Formula One 2010 Preview

13 March 2010

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There have been some real shake-ups in Formula 1 this summer which promises this season to be the tightest yet in its entire history.

This may sound like the usual pre-season hype but this year Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, all of them world champions, will be fighting it out for pole position.

Current champion Jenson Button has joined forces with Lewis Hamilton at McLaren to form an all English partnership.

On the face of it, this partnership is a dream come true for English F1 fans but while Button is the current champ, it must be remembered that Lewis has been driving for Mclaren since he was 13, and has been there main man for some time.

When Fernando Alonso moved to McLaren, as world champion, he soon learned that Lewis was McLaren’s golden boy, and there seems no reason for this to have changed.

Alonso however will still believe he is the main man, and rightly so, apart from the returning Michael Schumacher, Alonso is probably the most naturally gifted driver in Formula 1.

He will have a point to prove after being humiliatingly forced out of McLaren after only one season.

After finishing a respectable fifth in a less that convincing Renault car last year Alonso was snapped up by Ferrari and now he should once again be in a position where he can challenge for the title.

Alonso’s team-mate Felipe Massa should also be fighting at the front of the pack. Massa’s season was tragically cut short last season after his horrific crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s Brazilian starlet has yet to win the championship, though he came drastically close in 2008 before Hamilton somehow achieved a dramatic late comeback.

If the Ferrari car is back on the pace after a disappointing 09 season then Massa will be in for a good shout and it will certainly be interesting to watch how his partnership with Alonso pans out.

Out of all the shifting between teams the biggest surprise of the season, and undoubtedly the most interesting thing to have happened in the sport since Lewis Hamilton, is Michael Schumacher’s return to F1.

The retired 7 times world champion agreed to fill in for Felipe Massa last year but suffered a neck injury whilst attempting to return to fitness.

Michael’s clearly missed the thrill that racing in a championship brings, and fans of the sport were more than happy when it was revealed he was in talks with Ross Brawn to replace Jenson Button. Nico Rosberg was also brought in by Brawn to replace Rubens Barrichello and form an all German partnership.

The battle between Alonso and Schumacher will be an interesting one, and Alonso will feel he has the better of him after beating Schumacher to back to back titles with Renault before he retired at the end of the 06 season.

With Alonso now in Ferrari, he will feel he will have the upper hand again whilst Schumacher will have it all to prove.

The most interesting battle of all though, the battle that all English F1 fans will relish to see, and one that no one thought would ever happen, is the battle between Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

Since Lewis burst onto the scene F1 fans have wondered how the McLaren’s golden boy, the greatest English talent in decades, would have faced against the greatest driver of all time.

Though he may not be in his prime, the battle is still one that wets the appetite of any F1 diehard. And the age old England v Germany rivalry looks set to make this year’s season one of the most exciting in years.

The level of talent on show hasn’t been this strong since the late 80’s, early 90’s,
when Formula 1 was in its prime. Predicting who will be champion is an almighty task but we‘ll have a better idea come Bahrain on Sunday.

We’re still going to make our predictions though, and our money’s on Fernando Alonso.

FemaleFirst Kenny Lomas

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