Sauber, Red Bull and Toro Rosso launch 2012 cars

On the 6^th of February 2012 the world was introduced to 3 more F1 cars.

Sauber were to first to launch their 2012 challenger, the C31, at 10AM. Red Bull shortly followed at 1PM with their highly anticipated RB8. Lastly Toro Rosso launched their STR7 at 4.30PM. It has been a busy day so all the launches will be covered in one article.

Click "read more" to see the full launch details.

Sauber

Sauber showed off their new F1 2012 challenger, the C31, at the Jerez test track. The unveiling of the new car showed the more aggressive Grey, White and Red colour scheme and the now famous platypus nose cone. The appearance of the car is significantly boxier, with blunter and sharper lines. The team revealed that the car on show is really just a “basic roll-out version”.

Peter Sauber, team owner, says the new design is evolutionary in some areas but "boasts a large number of promising new developments" in others, such as a switch to the popular pull-rod rear suspension arrangement and more tightly packaged rear bodywork to allow more air into that area, as well as very small side pods to boost the amount of airflow getting to the rear of the car. There is also a brand new gearbox

The team had a strong 2011 at the beginning, but slipped down towards the end dot an eventual 7^th in the constructors. The 2011 drivers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez have been retained for this year.

Japanese driver Kobayashi said "2012 will be not only my third season in Formula 1, but also my third with the same team.” He then added “I'm really looking forward to the new season with the Sauber F1 Team."

The team however lost an important member of the team recently, James Keys who was the team’s technical director.

The team unveiled their car at the Jerez track before Kobayashi took it for a test run.

Red Bull

The Red Bull RB8 has been one of the most hotly anticipated cars of the year. All eyes were on them at 1PM, to see what Adrian Newey, technical director, has done with the new rules and regulations.

The Red Bull has gone for the increasingly popular hump or dipped nose cone. The nose cone is think and flat. However the step seems to be at a slightly different angle, making it a tad more appealing on the eye. With the banning of the blown diffuser Adrian Newey, technical director, admitted they have lost a lot of “exhaust technology” and said they have had to go “back” to look at the development of the RB7, which was based around the exhaust, and re-evaluate.

The RB8 is the predecessor of the RB7, which took 12 wins and pole position at every round bar 1. It also took Sebastian Vettel and the whole team to both the driver and constructors titles. The car is said to be the 4^th revolution of the 2009 car and has had to be completely re-evaluated to make it suitable for the regulations.

The car was launched in Jerez at 1PM and showed off the car’s new look with the existing livery. Driving the 2012 car will be Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The due go into their 4^th season as tea mates. Vettel said on the new 2012 car "The target is obviously to try to do it again and try to get everything out of ourselves. So we will see how we get on with the new car, RB8."

Webber also had a lot to say on the launch, revealing "I think off the back of last year many sportsmen or women when you don't get the most out of a situation you always want to come back and improve and do a better job, The bar has been lifted very, very high in the last few seasons and it's the challenge I'm looking forward to. I've had a really good winter and prepared for the season as best I can so I'm looking forward to the new season, I just cannot wait to get racing. We can talk a lot about it but we need to get on the track."

We will have to wait and see how the RB8 stacks up to the rest of the pack, but it will certainly be near the top.

Toro Rosso

The Toro Rosso team, junior team of Red Bull, launched their STR7 at the Jerez circuit. The 4:30PM launch saw the covers coming off on their 2012 machine.

The car follows the stepped nose cone, like many of the others. The livery of the car however does seem to flatter it. The car will be powered by the Ferrari engine again, with repackaged mechanics and bodywork. The side pods are slightly larger than those of the Sauber and Red Bull, with the rear of the car tightly packaged to give more down force.

The 2012 car will also have 2 new drivers. Daniel Ricciardo drove for the HRT team last year, 8 rounds as the Toro Rosso test driver and 11 as the HRT driver. Ricciardo goes into his first full season as a driver. Alongside the Australian is Jean Eric-Vergne. The Frenchman is looking forward to his debut race in Australia and is feeling rather optimistic.

The Italian team finished 8^th in the 2011 constructor’s title after a good end of the year with drivers Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. Buemi moved to the main team, Red Bull, for 2012 to take up their reserve driver seat. Alguersuari does not have a seat for 2012 or though it has come to light he was offered a seat, but thought his career at Toro Rosso was secure.

Team Boss Franz Tost said on the launch of the car "The STR7 is the third car designed, fabricated and assembled completely by Toro Rosso. We have invested a lot of money to build up the infrastructure and I hope the results will be good in the forthcoming season. This investment was only possible because we have strong partners.”

The STR7 will make its track debut on the 7^th February in the hands of Daniel Ricciardo.