Today marked the initial F1 test day at Jerez, and a chance to catch a glimpse of the remodeled 2014 V6 turbocharged cars on track for the first time. While a number of teams used it as a shakedown for their new powerplants, teams including Mercedes AMG conducted high-speed testing, with Lewis Hamilton losing his front wing and going into the barrier, escaping injury. Here is a list of the latest F1 cars to be revealed on track today.
Mercedes AMG Petronas
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team unveiled the F1 W05, its 2014 challenger, at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain. Ahead of the first morning of official winter testing, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took the wraps off the first all-new Silver Arrow to hit the track since 1954. Designed from the ground up as an integrated project between the Mercedes-Benz teams based at Brackley and Brixworth, this new car marks an historic milestone in a landmark year when Mercedes-Benz celebrates 120 years of Motorsport and the 80th anniversary of the Silver Arrows.
Infiniti RB10
Infiniti Red Bull Racing revealed the RB10, our challenger for the 2014 Formula One World Championship and our first interpretation of F1’s radical new technical regulations. Unveiled in the pit lane this morning at the Jerez Circuit ahead of the first day of testing, the RB10 is powered by the Renault Energy F1-2014. As a team we have enjoyed hard-fought success in recent years winning the last four Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles. Now the game changes and due to the new regulations, the RB10 has little in common with its predecessors.
Toro Rosso STR9
Two years in the making, the STR9 was revealed at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in southern Spain. The drivers Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat whipped the sheets off Scuderia Toro Rosso’s challenger for the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship in the Jerez pit lane, at an event organised by long time sponsor CEPSA. Under the technical directorship of James Key, Chief Designer Luca Furbatto and his team in Faenza, along with the Wind Tunnel team in Bicester have come up with their interpretation of the radical technical regulation changes introduced for this year. The STR 9 is the first Scuderia Toro Rosso car to be powered by Renault. The car will make its official track debut tomorrow, with France’s Jean-Eric Vergne at the wheel. Daniil Kvyat will take over driving duties on Wednesday.
Mclaren MP4-29
We have responded to the disappointment of our 2013 season by pragmatically framing our approach to the technical challenge. The new MP4-29 is a sensible and calculated response to the new regulations. But it is very much a frozen snapshot of the design team’s steep development curve, and, as such, a machine that will potentially undergo more technical change throughout a single season than any other car in McLaren’s long and illustrious history.
The challenge for 2014 is to build-in both performance and reliability – something that can no longer be taken for granted given the steep technical challenge ahead. And that is entirely as it should be: for this season will be Formula 1’s steepest-ever learning curve.It is also a time of transition. Our final season with our engine partner, Mercedes-Benz, will be our 20th together, before we begin an exciting new journey with Honda from 2015.
