F1 Preview

McLaren
1 Fernando Alonso, 2 Lewis Hamilton
Testers: Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett

You don’t spend more than a few moments in the company of McLaren personnel these days without feeling the ambition vibrating off them. The team made mistakes with their aero package in 2006 that cost them dearly, but now there is an air of determination and confidence pervading the McLaren Technology Centre that is almost tangible. So much within this team is new for 2007: Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and title sponsor Vodafone, for starters. World champion Alonso has looked strong and quick all through winter testing in the new MP4-22, and his work ethic is precisely what the team need to hone their act. The Spaniard will certainly win races this year, and he is a definite favourite to challenge for the title too. Hamilton faces a rookie season that would daunt a less competitive man, running alongside the best driver in the world, but he is up for it and is focused on giving his best. Would it be fanciful to envisage him winning a race? Perhaps not, if the cards fall in his favour.


Renault
3 Giancarlo Fisichella, 4 Heikki Kovalainen
Testers: Nelson Piquet Jr, Ricardo Zonta

Is Giancarlo Fisichella big enough to carry the burden of Renault’s expectations in 2007? That’s the key question, as the Italian veteran seeks to mould what was Fernando Alonso’s team around himself. Fisichella is desperate to prove that he can be a title contender and that he can step up to the plate following the Spaniard’s departure. His critics suggest he will be lucky to see out the season without being replaced by test driver Nelson Piquet Jr - or not to be blown away by rookie team mate Heikki Kovalainen. His admirers argue he will rise to the occasion. This is what makes 2007 such a great season, because there are no certainties any more. Renault were top dogs in 2005 and 2006, but how much did that owe to Alonso? Are the drivers really that important, or have Bob Bell and his engineers spent new title sponsor ING’s budget creating in the new R27 another masterpiece that will do much of the job for them?


Ferrari
5 Felipe Massa, 6 Kimi Raikkonen
Testers: Luca Badoer, Marc Gene

In their first season since 1995 without Michael Schumacher, and also without the redoubtable engineering talents of Ross Brawn and Nigel Stepney, Ferrari face a different series of challenges in 2007. Testing has indicated that there isn’t much wrong with the new F2007, which has vied for fastest times with McLaren wherever the two teams have run. And Felipe Massa now has his feet nicely under the table at Maranello and comes into the new season buoyed with confidence after his fabulous triumph in Brazil last October. The likable Brazilian proved himself in 2006, winning for the first time in Turkey and showing well against Schumacher, and has to be considered a genuine title aspirant. So, of course, does his new team mate, Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn is arguably the fastest man in Formula One right now, but it will be one of the enduring fascinations of the season to see how well he fits into his new environment, and whether it will be him or Massa who gains the upper hand. Whatever happens, expect the red team to be one of the title favourites.



Honda
7 Jenson Button, 8 Rubens Barrichello
Testers: Christian Klien, James Rossiter

Putting aside the argument over Honda’s decision to go ‘green’, peel off sponsors’ logos and spread a map of the world over its RA107s, the real issue is whether the new car is going to give Jenson Button, who dominated team mate Rubens Barrichello in 2006, a crack at the world championship. The Englishman has suggested of late that it is not quick enough to do so, indicating that yet again the Brackley team will start the season playing catch up. There have been the odd signs of speed, but it’s always difficult to judge that accurately in tests, where fuel loads can differ so widely. Honda and Button scored more points than anyone else in the second half of 2006; those with a British interest in the title fight will be praying that his predictions for 2007 have been pessimistic and that Honda are genuine contenders. BMW Sauber 9 Nick Heidfeld, 10 Robert Kubica Testers: Sebastian Vettel, Timo Glock Testing has revealed BMW Sauber to be the dark horses of 2007. The new F1.07 was born out of the state-of-the-art wind tunnel that the far-sighted Peter Sauber commissioned in Hinwil long before selling his team to the Munich manufacturer, and those in the know point to some clever aerodynamic features as the secret of the serious pace the car has shown all through the winter. In 2006 it’s fair to say that team principal Dr Mario Theissen delivered more than was expected, including two podiums. Now he says podiums are the aim once again, though drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica have better things in mind. Can BMW break through and win races? It would be extraordinary if they do, and also welcome. More likely, however, would be for the team to fight Honda all the way for fourth place overall.



Toyota
11 Ralf Schumacher, 12 Jarno Trulli
Testers: Franck Montagny

2007 is without question the most critical year in Toyota’s thus-far troubled Formula One tenancy. It is the year in which they must get results, if the board in Japan is surely not to start questioning their involvement. When you sell as many cars worldwide as Toyota do, spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on Formula One racing may seem a drop in the ocean, but they aren’t in the game merely to make up the numbers. Last year they took a step backwards after parting with Mike Gascoyne, and so far the signs are that they have not done anything like enough to make up the lost ground, let alone move ahead. Drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli continue. Both have positive points, both have negative. Unless they can score points regularly, many critics argue it is unlikely the pairing will continue beyond this season.



