Formula 1 2022: Aston Martin and McLaren car launches live on Sky Sports F1 as new season beckons

Formula 1 2022 is braced for lift-off this week as three teams get ready to launch the cars that are fronting the sport's rules revolution, with new looks and new opportunities for the upcoming season.

After Haas kicked off the new era with a livery reveal on Friday, 'launch season' now has its first launch week - with the added bonus of Aston Martin and McLaren's car unveilings being live on Sky Sports F1!

Three straight days of car launches start on Wednesday as Red Bull reveal the RB18 machine Max Verstappen will hope to retain his title in, with a virtual reveal planned on their social channels at 4pm.

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On Thursday, Aston Martin will unveil their second car since returning to F1 - and you can watch it live on Sky Sports F1.

The show, from the company's Gaydon headquarters, begins at 2pm. It will be broadcast live on the Sky Sports F1 TV channel as well as Sky Sports F1's YouTube and Facebook, with extensive coverage on Sky Sports' digital platforms.

If last year is anything to go by - with Daniel Craig and Tom Brady among the celebrities making an appearance in Aston's 2021 launch - their next reveal is not one to be missed.

It is then the turn of McLaren on Friday and again, you can watch it live on Sky Sports F1.

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo's new car will be revealed at 7pm, with the event - which McLaren are using to launch all four of its racing programmes for 2022 (F1, IndyCar, Extreme E and Esports) - taking place at the team's MTC base in Woking.

The same as Aston Martin, it will be live on the Sky Sports F1 TV channel, YouTube and Facebook.

What to expect after Haas kickstart F1's all-new era

Haas revealed a first glimpse of F1's new cars on Friday with digital images of their VF22.

While the car will look different come the first pre-season test on February 23, it was still a dramatic departure from last year's challenger thanks to the new aerodynamic concepts.

The design, mandated by F1 to improve wheel-to-wheel racing and the sport's competitiveness, has been described as the biggest technical overhaul in four decades, with teams having to change their cars from tip to toe.

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That being said, Red Bull will still go into the season as one of the big favourites as they look to build on a year that saw them battle Mercedes fiercely throughout, with Verstappen eventually edging Lewis Hamilton for the drivers' crown.

Both Aston Martin and McLaren, meanwhile, have long-term aspirations of moving from the midfield to the front.

Whether they can achieve that in the first year of the rules refresh remains to be seen, with initial answers expected at the first pre-season test on February 23-25. The season starts on March 20 in Bahrain.

What are the changes for F1 2022?

The rule changes, which have been long in the making and were initially planned for 2021 before being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, mean we have a completely new generation of cars.

The concept is, in essence, a simplified yet striking new-look race car following a drastic aerodynamics overhaul.

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The key changes are:

• A ground-effect floor. The 2022 car has two long underfloor tunnels which create a 'ground effect' - meaning there is more suction under the car to pull it to the tarmac, while also ensuring more of the downforce is generated from under the car. The concept was popular back in the 1970s and '80s in F1.
• A simplified front wing and a sharp new rear wing. These not only look great, but the completely new parts on the 2022 cars have been designed to stop sending airflow outwards, narrowing it instead. The curved rear wing still has DRS, although it may be less impactful.
• 18-inch tyres with wheel winglets. Another throwback addition, the bigger tyres are aesthetically pleasing while they should also improve the handling of the cars. The winglets have been added to help direct air away from the rear wing.

What will the changes do?

The new cars don't just look a lot different, but they should have a marked effect on the on-track product, with more exciting and competitive wheel-to-wheel racing the expectation.

They are designed with a focus on shifting the aerodynamic focus from the wings to underneath the car, making it easier to follow the car in front, and thus improve racing.

F1's estimations are that the 2021 cars lost 35 per cent of their downforce within three car lengths of the car in front and almost 50 per cent in a single car length. You may have heard the words 'dirty air'.

The new cars? They claim to drop those numbers to just four and 18 per cent respectively.

"They're relying a lot more on air passing underneath the car very quickly which sucks the car down onto the ground, and gives what we like to call ground effect," said Sky F1's Ted Kravitz.

"You've created a vacuum," added Anthony Davidson. "There's suction to the ground, and you're relying less on the wings to give you rear grip, and more on the floor."