The 2007 Teams Preview

The off-season has provided plenty of entertainment with talk of customer cars and squabbles over test drivers. But the winter is over, the testing is done, and now it is time for the teams to head to the first race and show their fans and sponsors what they have been up to...

Coming off the back of a successful double championship season, the team must be a little disappointed that they are not going to run with the number one on their car - that privilege will belong to Alonso, who has taken it to McLaren for the season ahead.

Fisichella is being called upon to step up to the plate and lead the outfit; he is again placed alongside a young, rising star - but even if he has the potential to dominate newcomer Heikki Kovalainen as effectively as he did former teammate Jenson Button, the team will need both drivers effective, so he will also take on a mentor role.

From a financing perspective, it is little surprise that when Alonso left, the team lost their Telefonica sponsorship. Thanks, in large part, to the substantial notice period given by their star driver, however, they had little trouble lining up a solid replacement and will face 2007 with ING as title sponsor. The team are still running on a far tighter budget than most of their rivals, but they should be in a solid position to fight through this season.

The new car initially looks well conceived, though testing has shown that it is a little off the top pace - even if reliability is very good. This is fairly similar to the position the have held at the start of previous seasons: scoring well and consistently is the key to a strong season with the current points system.

Summary: The team seem to be a little off the pace of Ferrari and McLaren at the start of the year, which leaves them starting the season hoping their rivals are unreliable as they go looking for performance gains. With a relatively tight budget for a front running team, this is going to be a challenging year: if they struggle to close the gap, expect them to work on developing their less experienced driver and targeting a 2008 comeback.

2007 Objectives: Win both championships again.

The finale to the 2006 season was, in the end, an anticlimax for Ferrari, who had threatened to get back on terms with Renault and send star driver Michael Schumacher off into retirement with another championship or two under his belt. It was not to be.

Schumacher has retired, technical director Ross Brawn is off on a sabbatical, engine chief Paolo Martinelli is moving to Fiat, Jean Todt has been promoted to general manager and the management is still undergoing an intricate shuffling of senior personnel, including moving Mario Almondo to technical director, Stefano Domenicali to sporting director and installing Aldo Costa and Gilles Simon as head of the chassis and engine teams.

Because of that, you could be forgiven for thinking that the team are going to be in some disarray at least through the off-season, if not into the new season itself. In fact, it actually seems to be pretty much business as usual from the Italian marque.

The new car has been delivered on time and immediately shown great form, the team have set about integrating their new driver, working on settling Kimi Raikkonen in while making the most of testing with the their experienced driver, Felipe Massa. They have worked through the development programs and look set to arrive in Melbourne with arguably the best package on the grid.

The hard work to be the best on track is matched by continued efforts to pursue new sponsorship - the team have a new three-year deal with Mubadala, for example, who already own a five percent stake in the company. In short, so far, the team are looking as strong as ever at the start of the year.

Summary: Although a lot appears to have changed at Ferrari, they seem to have managed the transition remarkably well so far. With Massa starting fast, should they get Raikkonen up to speed they will be difficult to beat this year.

2007 Objectives: Win back both championships.

McLaren are coming off the back of another relatively unsuccessful season, perhaps influenced by the loss of Adrian Newey's experience. Despite this, they are starting the new season with the number one painted on one their cars thanks to the arrival of reigning champion Fernando Alonso from Renault. Keeping that number is going to need a stronger game plan.

Last season saw the team continuing to work the kinks out of their complex management structure, intended to allow them to operate effectively without a star designer overlooking the process. They even brought Mika Hakkinen back in to test drive the car, presumably to provide development insight as they did not want to sit the departing Raikkonen in the cockpit. Alonso was not allowed out of his Renault contract until the new year and they had no experience available in new driver Lewis Hamilton.

In as much as anything can be judged from winter testing, McLaren have got some things very right about their new challenger. It is clearly quick, apparently as fast as Ferrari over a single lap, although there are question marks regarding pace over a race distance. Historically the team have a record for producing cars that go very fast but struggle to cover a race distance. This year, reliability has been pretty good, so they have considerable potential for the early races.

Although both race drivers are new to the team, Hamilton has demonstrated impressive speed and potential both in the Formula One feeder series' and in winter testing, and there is no doubt Alonso has talent aplenty; this duo should offer plenty of excitement as the year unfolds and they learn how to extract the most from this machinery.

Financially, the team are in great shape. Vodafone has been brought on board as title sponsor, and despite building the Paragon centre, they are nearly debt free: the budget for the year ahead is healthy, so strong development is anticipated as the season progresses.

