FERRARI
Kimi Raikkonen
Nationality: Finnish
DOB: 17/10/79
Races: 122
Wins: 15
Podums: 48
Pole Positions: 14
Total Career Points: 456
Felipe Massa
Nationality: Brazilian
DOB : 25/04/81
Races: 88
Wins: 5
Podiums: 17
Pole Positions: 9
Total Career Points: 201
Kimi Raikkonen raced just twenty times in Formula Renault before being picked up by the Sauber team in 2001 to race in Formula One. After one season at Sauber, he spent five years filling the boots of fellow Finn Mika Hakkinen at McLaren, where he got the nickname “Iceman”, for his supposed calmness behind the wheel. His first Formula One win came at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, a season that would him see him miss winning the Championship by just two points.
In 2007, he took the place of a certain seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Some wondered whether he could fill his mighty German boots, but a fascinating 2007 season saw Kimi take the Championship by a single point and grab his first Championship. It is the way Kimi never gave up hope and battled to the end, mixed with Ferrari’s incredible reliability record that gives Kimi a great chance to retain his title.
PREDICTION: 1st
Felipe Massa spent 2001 as a test driver at Sauber, where he would get to know Kimi Raikkonen in their early careers. It was in 2002 where Massa made his debut for Sauber, before becoming Ferrari test driver, than returning to Sauber for two years. He made his Ferrari debut in 2006 and finished a respectable third in the Championship; a year in which Felipe saw his first podium finish – a third place in the European GP – and indeed his first victory, taking the chequered flag in the Turkish GP.
He followed this up with a fourth place in 2007, where he was once again teamed up with Kimi Raikkonen. Massa won three races, one race more than the previous season, but could not advance on his position. In his 35 races at Ferrari, he has retired just four times, and one of them was a Black Flag. Ferrari have tremendous reliability; reliability that make them reigning constructor champions, but I’m not so sure Felipe has got it in him to be the next champion.
And, interesting fact – Mr. Massa goes into the 2008 season as a husband, having married Anna Rafaela Bassi at the end of 2007.
PREDICTION: 4th
BMW
Nick Heidfeld
Nationality: German
DOB: 10/05/77
Races: 134
Wins: 0
Podums: 7
Pole Positions: 1
Total Career Points: 140
Robert Kubica
Nationality: Polish
DOB : 7/12/84
Races: 22
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 45
Nick made his name in the German Formula Ford series in 1994, winning 8 out of 9 races to take the trophy. Various victories with Formula 3 led Heidfeld to his first race seat at the Prost F1 team. (Remember them?) Heidfeld failed to score, but spent three years at Sauber, collecting 25 points in the process.
In 2004, he had a dissapointing season at Jordan (Remember them?), but scored 28 points for Williams in 2005. It was at Williams where Nick got his first, and to date, only pole position, at the European Grand Prix, just a few races after Malaysia, where he got his first podium finish. After Williams, he returned to Sauber, who by this time were now BMW Sauber and were a much stronger package. He scored 23 points in 2006, before hitting a personal best 61 points, and an impressive fifth-place finish in 2007. Competition this year will be harder, and BMW may have difficulty holding on to that second place finish.
PREDICTION: 7th
Robert is a fairly new name on the Formula One atlas. Robert was test driver for BMW Sauber in 2006, but got an unexpected call-up to the second driver seat when Jacques Villeneuve complained of illness. In just his third race, at Monza, Kubica cemented his first podium finish with third place – a feat he has yet to repeat.
But Robert managed to impress in 2007, and finished a very respectable sixth, consistently finishing in the points positions. Now Robert has the knowledge of the tracks, there’s nothing to stop him getting his second podium, and perhaps even a race win in just his second full season.
PREDICTION: 6th
RENAULT
Fernando Alonso
Nationality: Spanish
DOB: 29/07/81
Races: 105
Wins: 19
Podums: 49
Pole Positions: 17
Total Career Points: 490
Nelsinho Piquet
Nationality: Brazilian
DOB : 25/07/85
Races: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 0
Fernando, full name Fernando Alonso Diaz, is one of the biggest names in Formula One this decade, and still has plenty of years left in him. In 2001, Alonso became the third-youngest driver to ever start a race when he signed up for a season at Minardi. Here, he failed to score, but was rewarded with a test drive at Renault for 2002, and was promoted to the main seat in 2003. It was in 2003 where Alonso got his name on the board, by achieving four podium finishes, including his first ever race win, at Hungary.
