It's that time of year again... launch season!; Haas to reveal new colour scheme for 2023 before Red Bull's full car launch this Friday; All other teams revealing cars before pre-season testing on February 23-25
Tuesday 31 January 2023 14:13, UK
Haas will kick off Formula 1's ever-exciting launch season with a livery reveal on Tuesday as a busy run-up to the 2023 campaign begins in earnest.
The American team, who enter the new year off the back of their best season since 2018, will be the first of the sport's 10 outfits to tease their new car, at 2pm.
It is not a full-scale launch, with Haas - who have a new driver in Nico Hulkenberg and a new title sponsor in MoneyGram - only showing off their colour scheme before a full VF-23 car reveal before pre-season testing.
But the unveiling does mark the start of launch season and a frenetic three weeks before the 2023 track action gets started.
World champions Red Bull are revealing their RB19 car in New York on Friday, eight days before sister team AlphaTauri use the Big Apple as their launch location on February 11.
Williams have their 'season launch' and livery reveal on February 6, before Alfa Romeo launch their C43 in Zurich on February 7.
Both McLaren and Aston Martin are revealing their challengers on Monday, February 13. Ferrari then have a Valentine's date with their new car the following day.
Launch season rounds off with Mercedes launching the W14 car they hope will propel them back into title contention on February 15, before Alpine's unveiling on February 16.
Pre-season testing starts in Bahrain on Thursday, February 23. The 2023 season then starts the week after pre-season testing at the same Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, on March 3-5.
While there is no rules overhaul for next year like there was for 2022, there are subtle changes to the rules and cars that teams can take advantage of.
The most notable is a higher ride height. This is essentially lifting the cars higher off the ground to help reduce the bouncing 'porpoising' phenomenon that affected teams - most notably Mercedes - in 2022.
This is done by raising the floor edge and throat, while the diffuser edge has also been stiffened. There is also an additional sensor to effectively monitor porpoising.
While these are mostly for safety reasons, and are expected to initially cost teams time due to a stiffer floor, it could also narrow the field with a higher ride height thought to have been key to Red Bull and Ferrari's 2023 cars.
The other changes to the cars revolve around outlawing designs such as Aston Martin's rear wing and Mercedes' front wing from 2023, and more safety additions.
The roll hoops, for example, have been strengthened following Zhou Guanyu's dramatic crash at Silverstone last year.
