Ranking the 5 Most Hotly Anticipated Formula 1 Car Launches of 2015
January is traditionally the month when new Formula One cars are unveiled for the season ahead.
Launches offer teams the chance to parade new signings and sponsors and gives the rest of us the chance to see the protagonists of silly season in their new overalls for the first time and, of course, to determine which outfits have got it right and which have got it horribly wrong.
Soon after their launch in 2014, for instance, it was clear that Mercedes had a title-winning car at their disposal while Red Bull's failure to get their machine up and running for a significant period of time meant a fifth consecutive title was always bound to be a long shot.
Car launches offer the first answers to the questions that have dominated the offseason and, on that note, here are the five most hotly anticipated releases of 2015, with our choices based on the excitement surrounding the new machines.
Honourable Mentions
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The Red Bull RB11 will be the final Formula One car to be produced by Adrian Newey, for the time being at least, with the legendary designer set to begin a new role within the company this year.
There may be the temptation to go out with a bang, but Newey has always set the benchmark in terms of aerodynamic design and will be on the money once again in 2015.
As per Sky Sports' Pete Gill, Force India's VJM08 will launch in Mexico City on Jan. 21. The team will hope to improve on their best championship finish of sixth in 2014 and the choice of location is significant.
With Mexican sponsors and a Mexican driver in the shape of Sergio Perez, the fanfare surrounding the VJM08 launch will indicate just how successful Formula One's return to the Latin American country will be later this year.
5. Williams
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Williams' resurgence in 2014 was one of the stories of the season, with the outfit jumping to third in the constructors' championship after finishing a lowly ninth the previous year.
But like an up-and-coming musician storming into the charts with a refreshing new sound, this year will represent the difficult second album for the Grove-based team.
With the regulations remaining stable, it is clear that the 2015 car, the FW37, requires more downforce than its predecessor, which was strong on high-speed circuits but less competitive on twistier tracks and poor in wet conditions.
And it's whether Williams can find those improvements, and maintain their 2014 position, that will decide whether last season was the beginning of a genuine return to the top or a mere flash in the pan.
4. Lotus
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Lotus endured a difficult 2014 season, scoring just 10 points after recording a combined total of 618 in 2012 and 2013.
The Enstone-based team's 2015 prospects were given a huge boost at the tail end of last season when it was announced that they would be switching from Renault to Mercedes power, but McLaren and Force India proved that access to the best engine doesn't necessarily guarantee success.
More interesting will be Lotus' approach to the chassis, which the team have already partly revealed through a series of sneak-peek images on their official Twitter account.
Without the presence of James Allison, it has fallen to new-ish technical director Nick Chester to lead the design of the E23, of which he told Formula1.com will be "quite different" to the 2014 car.
The most notable difference will be at the front end, with Lotus' striking twin-tusk solution outlawed for 2015. The team tested a general-styled nose in practice at the United States Grand Prix, although F1 journalist Peter Windsor has hinted they have "something completely different" in mind for the E23.
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3. Mercedes
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Sixteen wins. Eighteen pole positions. Thirty-one podiums. One drivers' championship. One constructors' championship.
It's difficult to imagine just how Mercedes can improve on a dominant 2014 campaign, but that is the enthralling challenge that will face the Silver Arrows this season.
The Brackley-based team—as the class of the field with the W05 Hybrid last season—presumably have less scope for improvement than their rivals, which makes the 2015 car, the W06, a question of fine-tuning and pushing the limits of possibility.
And it seems as though Mercedes are doing just that, with Auto Motor und Sport (h/t motorsport.com) reporting that the organisation's engine department has found an extra 50 horsepower hiding within their pace-setting power unit.
With their elevation to title-winning status could come an aggressive new look, with El Mundo Deportivo (h/t motorsport.com) claiming that Mercedes will sport a chrome livery in 2015.
2. Ferrari
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Ferrari's as-yet unnamed 2015 car, in a sense, already has a place in history as the first scarlet-red machine to be raced by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
There will be a great sense of intrigue when the sheets are pulled off the German's first Prancing Horse. But in truth, this year is probably too early for Ferrari to mount a genuine resurgence and for Vettel to start recreating the dominant spell enjoyed by his boyhood idol, Michael Schumacher.
New team principal Maurizio Arrivabene took a sledgehammer to Ferrari's many departments in mid-December and it will be some time before the results of his re-organisation become apparent, yet the work of one man who survived the cull will make the 2015 car worth watching.
James Allison arrived at the Italian team in mid-2013, but this will be the first car that the technical director has had direct influence over.
Allison was responsible for the fast, consistent, race-winning Lotus cars of 2012 and '13, and the prospect that the 2015 Ferrari will be a brainchild of the Briton, one of the most innovative engineers in F1, is mouthwatering.
1. McLaren
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McLaren's MP4-30, the first car of the team's renewed technical partnership with Honda, is the one that everyone wants to see.
Much effort has been put into what is hoped to be the first step toward recapturing the outfit's glory days of the 1980s and early '90s, with McLaren running an interim car—dubbed the MP4-29H/1X1—in the post-2014 season test to gain an early understanding of the Honda power unit.
The MP4-30 chassis should be among the tidiest on the grid from an aerodynamic perspective with chief engineer Peter Prodromou—who joined McLaren in September having previously worked as Adrian Newey's right-hand man at Red Bull—central to the car's design.
Also fascinating will be the colour of the car.
McLaren were forced to run a soulless, interim livery throughout 2014 having failed to find a title sponsor to replace Vodafone, despite ESPN F1 reporting that the team planned to announce the signing of a principle backer on Dec. 2, 2013.
El Mundo Deportivo (h/t motorsport.com) has claimed that the car will be orange and white in a nod to the team's heritage, although that will be dependent on whether McLaren can finally end their search for a big-name sponsor.
Jenson Button and new signing Fernando Alonso certainly have the most to be excited about in early 2015.
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