BlogF1

Following the launch of Red Bull’s fourth car to compete in Formula One, the second under the direction of technical director Adrian Newey, Red Bull have also confirmed Sebastien Buemi to the official test and reserve driver role. Buemi, who replaced Michael Ammermuller last year at some sessions will combine his duties with Red Bull with a drive in the GP2 series. The team also spoke to the media about their new car and the future prospects for the team. Continue Reading…

Red Bull Racing this morning launched their 2008 challenger, the RBR4. In now typical Red Bull fashion, the low-key unveiling took place at Jerez ahead of the final two days of testing, with a simple ceremony in the pitlane. The RBR4 is the second to come from the drawing board of Adrian Newey, an aerodynamicist who rose to fame with his championship winning Williams and McLarens. In 2007, the team experienced terrible reliability with the RBR3, mostly centred around the gear box and causing both drivers numerous retirements. However, 2008 sees good continuity within the team, retaining both drivers, the Renault engine and key engineering and development staff. Continue Reading…

BMW impressively launched their 2008 challenger this afternoon at the Welt building in Munich, allowing visiting press to speak with the team and drivers about their aspirations for the upcoming season. Team boss Mario Thiessen believes the F1.08 is a large step forward over its predecessor, the F1.07. Meanwhile, Nick Heidfeld is hoping for the teams maiden victory this year and breaking the stranglehold McLaren and Ferrari have over the front of the grid. Continue Reading…

Swiss-German team BMW today unveiled their third car to compete in Formula One, named the F1.08 and launched in Munich to the waiting media. The car appears to be a substantial development over last years F1.07 which performed well at the hands of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. Both drivers remain at the helm while test driver Timo Glock (now racing for Toyota) will be replaced, although no name has yet been given. Having finished 2007 in second place behind Ferrari, the team were essentially the third fastest as McLaren were disqualified. However, the squad have been buoyant all winter and expect to be fighting for more podiums and possibly a maiden victory in 2008. Continue Reading…

With the new Toyota TF108 launched, the employees at the Cologne headquarters have been busy discussing the 2008 car. The beleaguered squad seem confident that this year will see a turn around in the teams fortunes. I remain skeptical for now though, as this banter is thrown around every year, with added promises that they won’t do as badly as the year previous. And with a two season deadline to produce results, the pressure is on the Japanese team. Continue Reading…

Toyota have unveiled their TF108 challenger today, the car they hope will aid a return to form for the Japanese team. After a disastrous 2007 campaign, Toyota looked to be in real trouble, compounded recently when the team principal was given two years to get results. However, today is not one for the team to look back, but one to look forward. Drivers Jarno Truilli and Timo Glock and test driver Kamui Kobayashi took the wraps off the new car at the teams headquarters in Cologne, presenting the 2008 machine to the media. Continue Reading…

The spy saga that ripped through Formula One last year was bound to rear its ugly head at some point today, but McLaren spoke confidently about the legitimacy of their car, and to also warn others that the distractions of the past six months haven’t taken anything away from the development of the MP4-23. In all honesty, the issues that embroiled the team must have hurt some of the work on the teams 2008 campaign, but being such a large and organised team, I doubt it will have any affect on the upcoming season. And of course, further recriminations will not happen following McLaren’s unreserved apology to everyone. Continue Reading…

Below are some more photographs from the launch of the new McLaren MP4-23 that will campaign for the 2008 world titles. The quality of the images isn’t great (maybe they were taken by one of those mobile phones they all seem to be holding?) but it does show the car from a couple of different angles. Interestingly, both Ferrari and McLaren seem cagey about showing the rear end of their cars, with both launches limiting photos to top, front and side. Never the less, the cars will be taking to the circuits soon so I’m sure some new images won’t take too long to filter around the web. For now though, I’ll let you play the game, Why is Bernie at the McLaren launch? Continue Reading…

McLaren unveiled their 2008 challenger today at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart. The MP4-23 was revealed to the waiting press and photos were distributed of the new model. The cars will be numbered 22 and 23 following the teams exclusion from the 2007 championship after it was found they had beached the rules. But the 14th car to be powered by Mercedes is good to go following the end of the saga last year and the team are buoyant about their chances of winning the title in 2008. Continue Reading…

Earlier today Ferrari unveiled their F2008 challenger and distributed photographs and information about their 54th car. Now we can hear from key team personnel who designed and built machine, as well as from the two pilots who will hopefully defend the success of 2007; Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. But first, looking at the car we can see a few changes ourselves that show the impact the new regulations have on the vehicles. The most visually striking difference are the higher cockpit sides, introduced as a result of David Coulthard’s and Alex Wurz’s incident at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. Continue Reading…