Formula One Update: Champs go head to head for McLaren

Formula One / David Croft / 21 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

"Jenson Button is putting his reputation on the line in going up against Lewis Hamilton in the same car. If he’s beaten there can be no excuses."

Schumacher's back, there's four new teams and no refuelling. David Croft explains the changes as he gives a team by team rundown and considers who will be in contention in 2010.

The new Formula 1 season is getting close. Fifty-one days, 20 hours, 59 minutes and 58 seconds to go as I write this article to be precise. As it stands we have 13 teams preparing for the first race, although Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt on the efforts of some of the new outfits, believing that one of two may not make it to the grid in Bahrain.

For the first time since 1999 we have four world champions racing against each other. For the first time since 2006 Michael Schumacher will be part of the field and, for the first time since 1993, there will be no refueling during the race. This may give the seven time champion a slight head start as he, along with Ruben Barrichello, are the only drivers with experience of racing in F1 before refuelling became the norm.

Of the 13 teams entered, four are racing for the first time; Virgin Racing, Campos Meta, US F1 and Lotus, who aside from the name bear little resemblance to the former marque that raced with varying degrees of success up to 1994. Meanwhile, the Sauber name lives on with Peter Sauber taking back control of the team he sold to BMW to race as BMW Sauber using Ferrari engines.

Renault remain in the sport, although are now 75% owned by Genii Capital, a Luxembourg based investment company. Mercedes now have their own works team after buying a majority stake to take over champions Brawn GP and will, over the course of the next two years sell back their 40% stake in the McLaren Group.

Meanwhile, over in Italy Torro Rosso have had to design and build their own chassis for the first time since 2005. Down at Grove, Williams will be using Cosworth engines after cutting ties with Toyota shortly before the Japanese company announced that they were leaving the sport.

McLaren will continue with Mercedes engines until 2015 at least but now boast an all English, all world champion line-up for 2010 to rival Ferrari, who have signed up Fernando Alonso to partner the now fit Felipe Massa. In fact, such are the changes for this season only Force India and Red Bull have kept the same driver pairings that finished the 2009 calendar.

And whilst refueling is banned, the mandatory use of the two difference tyre compounds remains. So pit-stops will still take place and the race will be on to see if the crews can get all four tyres changed in under three seconds.

The first tests begin at the start of February and, from a punters perspective, they will be worth watching. Only 16 days are available to the teams before the season gets underway, so the engineers will have plenty to sort out. Some teams, Red Bull amongst them, have opted to bypass the first of the tests, choosing to stay at the factory and ensure that they are completely ready by the time of the second session in Jerez on February 10th.

The word is that Red Bull are quietly confident about their car for 2010. Given that 2009 was a major breakthrough for the team and that, in Adrian Newey, they have one of the best, if not the best, designers of an F1 car, it would be no surprise if they were to have an excellent year. Driver Mark Webber has had an operation in the close season on the leg injury that he carried throughout 2009 whilst Sebastian Vettel will be more motivated than ever given the return of Schumacher.

Schumacher himself will be the focus of huge interest. With the backing of Mercedes, Ross Brawn will be able to give him the car he needs to challenge for an eighth title. But is it too much to ask him to return after a three year absence and instantly challenge? Any other mortal would struggle but Schumacher is a different beast and his test in the GP2 car went better than he had expected.

At Ferrari the pressure will be on to deliver a car that will allow both Alonso and Massa to challenge for the title. The two have clashed on the track and off in the past which brings a fascinating sub-plot. It will be interesting to see if there any long term effects from Massa's horror injury in Hungary.

At McLaren, Button and Hamilton will get a competitive car, equal opportunity and be expected to succeed. McLaren don't race for second best and after wasting the first half of last season with a car that wasn't up to the job, they will have shifted heaven and earth to ensure there's no repeat this year.

Jenson Button is putting his reputation on the line in going up against Lewis Hamilton in the same car. If he's beaten there can be no excuses. But given that the heavy fuel loads in the early stages of the race in 2010 will penalise those drivers who aren't kind on their tyres, the new regulations may fall into his hands. Saying that, Hamilton can and will adapt to the circumstances and has the advantage of many years of experience with the team.

This year as it stands before testing begins, looks wide open and on paper any one of 7 drivers could conceivably take the title. Hamilton at [4.7] and Alonso at [4.9] head the market but Vettel at [7.8] looks tremendous value to me. Over the next few weeks the situation may become a little clearer, but I wouldn't be surprised if we head to Bahrain still scratching our heads as to who will have the advantage when the lights go out.