He stayed with Renault in 2004. Failing to win, but nevertheless improving his overall position, getting fourth place overall. In 2005, Renault broke their own personal sound barrier and Alonso stormed the championship, winning seven races, and only failing to make the podium four times. Here, Alonso became the youngest-ever winner of a Championship, taking the world title at the age of 24. He won it again the year after, becoming the youngest double winner. He then partnered Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007, where Alonso finished just one point off a third championship in a row. Now, in 2008, back with a Renault team that failed to impress last season, Fernando hopes to make another title challenge, but I don’t think he’ll have a car that will suit him.
PREDICTION: 5th
Nelson Piquet won the Formula One Championship in 1981, 1983 and 1987. Now, his son, Nelsinho Piquet (also referred to as Nelson Piquet Jr.) is at Renault, hoping to match that feat. In 2001, Nelsinho started racing in Formula 3, following several years of karting. In 2002, he started racing in GP2, where he became champion, and followed it up with a third place in British Formula 3 in 2003; a championship he would win in 2004, and become the youngest-ever driver to do so. Also in 2004, he first handled an F1 car, testing for Williams. He raced for Team Brazil in the A1 GP in 2005, before returning to GP2, where he finished runner-up to a certain Lewis Hamilton.
He returned to F1 testing in 2007 where he was test driver for Renault. Since then, he has been promoted to partner two-time champion Alonso in the race seats. Piquet isn’t totally new to this, so he may well strike up a few points, but I cannot see a race win on the horizon just yet.
PREDICTION: 10th
WILLIAMS
Nico Rosberg
Nationalites: German/Finnish
DOB: 27/06/85
Races: 35
Wins: 0
Podums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 24
Kazuki Nakajima
Nationality: Japanese
DOB : 11/01/85
Races: 1
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 0
Both of Williams’ drivers are sons of former Formula One drivers. In the case of Nico, his father Keke Rosberg went as far as winning the world title, with Williams, in 1982. Nico started his career well, racing karts from 1996, before winning the German Formula BMW Championship in 2002. In 2005, he won the GP2 Championship, which prompted the Williams F1 team to snap up the son of their former champion.
Nico had a disappointing first season, scoring just four points all season. However, on his debut in Bahrain, he set the fastest lap of the race, and is currently the record-holder for youngest ever driver to set a fastest lap of a race. He improved in 2007, achieving his first fourth place race finish, but the Williams car was off the pace all season. Improvements have been made in both car and driver, so Nico may well be able to improve again.
PREDICTION: 8th
Satoru Nakajima never set the F1 world alight when he drove for Lotus and Tyrrell in the late 80s/early 90s. He scored just 16 career points, and his son Kazuki has his eyes set on getting one over his father. Kazuki won the Formula Toyota Championship in 2003 at his first attempt. In 2007, he raced at GP2, the breeding ground for future F1 stars. Although he didn’t win, he ended the season with five consecutive podiums and a fifth-place finish overall.
His one F1 race seat so far in his career was the Brazilian GP in 2007, where Williams driver Alex Wurz retired with a race remaining. Nakajima took the seat and steered it to tenth place, managing to run over a couple of pit mechanics in the process. I just worry that Kazuki’s inexperience will lead to a difficult first season.
PREDICTION: 18th
RED BULL
David Coulthard
Nationalites: British
DOB: 27/03/71
Races: 229
Wins: 13
Podums: 61
Pole Positions: 12
Total Career Points: 527
Mark Webber
Nationality: Australian
DOB : 27/08/76
Races: 105
Wins: 0
Podiums: 2
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 79
David is one of the most experienced racers in the field this season, with one of the highest number of career points, but has never walked away with the Championship. After impressive championship victories in Formula Ford and Formula Three, David was signed by Williams in 1994. He made an impressive debut, finishing fifth in the Canadian GP, taking the place of the tragic Ayrton Senna. He finished third in 1995, before moving to McLaren, where he spent the majority of his career. He finished third in the Championship three times, and reached his peak – second place – in 2001.
In 2005 he was relieved of his McLaren duty and taken up by new team Red Bull, partnering Christian Klien. There, he has stayed, achieving just one podium with the team, in Monaco in 2006. Early testing for Red Bull indicate their car for 2008 is the one of the quickest they’ve ever had, and with David’s experience, he may just get his second podium for the team, but I’m afraid we can expect little else.
