The race is on, and it will certainly feel like that for those burning the midnight oil to prepare their shiny new F1 cars for launches and pre-season testing.

We're looking ahead to launch season and the major challenges

of the season to come. Who's looking hot and who's not? And what can we expect from the new

machines when they finally start to break cover? I'm Ed's draw. My guest today will be the

race's newest signing, race-winning F-1 car designer Gary Anderson and my fellow F1 correspondent, Scott Mitchell. So Gary, first podcast for the race. Yes, it's great to be here doing it. We're all about excited for the start of the season and, you know, testing's just around the corner. So it's a lot of pressure on the team's right at the moment. But it's not far away. And Australia's quite important. You know you know they just got to get all that work done at testing first before they get to Australia so that they can pick up those results from the start of the season that's the important issue so the teams have got a lot of hard work to do in the next month and I imagine it's probably a bit more relaxing for you doing this podcast whereas in your F1 technical director or other old days this would have been

a bit of a frantic period of the year. Yeah it is a frantic period I mean it's all it's all workshop

based as such but you've got all the tests all the FIA tests all the crash test to get through

you go out trying to understand your car development still continuing hard and fast but at some point

in time you've got to sort of

tick the box to get the parts made to get a car on four wheels to get to the Barcelona test.

But in the background, as I say, you're still developing the same car because from the test

starting in the middle of February to the middle of March, there's still a month there.

So you can add a lot of time to the car if you get the right bit sorted out. But still, you've got to make a car and have it on four wheels for those tests because reliability comes from running, track running, just understanding the car. And you've got to get there and you've got to get the miles in. Well, it won't be long before the cars are out running and testing. We'll all be there, including Scott Mitchell.

Are you looking forward to heading out for testing in Spain,

or are you focused on the launch week that we've got to come probably next week?

Well, launch week will be quite fun,

although because the regulations are the same,

not really the sort of surprises, I suppose,

or sort of innovations that you might spot.

So testing is probably a bit more exciting this year.

I won't be believing pretty much anything that Ferrari do or say a testing this year,

especially after, it wasn't so much that everyone else got it wrong.

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