Summary: The team appear to have an excellent basis for attacking the 2007 season. Quick and reliable, they must be looking to start the season by scoring consistent podiums, then developing the car to maintain leading edge performance.

2007 Objectives: Finally bring both championships back to Woking.

Through the off-season, Honda tested with Bridgestone tyres, though their efforts were perhaps blunted by Button's absence - he damaged his ribs karting, which kept him out of the car. Perhaps he will have cause to regret that if the car favours his teammate more this year.

Honda's new RA107 is their first 'design by committee' car. Ten months in the making, it received positive initial feedback after its launch, the chassis and engine were performing according to simulation - so it probably came as something of a shock to discover that they were quite noticeably off the pace when they started testing alongside other teams.

The lack of performance has been put down to loss of rear grip when the driver pushes hard, but it is be that down to the team shooting for gains less aggressive than their opponents or down to the car simply falling short of projections, they are already working flat out to bring on a big revision ahead of the second race.

Even if it disappoints, the pace of the car is not a complete disaster. Understanding how to get the most from it is problematic, rather than it being fundamentally slow; the paintwork, on the other hand, is definitely planned to raise eyebrows!

With their new Green philosophy, the team are looking for 'Jo Public' to make pledges to improve the environment. Quite what this will do for changing the world order is uncertain, but it is an interesting approach and certainly ought to generate a some interest through the year.

Summary: The car is not quite performing to expectations, but a focused and aggressive development programme should help them close the gap to the front; in the meanwhile, keeping the media distracted with creative marketing is not a bad idea...

2007 Objectives: Close the gap to the front, score consistently and finish the season challenging for wins.

The team's new car has been drawing compliments from the competition due to its apparent impressive pace on both short and long runs. Reliability issues were a problem at first, but by and large have been controlled, while the development program has been progressed.

Eliminating breakdowns by the first race and taking early advantage is clearly a goal because the team will struggle to maintain the development pace of Ferrari, McLaren and Renault as the season unfolds.

There may well be some interesting currents going on between the drivers within because the team have decided that tester Sebastian Vettel will run on practice Fridays, taking track time from the racing drivers. This is good for the youngster, who is clearly being groomed for the future, but it will be interesting to see what price is paid by the driver who is not running.

Getting to grips with Bridgestone tyres has been something of a journey; they are harder than last season, so more rewarding to smooth driving, leading to some concern that Kubica would struggle with his aggressive style. The team believe he will adapt, but it will be interesting to see if it has taken the edge off when it comes to race day.

BMW are expected to announce a new chief engineer for the test team in the form of Ossi Oikarinen, recently from Toyota, but their biggest revelation from the off-season was bringing supercomputer 'Albert 2' online. This computer is expected to bring a solid improvement to the efficiency of their aerodynamic development.

Summary: With Heidfeld and Kubica driving, the limit on results will basically be driven by the car's absolute performance and reliability. Winter testing results show a very promising package, so now the onus is on the team to avoid following Honda's 2006 path and failing to deliver.

2007 Objectives: Start strong, target points at every race and score regular podiums.

Last season was disappointing. Going in to the year, the team were looking to make it onto the podium regularly, but discovered they were hopelessly off the pace of their rivals, resulting in the sacking of technical director Mike Gascoyne after the early flyaway races, leaving something of a vacuum at the top. The team improved, slowly, but never threatened at the front.

Since then, it seems to have been a relatively quiet off-season for Toyota, who have largely gone about producing their new car without getting in the spotlight. While there have been some personnel changes, such as Trulli's race engineer Ossi Oikarinen leaving for BMW-Sauber, the story has been about continuing business as usual.

The team have been working on bolstering their already deep pockets with new sponsorship deals including extending the DENSO arrangement and signing India's Kingfisher Airlines. Even if money is not the only ingredient required to get the car to the front of the grid, it is an important component.

Mind you, if they are to justify their budget, then a competitive year is required - and even if there are no race wins on the cards, there had better be some podiums. Furthermore, having the beating of Williams, to whom they will supply engines this year, is a must or there will be some very difficult questions about the team's performance.

Quite what that performance will be remains something of a mystery. In testing, Toyota have occasionally seemed quick, but for the most part they have struggled with reliability issues which will have impacted development.

Summary: Winter testing shows that the team have made some solid progress, though it will take the opening races to see how they stack up against the competition. The car is clearly capable of a good turn of speed, but resolving the reliability problem without giving up performance is going to be the challenge of the year.