PREDICTION: 11th
When Australian David Brabham was competing in his final F1 season 1994, Mark Webber was starting his racing career in Australian Formula Ford. There would be a gap of eight years before an Australian would line-up on the grid. Mark has several third place finishes in various competitions, but hasn’t won a major championship. He did manage second place in Formula 3000 in 2001, which was enough for Minardi to snap him up in 2002.
Mark Webber had a stunning debut, scoring two points for Minardi at his home Grand Prix. He was snapped up by the Jaguar team the year after, and qualified second for the Malaysian GP in 2004 – his best qualifying position to date. He went to Williams in 2005 where he got 36 points in his first season, his highest total for one season so far, and it was at Monaco in 2005 where Mark got his first podium finish. He raced for Williams for two years before going to partner David Coulthard at Red Bull. Something tells me this season, Mark may outperform his team mate.
PREDICTION: 9th
TOYOTA
Jarno Trulli
Nationalites: Italian
DOB: 13/07/74
Races: 184
Wins: 1
Podums: 7
Pole Positions: 3
Total Career Points: 183
Timo Glock
Nationality: German
DOB : 18/03/82
Races: 4
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 2
More was expected from Toyota in 2007, but this year they claim they’re making a vast improvement. They’ve kept hold of Jarno Trulli, one of the more experienced drivers in the field. After winning the German Grand Prix Championship in 1996, Jarno was taken by Minardi for the 1997 season. After Olivier Panis broke his legs in a heavy crash in Canada, Jarno was drafted in to the Prost team to replace him, and scored his first points in the German GP. He would race for Prost for two more years, scoring eight points, including his first podium finish – second place in the GP of Europe in 1999. In 2000, he went to Jordan, and then to Renault two years later. It was with Renault in 2003 where Jarno finally scored his first podium finish, again at the German GP. His first and only race win came at Monaco in 2004, where he scored 46 points, a career high.
For the last two races of 2004, he went to Toyota, and that is where he has stayed. He scored three podiums in the first five races of 2005, and got Toyota’s first ever pole position. (This pole position happened to be the USA GP of 2005, where hardly anybody started.) From an improved car, Jarno is hoping to better last season’s tally of just 8 points.
PREDICTION: 12th
Timo Glock’s name may ring a few bells with some people. He raced briefly with Jordan in 2004. He replaced Giorgio Pantano for the Canadian GP, and finished 11th. However, this was promoted to 7th, and 2 points, when Williams and Toyota were disqualified for brake irregularities. He raced the final three races of the season, also with Jordan, finishing 15th in each one. Since then, he went to Champ Car in the US, and then GP2, and makes his debut with Toyota as reigning GP2 champion.
Timo was the subject of a bizarre crash at the French GP2 race in 2007, when he qualified pole, just in front of teammate Andreas Zuber. At the start, the two made their way to the centre of the track, where they promptly hit each other, and both retired. Timo’s inexperience may hinder him, but Toyota promise a better car.
PREDICTION: 15th
TORO ROSSO
Sebastien Bourdais
Nationality: French
DOB: 28/02/79
Races: 0
Wins: 0
Podums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 0
Sebastian Vettel
Nationality: German
DOB : 03/07/87
Races: 8
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 6
Sebastien Bourdais comes into Formula One with a strong racing history. He is a Champ Car champion, winning the World Series three years running, in 2004, 2005 and 2006. His first major trophy was victory at the French Formula Three championship in 1999. Bourdais tried his hand at Formula 3000, and had won that championship in no time at all, taking the title in 2002.
2002 was the year that Seb almost made his F1 breakthrough, signing for the almost-bankrupt Arrows team. He didn’t get to race, and was beaten to the Renault Test Driver seat by Franck Montagny. Then Bourdais went on his marvellous winning streak in Champ Car, before being snapped up by Toro Rosso to replace Vitantonio Liuzzi for the forthcoming season. Toro Rosso didn’t score any points last season until the final race; I wonder if anything has changed over the winter.
PREDICTION: 19th
The second Seb in Toro Rosso is the more experienced – by eight races. Vettel made a winning start to his career by finishing runner-up, then champion of German Formula BMW in 2003 and 2004 respectively. He made a name for himself in Formula 3 Euroseries, again finishing in the runner-up spot. In mid-2006 Vettel was signed by BMW Sauber as a test driver. He impressed, and was kept on in 2007 when Vettel set two unique records.
