Desert storm

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Desert storm

Written by Kate Walker

Monday, 08 March 2010 19:12

As I type, freight containers are en route to Bahrain from Formula 1 teams around the world. Teams and drivers are completing their final preparations before jetting off to the Bahrain International Circuit, where the most hotly-anticipated F1 season in years is due to kick off on Friday. Or Sunday, if you’re not interested in practice or qualifying.
So what should we expect from this weekend’s racing? It’s far too early to make predictions for pole position or podium places, that much is certain. The one thing we do know is that the F1 Circus Big Top is rolling into town, bringing excitement and drama in its wake.

It wouldn’t be a modern F1 season if we weren’t starting out under the shadow of controversy. Thanks to Red Bull querying McLaren’s rear wing, F1 fans can breathe a sigh of relief that all is as it should be – the scrutineers will have something to inspect at Sakhir, and the teams will have all manner of statements to issue based on the FIA’s decision on the legality of the wing.

Oh, goody.

Once the to-and-froing over the cars’ legality has been completed, the serious business of racing can begin in earnest for the first time in far too long. And what can we expect from the teams? Most pundits – and I include myself in that statement – see this year’s championship as being a three-tiered event.

First we have the cash- and experience-rich big four of Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes. Then there’s the middle group of experienced teams without the financial clout of the first group – Williams, Renault, Sauber, Force India, and Toro Rosso. Bringing up the rear are the three new teams of Lotus, Virgin, and HRT.

While no team enters Formula 1 intending to lose, the fight for the championships looks like it will be concentrated in the cash-rich teams. No matter how well a car performs at the beginning of the season, if a team lacks the necessary funds to add upgrades from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi then it will slowly see the other teams slip into the distance. Despite the resource restriction agreement, F1 still harbours echoes of haves and have-nots.

The battle for new team supremacy has been much discussed in recent months. Lotus look to be in a good position to fight for the title of best new team – despite being slower than the VR01 in testing, the Norfolk outfit didn’t suffer the reliability issues well-known to anyone familiar with the various incarnations of the Branson brand. If Lotus can improve their speed over the course of the season, they’ve got a very good chance of getting Richard Branson to play air hostess.

HRT are too much of an unknown quantity to comment on now. They have two passionate drivers in Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, but neither man has F1 experience. As the team was unable to participate in February’s Spanish tests, the first time we will see the team turn a wheel in anger will be Friday practice. The Dallara-built chassis should affray some reliability concerns, but to say anything beyond that is guesswork.

While the battle for front-runner is hardly likely to be dull, I think that the real fighting this season will be between the mid-field teams. All five of the teams have won races in recent memory, and each has something to prove.

Williams needs to secure some wins this season, and with Rubens Barrichello and talented rookie Nico Hulkenberg behind the wheel of the FW32, the Grove outfit are in with a good chance. Hulkenberg proved his skill in GP2, where he and Lewis Hamilton are the only two drivers to have won the championship in their maiden season.

Now that he’s moved up to the big leagues, the combination of talent and a desire to prove himself should make for some thrilling on-track action.

Renault have new owners, new drivers, and a new team structure following the drama of the 2009 season. Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov both need to prove their worth to their new team – the latter more so than the former – but based on its testing performance the R30 still needs some work before it will be in a position to challenge for wins.

Team Sauber (I’m ignoring the BMW for confusion’s sake) are going to find themselves the focus of a lot of attention in the early part of the season. Kamui Kobayashi is one of the most hotly anticipated drivers to hit the grid in quite some time – while his previous career doesn’t place him in the same league as fellow rookie Hulkenberg, his on-track reserve performances at the end of the 2009 season have had fans salivating for more exciting racing manoeuvres. If Kobayashi and teammate Pedro de la Rosa can deliver results to match the buzz, expect to see a lot of Sauber coverage on a TV screen near you.

The 2009 season was a record season for Force India – the team scored their first points, their first pole, and their first podium. The only way is up, I hope, and so do the team. In a press release issued this morning, the Silverstone-based outfit said “[we are] hoping this season will be the one that firmly establishes [Force India] as a strong, competitive outfit regularly challenging for points and podiums whenever possible.” With Adrian Sutil and the underrated Tonio Liuzzi behind the wheel, 2010 should be an exciting season for the team.

Toro Rosso look to have built a good car, and both Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari are more experienced than they were last year. Alguersuari topped the timesheets at rain-soaked Jerez in February, so we could see some surprise performances from the baby Red Bulls. The real hurdle for Toro Rosso is finding another Sebastian Vettel, a talented young driver who can outpace the senior team. For as long as Vettel’s behind the wheel of a Red Bull, that will prove to be quite a challenge.
It’s far too early to say who will win any of these battles – any decision I could make now would be based more on personal preference than actual fact. In just four short days, however, engines will be firing up for the first Friday practice session of 2010. With that to look forward to, who cares about predictions? We’re going racing! Kate Walker Girlracer Magazine http://www.girlracer.co.uk