The series where the cream of the cream collides creating a huge brick of cream that looks more like butter... Eww...
On a serious note, it's 2010, and the new season of F1, arguably the biggest motorsport series, is starting soon. So what would be better than hyping up the season now just so we can all get disappointed and bored during the first race!
Whereas during 2009 season there were nearly no driver changes, now we will see many of them thanks to the 3 extra teams. Also, the teams have changed a lot otherwise too. BMW and Toyota left as soon as the previous season finished, giving a chance for yet another two teams to try their luck with the masters. The new teams this year are Mercedes, Lotus, Campos, Virgin and Sauber.
Line Up
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Constructor || Engine
Drivers
McLaren || Mercedes
Jenson Button || Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes || Mercedes
Michael Schumacher || Nico Rosberg
Red Bull || Renault
Sebastian Vettel || Mark Webber
Ferrari || Ferrari
Felipe Massa || Fernando Alonso
Williams || Cosworth
Rubens Barrichello || Nico Hülkenberg
Renault || Renault
Robert Kubica || Vitaly Petrov
Force India || Mercedes
Adrian Sutil || Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso || Ferrari
Sébastien Buemi || Jaime Alguesuari
Lotus || Cosworth
Jarno Trulli || Heikki Kovalainen
Campos || Cosworth
Bruno Senna || Karun Chandok
Virgin || Cosworth
Timo Glock || Lucas di Grassi
(BMW) Sauber || Ferrari
Pedro de la Rosa || Kamui Kobayashi
This year we get to introduce yet another TilkeDrome, as the Korean GP will debut. The German GP is held in Hockenheim this year. The Japanese GP is held in Suzuka again.
2010 Calendar
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Race Grand Prix Date
1 Bahrain GP 14 March
2 Australian GP 28 March
3 Malaysian GP 4 April
4 Chinese GP 18 April
5 Spanish GP 9 May
6 Monaco GP 16 May
7 Turkish GP 30 May
8 Canadian GP 13 June
9 European GP 27 June
10 British GP 11 July
11 German GP 25 July
12 Hungarian GP 1 August
13 Belgian GP 29 August
14 Italian GP 12 September
15 Singapore GP 26 September
16 Japanese GP 3 October
17 Korean GP 17 October
18 Abu Dhabi GP 31 October
19 Brazilian GP 14 November
This year sparkles will fly, if nowhere else, atleast during the Singapore GP.
The current driver line up is more than interesting, even as Kimi Räikkönen left to try some gravel racing.
Jenson Button, the current champion, decided to take a great risk and leap from Brawn(Mercedes) to McLaren, and confront the young champ, Lewis Hamilton. The great fight of the two Britts is about to start, which one will be the number one in the end of the season?
The comeback of Michael Schumacher was massive, at the very least. 7 times world champion, the Stig, the master, the one, decided to comeback and rack up some more championships, since 7 weren't enough. Brawn himself has quite clearly said that Schumacher will be the no.1 driver of Mercedes. Can Schumi deliver what is expected of him? Can Nico Rosberg beat the odds and come up as the no.1 driver? Will Schumacher just fail miserably and hope he didn't try again?
At the same time these two teams will be in a fierce battle. The historic fight between team Germany and team England is starting, with both of them wanting to show out which one was the better team of the split.
Ferrari situation is far from easy. They have two of the best drivers of the whole line up in their team. But they are both wanting to be a champion. And when two hot blooded championship hungry men collide, anything could happen. Can Stefano Domenicali keep his drivers under control, or is the stallion just too strong for one man to handle?
The new skool vs. the old skool
There will definitely be a comparison between the new teams and the old teams. Have the new teams found out something from the rule books that the old teams didn't notice? Will the new teams top the old teams, or will they just fall back miserably and be a huge lump of lappers? Will we need a second series in F1 for the new teams?
The best of the new blood. There will also be a big fight between the new teams. Now they have a great chance of showing off their skills, but they have to show them against 3 other teams.
Other interesting drivers to follow
Kamui Kobayashi: He was brought up to Toyota for the last two races in 2009 and he delivered some excellent races and really showed his skills by doing some brave passes and defences, especially in Brazil. Will the same continue this season with Sauber, or will he be another Kamikaze racer?
Pedro de la Rosa: The test driver of McLaren for multiple years gets to show off his skills once again. But are the skills still there, or will he be completely shadowed out by his team mate Kobayashi?
Timo Glock: He decided to play it safe after Toyota withdraw, but ended up being in propably the best of the new teams. He has the skills, will he just have the passion to bring the new team even up to the podiums?
José María López: A serious blackbird of the season. He has raced in TC2000 in Argentina for 3 years. He haven't touched a single seater since 2006. Will this end up being a false pick for US F1? Or will he end up being better than many people expected?
Heikki Kovalainen: The only Finn in the series this year. He got dropped out of McLaren because of below the average performance. Many have kept this as his last chance to prove that he actually has some skills to drive in F1. Kovalainen has told that he really wants to show it too. But will the passion be enough? Or will the team fail him? Or will he fail the team?
Robert Kubica: Has had some horrible luck with the teams for the last years, now ending up standing on air because BMW left. He decided to go to Renault. But will the team be good enough? Can Kubica create miracles like Alonso did the last few years? The years are drawing dangerously close to end for Kubica too, if he doesn't get a good car soon. Or will he change to WRC too?
Team RBR: The definite contender for the championship with propably the steadiest and confident drivers of the whole series. Vettel - Webber combination seems to work well, the car seems to work well. But will the team be too blue eyed once again to give the equal opportunity for both of the drivers even during a fierce championship battle?
Important rule changes in a nutshell
-No refuelling.
-No KERS.
-Qualifying almost same as last year, just made to handle the extra 8 cars. It is proposed that the third group of racers will have to do their qualifying with the same tires as what they will start the race with.
-No wheel covers.
-Narrower front tyres.
-New points system. Now ten finishers will get points like this: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. (Or 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1 if the proposed tweak won't go through.)
So, after a huge starter post, what are your expectations for the season? Who will be the champion? Who will you support? Will all the cars mysteriously disappear during the Bahrain GP? Will someone start a new controversy to ban every team on the field? Will Bernie decide to do some silly changes during the season? Will Mosley come and fight Todt for the FIA leadership on the grid of Monaco GP? Are my questions going too far of the topic? Will there be good food tomorrow?
Say your comments! Let's get the F1 ball rolling!
SEASON 2010 HERE WE COME!
(And sorry for the bad look of the charts, this place doesn't seem to handle tab too well...)
(The post will be updated as the season goes forward, and if I just remember to update it...)