2007 SEASON PREVIEW
So, here we go again. The start of another Formula 1 season. No scratch that, the start of a new Formula 1 era! Michael Schumacher is history, pretty much much all the major teams have overhauled their lineups and the background of the F1 section has changed to hail a hot new British driver. Everything is up for grabs from here on in so who's going to come out on top in what is sure to be the most interesting F1 season of the 21st century?
First stop McLaren. Weill they've ditched Kimi Raikonen and Juan Pablo Montoya bailed out to NASCAR halfway through '06 only for his temporary replacement Pedro de la Rosa to get thrown back to testing. Enter Fernando Alonso, reigning two time World Champion. Enter Lewis Hamilton, the young Brit that took GP2 to the cleaners last year and long time protege of Ron Dennis. Alonso needs no further introduction. Some people are picking Hamilton as 2008 World Champion. It sounds awesome, but it also sounds like hyperbole for any rookie. I'll wait till he wins a race in '07. They're also saying Alonso + Hamilton = "dream team". I've heard that one before. Back in '94 the talk was Aryton Senna + Damon Hill + Williams = "dream team" and that year turned out to be the start of the Michael Schumacher era, a guy who'd only won two races prior to that year(and before anyone talks about Imola '94, Schumacher was matching Senna's DNFs in the early part of that year with wins)! Alonso should definately be in the championship mixer, Hamilton if he's as class as they say will win at least one race. Alonso champion? Hmmm...maybe, but I have this feeling I should look elsewhere. Still the '07 McLaren is said to be quality, and I'll concede that the Spaniard is the safe bet to get his third title in a row.
So next up is Renault. Now they've lost Alonso to McLaren of course but Giancarlo Fisichella's still hanging around and he's now backed up by Heikki Kovalainen, promoted from the test team. Fisichella's been around for long enough but he's spent the last few years in Alonso's shadow. He has won the odd race which means it's not impossible for him to come out of nowhere and grab the championship but it's certainly unlikely, given that the '07 Renault is meant to be pretty weak. One win tops. Kovalainen? Well he's been on the radar since '05 but if this year's Renault is weak then he may not be able to do much with it.
And now Ferrari. The tifosi will be affected by the new era the most. Michael Schumacher at long last heads for the history books and is replaced by Raikonen from McLaren. Felipe Massa's still around though and for a lot of people that could be the interesting thing. The safe bet would be for Kimi to be Ferrari's championship contender, that's why they hired him! However Massa's won the odd race himself. Could he be the one to breakout, get the better of his teammate smoothly take one Ferrari red baton from Schumacher and pick up the Brazil-coloured baton that has never really been picked off the ground since Senna's death? Some say yes and the theories make sense. Throw either one or both red cars into the championship mixer.
However then we come to Honda and here we have a team that has kept their '06 driver lineup. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. Furthermore, while the question that was being asked this time last year was "can Jenson win?"...well we now know the answer to that! The Brit has to be seen as the undisputed number 1 in this team so the question is can Jenson at least challlenge for the 2007 championship. He'll need to be winning races early but I have to say 'hell yes'. Can I seriously expect the first British World Champion since my schooldays? Maybe.
BMW are an interesting bunch. Nick Heidfeld is still around but Jacques Villeneuve became the latest world Champion to enter the history books and got replaced by Polish rookie Robert Kubica who promptly went on to claim his furst podium in Italy. Kubica is now the one everyone's raving about though I'm not dead cert if the '07 BMW will be good enough for him to win in. If Italy '06 turns out to be a complete fluke though, we'll find out soon enough.
What can I say about Toyota? Well for starters they've got the driver lineup of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher for the third year in a row. We know this double act well enough, we also got to know how the Toyota management think well enough when they ditched Mike Gascoyne last year. I have no reason to believe that they'll pull up any trees on this occassion. Points, yes, podiums, maybe, wins no. Same as last year really, cruising and going nowhere.
Back into a more interesting part of the grid with Red Bull where we find David Coulthard, back for yet another year and still hungry. Christian Klein has been ditched though, to join Honda's test team and replacing him is Mark Webber. That makes things interesting for DC. What makes things even more interesting is the fact that the '07 Red Bull is designed by Adrian Newey. Which means that the team will probably pick up a win this season and my bias wants it to be DC on top of the podium, at least he's won Grand Prix before.
And then there's Williams. Frank mate, the days of Mansell, Damon, DC and Villeneuve are a very long time ago. Nico Rosberg is still hanging around from last year though with Webber gone to Red Bull, they've made an interesting call for Rosberg's strike partner. Alex Wurz. Seen last year in the Williams test team, back in the late 90s he was seen as a natural to pick up the Austrian baton from Gerhard Berger but he's been without a regular race seat since '00 and last seen racing a McLaren in San Marino back in '05. Then again he's roughly the same age as Damon was when he made his F1 debut. Both drivers could have their uses, I doubt that either will win and reliability should be Williams's main priority.
So, Torro Rosso. Well I've gotten over the dumb name and I know that their car is of more use that a Minardi ever was. They've retained their driver lineup of Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. I'm not sure how to judge either driver's '06 other than the fact that Liuzzi scored a point and Speed did not which suggests the Italian may have the edge but I suspect that both drivers would be better off in better cars. Nothing much to see here really.
Well Midland have turned into Spyker and are now run by a Dutch sportcar company of the same name. Tiago Montero has been ditched and is headed to British Touring cars. He's been replaced with German rookie Adrian Sutl, taken straight from F3. Whether he's any good whatsoever I haven't got a clue. One guy I do know is Mike Gascoyne who Spyker have hired which means that Spyker will at least have a car that'll try and be competitive. Chances are they'll just be scrabbling at the back of the grid though.
And finally, Super Aguri have thrown away their 'F1-Japan' credentials. They must have realised they were a liability as soon as the FIA of all people worked out that Yuji Ide was completely useless and he was forced back to the testing team. Franck Montagny tried his had for a bit only for the team to give 'F1-Japan' another go with Sakon Yamamoto but he's been relegated back to GP2. Which has left Takuma Sato paired up with a fourth Brit for 2007, Anthony Davidson, old karting rival of Jenson's. The guy had a couple of races for the old Minardi team back in '02 and one for the old BAR team in Malaysia '05. Sato we know has his uses when given a decent car. Ant's supposed to be pretty solid as well. They'll probably beat Spyker at least.
To be honest, I won't have a solid idea on the lie of the championship land till after the first few races. Still though, four possible championship contenders. This is the most open field I can remember.
In the words of Murray Walker, "anything can happen in Formula 1 and it usually does". It certainly will this year.
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