Back of the pack

Yesterday both HRT and Marussia revealed their challengers for the season after missing all three pre-season tests and failing crash tests but now, for the moment, that is behind them, tests are now all passed, cars are now launched and full focus is now on Melbourne.

Marussia had a whizz round Silverstone at their launch of the new car...

MR01

Marussia are the only team other than McLaren to not have a stepped nose, maybe this could work in their favour as the McLaren was looking stong in testing and of course they now have a technical partnership with Marussia.
The livery is a familiar black and red, just in different places. To me, it looks a lot like their GP3 car, not a bad thing but for some could get slightly confusing.

Meanwhile over in Spain, HRT took their F112 out for a spin around Barcelona...

F112

Surprised? I was! The HRT looks very impressive with an over-haul on the livery this year, is this the start of a new and improved team?! I hope the car is just as impressive on the track as it is off.

Slowly but surely we now have all the teams and drivers raring to go for the first race of the season in Australia in just under two weeks time, HURRAY!
The wait is almost over however, for those in the UK it could be over a lot sooner; at the end of the week. No, there's no secret GP but if like me if you really want F1 to hurry up then Sky F1 launches at the end of the week!  They'll start off airing after the launch, filled with magazine shows, legends shows, Grand Prix previews and more to keep us occupied till FP1.

Over on the BBC they have launched today now with a full team line up including Jaime Alguersuari who will be co-commentating with James Allen on BBC 5live radio. Out of the cockpit and now behind the mike, i hope this won't become permeant and that we'll see him on the grid next season, saying that i wish him the best, he'll certainly offer the inside scoop from a drivers perspective for the BBC.