The 2007 Drivers Preview

With two hard-earned world titles in his pocket, Alonso is now near-universally regarded as the best driver in Formula One and he doesn't have a lot left to prove - which puts the pressure on McLaren to give him the equipment he needs to continue his championship run.

If he can complete his title hat-trick in 2007 he will have achieved something truly exceptional. Only seven times in Formula One's history has a driver claimed the title in their first year at a new team, and only Juan Manuel Fangio has ever won consecutive championships with different squads.

Legendary status is therefore within Alonso's grasp this season, if he can quickly acclimatise to McLaren, and reinvigorate a team that has not won a title this century.

Fresh from an astonishing run to the GP2 title last year (which he had warmed up for with an absolutely crushing Formula Three Euroseries championship victory in 2005), Hamilton's raw talent is not in doubt as he prepares for his Formula One debut.

The only question is whether he should have served a quiet F1 apprenticeship at a midfield outfit rather than walking straight into a title-challenging team alongside a reigning champion. And as hard as Hamilton has worked over the winter, he surely cannot be as well prepared as fellow debutant Heikki Kovalainen, given the Finn's full season of testing. But while Hamilton has a lot to learn, the scale of his task means that his achievements will be even more feted, especially if he can challenge his teammate.

For years Fisichella was regarded as an untapped talent just waiting to flourish in a championship-calibre car. Then he came up against Alonso at Renault, and relative to his title-winning teammate he looked deeply average and inconsistent - so much so that his renewed Renault contract was greeted with widespread disbelief.

This year is, therefore, an absolutely critical year for Fisichella. He has the opportunity to draw the defending champion team around him and re-establish his reputation. Renault believe that he was simply out-psyched by Alonso and will be emancipated by the Spaniard's departure. But should he underwhelm, especially in comparison to rookie team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, then this will surely be his final year in a front-running team.

For a man who is filling reigning world champion Fernando Alonso's vacated seat at Renault, Kovalainen is making a strangely low-key F1 debut. The media spotlight is fixed on fellow newcomer Hamilton, and despite Renault's achievements in 2005 and 2006, most expect them to trail Ferrari and McLaren this year.

That relative lack of expectation could help Kovalainen. After five years in Renault's junior programme, and having virtually lived with the team while fulfilling number three duties last season, the Finn is no mystery to Renault. And they have no doubt that he is the right man to fill their Alonso-shaped void. Unfazed by both his predecessor and his huge Bahrain test shunt, Kovalainen has a great opportunity to impress.

Although he generally exceeded expectations and hushed many of his critics en-route to third in the 2006 championship, Massa's first season at Ferrari was still a little rough around the edges (see Melbourne, Monaco, Hungary and China, for example). If he is to achieve 'number one' status (equal or undisputed) in Ferrari's post-Schumacher era then Massa must consistently produce performances like his Istanbul and Interlagos victories this year.

But after winning the 2006 finale and dominating the final days of pre-season testing, Massa begins the new campaign bursting with confidence and is seen as the man to beat in Melbourne. The challenge will be to sustain that form and mount a season-long title challenge - and to overcome his ultra-fast and ultra-hungry new teammate.

Despite debuting at the same time as Alonso, reaching a top team one season sooner and being widely-rated as slightly faster than the Spaniard, Raikkonen still trails Alonso 2-0 in the world title stakes. And most commentators now believe that it is the seemingly more committed and complete Alonso who has taken on Schumacher's mantle as F1's greatest current driver, not Raikkonen.

But Ferrari disagree, and after long coveting Raikkonen from afar, they had no hesitation in signing him up as Schumacher's successor. Even those who question the Finn's application laud his explosive raw speed, and if Ferrari carry their late 2006 form into the new season (as logic and recent testing suggest they will), then Raikkonen is surely the championship favourite, provided he can fend off his tenacious Spanish nemesis.

Button can at least begin 2007 as a proven Grand Prix winner, but Honda's unspectacular winter form suggests that he will spend yet another season as a sideshow attraction to a world championship battle fought out by others.

He drove sublimely for most of 2006 and got as much as could have been expected out of a package that was never the best on the grid, and was sometimes among the least competitive. If Nick Fry's confidence in Honda's development plans proves well-founded, then Button can add to his win tally this season. But he begins 2007 with much lower expectations than he had when pondering a potential title challenge 12 months ago, which - given last season's disappointments - is probably a wise idea.

