I have been religiously watching Formula 1 racing for the past 11 years. I have seen Michael Schumacher win five world titles, Montoya and Alonso fight Schumi and Alonso coming out on top, and Hamilton win the title in his second season in F1. Some amazing races, some breadth-taking overtaking moves and some horrifying accidents.
However, for reasons that I am still sorting out in my head, 2010 seems like the season that will shade all seasons. How is this for starters?
- All the engineering genius is well divided between teams. Brawn/Mercedes GP have Ross Brawn, Red Bull have Adrian Newey, McLaren and Ferrari have spent years developing management structures to facilitate technical prowess for years. Apart from McLaren's and Ferrari's bleep, Red Bull and Brawn were class of the field, in 2009. McLaren, Ferrari and Renault will catch up, in fact McLaren already did in the later part of the season. And so we have the case of five teams having the potential of having very, and hopefully equally quick, cars.
- The driver-line ups are equally impressive and well-balanced.
- Mercedes: Schumi and Rosberg, seven-time world champion and Mr. Quick in 2009 respectively.
- McLaren: Button and Hamilton, two world champions.
- Ferrari: Massa and Alonso, near-world-champion in 2008 and 2005/6 world champion.
- Red Bull: Vettel and Webber, who finished third and fourth respectively in 2009.
- The return of Schumi is just the tonic that F1 needed after the lieing and crashing scandals. BBC's F1 site had six videos posted at one time. Formula 1's official site has four stories on his return. F1 pundits are ecstatic. And the man himself wants to 'throw an F1 car' around the circuit and can't wait to drive against the guys half his age and win the world title. Phenomenal stuff.
- One of my regrets has been not being able to watch Ayrton Senna. Every time I speak to somebody about him or read an article, the impression I get is that of deep respect and admiration for a human who put in superhuman efforts. His nephew brings the Senna name back to F1. Personally, I believe this is of historical proportions, and wish him the best.
- Jean Todt takes the helm at the FIA. I don't know about the problems being suffered by the FIA and the remedies that could solve them. From my perspective as a viewer, the FIA have tremendously improved the safety in F1 and regular road cars. However their decisions when punishing drivers and team does come across as inconsistent and slightly unfair.
So readers, quite a few changes in F1. Except for the regulations. There will be no refuelling next year but the relative stability of the rules should allow the designers to innovate. Bernie certainly seems chirpy about F1's situation now, and if he is so then we must remain optimistic. From my point of view, after watching Schumi's interview today, my gut tells me that I am in for the best season yet over the past 11 years.
