.
The logo change does help in a way. I hope they use it wisely.
November 30, 2017
Preview: Formula1 in 2017, drivers and owners
Formula1 has been my interest since 2004, the year when Michael Schumacher reigned in his 6th title. He was an ambassador for sport, with his 6 titles and going strong. It was a year when I did not read through much of what the formula was, and how deep the details were.
Access to information related to Formula1 was scarce at that time, but not today. I have been a regular reader after that, reading F1 news and blogs that I know a lot today. I am still not a expert, (more…)
January 30, 2017
F1 Controversy: The Sebastian Vettel rant and why
Sebastian Vettel, the four times F1 World Champion, the German driving a Ferrari, gave out a rant to Max Verstappen, the hottest talent on the grid. It of course has to be a news. A click bait, if you will.
Call it a professional sport and denounce Vettel for the rant and offensive abuses he used. But truth be told, no other sport is devoid of it. Just because F1 allows you to read/listen (more…)
November 1, 2016
F1: An array of new cars, same old story
Oh yes, so we finally have concluded the first test and know more on how teams spent their winter. This year, the bells and whistles on car launches are far far less and many have opted for a soft, on the test day launch. Gone are the days, when F1 Car launches were a fanfare.
By now, you may have seen the liveries for all the competitors – do you like any of them in particular? Let me know in the comments below.
From all of the liveries, I would love to get rid of the black and greys and replace them with some colors like Blue, Orange and Green. Blue, yes you have Sauber wearing those colors however just one is not enough. Manor went smart with their version of Blue with Red and they look fantastic. While Force India continues evaluation of VJM09 which is more of C-spec version of the B-spec version team brought ahead last year at Silverstone.
McLaren continue to struggle thanks to the Honda engine and it will be really a embarrassing if Haas F1 team outscores them. They are the only ones who have failed to impress at the recently concluded first test at Circuit de Cataluña.
F1 gimmicks being planned this year as well – you have the elimination based Qualifying starting somewhere in the middle of the season which really doesn’t help much – really. I just hope that we see the back of the bosses who made some stupid decisions. The sport continues to be expensive and it is very difficult to get by for smaller teams.

February 27, 2016
The story of dirty Noses – F1 Cars
Last year, around the same time everyone was complaining about stepped noses cones of the F1 cars. This year, pretty much the same story, only a bit dirty. If you look at the three cars in the feature image, two of them have ‘anteater’ type noses, while Lotus F1 Team came up with a ‘fork-lift’ type nose never seen before in F1.
In my previous post, I wrote about Force India’s new livery, however FI only had released the picture of the car from one side and left everyone guessing how their nose has been. Though Andrew Green let it out in an interview that it looks more like an ‘anteater’. There you go, most of the cars (barring Lotus I guess) will have similar noses in 2014.
As the weekend starts, we will see more car launches and more disappointed fans with their favorite F1 car’s nose cone, often considered as the face of the car. Many are of the opinion that we all will get used to it. But with the amount of jokes people are making, I think it would be rather too difficult.
Fan comment on www.F1Fanatic.co.uk site
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January 25, 2014
VJM07: Force India Launches their livery
Force India broke its own record earlier yesterday when they launched their new livery. On the outset, this is by far their best looking car since they started in 2009 and this is a long way coming.
“The VJM07 looks stunning and the new livery reflects the way Sahara Force India is evolving,” says Vijay Mallya. “I’ve always believed our cars have been the most eye-catching, but adding black as a main color gives us a fierce new look”. The new livery brings a fresh trackside image for the team with the introduction of black alongside the traditional colors of saffron, white and green. (Reports FIF1 website)
The new livery is really attractive, and looks really aggressive unlike any of the previous editions. The predominant White has been replaced with Black, while retaining Orange and a slightly brighter green color.
Add to this an all new driver line up with one of the sought after pairing, it all looks positive for Force India. They have been consistently improving and are a very strong midfielders who, many across the world, not only in India, look up to. Everyone is expecting a podium from the Silver stone based team with such a strong setting, time will only tell how they would stack up against formidable competition.
The new design is based on the 2013 car VJM06, and looks a lot similar except for the odd nose design (to meet the new regulations). However, Andrew Green, Technical Director at Force India explains that the new car is different compared to its predecessor.
“Almost every single part is a new design, from the front wing right back to the diffuser. The genetics of the VJM07 still lie in the 2013 car, but we’ve had to achieve the same results in a slightly different way.”
Image Credits: ForceIndia F1 Website
January 22, 2014
Why Formula E when you already have Formula 1?
The news floated around last year (2012) when FIA conceived the idea of a racing series based on Formula 1, albeit with Electric engines. It spread to soon and many firms got immediate interest in setting up a team for themselves.
And one thing I personally loved of this development was there was an Indian team among them.
Mahindra Racing has been putting a commendable effort into the Moto3 series since 2011 and were the top 3 team. With their Indian bike business not starting off on the right note, Mahindra started to get involved in high-tech motorcycle races to get their R&D prowess in-house.
They also have a distinction of being the only Indian motorcycle manufacturer providing their vehicles to other racing teams. Like the Renaults and Ferrari’s of F1. For me, that definitely sounds volumes of how much Mahindra is dedicated to prove itself as a global manufacturer. (more…)
January 9, 2014
The Two Germans who championed F1
Two of the most famous champions in F1 are Germans. And that speaks something about Germany. Both drivers dominated the world of Formula1 but never with a German teams. But outside of F1, some of the world’s best cars are also made by Germans.
While Michael achieved his record of 7 championships of which 5 were back to back, Seb has 3 back to back and currently leading the championship tables by 39 points. Commendable. Sebastian had seen Schumacher as his idol while growing up and even has competed against him, a feat very few of all Schumacher admirers have achieved.
