Formula 1 2012 Season Preview #1

Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel - Sutton Images

The start of the Formula 1 season is only a few weeks away, with the first race taking place in Australia on March 18th. All of the teams have been working day in day out at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona to prepare their cars and drivers for the first race in just two weeks time.

So who can we expect to be competitive when the racing starts in Melbourne? Which teams or drivers have the upper-hand? Who looks in to be in the best shape? Let's start by outlining last year's top five outfits, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus. I'll be covering the rest of the teams in a subsequent blog post in the next few days. 

Red Bull Racing (Sebastian Vettel/Mark Webber)

Once again highly expected to be the team to beat this season, Red Bull Racing have retained their highly successful driver pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The two drivers have been team-mates since 2009. Vettel, who won 12 races last season and is chasing his third straight driver's title, will also be the man to beat. The young German was near faultless in 2011 and as a result has never been held in higher regard by this peers. 

Webber on the other hand, suffered a surprisingly mediocre 2011 season, only picking up one win, at the final race in Brazil. He may have finished third in the standings (higher than ex-champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton) but he was well and truly shown up by his team-mate.

The good news for Red Bull is that they have come away from pre-season testing looking to the best. Whilst the margin to teams like Mclaren isn't as wide as 2011, the Adrian Newey-designed RB8 looks to be both quick and reliable. A few hiccups on the final days were frustrating for Vettel but that aside, Red Bull look competitive. Can the Austrian outfit take they're third straight drivers and constructors championships in 2011?

Mclaren-Mercedes (Jenson Button/Lewis Hamilton)

This time last season, the Woking based squad were in big trouble. Some appalling pre-season testing had seen their car languish at the bottom of the time sheets and plagued with reliability issues. The team managed to turn their fortunes around in time for the first race in Melbourne, but 2011 saw them forever playing catch-up to Red Bull. They racked up six wins last year, three apiece for Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button but were rarely a match for Red Bull. They have retained both drivers for this season, in what is probably the strongest line-up on the grid. 

Jenson Button drove a fantastic campaign last season, even better than when he won the world championship in 2009. He finished runner-up to Vettel and impressed many with his cool, calm and collected drives in Canada, Hungary, Italy and Japan.

On the flipside, 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton endured an incident-packed year in 2011. It was a roller-coaster season for the Briton; moments of brilliance in China and Germany were put in the shade by controversial moments in Monaco, Hungary, Belgium, Singapore and India. Hamilton has professed that he can put 2011 behind him and rediscover his electric form in 2012; he is still widely considered to be the fastest on the grid, he now just has to show it.

Mclaren have now just claimed one title since 1999, Hamilton's championship win in 2008. Expectations are high so anything other than titles this year will be a disappointment.

Scuderia Ferrari (Fernando Alonso/Felipe Massa)

Ferrari were hopeful they could continue their relatively positive 2010 season into championship glory in 2011; they were however, well off the pace and only took one win all season, at the rain-hit British Grand Prix.

It was a disappointing year for Ferrari. Their car was outshone by Red Bull and Mclaren and their drivers suffered because of it. Alonso may have put in impressive performances in Britain, Germany and Italy but another title-less year for the Spaniard must be frustrating. Felipe Massa struggled in 2011, an ongoing feud with Lewis Hamilton overshadowing the year. 2012 is make or break for Massa. There is every chance the team will drop him in favour of someone like Sergio Perez in 2013 if he disappoints again this year.

Pre-season testing has not gone spectacularly well for Ferrari. Their new car, the F2012, is unpredictable and they have not the progress other teams like Red Bull, Mclaren and Lotus have. I can't see Ferrari troubling the top-step of the podium at the start of the year, possibly all year, unless rapid development is made soon.

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team (Nico Rosberg/Michael Schumacher)

Fourth for the second year in a row in 2011, Mercedes had a troubling 2011 season. Failing to make it onto the podium all year, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher have got to move forward this year.

Lead by Ross Brawn, the German outfit need to start consistently challenging for the podium and then race wins in order to move up the order. Rosberg has been unlucky not to clinch that first win since joining Mercedes (think Korea 2010) whilst Schumacher has begun to discover the form he is well known for. 

This is a close one to call, but I'm going to say Rosberg will have the edge over his team-mate again in 2012.  Schumacher, at 43 years old, is simply the wrong side of 40 to still be competitive in Formula 1. The new car looks like an improvement on last year's and will hopefully progress as the season goes on. Keep your eyes peeled for Mercedes. 

Lotus F1 Team (Kimi Raikkonen/Romain Grosjean)

Lotus have replaced both of their drivers for the 2012 season; 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen replaces Vitaly Petrov (who is off to Caterham) and Romain Grosjean replaces Bruno Senna (off to Williams). Pre-season testing has been promising for Lotus and they look very competitive in time for Melbourne. They have topped the time-sheets on multiple occasions and they seem revitalised and energised with Raikkonen at the wheel. 

Kimi Raikkonen is the big-name driver the team has sought since losing Robert Kubica to injury in 2011. He is undoubtedly quick and supposedly has the motivation to perform. He will hopefully thrive at Lotus in 2012. Romian Grosjean is an interesting decision for second driver given the other free drivers the team could of snapped up (Jamie Alguesuari, Adrian Sutil, Bruno Senna). He won last year GP2 series and has been quick so far in testing. There is no doubt in my mind however, that if he fails to perform the team won't hesitate to drop him at the end of the year. 

Check back in soon for my summary of the rest of the teams!