Here’s a list of teams and their drivers, with a few comments from me. The number shown before the drivers‘ names are their car numbers.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
1 Fernando Alonso
2 Lewis Hamilton
Vodafone manage to keep their logo on a World Champion.
McLaren Mercedes is the team I would most like to work for. They are disciplined and professional, and I would be in my element there. Alonso also has these qualities, but not to the same level. He’ll either love it or hate it.
Hamilton is another Brit for me to support. I am excited about him being in F1 this season, and especially because he’s at McLaren.
ING Renault F1 Team
3 Giancarlo Fisichella
4 Heikki Kovalainen
ING is a new sponsor to F1 and it’s nice to see financial companies sponsoring F1 teams.
I’m a fan of the Fins in F1 too.
Scuderia Ferrari ********
5 Felipe Massa
6 Kimi Raikkonen
Boo! Ferrari is still sponsored by a tobacco firm. Dinosaurs!
Shame Kimi’s racing for Ferrari this year. One of my favourite drivers in his earlier years, now with his lack of disciplined and red overalls I won’t be cheering for him this year.
Honda Racing F1 Team
7 Jenson Button
8 Rubens Barrichello
A team I can be cheering for this year. Jenson, a Brit of course, and Rubens (an honorary Brit by virtue of his underdog status with Ferrari) make an interesting team.
BMW Sauber F1 Team
9 Nick Heidfeld
10 Robert Kubica
Boring! Heidfeld is, sadly, an also-ran. Kubica has potential, but I don’t think he’ll shine in this team.
Panasonic Toyota Racing
11 Ralf Schumacher
12 Jarno Trulli
Red Bull Racing
14 David Coulthard
15 Mark Webber
What can I say, Coulthard and Webber (drivers I like as drivers and as people) driving for a team I would love to work for. I would love to see them do well.
AT&T Williams
16 Nico Rosberg
17 Alex Wurz
Frank is doing his usual job of bringing on a new-ish driver in Rosberg. Watch this space for stories of contract disputes and dropping a driver just as he starts to shine. It’s an odd match though, with Nico’s Dad Keki being opinionated and forthright, while Frank is the very model of diplomacy.
Good to see Wurz back again.
Scuderia Toro Rosso
18 Tonio Liuzzi
19 Scott Speed
Torro Rosso is Italian for Red Bull Team 2. Scott Speed is American for loud and slow.
Spyker F1 Team
20 Christijan Albers
21 Adrian Sutil
A Dutch team, part sponsored by German consumer electronics company Medion, with a relatively unknown German Driver Adrian Sutil, and Ferrari engines. Spyker deserves to have a more settled season this year. Probably still a back-of-the-pack team though.
Super Aguri F1 Team
22 Takuma Sato
23 Anthony Davidson
Another team I have a soft spot for, not because of the team, but because I like Sato as a person, mainly because he’s always smiling. I did like Davidson as a driver too, but his stint in the commentary box when Button won took the shine off a bit. I hope he can put in some solid drives.
Test Drivers of note:
Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren Mercedes) - Fast, but out of luck when it came to drives this year.
Gary Paffett (McLaren Mercedes) - Another Brit, must be gutted he didn’t a drive this year.
Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault F1 Team) - another GP2 star.
Christian Klien (Honda), Franck Montagny (Toyota), Robert Doornbos (Red Bull), and Narain Karthikeyan (Williams) - more former F1 drivers relegated to test driver status. Mind you, I’d sell my granny to be a test driver.
Next up: FIA rule changes.