2007 Objectives: Targeting a first win - but will do well just to get on the podium.

The second season of Red Bull was, predictably, not quite as good as their first, but the team have not panicked. They have poached two key men from McLaren, with Adrian Newey joining as chief designer and Peter Prodromou as chief aerodynamicist, and with the change from Ferrari to Renault engines for the year ahead it seems that they have some considerable potential to make a difference.

Newey actually arrived a little late on the scene to get the design department structured properly before he started designing the new car, but even if he had, the delayed decision on engine choice meant the chassis has compromises as it was designed to accept either Ferrari or Renault engines, complete with differing cooling and other packaging requirements.

Add to that the distractions from ensuring that Toro Rosso and Red Bull are both capable of building that chassis and operating it effectively (in order to defend controversial customer car arguments) and it might well prove that this season passes before operational distractions have been eliminated.

On the positive side, with feedback coming from two separate teams, identifying weaknesses in the chassis might prove easier, providing the pace of development, though this is more likely to be a season of examining the processes and methodologies for that type of teamwork, with the full benefits coming through in 2008.

In the meanwhile, the car is proving troublesome. Reliability issues have interfered with running time, so the team have a lost a lot of the time they need to fine-tune the chassis to the tyres and different operating conditions - they have even struggled to get Webber comfortable in the cockpit. As they have resolved the problems, they have also managed some fairly respectable times, though nothing spectacular.

Through the off-season, there has been dischord over the use of customer chassis and it is widely expected that some rival lower-order teams will lodge a protest over the Super Aguri and Toro Rosso rule interpretations.

Both Toro Rosso and Red Bull effectively buy in their designs from Red Bull Technologies, and as both teams appear to have the same arrangement with that newly created company, don't be surprised to see a protest against Red Bull, seeking to haul them in to the dock for copying the Toro Rosso design!

Summary: With reliability problems possibly resolved, the team should be getting on with an aggressive development program. Providing that does not result in trouble with reliability, they should be competitive in the midfield.

2007 Objectives: Aggressively develop the car, with a view to another podium, while continuing the design team build up.

After a dismal 2006 season, Williams appear intent on turning things around and getting back onto a competitive footing. Last year, they used Cosworth power to great effect at the start of the season, but were unable to capitalise before their early power advantage was eroded. Without the funding to keep development on a par with the top teams, they fell back surprisingly rapidly.

For the year ahead, there are some changes. Financially, not only have the team re-signed existing sponsors such as Allianz, but they have succeeded in attracting fresh backing including Lenovo and title sponsor AT&T. Budgets are still tight, and some compromises are necessary in the name of keeping costs low, which is a perfectly decent reason to test in Barcelona rather than Bahrain.

The new car looks a lot better positioned than the one that finished last season. The change to Toyota power should provide a level playing field, though they are still lacking the benefit of true manufacturer backing, and winter testing has clearly illustrated that the car is faster, which provides some hope.

In hiring Rod Nelson (Fernando Alonso's race engineer from Renault) as chief operations engineer and moving Dickie Stanford to replace test manager Mike Condliffe, the team are strengthening the pool of experience available at the trackside. Hiring new CEO Adam Parr to replace Chris Chapple should also provide some interesting direction to the business side of the operation.

With Alexander Wurz in a full-time driving role, they have plenty of experience on the grid, which should help to mitigate the lost track time from hiring out the Friday testing seat. The plan makes sense on paper, at least.

Summary: Following a tough year, the team appear to be stronger in every department. It will be interesting to discover whether they can maintain their pace from winter testing in order to challenge regularly for points.

2007 Objectives: Move back up the grid - and get back on the podium.

It has been an interesting off-season for Toro Rosso. After offering a seat to former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, they delayed re-signing Scott Speed until he toed the line. And they are in dispute with Spyker and Williams over the use of customer chassis, as they appear to share Adrian Newey's basic design with Red Bull.

That, in its own right, is an interesting point. The new chassis has at least some differences, as Toro Rosso are running Ferrari engines this year while Red Bull are powered by Renault. The chassis differences might prove minimal, so this is likely to offer an interesting insight in to the relative performance of the two power units.

The mechanics of the chassis arrangement are interesting. With Adrian Newey employed by the independent Red Bull Technologies rather than the team itself, both teams are purchasing the products of this company and this in turn means that they can argue that neither owns the intellectual rights, so there is no compromise. Naturally, other teams are going to argue that this is an example of using the letter of the law to break the spirit, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.

On track, the car has actually been showing a decent turn of speed, often finishing within half a second of the front runners and seemingly out-performing their parent outfit on more than one occasion - something that will provide all the more reason for rivals to distract them with protests.

