Category: Motor Racing

This is the new Marussia MR02 that will contest in this season’s Formula 1 World Championship. The new car was unveiled to the world’s press at the dawn of the first official day of pre-season testing at Jerez.

The MR02 is the first true product of the team’s revamped technical structure, following its mid-2011 decision to split with Wirth Research and the all-CFD philosophy.

The result means that the car has been developed in-house using the far more traditional method of a windtunnel. It is also their first car to feature the Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

Marussia hopes the MR02 will mark a step forward in terms of competitiveness as the team are still seeking for their first points finish.

“Whilst we have experienced some changes over the winter, the one area of stability we have enjoyed is the one that is most important to our progression from here, the design of our 2013 race car, led by our technical director Pat Symonds,” said team principal John Booth.

“We are confident that the MR02 is the product of evolving elements of last year’s package whilst integrating the new KERS system.

“It was said many times during 2012 that, notwithstanding the impressive steps we were taking in other areas of our development, KERS – or the lack of it – was the defining factor in determining our position relative to our immediate competitors.

“KERS was however a ‘strategic omission’ from our package until now; we opted to place the emphasis on aerodynamics, so that when we were in a position to bring the system to the car, we already had the strongest possible basis and its integration would be relatively straightforward.

“Thus far, this has certainly been the case, as our trackside engineering team have spent the winter refining their tools and preparing for the addition of KERS to ensure we can hit the ground running with effect from this week and use the short period of testing we have to get the car optimised for Melbourne.”

Even before pre-season testing has begun, the team was forced to release lead driver Timo Glock for financial reasons.

GP2 graduate Max Chilton is the only driver signed so far, with fellow rookie Luiz Razia as the favourite to take the second race seat at Marussia.

One of the most eagerly-anticipated Formula 1 race car has been unveiled at Jerez, on the eve of the first day of pre-season testing.

The Mercedes W04 had a brief shakedown run at the Spanish track ahead of its official launch to the world’s media.

With a new driver line-up in the shape of the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton partnered with last season’s Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg, the team have high expectations for the upcoming Formula 1 World Championship.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said the new season “marks the start of a second era for our Silver Arrows works team”.

“The restructuring we undertook at the team over the past 18 months are now growing in maturity and this is reflected in the F1 W04, which is a clear step forward in design and detail sophistication over its predecessor.

“Many thousands of hours of work have been invested by our technical teams in Brackley and Brixworth to ensure that the new car delivers a step change in performance compared to last season.

“We are also hugely proud to welcome Lewis to the team as a works Mercedes-Benz driver. With Lewis and Nico, we have what I believe to be the strongest driver line-up in Formula One and I know that a healthy level of competition between them both will help drive the team forward.”

The W04 has been optimised around a new five-element front wing and a second-generation Coanda exhaust. The Silver Arrows also retains the pushrod front suspension and a pullrod rear suspension.

Check the video below as Nico Rosberg drives the W04 for the first time:

On the eve of the first pre-season testing at Jerez, Scuderia Toro Rosso has reveals its 2013 Formula 1 car, the STR8, to the world’s press.

The Italian team finished in a distant ninth in last season’s constructors’ championship, although the outfit did finish the year strongly with six points finishes in the final nine events.

Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have been retained for their second full seasons driving for the Red Bull junior team.

The STR8 is the first car designed by the team’s new technical department heads James Key and Luca Furbatto.

“It’s very emotional,” said team boss Franz Tost. “The team has worked with a very high level of effort to come up with a great car and met the high expectations for this year. The goal is to finish sixth in the constructors’ championship.”

“Both drivers did a really good job last year, and I’m convinced if we supply them with a good car they’ll come up with surprise results.”

For the seventh successive year the Toro Rosso will be powered by Ferrari engines.

The championship-winning team Red Bull Racing unveiled its latest Formula 1 car, the RB9 at a launch in Milton Keynes.

Red Bull Racing took its third drivers’ and constructors’ championship last season, with Sebastian Vettel becoming the sport’s youngest ever triple champion after a close contest with Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso.

The RB9 will be powered by the Renault engine and it will be fascinating to see if the new car still has the edge over its rivals despite the restrictions in the sport’s regulations as technical director Adrian Newey acknowledges.

“It is increasingly difficult because there are no real regulations changes compared to this year and it will be the fifth season since the 2009 rule changes,” Newey said.

“The field is converging and you can see how competitive it is in the fact that we had eight different winners this year.”

The RB9 has a slightly revised colour scheme incorporating purple, to reflect the team’s title branding from Infiniti.

