planetf1.com

I know we have a car countdown - Anyone know of any release dates.

5th February is the first test at Jerez, and many teams will unveil then if not before.

Ferrari are usually one of the first to reveal their new cars, same with McLaren. They then do private shakedowns so for Ferrari it's usually at Maranello

The launches are usually around the first few days of February. Although you'll know about them much earlier.

If memory serves me right Caterham have been the first to unveil their cars for the last 2 years, usually in January some time.

Alienturnedhuman wrote:Yeah, Caterham do that because the first F1 team to unveil their car will get a boost in publicity, but if they waited until after one of the big teams no one would be interested.

Although, I fully expect everyone apart from McLaren and Ferrari will do web only unveilings or unveil them at the first test. The days of the teams launching their cars by shutting down a whole city centre at night and getting the cars to do laps under flood lights has long since passed.

Remember the Spice Girls helping launch McLaren's 1997 car?

I also remember the lauch of Caterham's car last year. Not because it was the first one, but because it redefined the word 'ugly' and everyone was about to follow suit (apart from Macca of course). Damn those step-noses!

"Force India first team to announce launch date. Feb 1 at Silverstone - mark it in your diary."

As per Jonathan Noble on Twitter.

MistaVega23 wrote:

Alienturnedhuman wrote:Yeah, Caterham do that because the first F1 team to unveil their car will get a boost in publicity, but if they waited until after one of the big teams no one would be interested.

Although, I fully expect everyone apart from McLaren and Ferrari will do web only unveilings or unveil them at the first test. The days of the teams launching their cars by shutting down a whole city centre at night and getting the cars to do laps under flood lights has long since passed.

Remember the Spice Girls helping launch McLaren's 1997 car?

I also remember the lauch of Caterham's car last year. Not because it was the first one, but because it redefined the word 'ugly' and everyone was about to follow suit (apart from Macca of course). Damn those step-noses!

Funny, the only recent launch that I can remember is Caterham too. I stared at F1 Racing in disbelief at the horror of it all.

I remember seeing the Caterham unveiled and thinking "I like the yellow Renault stripe at the back, the colours are really-OH F***ING SWEET JESUS WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FRONT?!?"

Then the others started coming out and I began to weep for the former beauty of F1. Then I heard Red Bull saying they had an elegant solution, had high hopes, and was ultimately left to think "Oh look, the paint job is still uninspiring, and joy, the nose is still ugly."

But... I distinctly remember seeing the Lotus and thinking it still looked good despite the nose, they had come up with an elegant solution. Still not beautiful, but certainly a looker amongst a pack of rejects from the ugly gang.

And then... McLaren unveiled their car, and I was delighted that I supported the beautiful team.

Looking forward to this year's unveilings, I get excited

I remember seeing some dodgy camera phone (I think, it was certainly poor quality) picture of the Caterham and wondering if Montoya had sat on the nose.

I maintain that the Ferrari was the ugliest of the lot. None of them you would describe as being a thing of beauty although the Lotus has grown on me.

I remember seeing the Caterham and thinking "These step noses might not be so bad"

Then the rest came along at it was more like

Finally there will be no more stepped up nose next year.

Ja'a wrote:Finally there will be no more stepped up nose next year.

Thank goodness.

I hope that Mercedes choose a darker green for their livery. The present one is a shade too uninspiring.

Zekenwolf wrote:

Ja'a wrote:Finally there will be no more stepped up nose next year.

Thank goodness.

I hope that Mercedes choose a darker green for their livery. The present one is a shade too uninspiring.

From Sauber to Mercedes, the green color has been the same. I think they need to adjust the silver tone so that it matches with Petronas' green. Personally i like the 2010 than present.

jammin78 wrote:"I like the yellow Renault stripe at the back, the colours are really-OH F***ING SWEET JESUS WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FRONT?!?"

(although it is a 'lotus' stripe)

jammin78 wrote: And then... McLaren unveiled their car, and I was delighted that I supported the beautiful team.

I immediately thought "well, they've sure got it wrong". Surely with 10 teams out of 11 coming up with the same solution to the 2012 rules, that solution was the right one.

Guess I was proven wrong as the Mclaren was pretty much the fastest out there

I assume they will all look roughly the same... perhaps the noses will be more like McLarens

Stepped noses remain for 2013, and than they are gone in 2014 with the new rules, or at least Bernie was mumbling something along the lines...

MistaVega23 wrote:

Alienturnedhuman wrote:Yeah, Caterham do that because the first F1 team to unveil their car will get a boost in publicity, but if they waited until after one of the big teams no one would be interested.

Although, I fully expect everyone apart from McLaren and Ferrari will do web only unveilings or unveil them at the first test. The days of the teams launching their cars by shutting down a whole city centre at night and getting the cars to do laps under flood lights has long since passed.

Remember the Spice Girls helping launch McLaren's 1997 car?

I also remember the lauch of Caterham's car last year. Not because it was the first one, but because it redefined the word 'ugly' and everyone was about to follow suit (apart from Macca of course). Damn those step-noses!

I actually thought the Merc and Lotus looked pretty good. The Ferrari though... woof...

Lt. Drebin wrote:Stepped noses remain for 2013, and than they are gone in 2014 with the new rules, or at least Bernie was mumbling something along the lines...

As far as I know the teams can cover the stepped noses, should they wish so.

mds wrote:

Lt. Drebin wrote:Stepped noses remain for 2013, and than they are gone in 2014 with the new rules, or at least Bernie was mumbling something along the lines...

As far as I know the teams can cover the stepped noses, should they wish so.

Yeah they are allowed a "Vanity panel" now.

Car launches used to be amazing, in the mid=late 90's and early 00's. I remember the Jordan being unveiled in London and the Mclaren being launched by the spice girls and benetton's being launched in style. none of this pulling the covers off at a test rubbish.

I miss that

foolishyouth wrote:Car launches used to be amazing, in the mid=late 90's and early 00's. I remember the Jordan being unveiled in London and the Mclaren being launched by the spice girls and benetton's being launched in style. none of this pulling the covers off at a test rubbish.

I miss that

The last team that unveil their car in style was BMW 2008.

McLaren 31st jan

potter84 wrote:McLaren 31st jan

Yep. Just saw that on f1.com. Looks like Macca is trying to 1-up FI lol.

Banana Man wrote:I remember seeing some dodgy camera phone (I think, it was certainly poor quality) picture of the Caterham and wondering if Montoya had sat on the nose.

I maintain that the Ferrari was the ugliest of the lot. None of them you would describe as being a thing of beauty although the Lotus has grown on me.

Exactly, the Lotus looked cool, as did the Merc (not as much as the Lotus but still cool).

I like cars that have an aggressive, predatory look. For example the 2009 Brawn (the only Brawn) isn't really my thing.

I genuinely thought the Merc was the best looking car of the 2012 launches (Macca included)...let's hope their 2013 contender is equally pretty...cos it ain't gonna be fast, right?

foolishyouth wrote:Car launches used to be amazing, in the mid=late 90's and early 00's. I remember the Jordan being unveiled in London and the Mclaren being launched by the spice girls and benetton's being launched in style. none of this pulling the covers off at a test rubbish.

I miss that

I kept being reminded of this every year come the launches. I really miss that era for the show it could provide. Now everything seems subdued.