2007 F1 Preview
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by user Alex Holowczak
This was initially going to be a review of the 2006 season. But I thought, what’s the point – look here and click on any of the reports for detailed analysis of each race! Or if you don't like those, click on any of the videos to watch race highlights!
As such, it became a preview for 2007. The 2007 Formula One Season will be one of the most anticipated of all-time.
The Grand Prix Season
The calendar is shortened to 17 races. Imola has been dropped from the calendar after some disappointing racing action. The Japanese Grand Prix was bought by Fuji. Suzuka hopes to return in 2008 under the name of Pacific Grand Prix. The European Grand Prix at Nurburgring was dropped. It will host the German Grand Prix this year, and it will alternate the hosting of the race with Hockenheim in forthcoming years. The calendar sees Britain and France keep their positions in July, something that may not be true in the next few years. The United States Grand Prix in June remains at Indianapolis – using the infield road circuit. The Belgian Grand Prix returns at the best circuit in the world, Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. The race everyone looks forward to will be the Monaco Grand Prix, held at Monte Carlo, the one true traditional race left on the calendar. It will be on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. The season will once again start in Australia at Albert Park.
The Contenders
The retirement of Michael Schumacher from the sport will leave a void to fill in the sport, and is has also left a lot of reshuffling in the off-season.
Fernando Alonso will be the only World Champion on the grid in 2007. I will now assess the contenders.
Ferrari
Ferrari have a huge history in Formula One, with many World Champions in the history of the sport. The team were the most successful in the back end of 2006, although Renault were gaining on them fast.
Felipe Massa keeps his race seat after impressive wins in Brazil and Turkey. He is joined by former McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen, who makes the switch after being frustrated with an unreliable car.
Ferrari hope Raikkonen will fill the hole left by Schumacher, but Raikkonen is more than up to the task.
Massa however has no plan to let Raikkonen be automatically Number 1 at Ferrari – he hopes to challenge Raikkonen for the honour of Number 1 within the team for the start of the season. Realistically though, the team are more likely to go with Raikkonen.
Luca Badoer will test for them again this season.
They will be in their usual red livery, and have been good in preseason testing.
As for the car, it will be as good as it ever has been, and is sure to be contending at the front of the grid for race wins. Expect Ferrari to have their drivers challenging for the World Championship, and themselves to be in the hunt for the Constructors’ Championship.
Renault
The 2006 Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Champions will have to compete without Alonso this year, after his move to McLaren.
As a result, Fisichella keeps his race seat, and Renault will promote their young test driver, Heikki Kovalainen, who has been successful in other formulae. There is a doubt over the drivers ability with relation to Alonso.
The car is also a point of interest. I don’t think the car was overly competitive in 2006 – Alonso was just so good.
The test drivers of Ricardo Zonta and Nelson Piquet Jnr. will be a strong addition to the team.
New sponsers ING have made the car look frankly, awful, a mix of orange, white and yellow.
I think the Renault team will struggle at the start of 2007, but I expect them to be up the grid, challenging for race wins. I don’t see a championship for them though.
McLaren
No race wins in 2006 was a disappointment, but the signing of Fernando Alonso will leave the team full of optimism.
Alonso will race alongside a Formula One rookie, Lewis Hamilton, who has been a McLaren protégé, and great things are expected of the 21 year old Brit. He will become the first black driver in Formula One History.
The car was awful in 2006, but I expect them to be challenging for race wins in 2007. Even if the car is uncompetitive, the team boasts the most talented driver on the grid in Alonso, and a young upstart that will hold no fear.
They will don a silver and red livery, but have been unreliable in preseason testing.
Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett and the odd cameo from Mika Hakkinen on the test track will only help them.
I don’t expect them to challenge for the title if their preseason failures continue. The reliability is a serious issue for McLaren at the moment.
Honda
A race win in Hungary was the highlight of a decent season for Honda.
Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello keep their race seats, and the two drivers will look to keep Honda in firm position to progress up the grid.
Button will finally look to challenge for a championship, and Barrichello will be expected to perform after a lacklustre season in 2006.