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel will again be partnered with Mark Webber. The RB9 will have its first shakedown run at Jerez during pre-season testing.

Watch the video on the building on the new Red Bull RB9 below:

This is the new livery that Sauber will race this season and the first impressions are, its looks fantastic! It reminds me of the classic 1993 car with the dark graphite style.

The C32 was revealed in an event at the team’s Hinwil headquarters in Switzerland. Sauber hopes that this new car will continue last season’s success – which included four podium finishes and sixth in the constructors’ championship – in the upcoming Formula 1 season.

Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn said that given last year’s results, Sauber wanted to build on the previous car’s strong points rather than starting afresh.

“I’m very excited, but also a little tense,” she said. “The aim is very clear and simple: we want to continue to improve ourselves.

“The Sauber C32 is based on its predecessor, which was a very competitive car.

“It had a lot of strengths and some weaknesses, and our engineers have worked to build on those strengths and eliminate the weaknesses.”

Sauber also has an all-new driver line-up for 2013, with Nico Hulkenberg joining from Force India while the team’s test driver Esteban Gutierrez has been promoted to the race seat.

This is the new Formula 1 car that the Scuderia hopes it can mount a serious challenge in this season’s world championship.

Ferrari presented its F138 at Maranello and has been developed with the aid of the ex-Toyota windtunnel in Cologne following the team’s decision to shut down its own unit in order to upgrade it.

The F138, whose name is a combination of the current year and a tribute to the V8 engines that will be used for the final time this season, is the 59th Grand Prix single-seater produced by the Italian outfit.

Ferrari hopes that the new car will be quick and trouble-free following a dismal performance by its predecessor when it made its testing debut last year.

Despite the issue, the historic Italian outfit managed to stay in the championship fight until the end of 2012, with Fernando Alonso losing out to his Red Bull Racing rival Sebastian Vettel in the season finale in Brazil by three points.

For the fourth year in succession, Ferrari has retained the driving talent of the 2005/06 world champion Fernando Alonso with the 2008 runner-up Felipe Massa.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali described the car as an “evolution” of the car, which the team raced in 2012 and said it represented the “first step” in the team’s development for this year.

The F138 retains the pull-rod front and rear suspension used on last year’s car. According to the Scuderia, the car’s bodywork has been redesigned to improve its aerodynamic performance, a key weakness of recent Ferraris.

The Kinetic Energy Recovery System has been revised and lightened. However Ferrari stressed they are keen to repeat the high levels of reliability they enjoyed with the F2012.

After securing a one-year contract extension thanks to his resurgence in the second half of the 2012, Felipe Massa will have the unique opportunity to shakedown the F138 for the first time during testing at Jerez.

Two-time world champion Alonso will be partnered by Felipe Massa again this year after the Brazilian secured a one-year contract extension thanks to his resurgence in the second half of the season.

Let’s hope the new car will perform well and can challenge for race wins and possibly the drivers’ title in the upcoming season.

Force India unveiled its 2013 car at the home of the British Grand Prix with the VJM06.

The Silverstone-based team finished seventh in last season’s constructors’ championship, despite increasing their points haul and could have won in Brazil thanks to Nico Hulkenberg’s spirited drive at Interlagos.

Hulkenberg has now moved to Sauber for 2013, and Force India has yet to announce who will partner Paul di Resta during the upcoming Formula 1 season.

Frenchman Jules Bianchi had been strongly linked with the drive, but he was present at Maranello during the launch of the new Ferrari F138.

The new VJM06 car will be powered by Mercedes engines for the fifth consecutive time and had a brief shakedown run at Silverstone before heading off to Jerez for proper pre-season testing.

“I’m eager to feel what the car is all about. We’re giving it a short test today to get a bit of an idea,” said di Resta, who admitted it was hard to make predictions for 2013.

“I think it’s difficult to set yourself targets, especially at this point. It’s consistency and working the momentum to carry over from last year.

“That’s the focus, to have a car that gets into Q3 and put ourselves into strong positions.”

Technical director Andrew Green said the limited scope for innovation under the technical rules forced them to be more aggressive in their pursuit of performance.

“I’ve pushed the guys quite hard in areas that’s outside their comfort zone,” said Green. “It is under the skin, you can’t see it from here: rear suspension, front suspension, aerodynamics have all been pushed hard.

“I think the guys have done a really good job over the winter and the car is a step improvement from last year. The car should be a lot more consistent, should be a lot easier to drive. We’re looking forward to Jerez to see whether it does what it says on the tin.”