After Robert Kubica’s horror smash at Montreal last year, Sebastian took over the BMW for the US Grand Prix, where he became the youngest ever points-scorer, finishing eighth at the age of just 19 years, 11 months. When Scott Speed left Toro Rosso after the European GP, Vettel was signed on, and became the youngest driver to lead a race, at the Japanese GP. But at China, Seb finished fourth, and picked up his first ever career points.
Sebastian was fined $1,000 just nine seconds into his career for speeding in the pitlane on his debut grand prix. Vettel has impressed since, but is he really in the right car?
PREDICTION: 14th
HONDA
Jenson Button
Nationality: British
DOB: 19/01/80
Races: 137
Wins: 1
Podums: 15
Pole Positions: 3
Total Career Points: 229
Rubens Barrichello
Nationality: Brazilian
DOB : 23/05/72
Races: 253
Wins: 9
Podiums: 61
Pole Positions: 13
Total Career Points: 519
Jenson came into Formula One the season after the Championship-Winning Brit Damon Hill retired. There was quite a build-up to his entrance, but he never quite lived up to the early promise.
The early promise on question came in the form of the British Formula Ford Championship in 1998, and this was followed up with third place in the British Formula Three Championship the year after. It was in 2000, at the age of just 20, where Button got a drive at Williams, beating off competition from Brazilian racer Bruno Junqueira. He impressed as a rookie, and very nearly scored his first podium at Spa. He followed this up with a dismal 2001 season, scoring just 2 points at Benetton. He stayed with the team when they were bought by Renault, but replaced in 2003 by a certain Fernando Alonso. He went to B.A.R., where in 2004, he finished third in the Championship – his best result so far. He didn’t win a race, but he got on the podium ten times.
Honda bought out B.A.R. in 2006, and Jenson finally got his first, and so far, only race win, at Hungary. He finished the season sixth. However, a disastrous 2007 campaign by Honda saw Jenson pick up just six points. Honda need to show some power, and fast.
PREDICTION: 13th
Rubens is the most experienced driver in the field, though he has never won the Championship. Rubens picked up two notable trophies before his Formula One career – the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries in 1990, and British Formula Three in 1991. He was signed up by Jordan in 1993, where he made a poor start, picking up just 2 points after a fifth-place finish in the Japan GP.
He improved drastically in 1994, finishing in sixth place overall. This year saw Rubens score his first podium – third place at the Pacific GP. Rubens moved to Stewart in 1997, where he had a disastrous season. Out of 17 races, he failed to finish 14 of them. The only points he scored was a second-place finish at Monaco. It wasn’t until he moved to Ferrari in 2000 where his fortunes changed. It was the German GP that year where Rubens finally recorded his first win. His best season, in terms of victories, was to come in 2002, where he won four and scored ten podiums, but, like most of his Ferrari career, he was second to Michael Schumacher. In 2004, he scored 114 points but finished runner-up again. In 2006 he moved to Honda, but in 2007 had his worst season to date, finishing 20th and failing to score. Honda have kept him on, but how will he improve?
PREDICTION: 16th
SUPER AGURI
Takuma Sato
Nationality: Japanese
DOB : 28/01/77
Races: 88
Wins: 9
Podiums: 1
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 44
Anthony Davidson
Nationality: British
DOB : 18/04/79
Races: 20
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 0
Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson are expected to take the grid for Super Aguri at Melbourne… but the Honda B-Team are yet to confirm that this is the setup. Super Aguri improved in 2007 by scoring their first points, but I reckon the teams and drivers will struggle again this year. Whoever they are. And Super Aguri could well occupy the bottom two places. If they get to the end of the season, that is.
PREDICTION: 21st & 22nd
FORCE INDIA
Adrian Sutil
Nationality: Germany
DOB: 11/01/83
Races: 17
Wins: 0
Podums: 0
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 1
Giancarlo Fisichella
Nationality: Italian
DOB: 14/01/73
Races: 196
Wins: 3
Podums: 18
Pole Positions: 3
Total Career Points: 267
Adrian Sutil started karting in his mid-teens, and in 2002 moved on to Swiss Formula Ford, and made a stunning start to his career. Twelve races, twelve pole positions, twelve wins. Maximum points and the championship, Adrian dominated. He moved on to German Formula BMW, before moving to Formula 3, where he finished runner-up in 2005, before winning the All-Japan Formula 3 championship the year after.