Red Bull
14 David Coulthard, 15 Mark Webber
Testers: Robert Doornbos, Michael Ammermuller

Here is another team facing their most crucial year to date. Red Bull Racing got through a bruising second season, and now have the long-awaited Adrian Newey-penned RB3 and Renault RS27 power with which to challenge for a place in the top four. Can it deliver the goods, or will the disappointment of failure to do so be enough to trigger implosion? While Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed down at Toro Rosso have been put on their mettle to produce results in a similar car, everyone at Red Bull is feeling the same way. The RB3 must work and, if they are to keep progressing, podiums must feature regularly. David Coulthard is adamant despite some weak races in 2006 that he can do the job in the right car, while this is Mark Webber’s chance to prove once and for all that he is a serious top-liner. Watch this team closely.



Williams
16 Nico Rosberg, 17 Alex Wurz
Testers: Narain Karthikeyan, Kazuki Nakajima

Are we witnessing the slow decline of the once-great Williams team into a Tyrrell role? Or will they bounce back and embarrass the works Toyota team with their similarly-powered FW29? Those are the key questions surrounding one of the most popular teams in the pit lane, still headed by those archetypal racers Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head. There has been a lot of reshuffling of personnel over the winter, with Adam Parr coming in to replace Chris Chapple as CEO, Jon Tomlinson coming in to head the aero department from Renault and Amit Chakraborty joining from McLaren, John Russell returning to get the reliability problems of 2006 sorted, and Ed Wood stepping in as chief designer, all to give technical director Sam Michael stronger back-up. AT&T and Lenovo have joined RBS as sponsors. The results have been promising in testing, but the jury is still out on whether the driver pairing of sophomore Nico Rosberg and veteran Alex Wurz (said by some to be the ‘Michael Schumacher of testing’ and returning to a full-time race seat for the first time since 2000 at Benetton) is strong enough to get the job done.



Toro Rosso
18 Vitantonio Liuzzi, 19 Scott Speed

Whatever anyone might tell you, indications are this has not been a happy team during the winter break. Neither Vitantonio Liuzzi nor Scott Speed had their contracts confirmed until very late, following harsh public criticism from co-owner Gerhard Berger. The Austrian suggested he had sought drivers of the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Mika Hakkinen as potential replacements, despite the fact that last season both the Italian and the American regularly upstaged their Red Bull siblings in a car that was one year older than their mounts. Perhaps not a conventional way to motivate people, though it was interesting to see in recent testing in Bahrain that in a short time both Toro Rosso pilots got their new cars going faster than the Red Bulls again. Therein, of course, lies a tale, as Toro Rosso faces the same criticisms from rivals as Super Aguri that their new car breaks the rules by being based on another competitor’s. There are those who will tell you that the Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB3 and the Toro Rosso STR02 are separated only by their engines; the former has the Renault RS27, the latter Ferrari’s 056 V8. The team insist all is legal. Watch this lot, however. Liuzzi is underrated and is determined to beat the Red Bull guys again; and Speed showed well against him in the second half of 2006. They both have a point to prove.



Spyker
20 Christijan Albers, 21 Adrian Sutil
Testers: Fairuz Fauzy, Adrian Valles, Giedo van der Garde, Markus Winkelhock

First they were Jordan. Then, after gentle decline, they became Midland for an uncomfortable limbo period. Since Spyker took over late last year, this team have begun the long task of pulling themselves up by their boot straps. Getting Mike Gascoyne on board as chief technical officer was a positive move - many believe Toyota’s loss to be Spyker’s gain. Affectionately known as the ‘Rottweiler’ in the paddock, there isn’t an awful lot Gascoyne’s been able to do with the F8-VII given his relatively recent arrival, but he is a down-to-earth character who, appropriately, calls a spade a spade, and he will guide the engineering department, led by technical director James Key, down the right path. With Ferrari engines for the first time, they will have good power and should have excellent reliability, giving Spyker the chance to progress. Of course it will be tough, but team principal Colin Kolles proved himself adept at keeping Jordan afloat when investment from Midland dried up and Andy Stevenson did a solid, unsung job as team manager. On the driver front, Dutchman Christijan Albers will be the darling of team owners Michiel Mol and Victor Muller. He has shown reasonable speed and has the experience to make the most of his equipment. German rookie Adrian Sutil showed well against Lewis Hamilton in F3, and also impressed on his Friday test runs for Midland in 2006.



Super Aguri
22 Takuma Sato, 23 Anthony Davidson
Tester: Sakon Yamamoto

Last year Super Aguri struggled along with a lashed up car, the faithful Takuma Sato and Japanese team mates Yuji Ide and Sakon Yamamoto. It was always going to be a tough season as they established themselves, but towards the end of the year, particularly in Brazil, improvements in their Bridgestone tyres enabled Sato to get in amongst the Spykers and Red Bulls. A team’s second year is always harder than the first, but Super Aguri may prove the exception to that rule after a tough 2006 baptism. In 2007 things should only get better, given that they have had an awful lot more time to prepare for the new season, and that their ties with Honda are even stronger. First, Sato gets what he needs: a team mate who can give him a hard time and keep him fully focused. Anthony Davidson played with Sato the role Dario Franchitti played to Jan Magnussen in their F3 days, but just as Franchitti went on to have the stronger career in the big leagues, so Davidson could yet get the upper hand. He is hugely experienced from all of his testing with Honda, in which he proved himself to be fast and reliable. He may yet gain the advantage over the mercurial Japanese racer. Much will depend on how successful the team’s new car is. Despite any protestations to the contrary, all the expectations are that the SA07 - to be launched on the Wednesday prior to the Australian Grand Prix - will be based heavily on Honda’s 2006 RA106, and the RA807E engine will be strong.