This should be an interesting season for Toro Rosso. Not only have they unloaded the handicap of the V10 engine, but they have a Newey-influenced chassis to play with, their drivers are young but hungry, and they will relish any opportunity to out-perform the senior outfit on track. All things being equal, they might just manage to do that periodically this year.

Summary: With Red Bull's financial backing, quick drivers and no engine handicap, there is every reason to believe this team can have an even better season this year than they had in 2006. They should be fighting in the midfield, but scoring points is going to be tough.

2007 Objectives: Beat Red Bull!

Having struggled through 2006, MF1 Racing were sold to Spyker, who have brought more funding to the outfit but still face an uphill struggle before they can consider competing effectively. Consequently, a significant part of their winter efforts have been spent tussling with Super Aguri and Toro Rosso over their alleged customer cars.

Team principal Colin Kolles is anticipating a tough year ahead, although the team are running Ferrari engines, which should offer plenty of power, and Spyker have a solid boost to the funding compared to last year. The aim is to make progress, but Kolles is all too aware that there is more to this than just closing on the performance of the leading team as everyone is playing that game and the better resourced outfits will close that margin faster.

Accordingly, this season must be about damage limitation. Progress is important, but so too is bringing in the funds to realise future plans. Running two test drivers on Fridays will help boost those funds (and perhaps find talent for a race seat next year) at the expense of letting their race drivers gain experience on the track. Given the probability that this car will start the season by propping up the grid, it seams a sensible approach.

On the positive side, with Mike Gascoyne now on board, the team have a named hand on the technical helm. His arrival was arguably too late to make a big difference to James Key's design for the 2007 season, but his influence should be felt before the end - his experience should help to build a solid structure in the factory and put emphasis on developing the most useful aspects of the car for improving performance.

The team have arranged a contract with Aerolab to use their wind tunnel, which should help ensure sufficient resource to achieve some of their aims for the year. Gascoyne is hoping to have a big step forward for August and clearly that means parallel development is going to be vital as work cannot be permitted to stop on the current car in the meanwhile.

With the best will in the world, it is hard to see this team making a significant leap. The manufacturers are providing their teams with considerable financial and resource backing, so getting on a par with them is a non-trivial affair. As this means the team are basically only competing with the other non-manufacturer teams, it is little surprise they have to do everything they can to mitigate any advantages those outfits might be able to find.

Summary: Though Gascoyne has a good track record with moving teams forward, this year is clearly going to be about making steady progress in the factory and limiting damage on track until the new car is available. At that point, midfield running may become a part of the game plan.

2007 Objectives: Avoid the back of the grid until the new car arrives - then show progress!

A highly political winter for Super Aguri has seen the team embroiled in a war of words regarding the use of customer chassis. Having bought the rights to Honda's RA106, there is some question over the originality of the car that will appear on the grid in Australia, and that could cause controversy before a wheel is turned in anger.

The team clearly believe there is no conflict of interests. They bought the rights to that chassis outright, and they are building their own challenger to the 2007 rules, based on improvements to that car. That they failed the crash tests is at the very least an indication that something is going to be different at the season opener!

Failing that crash test has proven quite an issue for the team, however, as the revisions required in order to pass have eaten into time required to develop the new car. This has put the launch back to the opening practice in Australia, potentially even to Sepang. Consequently, the team will struggle to get the best out of the chassis as they will be on the steepest part of the learning curve.

Besides the row over the use of a customer chassis and the difficulties of getting the new car together in time for the season, they are likely to end up in court over test driver Giedo van der Garde jumping ship to Spyker. They claim to have a valid contract, lodged with the FIA, clearly tying his services (and presumably, sponsorship income) to the team.

Super Aguri are also facing increased expectations for their second year in the sport. Having arrived on the scene at the last moment last year, they underperformed hopelessly at the outset but developed the car continuously as the season progressed.

Consequently, they ended fairly strongly, looking like they belonged, at least. Usually, teams discover that the second season is tougher than the first and considering the team are starting with a chassis based on a one-year-old Honda, rather than a four-year-old Arrows, it seems a reasonable prediction that they can buck that trend.

Summary: Takuma Sato has matured and Anthony Davidson has frequently demonstrated speed in his testing role with Honda, so the driver line-up is very solid for a backmarker team. Results this season will reflect the capabilities of the car, and if the team can manage their rate of improvement from 2006 there is every reason to believe they can finish the season well. That said, managing the politics of the sport might be the bigger challenge this year.

2007 Objectives: Demonstrate solid improvement; finish the season competing in the midfield and score points.