After a hideous beginning, Barrichello's first season with Honda did improve considerably. But the only time the veteran Brazilian (now F1's most experienced driver) had the upper hand over teammate Button was when the car was at its worst. The team may have praised Barrichello's contribution to their mid-season turnaround, but it was the Briton who made the most of Honda's improvements - outscoring Barrichello by a comfortable 26 points over the season.

Therefore, regardless of Honda's competitiveness in 2007, Barrichello must beat Button more frequently and prove that last year's difficulties were purely because the car was fundamentally more suited to his long-term incumbent teammate. He may be approaching the twilight of his F1 career, but there is still time for Barrichello to win more races, Honda's form permitting.

Heidfeld is statistically correct when he asserts that he beat Robert Kubica in their six races together last season, for he outscored his rookie partner 10-6. But the points are deceptive, because Kubica's raw speed and combativeness overshadowed Heidfeld's technically superior results.

With the 2007 BMW flying in testing, this inter-team battle could be disputed at the front of the field this season. Victories might just be on the cards, and Heidfeld must ensure that it is him, not Kubica, who seizes those opportunities. Seemingly destined for superstardom during his glittering junior career, Heidfeld is now regarded as a solid but unremarkable F1 driver. It's not too late to change that perception, but to do so he must turn the tables on his upstart teammate.

Kubica was nothing short of outstanding in his first six Grands Prix. The podium finish at Monza was just the start, and Kubica was arguably even more impressive as he tore through the field in the wet in China or hounded Heidfeld in Suzuka.

The Pole is clearly an exceptional natural talent and what he might achieve with BMW's potentially very competitive F1.07 is one of the most exciting aspects of the new championship. Not every spectacular newcomer manages to sustain their early promise, so it is too soon to say whether Kubica can harness his ability and go on to challenge for titles in future years. This season should provide a clearer picture, but his achievements so far bode extremely well.

Last year was thoroughly unremarkable for Schumacher and Toyota, enlivened only by a podium in the chaos of Melbourne and a few strong showings on days when Bridgestone had a clear advantage. Amid a growing feeling that the Toyota organisation is simply ill-equipped for the fast moving demands of F1, and with winter testing having been less than sparkling, few expect 2007 to be any better.

Schumacher again out-scored teammate Jarno Trulli last year, and will often cope better with a difficult car than the Italian perfectionist. But when he joined Toyota, Schumacher believed he was signing for a team on an unstoppable course towards the top. Instead he looks set to spend his third season at the squad scrabbling for points finishes once again.

After coming good as one of the heroes of 2005, Trulli was virtually invisible for much of last season, hamstrung not only by Toyota's slump in competitiveness but by an incredible run of bad luck that left him desperate to simply finish a race.

Despite suggestions that he was pondering retirement, Trulli signed another multi-year contract with Toyota. He was confident that the team simply had to come good eventually, but his pessimistic reports from winter testing suggest that the experienced Italian is facing another year of tribulation in 2007.

While Trulli lacks the relentless consistency of an Alonso, he remains one of the absolute fastest drivers on the grid, especially over a single lap. But unless Toyota makes dramatic progress, it is hard to see the Italian adding to his sole career victory.

Last year could not end soon enough for Coulthard, lumbered as he was with a chassis that Red Bull deemed beyond redemption very early in the season. As the team poured all their efforts into the 2007 design, the RB2 slithered ever closer to the back of the grid, much to Coulthard's frustration, and by Japan he was openly questioning the team's policy.

The car situation meant that, Monaco aside, Coulthard had no opportunity to reproduce his against-the-odds heroics of 2005, and present indications are that 2007 could provide similar frustrations until the team get to grips with what should eventually be a very competitive package. If or when Red Bull come good, Coulthard still has the ability and desire to end his career on a high.

With better reliability last season, Webber might have been celebrating a home podium and maybe even a Monaco victory. But those were just two of the potentially great results lost to Williams' fragility, leaving Webber desperate for a fresh start at Red Bull this year.

On paper, an Adrian Newey-designed and Renault-powered machine should allow Webber to finally show his true ability in F1. In reality, a difficult pre-season period suggests that he might - yet again - end up stuck in a star underdog role, at least in the early races. Having impressed so much in adversity throughout his F1 career, Webber is overdue a victory, but the top step of the podium still seems a long way off for Red Bull.

Williams' initially dynamic performances raised unrealistic expectations for Rosberg's rookie season, which rapidly went downhill as his team floundered. It wasn't Rosberg's fault that he rarely broke into the top ten in the latter part of 2006, but his sometimes headstrong approach to the opening laps didn't help the cause - Interlagos being the most galling example.

