After taking time out to concentrate on last year's Commonwealth Games, Australia returns to its more familiar place at the start of the new
Formula One season this weekend, with the circus arriving back in Melbourne full of the usual confidence and ambition.
With no more testing before the 2007 campaign kicks off, speculation will be replaced by reality as the eleven teams and 22 drivers get down to the serious business of competing for points rather than winter bragging rights. Opinions have been formed based on what has gone on in development sessions around Europe and Bahrain, but the coming season promises more unpredictability with a winter of change providing some intriguing focal points for the year ahead.
If observers thought a lot had changed between
Fernando Alonso's two title years, they will be more amazed by the wholesale changes that preceded the 2007 campaign, with the double world champion a major catalyst. Although his move from Renault to
McLaren was known before those Commonwealth Games kicked off in Melbourne twelve months ago, the fall-out has seen a vertitable merry-go-round that has key players in different cars and others staking a claim to success where previously they would have been discounted.
Gone is seven-time world champion
Michael Schumacher, replaced at
Ferrari by erstwhile McLaren favourite
Kimi Raikkonen. Gone too is Michelin, leaving
Bridgestone in sole control of tyres in the top flight. In are four exciting rookies -
Lewis Hamilton,
Heikki Kovalainen,
Adrian Sutil and
Anthony Davidson - while Alex Wurz will be hoping that his return coincides with that of long-time
F1 stalwart
Williams.
The Grove concern is at the head of a raft of engine changes, switching to
Toyota at the cost of Cosworth's F1 involvement, while Spyker and Toro Rosso get Ferrari power and
Red Bull moves to
Renault. The
regie features a new title sponsor to back its quest for the third world title on the trot, while
Honda has attempted to show its 'green' side by ditching sponsors altogether in favour of an environmental messge.
All in all, it's been an interesting off-season.
PRE-SEASON CHANGES:
Driver, team, sponsor and livery changes aside, it's been a busy winter for those attempting to get their head around the various rule changes that will affect the sport in 2007, with tyres, engines, testing, and safety requirements all joining a revised weekend schedule in the new rulebook.
Tyres:
Following Michelin's early exit from the sport, Bridgestone is the sole tyre supplier in 2007, ending the costly 'tyre war' at a stroke. Under the terms of the sporting regulations, the company must make available 'identical quantities and specifications of tyres to all teams', although this can be controlled to limit costs.