Christian Klien will lead the test driving team, and he is a strong driver to have in this role.
They are set to cause a stir by sporting a green livery, to recognise climate change. This is set to anger many British fans, who deem it as stealing “British Racing Green”. However, the livery may be much yellower than Britain’s national racing colour.
Another team that could contend for race wins.
BMW Sauber
Sporting a white livery, BMW will look to challenge for points in 2007 with Nick Heidfeld and the impressive young Pole Robert Kubica.
After a 2006 which promised a deal, they are unlikely to be contending for race wins, but they do have a big spending team that could do well in future seasons. The championship may not be out of the question before the end of the decade.
They have particularly impressed in pre-season testing, having topped the time sheets at some big tests, and have been very reliable. They sport a white and blue livery.
Sebastien Vettel was inspired as test driver, and the youngster could soon have a race seat proper.
Toyota
Toyota lost out to Honda in the Japanese manufacturer battle last year, and the big spending team will want to do better in 2007.
The Japanese Grand Prix has moved to their track at Fuji (from the Honda owned Suzuka) for 2007, a major coup in the battle.
Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli are two race winning Grand Prix drivers, but both have failed to live up to expectation so far.
They could challenge for race wins, but they said that last year.
Sporting a red and white livery, they have been disappointing so far in testing, and could struggle.
Red Bull
Red Bull’s Number 1 team of David Coulthard and Mark Webber looks strong on paper. With the new car design from Adrian Newey, big things could happen for them in 2007. They even secured Renault engines for 2007, a great result for the team. Newey designed the great Williams cars in the 1990s, which were powered by Renault engines.
An omen maybe, but with drivers capable of winning races, it could be a good season for Red Bull.
They will again use their dark blue livery, and in pre-season testing they have been solid if not the quickest team. They do seem to be reliable however.
Williams
The Williams team has fallen from grace, and is now challenging for points at best in some races. Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz are good drivers, but the test drivers lack experience.
Having lost Newey to Red Bull, it could be a long season.
This pre-season they have shown signs of improvement, but it is debatable whether they will move up the grid. Their Toyota engine seems more reliable than last season’s Cosworth.
Spyker
A Dutch team new to F1 that bought Midland at the end of 2006.
Christian Albers will driver for them in 2007, but other driver positions have yet to be negotiated. They have secured Ferrari engines though, a great coup.
Unknown quantity, but their drivers are nothing special.
In pre-season they have looked decent, sporting a typically Dutch orange livery.
Super Aguri
In their debut 2006 year, they moved from backmarkers to challenging to get off the back row of the grid, a remarkable achievement for a team that didn’t exist until January 2006.
Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson are decent drivers, as they look to get ahead of the new Spyker team in 2007.
Torro Rosso
The Honda junior team, which will feature the only American on the grid, Scott Speed, and Vitantonio Liuzzi, the 2005 GP2 Champion.
These two drivers’ stocks have dropped in 2006, and this could be the last year they have to prove themselves. Should challenge for points at some stage with the benefit of their big brother team having Newey.
They have been consistent in pre-season, and are now using the V8s that they didn’t use in 2007 – they used rev-limited V10s, that didn’t work to their advantage as they hoped.
With old fan favourite Gerhard Berger now controlling the team, it could move up the grid in 2007.
Who Will be World Champion?
Alonso or Raikkonen, probably just the Fin. Button will be the best non Ferrari or McLaren. For the first time in a while, there are three Brits capable of winning Grands Prix. I think Renault will struggle with their drivers. Winter testing has maybe tilted the balance in favour of Raikkonen, but all of the top teams seem fairly evenly matched. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a BMW up the order in some races.
It promises to be an exciting season of Formula One, with some tight competition at the front of the field. The first race in Australia will tell all!
The Season
When the season gets here, like last year, I will post reports of each race about three hours after each Grand Prix is completed for the European races, maybe sooner for the North American ones. The Australian report should be ready for you when you wake up though, such is the time difference, as should the Asian races at the start and end of the season.
