Although the Renault R26 has regularly been on the test track in the past few weeks, the official launch of the team's 2006 challenger took place in Monaco on January 31st. Renault and Fernando Alonso head into the new season as defending champions and the R26 is an evolution of the car that gave them the titles last year.

"Rather than changing everything, we know the R25 was a good car, so we have focused on the areas that will help us improve: reviewing each component to make it better than its predecessors, in terms of weight and stiffness," said chief designer Tim Densham.

Read more about the Renault R26 launch at http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=209182.