Formula One: The new cars for the 2010 F1 Championship | Sport

 Posted on May 4, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1087 words  |  Martina Birk

Formula One: The new cars for the 2010 F1 Championship

12 February 2010: A preview of the forthcoming Formula One season, with images from all the launches (as they happen) and a technical guide by Maurice Hamilton

Tue 9 Feb 2010 05.30 EST First published on Tue 9 Feb 2010 05.30 EST

  • Mercedes

    Car: MGP W01 Technical details: Higher, narrower nose similar to 2009 Red Bull. Novel treatment of airbox above driver’s head. Smaller engine cover due to absence of long fin. Engine: Mercedes Drivers: No3 Michael Schumacher, Germany, 41yrs. No4 Nico Rosberg, Germany, 24yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Former Brawn team starting afresh but effort required to win 2009 championship may have impinged on preparations for 2010. Strength in depth with Schumacher reunited with Ross Brawn.Photograph: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images

  • McLaren

    Car: MP4-25 Technical details: Striking feature is dorsal-fin engine cover stretching to back wing. Car, with longer wheelbase to accommodate bigger fuel tank, looks very large as a result. Engine: Mercedes-Benz Drivers: No1, Jenson Button, Great Britain, 30yrs. No2, Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, 25yrs. Maurice Hamilton’s verdict: A car bristling with detail changes based on lessons learned from a poor season in 2009. McLaren raring to go with powerful driver line-up.Photograph: Tom Jenkins

  • Renault

    Car: R30 Technical details: Despite having to accommodate a larger fuel tank, intensive aerodynamic research has led to a car which is slimmer and more functional than last year’s. Engine: Renault Drivers: No11, Robert Kubica, Poland, 25yrs. No12, Vitaly Petrov, Russia, 25yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Return to yellow and black colours when the team made its F1 debut in 1977 emphasises the loss of a main sponsor and no-nonsense regrouping after a troubled time.Photograph: Dani Cardona/Reuters

  • BMW Sauber

    Car: C29 Technical details: Raised nose and heavily-sculpted front underbody to help channel air towards all-important rear double diffuser. Dorsal-fin engine cover not quite as large as McLaren's. Engine: Ferrari Drivers: No26, Kamui Kobayashi, Japan, 23yrs. No27, Pedro de la Rosa, Spain, 38yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Large patches of white on bodywork indicate absence of major sponsors as reconstituted team gets over BMW’s withdrawal and late switch to Ferrari engine.Photograph: Dani Cardona/Reuters

  • Toro Rosso

    Car: STR5 Technical details: Maintaining much detail from last year’s STR4 but with fully optimised rear double diffuser and revised nose. Many changes likely as testing and season progresses. Engine: Ferrari Drivers: No16, Sebastien Buemi, Switzerland, 21yrs. No17, Jaime Alguersuari, Spain, 19yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Tough start to the year as team manufactures its own car for first time instead of being supplied by Red Bull. But capable of doing good job.Photograph: Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP

  • Williams

    Car: FW32 Technical details: Totally new design and aero package from front to back. Following the 2010 trend of a Red Bull-style high nose. Switched from Toyota to Cosworth. Engine: Cosworth Drivers: No9, Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, 37yrs. No10, Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, 22yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: All change with two new drivers; good mix with Barrichello’s experience and Hulkenberg’s promise as GP2 champion. Will the Cosworth be competitive?Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

  • Virgin Racing

    Car: VR-01 Technical details: Neat car, the first F1 car designed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) rather than a wind tunnel. Lap times will determine whether cost-cutting gamble has paid off. Engine: Cosworth Drivers: No24, Timo Glock, Germany, 27yrs. No25, Lucas din Grassi, Brazil, 25yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Virgin, a company embracing communications technology, got off to a disastrous start when the on-line launch failed. Great potential, but only if designer Nick Wirth’s pioneering CFD efforts don’t go same way.Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

  • Force India

    Car: VJM03 Technical details: An evolution of VJM02, attempting to capitalise on the excellent low drag characteristics of last year’s car but making VJM03 efficient on all circuits. Engine: Mercedes Drivers: No14, Adrian Sutil, Germany, 27yrs. No15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italy, 28yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Should continue progress shown in 2009 thanks to consistency in driver and technical personnel and continuing with Mercedes. Already accustomed to low budgets in this cost-cutting era. Anything less than mid-grid will be a disappointment.Photograph: Handout/AFP/Getty Images

  • Red Bull

    Car: RB6 Technical details: With Adrian Newey’s lateral thinking, the devil will be in the subtle detail. Intricate work at the front of the car allows full use of double diffuser at the back, which they missed out on at the start of 2009. Engine: Renault Drivers: No5, Sebastian Vettel, Germany, 22yrs. No6, Mark Webber, Australia, 33yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Skipped first test to refine an already detailed car. Having been runner-up in 2009, remain favourites thanks to Newey’s genius and no change to very strong driver line-up.Photograph: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images

  • Lotus

    Car: T127 Technical details: A conventional car, typical of Mike Gascoyne’s down-to-earth approach when faced with building a team and car from nothing in a short space of time. Carrying the traditional Lotus colours – at least for the launch.Engine: Cosworth Drivers: No18, Jarno Trulli, Italy, 35yrs No19, Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, 28yrs Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Not the Lotus team of yore but returning the great name for first time since 1994. Experienced, capable drivers and technical chief but the burden of history may weigh heavy.Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

  • Hispania Racing F1 Team

    Car: HRT Technical details: Designed and built to a budget by the experienced Italian manufacturer, Dallara, this is a basic car for the reconstituted Campos Meta 1 team. Engine: Cosworth Drivers: No20, Karun Chandhok, India, 26yrs. No21, Bruno Senna, Brazil, 26yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Mission impossible. With no testing, this completely new team, never mind the car, will be thrown in the deep end when practice starts in Bahrain on Friday 12 March.Photograph: Heino Kalis/Reuters

  • Ferrari

    Car: F10 Technical details: At first glance, looks like a stretched version of 2009 car. Much work beneath the engine cover on improved fuel consumption. Engine: Ferrari Drivers: No7, Felipe Massa, Brazil, 28yrs. No8, Fernando Alonso, Spain, 28yrs. Maurice Hamilton's verdict: Following disastrous 2009, talk was of ‘renewal’ as Massa returns from injury and Alonso arrives to drive car designed largely around no refuelling in 2010.Photograph: Giorgio Benvenuti/Ansa
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