F1 teams ready to kick-off launch season
Although the new year only started, the Formula One teams are already working flat out to complete their cars in time for the launch presentations and the pre-season test sessions that are scheduled for this month.
Ferrari will be, just like in 2007, the first team to unveil their 2008 challenger. On Sunday, the Scuderia will present their F2008 at Fiorano while Kimi Raikkonen will get the honours to run with the car for the first time on Monday.
Only one day after Ferrari, on Monday 7 January, McLaren will present the MP4-23 in Stuttgart in the Mercedes-Benz museum. This launch will be more modest than the huge spectacle from last year when McLaren unveiled their car in Valencia with a street demo and fireworks.
On Thursday 10 January, Toyota will present their TF108 to the press in their headquarters in Cologne.
Germany seems to be the theme of this year's launch season as the BMW Sauber F1 Team will also unveil their 2008 challenger in Germany. The team will present the F1.08 at BMW Welt in Munich and this on 14 January. Only one day later, the car will roll-out for the first time at Valencia.
Red Bull Racing will launch their car on 16 January during the test session at Jerez.
The Honda Racing F1 Team will unveil the RA108 in Brackley, the team's headquarters, on 29 January. We'll just have to wait and see if the team will go 'green' again in 2008.
Just like last year, Renault will first join a test session with their new car before the official launch on 31 January in Paris.
The Williams F1 Team announced that they are not planning a launch event as they wish to fully focus on the 2008 season.
The Scuderia Toro Rosso will start the 2008 season with an updated version of the 2007 STR02. So it is believed that the team will not organise a launch event.
Super Aguri and the newly renamed Force India still have to announce their 2008 driver line-up. Possibly, both teams will present their car during one of the test sessions or before the first GP of the season at Melbourne.
As you have noticed, it will be a very busy month for the F1 teams and for F1Technical as we will keep you up-to-date with all the latest news of the launches and test sessions.
The launch line-up:
January 6 - Ferrari F1 2008, Fiorano, Italy
January 7 - McLaren MP4-23, Stuttgart, Germany
January 10 - Toyota TF108, Cologne, Germany
January 14 - BMW Sauber F1.08, Munich, Germany
January 16 - Red Bull RB4, Jerez, Spain
January 29 - Honda RA108, Brackley, UK
January 31 - Renault R28, Paris, France
Pre-season testing:
January 14-16 - Jerez
January 22-24 - Valencia
February 1-3 - Barcelona
February 12-14 - Jerez
February 25-27 - Barcelona
