Despite previously stating they would not be holding an official launch for their 2008 car, McLaren have now decided to hold a launch event at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart on 7th January.

Ralf Schumacher will take a not-unexpected sabbatical from F1 in 2008.

“I will take a break from Formula 1 in 2008 as things look right now,” Ralf Schumacher told Motorsport-total.com. “I’ve got three difficult years at Toyota behind me and Force India is not an option for me. The team starts from scratch so that isn’t the right option for me I think.”

“Difficult” is certainly one way of describing Ralf’s time at Toyota … “disastrous” is another word that springs to mind, along with “baffling”…