All the news and pics from last weeks testing at Valencia.

Looks like Ferrari and McLaren are again the teams to beat if last weeks testing in Valencia is anything to go by. That said there are a few things worthy of speaking about besides the times that the teams set.

BMW - After showing the F1.08 off at it’s launch, with sveldt lines, and one of the most uncluttered looks of a 2008 car, the team seem to have ruined the clean look.

As you can see from the pictures, the car has sprouted a strange wing setup on the front of the car. The design is obviously a re-work of there ‘pillar’ desing from last year, that incidentaly was banned by the FIA because it impaired the forward visibility of the driver. This design obviously get’s around that issue. We shall see if they thought it was a good idea at the next test if both of their cars run the aero changes.

Honda - The new 2008 car has landed, however no sign of the new colour scheme as the car was run in a plain white livery.

Rubens had the chance to run it on track first. The RA108 has been unanimously declared better than the much disliked RA107. The car looks significantly different to last years Honda, but how much better it is we will have to wait to see as both cars were always pretty low on the time sheets throughout the week. Although with Ross Brawn on board, perhaps the development will at least head in the right direction this year.

McLaren - The news this week at McLaren was the rumoured FIA Presidency challenge from Ron Dennis. This however has now been played down by Ron, saying “I’ve never aspired to it in the past and I don’t aspire to it now,” he told F1’s official website. “It’s the running of a company that motivates me, not the governance of a sport.”

So it looks like Max still does not have a real direct successor, however if rumours are to be believed it could well be Jean Todt.

The team worked on Aero and Gearbox development through the week, and seem to have had a week testing without a failure.

Williams - All the boys at Williams that have driven the FW30 have given it the thumbs up. Rosberg had this to say, “My feeling from the very beginning was good, and that is always a good sign, I wouldn’t say, ‘wow, this is amazing’ - that would be excessive, And it is still early. But for the season it is a good and promising start”

So things are looking up for the Toyota powered crew. The car has been reliable in testing, and has shown a decent turn of pace at times.

Red Bull - Mark Webber had his first outing in the RB4, however it turned out to be a short one with only 15 laps run. The car was damaged by a kerb, and the monocoque was discovered to be sufficiently damaged to rule out running for the second day while repairs were made. Red Bull will be back in the Barcelona test, and will be behind as the team admitted it had not finished all the test’s it had hoped.

Renault - The Renault team got both of their drivers out in the new 08 car this week, with Alonso working on car balance, and Piquet getting his first run in the R28. He said, “I think it was a good day and it was important for me to get back in the car. I have not raced in Formula 1 yet, so it’s always beneficial to have time in the car. A new car always needs lots of set-up work and we continued with that today, trying different approaches to improve the balance of the car. I think there is a lot of promise and I’m looking forward to continuing working with the team next week in Barcelona.”. The team certainly seem to have taken a positive step with Alonso coming back to the team.

Toyota - Toyota again showed good pace with Jarno at the wheel of the TF108. The team seemed to be concentrating on the Aero package of the car, with a few new pieces showing up on the development chassis. Jarno said, “Today we worked again on the aerodynamics of the new car and we ran through the program testing a lot of different things. It has been a busy test for me but we have done a lot of work and the data we got here will help us to improve the car. Now I am looking forward to Bahrain where we will continue to work on the set-up of the new car.”. The team will return to testing at the Bahrain test on February the 4th

Jarno has also been quoted as saying that some teams may have already found ways around the FIA standard ECU, “I’m not saying someone’s cheating, even though we’ve received some conflicting information at Toyota,” Trulli said. “But having analysed the behaviour on the track both now and in the tests in December, the changes between them are many - and in several cases suspicious.” So something else that could add to the fun of the 08 season, working out who has found a way around the traction and launch control issues.

Ferrari - The Ferrari team had an almost trouble free run last week. Massa had issues on the final day, but they did not seem to hurt Kimi’s car or times. Hopefully for Massa this will not be the way the season pans out, as he seems to be the ‘unlucky’ driver in the Ferrari squad.

The Ferrari’s will also be back at the Bahrain test scheduled for the start of February.

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