I am back for another year in Valencia and Formula 1 testing. In some regards, I am quite happy that they have restricted testing because sometimes it can get rather tedious and you can have to much of a good thing. So back to Valencia and where the 2011 season kicks off. With testing now so vital, all teams make an appearance and some with their new cars, others who are slight behind.

So the first day and although its the first day, its not so much as today was all about the presentation of two teams. Sauber and Lotus Renault (yes that is one team). After having a nice drive down from Alicante to Valencia the day before, I could have a lie in this morning and make my way to the track for the 11:15CET launch of the new Sauber.  As in the past year, they wheel the car down to the start/finish straight and get the drivers to take the cover off and then then that’s pretty much it. They return upstairs and various interviews take place. Unfortunately this time around I did not get a good place what so ever and was quite restricted to what I could see. With abit of moving around I got a slightly better position but still not great. Overall I am rather disappointed with the results. I did not hang around for the press interviews this time as the Lotus Renault launch was not to far away.

I had my concerns from the start that this car could be again very difficult to photograph. Last year it was the Yellow that wasn’t good and this year I thought black was going to be a pain, especially in high sunlight levels. All the press gathered around the front of the garage (not a great idea as there was to many photographers and not enough space). The car gets unveiled and once again, not in a good place as the drivers did not wish to look my way. So some artistic shots were only to be taken here. Overall though the colour scheme is good and more gold than I thought so hopefully it should be all good come the first practice tomorrow. With regards to the drivers, there was plenty of opportunity to get the photos taken but Robert Kubica was itching to go back into the garage and get away from it all.

Sauber carried out some filming at the end of the day and was in pursuit of a Opel Insignia estate for two laps.

Tomorrow sees the launch of the new Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Mercedes. Early start and cold start I feel for that one. But nearly all the big guns are out tomorrow so it should be a full day and is going to take me ages to process the photos. The weather looks like it could be rain first thing and then good for the rest of the day. Temperatures in the 13C mark.