Why am I writing about Germany and F1 now? Well, in a way it has to do with Mercedes’ recent improvement in performance and me liking towards Nico Rosberg. I liked Nico ever since he was at Williams, and the reason why I paid attention to Williams F1 was in part due to Royal Bank of Scotland’s sponsorship – my then employers – and followed him to Mercedes F1 team. I also started liking another German, Nico Hulkenberg, after he raced for Force India F1 (my current favorites). (more…)
June 11, 2013
Stepped nose cone spoils the lookers!
After the recent announcements about the car launches at Jerez, the new design of the Formula 1 car that I saw didnt force me to make a Wow! epression. Further, the formula1 cars started looking ugly. Except for the McLaren’s MP4-27, almost all cars started to look ugly. More so our own Force India F1 (do you really want me to call them Sahara Force India F1???) with heavily revised side pods. They are appearing prudent. This is the first year I ever went this detailed into the look and feel of the car but this year, the lookers have turned ugly.
McLaren’s car is the best looker among all 2012 cars that have been released so far. Its far more identical to its predecessor, albeit the nose is placed lower lot to comply with this years regulations. “This is a beautiful car,” commented Button. “Many of them that you will see will not be!”. Well I could not agree more Jenson, but F1 cars are not build to look good anyways, right? Which brings me to the question about the performance difference the McLaren car may have as compared to others on the grid. On the first day at Jerez, Lotus topped the charts with Kimi showing no sign of rust after a gap of two years away from Formula1, followed closely by Paul di Resta for Force India. McLaren were placed a distant 8th.
The other car everyone was keen to know how it comes up was the RB8. The Red Bull challenger with the magical touch of Adrian Newly has its stakes held up higher as they are preparing to defent their title they hard earned last year?
Unofficial Tuesday test times from Jerez:
1. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus, 1:19.670, 73 Laps
2. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:19.772, 101 Laps
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:20.219, 56 Laps
4. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:20.496, 53 Laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:20.694, 57 Laps
6. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 1:20.794, 41 Laps
7. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:21.353, 106 Laps
8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:21.530, 60 Laps
9. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:22.815, 69 Laps
10. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:23.178, 28 Laps
11. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:23.371, 25 Laps
12. Pedro de la Rosa, HRT, 1:23.676, 44 Laps
Unofficial times as quoted from the Formula1.comwebsite.{EAV:233f5cc7c5e94067}
February 8, 2012
Bernie Ecclestone does an ad-vantage
F1 superemo, 80 years old Bernie Ecclestone is a man you hardly can associate with failure. On 25 November, Bernie had been attacked by a group of unknown strangers last month outside his offices in Knightsbridge, as thieves made off with his personal belongings including Jewellery after bruising him badly – including his £11,000 Hublot watch.
Instead of being shy and feeling embarrassed, the advent business man that he is, he immediately called up CEO of Hublot and shared his picture with a bruised eye and under lip with an idea for an advertisement, with a caption – “see what people will do for a Hublot”. Both with an equal sense of humor agreed to it as a brilliant PR opportunity, then came up the advertisement which showed up (un-edited) in the local newspapers yesterday.
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December 9, 2010
Group Lotus to become Renault title sponsors
For the next season until 2017, Group Lotus will be the title sponsor for the Renault F1 Team, the Forumla1.com website has reported. This comes as a significant move by Proton, the owner of Group Lotus brand name. Lotus, famous for making exotic sports cars, is a British marquee and was active in Formula1.
Next season onwards, the team will be known as Lotus Renault GP. Group Lotus will also become major equity partners in the Renault team with current owners Genii Capital. Mean while, Renault will continue to support the team as a supplier of engines and technological and engineering expertise.
Does this mean that Renault is finally planning to exit the Formula1 team management? For sure, this move points fingers to that question. Renault has bagged great bargain here. While it wont own the team, but it will have its brand prominent. Lotus is very exited about this new development.
To quote from Formula1.com: Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar said: “I can think of no better platform for automotive brand communications than motorsport and F1 is the very pinnacle of open-wheel racing. We’re well aware that there has been a lot of controversy around the usage of our brand in F1 and I’m delighted to be able to formally clarify our position once and for all: we are Lotus and we are back.”
The Malaysia backed Lotus Racing, the team that brought the Lotus name back to Formula1 (under licence) managed by Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes last season will be known during the 2011 Championship season as Team Lotus. They will continue to compete next year under the new name and they are switching their engine supplier from Cosworth to Renault.
December 8, 2010
F1 season gets set go!
Brilliant! Finally we have the F1 season starting today.
The show stealers at the first practice session were Force India’s Adrian Sutil (Well it gives me some patriotic shot in my arm) and Robert Kubica for Renault. Tonio had a fine run to be the 7th fastest while the 7 time world champ Schumi ended up 10th fastest.
This line up does not necessarily help predict the actual result since this is a time where you do practice sessions and testing and changes over the weekend for the race on Sunday.
March 12, 2010
Red Bull display their machinery
Come Sunday and all the F1 fans can feast their eyes with a RBR F1 car doing rounds on the recently inaugurated Bandra Worli sea link. The RBR 02 2005 car of David Coulthard will cruise on the sea link. The authorities had given their NOC to the event management company for the event with a raider. The election commission has to also approve since the state elections are just so close. Initially plans were put on hold but with their approval coming, the car can zoom.
But there is a catch. The Red Bull team will not be able to display the true speed. David will have to run the car just 20kmph above the pit land speed. That is not exceeding the 100 kmph. This might be a bit disappointing for all the F1 fans and Red Bull. Hope to catch the glimpse of the RBR.
October 9, 2009