2006 SEASON PREVIEW
2006
"Anything can happen in Formula 1 and it usually does" Murray Walker
That's pretty much F1's golden rule and it can't be any clearer. Anyone attempting to predict a Formula 1 race has an Ethan Hunt style mission impossible on their hands. Anyone attempting to predict a Formula One World Championship before the lights go out on the first race are liable to look like morons in November. Because every now and again a driver will come out of nowhere to claim the title, Michael Schumacher in '94, Mika Hakkinen in '98, Fernando Alonso in '05 for starters. And I'm just a fan with a website so please don't sue me if I get this wrong.
OK...let's get down to business. In theory the team to beat is Renault, and the driver to beat is reigning World champion Alonso, backed up by Giancarlo Fisichella. Alonso's almost certainly going to be in the mixer for the title this time(and depending on the competition could well win it again). Can't say the same about Fisichella unless he really gets his act together he got pretty well outclassed by his Spanish teammate last time.
McLaren are a different story. OK...they've drowned their car in orange paint this year but Ron Dennis still has two quality drivers on his hands, Kimi Raikonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Make that two quality drivers hungry for a world title in a big name team that hasn't won such a trophy since 1999. As a result if I had to make a prediction for the world title I'd have to say one of the McLaren drivers but that's as far as I'd go. Which one of them it would be...I like Montoya but he'd need to have his head straight so the safer bet would probably be Raikonen. Of course this prediction's assuming that the Merc engines are going to be halfway reliable and I'm not willing to put much money on that after last year.
Ah...Ferrari. The God of Formula 1 has fallen! Having said that the sport as a whole is much better off for it, '05 was a great breath of fresh air. Michael Schumacher has decided not to reture though. Given that he has seven world titles and is the oldest driver in the field, the only reason I can think of for him not bailing is that he doesn't want to end his career on the embarrasing note that last year was and yeah, maybe he'll pick up a few race wins but I'll believe the talk of the Second(or Third given his early days at Ferrari)Coming when I see it. Having said that, if McLaren's Mercs do turn out to be dodgy and Ferrari solid, maybe Michael could wind up as Alonso's main title challenger.Joining the Schumacher worship brigade from Sauber is young Brazilian Felipe Massa, a solid enoughdriver but definately number 2 matierial, he'll only pick up podiums at best.
Toyota come in with an unchanged lineup of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli. They came up with a pretty good car last season and both drivers have won races in the past. Having said that, the 'Trulli train' was a regular race feature in '05 when the Italian pulled off wonders in qualifying and I can't see Ralf pulling up trees either. Same old, same old here. Good for the odd podium.
Williams are in an interesting situation. The current lineup for the team that Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill won world titles for includes zero Grand Prix winners. Having said that Mark Webber knows what he's doing as a solid racer and I wouldn't be surprised if "Advance Austrailia Fair" got played on the podium at a Grand Prix this year. The wildcard is his rookie teammate. Nico Rosberg. His Dad Keke won the world title back in 1982 for Williams. The laugh is, while Keke's still a hero back home in Finland, Nico's officially German. He's the reigning GP2 champion but I'm going to play it safe and say that Nico will get a few podiums at best.
BAR have turned into plain 'Honda' for '06 and have come up with a tasty looking driver lineup. Jenson Button's new partner is Rubens Barrichello, the long time Brazilian Schumacher wingman fancying a fresh start. Rubens has won Grand Prix but give Jenson a decent car(i.e not an '05 vintage BAR) and he'll surely win races and the last time he got paired with a big name, Jacques Villeneuve finished 2003 looking like a prat. Even I'm not cocky enough to think Jenson will be in the championship mixer this year but assuming the car's good both Honda drivers should pick up wins.
Red Bull have stuck with David Coulthard and Austrian Christian Klien. If '05's anything to go by then the car has it's uses and DC knows what he's doing with it, not that I ever expected him not to know what to do with a decent car. Having said that, while the Scotsman can provide a reliable supply of points for the team and maybe a podium that's going to be it.
BMW-Sauber(as they are now known) have decided to keep Jacques Villeneuve around. Why, I don't know, the guy shouldn't have been given a second chance in F1. German Nick Heidfeld has joined him from Williams. The pair of them will get points but if I was running any of the teams already mentioned I wouldn't be worried about them.
Jordan have been completly swept out of F1 and turned into Midland, run by Russian-Canadian businessman Alex Schnaider and boring git Romanian Colin "Chavski" Kolles, though they'll still be based at Silverstone and still count on the services of Portugese Tiago Monterio. Alonside him is Dutchman Christian Albers, taken from Minardi. Ah...feel the buzz around this team...that is completely non-existant.
As for Minardi well they've been taken over by Red Bull. They will now be called...Toro Rosso. Yes that is corny. Their lineup is half decent for the back of the grid though. Italian Antonio Luizzi was OK as DC's occassional Red Bull teammate and he's paired up with American GP2 man Scott Speed, described by one F1 journo as " a cocky Yank who needs a kick up the backside". Toro Rosso is a good a place as any to get it, as is F1. The last Yank who tried his hand at F1 was Michael Andretti back in '93. He came in with an Indycar championship under his belt, F1 champion blood in his veins and a place as Ayrton Senna's McLaren teammate to work with. He came up with...one podium before being replaced by rookie Mika Hakkinen. Oh dear. Having said that, these guys certainly shouldn't be back of the grid, could be interesting.
Finally we have Super Aguri aka F1 Japan(though their factory's in the UK). Running the show is late 80s-early 90s F1 driver Aguri Suzuki. Driver the cars are Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide. Sato is known to have his uses and gave Jenson the odd headache at BAR. Ide's a rookie that's come out of Formula Nippon and other than that I've heard nothing about him. They're operating off an ancient(in F1 terms) Arrows chassis though and so Sato in particular will probably wind up regretting this move. The biggest question is going to be how many times these guys get lapped per race.
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