BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Three more 2008 F-1 cars broke cover last week as Renault, Honda and Williams Toyota all tested their new cars in Valencia, Spain.

Renault

After winning the 2006 championship with the R26, Renault decided to carry on that successful design with the 2007 R27. But that didn’t transfer into results last year, so the team has made a number of concept changes to its new 2008 R28.
More details will become known when the team officially unveils the R28 at its Paris headquarters on Jan. 31, but some changes were immediately apparent when the car began testing in Valencia last week. Renault has replaced its long-used V-keel front suspension mounting with zero-keel, and the car is fitted with a bridge front wing.
Fog kept the R28 in the pit garage most of the morning, but Fernando Alonso completed 39 laps in the afternoon when the car ran for the first time on Jan. 21.
“When you have your first day with a new car, you always have to take your time to check that all the systems are functioning correctly,” he said, “and that is what we did today. We were able to lengthen our runs little by little and ended the day with a 14-lap stint.
“Everything went well, but it is still too early to try and compare our performance with that of other teams. The good news is that we encountered few problems, and we will be able to continue our work tomorrow.”

Honda

Honda’s new car, the RA108, made its track debut at Valencia on Jan. 23.
Rubens Barrichello, who said there was no way the 108 could be worse than the 107, shook the car down. Jenson Button took over on the next day during which he covered 80 laps. The car appeared in plain white bodywork as the team’s 2008 eco livery was set to be unveiled at the official launch at Honda’s F-1 headquarters in Brackley, England on Jan. 29.
This is the car Honda hopes will revive its F-1 fortunes.
The root of the problem of last year’s disastrous RA107 was aerodynamics, which made the car unpredictable to drive. The aero package of the RA108 has been considerably revised. It has a high nose, more sculpted sidepods, and heavily revised bodywork at the rear of the car.
Ross Brawn joined Honda too late to have much influence on the car’s design whose aero package is the creation of designer Jorg Zander (who formerly worked for Toyota and BMW) and ex-Williams  aerodynamicist Loic Bigois.

Williams Toyota

The new Williams Toyota FW30 is, according to the team, a clear engineering philosophy of iteration and progressive development from the competitive and reliable platform of last season’s FW29.
“With four years of regulation stability, we have a good basis to be progressive about the development of this season’s car,” Technical Director, Sam Michael explained. “With a good reliability record last year, we have been able to build on this quality while also turning some of our attention to clear performance objectives.”
For the first time since 2004 the team is using the same engine (Toyota), so few resources had to be spent on integrating the drivetrain installation.
The FW30 retains the general structural and layout philosophy of the FW29 including zero-keel front suspension and the dual pillar rear wing. Changes include a new three-plane front wing, increased sidepod top cooling louvres, an altered orientation of the water radiators, new sidepods and a new seamless shift gearbox. The cockpit sides are higher as required by the new rules that stipulate more protection for the driver.
Test driver Nico Hulkenberg shook the FW30 down on Jan. 21. Nico Rosberg then drove it for two days and  Kazuki took over on the final day.
Williams decided not to stage an official launch this year. The car’s 2008 livery will be revealed at the season opening Australian Grand Prix in March.