1. Dramatic tyre degradation
This season Formula One has a new chief tyre supplier, Pirelli, who’re replacing Bridgestone. During testing the Italian manufacturer where given the mandate to ensure this season’s tyres are softer as F1 bosses hope to create more overtaking and to test the ability of tacticians as they try to prevent unnecessary pit-stops. It could prove a difficult task balancing the benefits of keeping drivers on track as opposed to bringing them in to change their boots as winter testing has already shown. For example, at Barcelona recently Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher, on fresh Pirellis, caught McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, struggling on degrading tyres, over a matter of only 3 laps overtaking him and pulling out a 5 second lead on the 2008 World Champion. Striking tyre degradation such as this may lead many teams to bite the bullet and pit much more frequently with many pundits predicting each driver will pit three or four times in every race. Commentator, Martin Brundle, said recently he expected to see some ‘crazy results’ due to the volatile nature of the new tyres and this could be a huge benefit to the midfield teams especially at the start of the season while they are all still adapting.
2. A new Brit
The gird now has three British drivers with the arrival of Scot, Paul Di Resta, the 24-year-old has been on the cusp of joining an F1 team for many years as he’s previously been linked with drives at Mclaren, Force India and Toyota. Finally the 2010 DTM Champion has got his chance joining Force India, who he tested for in 2008, as a replacement for Italian Antonio Liuzzi. Unlike most rookies who drive in F1, based on a sponsors’ cheque, Di Resta has a proven pedigree of being a motor sport champion. He won the Formula Three Euroseries and Masters of Formula 3 championships in 2006 and has consistently finished in the top three overall standing in the German touring car series, DTM, over the last three seasons before winning the competition last year. As Force India are firmly placed in the middle of the field not much is expected of the Scot but he’ll be determined to achieve consistent points finishes to put him on the radar of front running teams. To help him reach his potential and equal the feats of F1’s two other British drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, by becoming World Champion in a few seasons time.
3. A struggling Mclaren
Over winter testing Mclaren Mercedes new car, the MP4-26, has struggled for pace and reliability and has left many wondering if the team are capable of mounting a challenge for the drivers and constructors titles. Drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, have both toed the party-line saying they’re content but they must be frustrated by the car’s apparent lack of performance. A feeling which must be privately felt within the team too as Mclaren Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed his team are making ’dramatic’ alterations to the car before this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. These changes centre upon giving the MP4-26 a new floor and exhaust system. Whitmarsh said: “There's a risk in that but I think it was the right thing to do and we're hopeful that the risk comes off and the car becomes a lot more competitive.” He defiantly concluded that he felt the new Mclaren could now become over a second a lap quicker. Success for Britain’s two former World Champions could depend hugely on this early season gamble as rivals Ferrari and Red Bull look to be this season’s pace setters once more.
4. Team Orders
The clause which banned team’s engineering an advantage for their ‘lead driver’ has been removed and now teams can again freely tell their ‘second drivers’ to let their team-mates past them. Team orders came to prominence during Michael Schumacher’s dominant era with Ferrari when team-mates Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa were all told to move aside to give the German race victories. The Scuderia were adjudged to be up to their old tricks last season when Felipe Massa surrendered what would have been an emotional first victory since returning from a near fatal accident to allow Fernando Alonso to win the German Grand Prix. Massa‘s race engineer Rob Smedley radioed the Brazilian and said ‘Fernando is faster than you’ moments later Alonso was past Massa with Smedley radioing a solitary ‘sorry’ to the distraught Brazilian. Ferrari were given a slap on the wrist for their actions by the FIA and rival teams heavily criticised their use of team orders, none more than Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, it will be interesting to see if he uses team orders now the ban has been lifted after all it could have saved him a lot of hassle last season as drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber regularly tangled with each other nearly blowing their championship hopes.
5. An improved Michael Schumacher
The big talking point of the 2010 season was the return of the legendary Michael Schumacher as he signed up to race for the new Mercedes team, previously World Champions Brawn GP, and this caused euphoria amongst millions of F1 fans across the world. Although in-truth the seven-time World Champion’s comeback was far from plain sailing. He was regularly out-performed by team-mate Nico Rosberg, who almost doubled Schumacher’s point haul of 72, he also struggled to get to grips with qualifying often not making the top ten shoot-out in Q3 and worst of all the German never even mounted the podium with his best finish being fourth in Korea. It was a real shock for many F1 purists who wanted their idol to waltz back behind the wheel of an F1 car and re-establish his dominance from his Ferrari years. In winter testing the prospects have looked good for Schumacher as he quite frequently topped the time sheets despite many saying the Mercedes lacks pace. After his disastrous return, where he ended the championship ninth, you won’t find many predicting he’ll become a World Champion for the eighth time in 2011 but they’re hopeful he’ll at least grace the podium from time-to-time and possibly win a race, this would be a great sign-off for a true great, who probably won’t be on the grid in 2012.
