De-coding the F1 formula

Himanshu Shekhar with Vaibhav Arora Count down for the much awaited race has begun Down Under. All eyes will be on Lewis Hamilton who narrowly missed the World Champions title last season at the hands of Kimi Raikkonen. Is this just a clash between Mclaren’s Hamilton and Ferrari’s Raikkonen or will there be a dark horse. Will Alonso tell the world that he is not yet finished? Let’s take a look at the teams and their strengths this season: Advantage Ferrari in Laps World Champion Kimi Raikkonen is now out of Michael Schumacher’s shadow and all set in his role. Ferrari have clocked some stunning timings in the pre season testing, looking to set some higher benchmarks every time their car hits the track. Unbeatable backup: Brazillian star Fellipe Massa is not just any back up. Massa has clocked some fastest times in the pre-season races specially managing the turns better than any body else in the circuit. Australian circuit with 17 turns is bound to give Massa that added advantage. McLaren, who boast of some really fast cars will be tested with Ferrari’s finesse at the pit stops. Lewis Hamilton clocked the best timings at Albert Park last season and would be itching to settle scores with Raikkonen. McLaren faces stiff challenge from Ferrari but engineers at McLaren will try to make the best of Ferrari’s dependence on cast iron reliability. Dark Horse The two teams should leave no stone unturned but history of F1 races suggests that a slip is always round the corner. To start with, BMW Sauber ended the last season at third place and would not miss even the slightest opportunity to upset the top two heavy weights. Surprisingly, BMW have not participated in the “qualifying simulation” in their run up to the Melbourne race and hence the actual timing is not known. Will this be a masterstroke, only time can tell. Team boss Mario Theissen insisted the team were determined to win this season but had not yet found the performance. "Our target is to continue on the steep slope we had in the past two years and to get closer to the two top teams and win a race this year," he said. All depends on how the new BMW car runs. Will its tyres cope with the heat of long stints? However, BMW may be the third best team going by stats but as far as the ‘dark horse’ tag is concerned, it is not theirs. Alonso effect at Renault What happens when giants come out of their slumber. Fernando Alonso after a hurting year with McLaren is back with Renault and that has spurred them to really take a shot. The Spaniard won two successive championships in year 2005-6, and was first to overthrow Michael Schumacher from the top. Will his joining Renault be the edge the team requires? Expecting some miracle from the Spaniard is obvious. Renault, Red Bull, Williams, Toyota and Jordan to some extent are evenly matched, and their form on any given day might end up depending as much on how well their cars suit an individual circuit as anything else.