A whole new driver line-up awaits the STR7, the third car designed by Toro Rosso themselves. A strong finish to their 2011 campaign gives the outfit hope of a good start but much will depend on how Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne bed in at Red Bull’s sister team.

Sauber had a solid if quiet 2011, improving on the previous season if not really lighting up the track. The problem was the exhaust blown diffuser, or lack of one to be exact. The diffuser project never really got off the ground and was eventually scrapped but that may leave them in a stronger position for this season now that that particular playing field has been levelled.

Yesterday, the Williams FW34 was launched wheeled out of the garage and into the pitlane – yes, Williams do like to be low-key. The Oxfordshire-based outfit has been in steady decline for the last few years, culminating in a ninth-place finish last year with a total of five points – thank goodness points now go to tenth place or it would have looked even worse on paper…

Has Adrian Newey done it again? The World Champions revealed the RB8 today and it goes into the season the favourite to repeat its success. Fans may be disappointed that it is not bucking the trend for crooked noses but the RB8 does sport a little trick on its bump. However, will it be enough to offset having to compromise the front design?

Following a poor 2011, after being led up the garden path by the forward facing exhaust concept, Renault return as Lotus F1 and with an all new driver line-up of Romain Grosjean and some former World Champion called Kimi Raikkonen. Will it be enough, though, to reverse the outfit’s steady decline?

From a publicity point of view, I’m not sure if it’s brave or mad to launch a new car the same day as Ferrari but that’s precisely what Sahara Force India did. However, fortune was on their side and while Ferrari found themselves snowed in and having to scale back their big day, Force India became the first team to hit the track for a shakedown ahead of the first test. But will their luck continue in 2012 to see them maintain their steady climb up the standings?