McLaren have the fastest car, but I heard early on that they were struggling with race pace. I haven’t heard them say that they’ve fixed this problem, so it will be interesting to see how they do in the races. Especially when against a pit crew and strategists from Ferrari.
Ferrari have what is probably the overall fastest package. A quick car, very quick drivers, and a fantastic race crew. All the bits are there for a fantastic season, they just have to make it happen. They will be up against McLaren who can really make a car begin to sing as development continues into the season, but I don’t expect Ferrari to have problems with development.
I expect McLaren and Ferrari to battle it out for the championship. I think it will be a two-horse race. If they don’t win it’s going to be because of a strange race.
Renault… it’s hard to tell. In theory it should be a very very fast car, but in testing it just hasn’t happened. The drivers? Well I’m not expecting much out of Fisichella. Kovalainen, however, could turn out to be quick.
Honda had a pretty poor start to testing. Their star driver was out for the first weeks of testing, so couldn’t give the team feedback on tyres or new parts on the interim car. Since he got back they’ve started to head in the right direction, but I think they’ve been on the back foot since the start of testing, now they’re playing catch up.
BMW are strong. But I don’t understand why. The car is nothing revolutionary. I believe they adopted a
quick-shift gearbox, but almost everyone has one this year. They’re only worth a tenth or so a lap compared to the older F1 gearboxes (I’ve read that it adds up to almost 20 seconds in a race distance, though), so getting it done better than the next guy who has one should be worth even less. The only real reason that I can think of is that their car just works beautifully with the new tyres.
Renault, Honda, and BMW are probably going to be fighting for 3rd in the championship. Expect regular podium finishes. Reliability will be very important for these teams. It will likely be a tough battle over the season.
Next up is Williams. They have to improve on last year. I believe their new car is more reliable (how can it not be?). Last year their car was fast on occasion, so as long as they finish they should be in a reasonable position.
Toyota are just wasting more money in F1. The new car is slow, and they seem to have their reliability problems from last year, where they seemed to have something different break every race. Expect more of the same in 2007. Williams will beat Toyota, and once again they’ll question their commitment to F1.
Red Bull is hard to predict. Last year they were saying the car looked great in the wind tunnel, but since they’ve been on track things haven’t quite gone their way. They’ve been up and down the time sheets, and Coulthard has been complaining about the car. It won’t be a winner this year, but it will be better than last year, and they have to be building towards something in 2008.
Williams, Toyota, and Red Bull have the cars that you don’t want to be in. Too good for the rookies, not good enough for the really quick guys. You’re here because you’re washed up, or because you’re unlucky. Regular points finishes are the order of the day, and the odd podium is all they could ask for in a great weekend.
The rest? Super Aguri and STR could sneak into the points on occasion, and Spyker are boned.
Enjoy your 2007 season, folks.
