February 9 2012 – vol 207 no 6 CONTENTS

Up-to-the-minute news and reports from F1, WRC and more. Subscribe for must-read opinion, stats and images

“Let me say just one thing: they hurt me and, moreover, it was unnecessary” JAIME ALGUERSUARI IS STILL SMARTING OVER BEING DROPPED BY RED BULL/TORO ROSSO – ESPECIALLY AS HE’D ALREADY TURNED DOWN ANOTHER DRIVE

F1 LAUNCHES & FEATURES

-13 As we went to press, this was the projected minimum temperature for Karlstad during this week’s Swedish Rally. Brrrrrr!

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Formula 1 launches Nine teams have unveiled their contenders. Here they all are: 10 Red Bull RB8 14 Williams FW34 18 Caterham CT01 22 Toro Rosso STR7

NEWS & REPORTS

24 Lotus E20 28 Force India VJM05 32 Sauber C31 34 McLaren MP4-27 42 Ferrari F2012 53 A season to answer critics Who needs a big 2012?

REGULARS

5 From the editor 6 Snapshot 51 Mark Hughes column 66 Subscribe for a free gift 92 Final drive Letters and Latest Gear

Red Bull’s RB8 hit the track at Jerez this week

AUTOSPORT looks at drivers, teams bosses and series chiefs who need to deliver 58 Rallying’s new faces Meet the 10 young contenders we’ve picked out to try to dethrone Sebastien Loeb

94 On track/on screen The best action in the next week 97 From the archive Williams goes radical/ugly, 2004 98 Race of my life Armin Hahne, Jaguar, Spa 1991

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8 Teams push rule credibility F1 squads exploiting grey areas as testing 2012 kicks off 49 This week in F1 From Karthikeyan and van der Garde to departing tech bosses 63 World of Sport Toyota Racing Series 64 Davidson set for Toyota Brit targeted by Japanese in wake of Peugeot pull-out

Raikkonen: fastest on first morning

67 IndyCar engine failures Honda and Chevy strive to get to bottom of disruptions after Sebring test 69 Carlin: come and race us British F3 team chief wants bigger opposition for 2012 70 Mini solution found Restructure safeguards cult car’s WRC presence with Prodrive, Sordo – and maybe Meeke

SPORTS EXTRA

85 Renault in a rut Formula Renault UK bid to run B-class hit by rule in BARC series 86 Scott in a Ferrari British GT race winner gets seat as MTECH confirms second 458

89 Lotus for Zandvoort Chapman Jr’s historic team to invade new Dutch festival 90 Driver focus Meet Aaron Steele, a Brit with designs on a career in the US

Steele raced at Daytona

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