First 2013 test is go!

Pre-season testing for the 2013 season launched today at Jerez with 10 of the 11 teams bringing their new cars. Most noticeable is that many of the teams have either got rid of the stepped noses or have at least smoothed them out with the obvious exception of Caterham which just looks so pretty!

So below is a run down in one nice blog post of all the new cars excluding Williams who will launch their new car on February 19th. Although just how similar they'll look by the first race will be interesting such is the pace of development in Formula 1.

Red Bull

They'll certainly be expecting to be in contention for the title again, especially after the brilliant development they showed last season to get Sebastian Vettel his third world title.

Rumours go that they're a little behind schedule with their new car, well according to Ted Kravitz on Sky's F1 review show, but then they started with such a high baseline I'm sure if they are, they won't be behind for long. Mark Webber will hope to challenge Vettel again.


Ferrari

Ferrari need to hit the ground running from the off this season if they want to finally deliver Fernando Alonso a long awaited third world title. 

Fernando can't be expected to drag their car to the top again. He's missing the first test, but Felipe Massa will be in the car for three days hoping to continue his end of 2012 form when he was the faster Ferrari driver. They'll be in the hunt for sure.



McLaren

Outwardly, the McLaren doesn't look much different from last year. Under the skin though, we're assured it's all change.

Jenson Button has had more influence over the car this year, if it suits him perfectly he'll be in with a chance, if not well McLaren could be in for a struggle this year. Button and new team mate Sergio Perez aren't exactly the best qualifiers in the business.


Lotus

The team from Enstone are certainly on an upward curve. I fully expect them to be even stronger than last year. Kimi Raikkonen is fully motivated to deliver more wins. Maybe not quite championship contenders, but certainly ones to watch.

Romain Grosjean is quick enough to challenge and I think he'll have learnt from his mistakes of 2012. If he hasn't he may not be here by the end of the season.


Mercedes

Perhaps the most exciting team to watch this year what with the addition of Lewis Hamilton. I fully expect him to win races. I worry about the long term future of the team though, there's a lot of messing about going on with the teams hierarchy, don't they know Ross Brawn will get it right if they leave him to it? 

I can't see Nico Rosberg beating Lewis, Hamilton is just too fast.


Sauber

Sauber tailed off towards the end of the year, but with the addition of the impressive Nico Hulkenberg, I'm sure they'll still be able to throw in the odd surprise result, maybe if they're lucky a win.

Esteban Gutierrez is the new driver replacing the missed Kamui Kobayashi who should have a drive. At least they keep their Mexican money after Perez joined McLaren.

Force India

Force India became one of the stronger teams towards the end of 2012 and should have won in Brazil. Paul di Resta keeps his seat and will be the teams main driver, with the second seat still yet to be announced but likely to go to Ferrari young driver Jules Bianchi.

I think this team could well end up surpassing Sauber as the team to watch for those surprise results.


Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso weren't exactly off the pace last year, but they certainly didn't get the points that they perhaps should have done. With the loss of HRT, they'll be hoping to have developed enough to keep out of the Q1 drop zone.

Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne deserve a decent opportunity. They certainly were upping their games towards the end of the year, I expect a few decent scraps for the lower end of the points.


Caterham

With the regulations allowing for the step noses to be got rid of, I think Caterham should have made more of an effort! But they're developing for further down the season as operation facilities were deemed more important.

They start the season with one years experience between both drivers. Charles Pic drove for Marussia last year while Geido van der Garde was in GP2. I think points are still some way off.


Marussia

I think Marussia could best Caterham this year, but entering their fourth season they really should be challenging for points at least. Still, it's their first car designed with the addition of a wind tunnel and they now have KERs so at least they're going in the right direction.

The loss of Timi Glock due to finances will be a blow, they have Max Chilton and Luiz Razia graduating from GP2, for a developing team a lack of F1 driving experience can't be the best thing in the world.


Williams

As I've said, their car is yet to be launched but I'm really excited about what they may offer us. I think they've got the potential to be challenging far higher than they finished last year. It was only Pastor Maldonado's attempts to crash into people and Bruno Senna's sluggishness in qualifying that prevented them scoring at least double the points they ended up with.

Maldonado should have learnt as he enters his third season with the team and Valtteri Bottas is a very exciting addition to the team, I expect big things from this team.

So there's the teams, the cars are out on track as I write, Formula 1 2013 is go, go, go!

all photo's from autosport.com

edited due to Marussia's announcement of Luiz Razia joining the team.