6. A rotation of drivers at Hispania Racing
It’s fair to say of last season’s three new teams, Hispania, struggled substantially more than Virgin Racing or Lotus with no pre-season testing and non-stop financial difficulties it was a wonder they got on the grid at times. During races their fortunes didn’t improve much with their drivers consistently finishing at the very back of the field, if at all, which lead to them finishing last in the constructors championship. They arguably didn’t help themselves by using four drivers, Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Sakon Yamamoto and Christian Kilen, throughout the season which prevented any stability as Hispania tried to find their feet in the sport. This season they’re starting with two new drivers former Jordan racer Narain Karthikeyan and Antonio Liuzzi, who drove for Force India next year, both have substantially more F1 experience and sponsorship than their predecessors but don’t be surprised to see an also-ran from seasons gone by replacing one of them during the season. Maybe Takuma Sato will fancy a mid-season F1 return.
7. Warring team-mates
As the golden rule of F1 goes, you have to beat your team-mate, from Mclaren’s two Brits to Red Bull’s bickering duo there are sure to be some heated in-team rivalries this season. The most memorable moment of warring team-mates last season had to be when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber clashed at the Turkish Grand Prix wiping Vettel out of the race while jeopardising Red Bull’s title hopes. Now that Vettel is a World Champion it will be interesting to see if Webber is expected to defer to the young German and furthermore if the fiery Aussie complies. A similar situation could happen at Mercedes too after Nico Rosberg pummelled Michael Schumacher last season it’s unlikely the veteran will settle for second driver status. Also at the front it’ll be intriguing to see whether Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa start the season on a level-footing. Given that last year the Brazilian had to be the yielding rear-gunner to the two-time World Champion. One thing is for sure with the reinstating of team orders some teams will clearly define a number one and number two driver which probably isn’t a bad idea. As the civil war at Mclaren between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007 cost the team the title as Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, who started the final race third in the championship, piped them to the World Championship.
8. A possible return for Robert Kubica
The big tragedy of pre-season was the accident to Renault’s, Robert Kubica, as he was allowed to compete for Skoda in the Ronde di Andora rally but the Pole unfortunately crashed leaving his F1 career in the balance. The one-time race winner suffered various hand, arm and leg injuries which needed multiple operations to repair. There is no way that he’d be able to take the seat of his vastly improved, Lotus Renault GP, for the opening months of the season but F1 fans would undoubtedly love to see him back behind the wheel before the season finishes. In the mean-time his former BMW team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, is deputising for Kubica which could put the in-experienced, Vitaly Petrov’s, position with the team in doubt should Heidfeld do well for Renault in Kubica’s absence. As the pairing of Kubica and Heidfeld made BMW a very fearsome team during their time together previously and would again with Lotus Renault GP if the Pole recovers this season.
9. The First Indian Grand Prix
This season on October 30th F1’s inaugural Indian GP will take place at the Jaypee Group Circuit, in Greater Nodia. The sprawling circuit consists of 16 largely medium speed corners with cars having an expected average lap speed of around 210 kph. The grand stands will house around 150,00 spectators with plans in-place to extend that to 200,000 should the race become popular with fans. When the F1 circus arrives in India in the thick of the season the grid will have an Indian team, Force India, and an Indian driver, Narain Karthikeyan (If Hispania haven’t replaced him by then).
10. Controversies
F1 is nothing without the traditional scandal each season. In recent years we’ve seen spying between Mclaren and Ferrari, illegal car designs, Piquet-gate and even allegations about former FIA President Max Mosley’s private life. This year nothing much has arisen yet other than trash talk between teams with Lewis Hamilton recently describing Red Bull as ‘just a drinks company’ this is pretty light stuff at the moment but it’ll be sure to simmer during the season. There is bound to be controversies surrounding the legality of teams’ diffusers as has become the norm in recent years. Plans to make F1 more interesting are also sure to cause debate with big cheese, Bernie Ecclestone, recently proposing artificial rain to make races more of a spectacle and being roundly shot down by the paddock. Whatever happens this year there is certain to be as much action the track as there is on it as always.
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