Wheel-s-pun

Kimi and Felipe have a new toy: the Ferrari F2008.

Codenamed 659, this is the car Ferrari hopes will bring them a second consecutive driver's title.

The F2008 has been designed around the new F1 rules that introduce a standardised ECU and ban traction control. This means some seriously advanced aero to make up for the loss of TC and even some tweaks to the car's fundamentals - such as wheelbase and suspension.

However, the F2008 we'll see at the first race in Melbourne is unlikely to look like the F2008 shown here.

'All aerodynamic surfaces have been completely revised. However, the current version will be replaced by a completely different configuration in time for the first race,' says Ferrari.

Other changes include a new gearbox (designed to meet new regulations stating that the unit must be used for four consecutive events), higher side protection around the driver's helmet and a shrink-wrapped monocoque that has been cut away under the driver's legs.

It'll be tight in there - good job Kimi and Felipe are about the same size as hobbits.

Lewis Hamilton got a nice birthday present on 7th Jan - the new McLaren MP4-23.

The MP4-23 is the second 2008-spec F1 car to be launched after Ferrari showed off their new F2008.

Visually, the new McLaren is virtually identical to last year's car, but the team admits that it will look different by the first race in Melbourne.

It features a new gearbox, tighter packaging and a new nose. Most interesting is the longer wheelbase, something that Ferrari made work with last year's F2007.

McLaren have released some tasty pub-ammo about the new car. For starters, they began work on the MP4-23 in November 2006. The car has spent 3,000 hours in a wind tunnel, and chassis 1 was effectively built over the Christmas period.

Some 150 engineers have been involved in the project, and 14,000 man-hours have been put into the development.

Despite this, the car was only finished on 6th Jan and was put on a truck from the McLaren factory in Woking at 6pm to reach the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart 7th morning for the official launch.

Lewis will get his first taste of the '08 McLaren alongside new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen on Thursday January 10.