Adrian tested Midland F1 cars in 2006 and made his debut in Formula One in 2007 with the now-defunct Spyker team. He scored just one point at the Japanese GP, after being promoted from ninth. He was deemed as one of the rookies of the year, once being described as “too good for the car”, similar to the situation Fernando Alonso found himself in at Minardi in 2001.
Fascinating fact: Adrian Sutil shares his birthday with Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima. Apart from that, I don’t think Sutil will be celebrating much this year.
PREDICTION: 20th
Like most of the grid, Giancarlo started karting as a youngster. His first championship trophy came in 1994, when he won the Italian Formula Three championship, which was enough to bring him to Formula One under the eye of Minardi. He tested in 1994, but raced half a season the year after. The next year he went to Jordan and scored his first podium at the Canadian GP.
He raced for Benetton from 1998 to 2001 finishing as high as sixth in the Championship, but went back to Jordan, where in 2003 he got his first win in bizarre circumstances. It was the Brazilian GP, where the race was stopped towards the end. Because of the “countback” rule which exists when a race is stopped, it was believed at the time that Kimi Raikkonen won the race, and Fisichella was awarded second place. The error was noticed and the trophies swapped later in the week.
He raced for Sauber for a season before going to Renault and getting a career best fourth place in the Championship in 2006. After a disappointing 2007 season, he left Renault and was snapped up by the newly-founded Force India team. It is unclear how far Force India will go, but Fisichella certainly has bags of experience.
PREDICTION: 17th
MCLAREN
Lewis Hamilton
Nationality: British
DOB: 07/01/85
Races: 17
Wins: 4
Podums: 12
Pole Positions: 6
Total Career Points: 109
Heikki Kovalainen
Nationality: Finnish
DOB: 19/10/81
Races: 17
Wins: 0
Podums: 1
Pole Positions: 0
Total Career Points: 30
Lewis Hamilton was the name on everybody’s lips last season, as the young Brit came agonisingly close to the world title at the first attempt. It was not to be, however. Lewis started karting at eight years old, and at age ten, told Ron Dennis – McLaren team boss – that one day he wanted to race for them. Ron Dennis wrote in his autograph book, “call me in nine years”, but it was as early as 1998 when Dennis signed Hamilton for the McLaren driver development program.
After being signed, he continued to win championships, including the Formula Renault championship, and then the 2006 GP2 series. In 2007, he got his race seat at McLaren, becoming the first black mixed race driver to race in F1. (N.B. Willy T. Ribbs became the first black driver to actually drive an F1 car when he tested for Brabham in 1986, but never actually raced.) Lewis got on the podium in each of his first nine races, and had a good lead going in to the penultimate race, and was the youngest driver to lead the drivers’ championship. In those final two races, he accumulated just two points, and Kimi Raikkonen won the last two races to take the title by a point. Lewis developed a healthy rivalry with Fernando Alonso which will no doubt continue this year. Has Lewis got it in him to win at his second attempt?
PREDICTION: 2nd
Heikki Kovalainen came to F1 in 2007 with a strong racing history. The young Finn started karting in 1991, and in 2000 he became Nordic Champion and voted Finnish Driver of the Year. He came third in British Formula 3 at his first attempt in 2002, before winning the World Series by Nissan in 2004. He followed this up with runner-up in the GP2 series in 2005, before gaining his F1 seat at Renault in 2007.
It wasn’t the first time Heikki had set foot in an F1 car. He tested for Renault and Minardi in 2003, and was given the role of second test driver behind Franck Montagny at Renault. In 2006, he was full-time tester for Renault, before gaining his race seat the year after, with an inferior car. Renault didn’t impress in 2007, having won the two championships before. Heikki got off to a poor start, getting 3 points in his first 5 races, but picked it up towards the end of the season, gaining his first and only podium of 2007 at the Japanese Grand Prix. Like his new team-mate Hamilton, Kovalainen just missed out on a reliability record, retiring in just one grand prix – the final one in Brazil. Heikki finished on 30 points, seventh in the championship. With a much more powerful car at his grasp this year, Heikki may surprise a few people.
PREDICTION: 3rd
TABLE
1. Raikkonen
2. Hamilton
3. Kovalainen
4. Massa
5. Alonso
6. Kubica
7. Heidfeld
8. Rosberg
9. Webber
10. Piquet
11. Coulthard
12. Trulli
13. Button
14. Vettel
15. Glock
16. Barrichello
17. Fisichella
18. Nakajima
19. Bourdais
20. Sutil
21. Sato
22. Davidson
