F138 / VJM06 / C32

I have a triple threat package for you today! In the past couple of days we've had releases in Italy, Switzerland and Silverstone! 

F138

Runners up to both the drivers and constructors championship last year, all eyes were in Maranello to see if the F138 was the car that can deliver Fernando Alonso his 3rd title.



Immediately the first thing I noticed was the amount of black on the bottom of the car! If you read my live coverage of the E21 launch you'll see how much I commented on the addition of the red and how much I disliked it. It now appears that Lotus stole Ferrari's red, and Ferrari stole Lotus's black! Only I really like the black on the Ferrari, it's the biggest addition of colour to the traditional red since the white on the wings which they have also kept.

Even though teams should be planning for the huge design process of 2014, Ferrari must focus on this seasons testing due to the embarrassing performance last year . Even though Fernando managed to squeeze every drop of performance to salvage a miracle second place finish, the team will be looking to hit the ground running considering the teams around them and their ambitions; McLaren will surely back Button in the early stages, Lotus are looking for a top three finish with Kimi in contention for the championship and somebody needs to catch the Bull, Alonso looks to be the closest to do it.

The suspension is the same as last year providing the smooth drive that Fernando craves. Most of the changes have occurred at the rear of the car. 

Fernando will not be the only one benefiting from the F138's changes. A revived Felipe Massa will be hoping that this is the car that shows his team that he can drive as well as Alonso on his best day. Was he the best man for the seat? That's honestly your opinion. For me, I would have had someone different, but 2012 was the season where I seen Massa for who he is, a fighter. I just want to see more of it.

The F138 is the second car released without the exposure of the stepped nose. The vanity panel reminds us of the shape we know and love. Ferrari definitely had one of the ugliest boxers nose last year so this is certainly an extremely positive feature. It's a really beautiful looking car and I dare say the best looking yet.

VJM06

If Force India don't have the common decency to announce a second driver, then I don't have the time nor want to write up a decent report. It's still orange, green and white. It's got a vanity panel. Love Paul di Resta. Get it sorted guys.








C32 

So far from all of the launches, this is by and far the most developed car both in terms of livery and technical aspects.

The side pods have been completely re-imagined. Chief designer Matt Morris stated that the side pods have been made smaller and narrower following findings after they examined the wreckage of Sergio Perez's 2011 Sauber at Monaco where he had a devastating crash during qualifying.

Following a more than impressive campaign that saw four podiums and a young driver head to one of the top four teams, Sauber have gone on a development rampage, creating a brand new braking system, making the chassis lighter and of course designing an all new colour scheme. Not the most important aspect of a car, but I'm a guy who is particularly fond of the livery's as you may have already gathered! It is a very beautiful scheme, hard to pull off with a grey-ish colour but it really looks the part here!

Sauber have also followed suit by adding a vanity panel, or a cover for the stepped nose and they desperately needed it. I maintain that Sauber had the worst stepped nose last season, it was like two 90 degree angles. Absolutely horrible! This means Lotus are still (at the time of this blog) the only team to keep the ugly stepped nose, a design that is supposed to add more aero performance. My issue is, if the other teams are adding these vanity panels, then surely there's no performance to lose?! Get the bloody thing off [James] Allison!

With an all new driver line up in GP2 ace Esteban Gutierrez and future racing superstar Nico Hulkenberg, first ever female F1 boss Monisha Kaltenborn will be praying that the extreme design changes will raise the bar first set by their 2012 season.