This week will be an interesting time for Formula 1 fans as teams begin to unveil their new machine and driver combinations ahead of the opening four day testing session in Jerez, Spain on Febuary 7th-10th.
The testing sessions wont provide a true guideline of the new cars performance, for that show and tell experience you will need to wait until the qualifying session this year in Melbourne, but at least along with the respective drivers positive or negative quotes you will gain some insight as to how the season will play out
McLaren were the first major team to launch and they head into the season with the same driving pair in 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton and 2009 champion Jenson Button
While the drivers remain unchanged, what has changed are the questions being asked of them as Button became the first driver to beat Hamilton over an entire season, there is now a credible case for Button being the superior driver that didnt exist a year ago
From an Australian perspective, there is Mark Webber who now has a clean slate to have another shot at the title, and Daniel Ricciardo who has now been promoted to the secondary Red Bull team in Toro Rosso, the proving ground for him to make a claim on Webber’s seat.
Webber in 2011 sampled what Vettel could do when he wasnt making mistakes or when his car wasn’t breaking down. He was phenomenal and unstoppable.In 2012, the upside for Webber is that he had problems, most notably off the starting grid, which prevented him from putting in a serious challenge.
If Webber can get on top of these problems, he’ll have a far better season. The season starts with Melbourne, a track Webber has never had great success at since his remarkable on-debut fifth placing for Minardi in 2002.
Ricciardo now must lineup against frenchman Jean Eric Vergne, the driver who claimed that he could step in immediately and at least equal what Webber could do in the car if given the primary Red Bull. I will take personal pleasure if Ricciardo can outperform him. The West Australian performed well enough in the bomb that was HRT, and now has his chance.
Elsewhere we have Mercedes who have made some key staff improvements for this season, and as a result will delay their launch until late Febuary, Renault bringing back Kimi Raikkonen to F1 and Ferrari desperate to return to past glory/
It’s sure to be a great F1 season
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