He added that the team’s focus in testing will be getting to the bottom of Pirelli’s new tyres for 2013: “The new tyres haven’t had too much of an impact on this year’s design. It’s been quite small, really.

“We’ve left ourselves a few options to look after the tyres and keep them in their optimum windows.

“What it will do is drive our winter test programme massively. Our focus in testing will be all around the tyres. It’s one thing we don’t really understand at the moment and we probably won’t until we start running them.

“Ever in winter testing it will be difficult to get the complete picture, running around Barcelona is not going to be the same as running in Melbourne.”

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes became the second Formula 1 team to unveil its 2013 challenger with a public launch at the McLaren Technology Centre.

The Woking-based squad finished last season’s 20-race campaign in third position in the constructors’ championship behind Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari, even though the team scored as many victories as the world champions.

It may had been the quickest car in 2012 but the lack of reliability played its part that cost the opportunity for both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button the drivers’ title.

Hopefully the MP4-28 has stamped out these reliability issues and with a new driver line-up in the shape of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez (who joins from Sauber) for 2013, McLaren hopes it can challenge for the championship in the upcoming Formula One season.

“With Jenson and Checo, and this fantastic-looking new car, I believe we’re extremely well prepared for another competitive season,” said team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

“Jenson is driving better than ever – he’s the most experienced driver in Formula 1, but he makes every ounce of that experience count: he’s peerless in his ability to read a race and one of the very fastest drivers out there. He’s a consummate professional, too, and will revel in working hard to drive this team through the year.

“Checo joins us after a sensational 2012 season and he’s immediately proved that he’s intelligent, modest, hard-working and, make no mistake; very, very quick. Of course, there’ll be a learning curve to overcome as he gets used to our organisation, particularly during the hustle and bustle of the early-season race weekends, but he understands that we are placing no pressure on him.

“This is an exciting time for the whole team. In our 50th anniversary season, I want Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to underline why we are the finest grand prix team in the world.”

I must admit the new McLaren looks very similar to last season’s MP4-27 and yet the 2009 world champion insists that the MP4-28 has gone through enormous changes in the design.

“It is exactly the same colour scheme and I think it looks similar to last year, but it is completely different to last year under the skin,” he said.

“We know the regulations haven’t changed much since 2012 but it’s enough to make a difference.”

Let’s hope the difference is more than skin deep once the MP4-28 hits the track during the first week of testing at Jerez.

Watch the build-up to the launch of the new car including classic McLarens like the the M8D Can-Am sportscar, the 1974 M23, the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR and the MP4-13 from 1998.

Lotus F1 Team became the first outfit to unveil their 2013 race car for the upcoming Formula 1 season.

The E21 was revealed to the public via a live video broadcast on the team’s official YouTube channel, with an estimated 12,000+ viewers keenly excited to see the new car.

It must be said that the new E21 looks very similar to last year’s car, it even has the stepped nose! Although a splash of red indicating the new sponsors against the black and gold livery works quite well in my opinion.

Technical director James Allison said that while the E21 looked outwardly similar to its predecessor, it had undergone plenty of changes.

“There is a lot gone into it and it is going to be an exciting car,” he said. “The rules for 2013 are very, very similar to 2012 so you can expect a lot of family resemblance from the 2012 car, but the devil is in the detail and it adds up to a significant amount of performance.

“There are lots of new ideas and same concepts we have been pushing on with for a few years.”

Team principal Eric Boullier hopes the E21 will bring success in this season’s campaign with the squad aiming a target in finishing the constructors’ championship in the top three.

Lotus have retained the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for this season’s world championship and the pair will start their second year as team-mates.

Also unchanged is the team’s engine supplier Renault. This is the second car produced by the team since become the works Lotus outfit in 2012.

The E21 chassis name signifies the outfit’s twenty-first car produced by the Enstone team after racing in four different identities over the last couple of decades: Toleman, Benetton, Renault and Lotus.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how well the new Lotus E21 goes in pre-season testing in Spain. Will we see another race victory for Kimi Raikkonen after winning in Abu Dhabi last year?

As for Romain Grosjean, he has been given a second opportunity in Formula One despite his countless first-lap crashing including that massive startline pile-up at Spa-Francorchamps that earned him a race ban.

Close-up on the new Lotus E21 video:

This season of Formula One racing has been sensational. Six world champions on the grid, with eight drivers winning races – making history as the first seven Grand Prix were won by different people – and not forgetting the six teams who took the honour of winning such prestige events.

And yet in the end, it was the familiar result of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing taking the Drivers’ and Constructors’ world titles, for the third consecutive year. An impressive achievement despite a demanding 20-race schedule.

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