Rosberg's better performances and his speed relative to Webber showed tremendous promise, and the incidents could mostly be put down to youthful exuberance and midfield frustration. But if Williams regain some respectability this year, as early testing has hinted they will, then Rosberg needs to bring the car home intact and in the points or risk being forgotten as the next wave of superstar rookies assert themselves.

Wurz's reappearance after an incredible six season absence provides a salutary lesson to the current influx of young drivers - for the Austrian is living proof that spectacular early performances do not always lead to an outstanding F1 career.

When he first appeared on the scene, Wurz displayed an excellent combination of speed, technical nous and fiery racing spirit. His testing performances suggest that those attributes were masked, but not lost, as Benetton went downhill, and if he can reproduce his 1997/8 form for Williams then Wurz can play a crucial role in the team's fightback, and revive his own overlooked career in the process. Much will depend on how much race-rustiness has developed from spending 104 of the last 105 Grands Prix watching from the sidelines.

The only positive thing that can be said about Liuzzi's winter of uncertainty is that at least his re-signing was confirmed 11 days before Speed's, suggesting that his employers have slightly more faith in the Italian than his teammate...

But the public criticism might provide the impetus for Liuzzi to get his F1 career on track, for some still believe that the former karting and Formula 3000 superstar is at least as good as his fellow recent rookies. Liuzzi has provided little evidence to support that contention in his erratic early Grands Prix, though, and if it really is a matter of better application and harnessing his talent then he needs to put the necessary effort in this season, for he is unlikely to get another eleventh hour reprieve.

Toro Rosso's last minute, almost grudging, announcement that Speed would get a second F1 season could prove to be a masterstroke - if it inspires the young American to improve his commitment and consistency and start justifying Red Bull's investment in him.

The engine situation made it hard to judge Toro Rosso's drivers last year, but the only conclusions that could be drawn were that both made too many mistakes, and that Liuzzi was invariably the quicker of the duo.

With limited pre-season mileage in a variation of a car that their conspicuously larger sister team is already finding tricky to master, Toro Rosso are facing another trying season. But Speed must impress in adversity, and outshine Liuzzi, if he wants to prolong his F1 career.

He may be a Dutchman in a patriotic Dutch-owned team, but it is not just a handy nationality that has earned Albers a third season in F1. Almost unnoticed at the back of the field, Albers has generally outperformed his teammates, and he sometimes got his MF1 into eye-catching positions last season (notably on race day in Istanbul) although he has so far done nothing to attract the attention of the top teams.

Spyker should make progress in 2007, but points will still be a tall order. Nevertheless, Albers begins the year full of determination - eager to prove himself to new technical director Mike Gascoyne, and to controvert suggestions that new teammate Adrian Sutil will leave him trailing.

The manner in which Sutil picked himself up after being comprehensively overshadowed by champion teammate Hamilton in the 2005 F3 Euroseries should serve as inspiration for beleaguered number two drivers everywhere. After Sutil won just two races to Hamilton's 15 victories that year, few would have predicted that the pair would reach F1 simultaneously - albeit at opposite ends of the pit lane.

Winning the Japanese F3 title in 2006 restored Sutil's confidence, but it was his sparkling Friday performances for MF1, substantially more impressive than the rest of the team's legion of number threes, that earned him a place on the F1 grid. He must maintain that momentum this season, fend off his fired-up and more experienced teammate, and grab every rare opportunity that comes Spyker's way.

In a situation where so many drivers would have lost all motivation and allowed their F1 career to slide away, Sato blossomed against the odds last year, staying positive, driving more consistently than ever and helping his hard-working Super Aguri team to produce increasingly respectable performances.

Freed from the pressure of expectation at Honda, Sato appears to have found his niche role as the chirpy, battling underdog. Davidson's arrival adds an extra challenge, but the pair ought to prove evenly-matched and spur each other on.

The very late appearance of the Honda-influenced new car is bad news for both men, though, as their best chance of surprise results was always likely to be in the early rounds before bigger teams with all-new chassis hit their stride.

Being stuck on the cusp of F1 for so long has only added to Davidson's desire for success as he finally prepares for his first season of GP racing, even though he is creeping onto the back of the grid with Super Aguri rather than striding into the competitive Honda drive for which he so often seemed destined.

Happy just to be given a chance to impress, Davidson believes that he can score points this year - and even if the long-awaited SA07 disappoints, he hopes to at least boost his own career prospects by achieving more with it than teammate Sato. Davidson may be content to start his F1 racing life in the midfield, but he clearly does not intend to remain there.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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