Melbourne GP 2020 - pics from pitlane

[Jeff]

Hello friends,

here is the usual; stay safe, and hopefully we'll see some racing action before too long.


MERCEDES W11












Mercedes will permanently retain a red star in its livery, in tribute to the late Niki Lauda














Valtteri Bottas


The Mercedes seems particularly 'sculpted' this year, closely hugging the mechanical internals














the leading edges of the frontwing elements are bare carbon fibre, but the main surfaces are painted gloss black














Front wheel


Rear wheel


































While the Mercedes waits outside the scrutineering bay, Alex Premat in Formula S5000 car cruises past. These cars are louder than the F1's.






FERRARI SF1000

Viking horns are back!




early morning pitwalk - little to see


pre-pitstop practice warmup






note the glossy clear film around the #16 sticker. Same thing around the #5 sticker on the other car.




























cataloguing all the wheelnuts




Aussie V8 Supercars coming through


The Castrol livery is very attractive








note the glossy clear film (I assume) at the rear of the cowl












Charles Leclerc




when the tyres are fresh, they have a glossy band around the inner and outer edges, this was the case starting last year






















pitot tube on Vettel's car


different pitot tube on Leclerc's car






note circuit map on the cockpit wall














a few modellers are having issues getting the big Shell decal on their SF70H model kit to sit nice and flat on the sidepod. Here’s how Ferrari do it: the sticker comes in two halves, cut vertically down the centre line




RED BULL RB16










centre of attention








Looks to be remnants of the green fluoro “FLOW VIS” fluid in the nose intake


























McLAREN MCL35


















































RENAULT RS20


























































APHA TAURI AT01












































RACING POINT RP20
almost a perfect copy of last year's Mercedes










































ALFA ROMEO C39
unfortunately didn't see too much of this car






























HAAS VF20
































in certain light/angles, you see a tiger-stripe effect in the bare carbon fibre fin










WILLIAMS FW43


I think the Williams team had their Spotify set to "classic Middle of the road MOR", as I heard Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" and ELO's "I'm Alive" coming from their garage. A few people in the crowd wanted to hear more modern music


























Other stuff




The Minardi name is still alive, they run the two-seater demo car




best Uber in town, with ex-F1 driver Szolt Baumgartner as your chauffeur


A pleasant surprise - Williams FW07


Another pleasant surprise - BMW IMSA CSL (not original, but a very good reproduction)






Greetings from your correspondent

[AJP01]

My sincere thanks for making these available for us to see. You have one heck of a camera; your photos are better than those on F1Technical which is already good - but yours are superb.

Adrian is up to something with that nose on the RB. Such a clever guy. The Mclaren's front suspension arrangement also looks very keen in the rocker/torsion bar/damper area. Nice work on those.

When I see images like these and I realize how much development and fluid dynamics / aero work must be going into the design of these parts (and their complex interactions) it makes it easy to see how some teams are always at the top and others struggle. This is still the pinnacle of motorsport even if we like to criticize it sometimes, even just for the sheer difficulty of designing and building something that complex, fragile, and yet (expected to be) reliable.

Thanks loads mate!
AJ

[SebLeung]

Incredible photos! These will be incredibly valuable if any these cars are ever made into kits.

[waxdart]

Outstanding shots, every year you continue to impress! Thank you, Tim Keily

[Jordan2.0]

Thank you Jeff ! Every year..like clockwork PERFECT !

Alex.

[gp-models]

Awesome pics Jeff, thx for posting these every year!

[gtziaf]

Awesome photos! Thanks for sharing.

[Flemming]

As regular as clockwork!

Huge thanks for the very detailed shots. A lot!!! One must say that the cars are getting more and more intricate every year and the finishes will be huge pains in the behind for the detailoriented modeller. Like the gloss area on the rear bodywork on the Ferrari! And what about the 'stripey' fin on the Haas and a lot of areas of gloss carbon in a lot of directions... Not easy for the modellers!

Flemming

[racingkars]

Thnx for these!

[Formulamike]

Many Thanks for this great pictures and the great work to show this.

Mike