F1 Team and Drivers Guide

Red Bull: 11/10
Sebastian Vettel: 9/4
Mark Webber: 10/1
Last year they had the fastest car and if pre season testing is a guide Adrian Newey has come up trumps again. Red Bull dominated qualifying with 15/19 pole positions, with Sebastian Vettel dominant in the one lap shoot out. Only bad luck and driver error kept the title in the balance. If Vettel and Webber can cut out the errors, and the pressure is off after their maiden championship, they are the team to beat.

McLaren: 6/1
Lewis Hamilton: 8/1
Jenson Button: 18/1
By all accounts the 2011 - McLaren-Mercedes MP4-26 is not quick. A raft of last minute changes are being put into place for Melbourne but at the expense of reliability. McLaren have become masters at improving a car through the season and they might need to again. Last year’s DNFs in Italy and Singapore cost Lewis Hamilton the title but at that stage he was already treading water. Like all the top drivers, mistakes crept into his driving and he will need to cut them out to be competitive again. Jenson Button the 2009 World Champion, acquitted himself well in a new team, as the engineers adjusted to his vastly different driving style. With another winter of testing under his belt he should be closer to his team mate. It just depends how far they are behind the Ferraris and Red Bulls.

Ferrari: 3/1
Fernando Alonso: 11/4
Felipe Massa: 20/1
After finishing down the field in the British Grand Prix, he said he’d win the title. Everyone thought he was mad, but he almost did. Fernando Alonso was unquestionably the best driver last year dragging his car into contention race after race. A measure of his achievement was the 108 point gap he put over his team mate. Given a better car in 2011 he will be in the mix again. For Felipe Massa it was always going to be a season of rehabilitation, this year expectations will be higher and it will be interesting if he can recapture his old form.

Mercedes: 9/1
Michael Schumacher: 14/1
Nico Rosberg: 16/1
It was a inglorious return for Michael Schumacher, when both Mercedes made the distance, only twice did he beat team mate Rosberg. Clearly Formula One has moved on since his heyday but if anyone can prove the doubters wrong it is Schumacher. A regular points finisher, Rosberg was only out the top ten four times. However third was as good as it got. Mercedes would have expected to have won races by now but the gap was getting larger by the end of the season. Testing was not showing any improvement until right at the end in Barcelona. Some significant upgrades left them just behind pacesetters Red Bull and Ferrari but untested over longer stints the trade-off could be reliability.

Renault: 40/1
Nick Heidfeld: 50/1
Vitaly Petrov: 200/1
There is no question that Robert Kubcia’s rally accident has had a profound affect on the team. The Pole was one of the best drivers around and although his deputy Nick Heidfeld is competent, they have lost their star turn. Vitaly Petrov was showing signs of improvement towards the end of last season, something Alonso will testify. It will be up to the Russian to attack whilst Heidfeld steadily accumulates.

Rest of the Field
Williams (80/1) and Force India (150/1)will be fighting it out to be the best of the second division and signs are promising for both teams. Recently floated Williams have a full book of sponsors for 2011 and are in their best financial health for years. Reigning GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado joins evergreen Rubens Barrichello bringing aggression (and sponsorship) to a team on the up again.

As for Force India, they have recruited Scottish rookie Paul Di Resta to join the exciting Adrian Sutil. The Scot can already claim the scalp of Vettel having beaten him to the European F3 title; chances are he won’t be able to continue that run. Having finished one point behind Williams last year expect the two teams to be scrapping for points all year.