Expectations for 2005 F1,Formule 1, construct, konstrukce

Expectations for 2005

L.Pecháček | 5.3.05 | Komentáře - L.Pecháček 2005

F1 comments L.Pecháček

The teams will have to cope with a number of unknown factors. Cars should last two weekends unchanged, which may slow them down. Of course, some smart ones might place their bet on one race and barely survive the other one - if the cars can endure that.

FERRARI enjoys its technical advantage from last season. That is why they are planning to use the new F 2005 no sooner than May, expecting to be competitive even with the old one. Their chance of winning both the Constructors and the Drivers Titles are the best of all teams.B.A.R. proved incredible improvement last season. They may not be able to repeat such a leap again. However, their drivers are to chase after Ferrari all right, but they are not going to be alone.RENAULT entered the championship in an excellent way last year. However, the end of the season was more like average for them and if they do not manage to stop the drop, they will have hard time competing with the others.WILLIAMS BMW might be pushed to the corner. Last year's failure together with the loss of two excellent pilots could very well result in BMW engineers finally losing their patience and put their co-laboration with Williams to an end.McLAREN MERCEDES perhaps has risen from the worst time of recent years. Provided they manage to tune the chassis with the engine performance (especially endurance, which was its weakest link last year) they should be able to fight back again, winning top positions in both championships. They may have probably the best balanced couple of pilots to do so.SAUBER can only surprise if they happen to pull themselves up from the average. Its pilots might be a little disadvantage as they are not exactly reliable. They may gain points or retire unexpectedly, the success being dependent on the material they have and their own discipline.TOYOTA, RED BULL, JORDAN, MINARDI are not going to make it to the top this year again. Except for the races with a number of retired cars, if they are lucky enough to last till the end.What I am most curious about is how the tires will cope with the new rules. Having to last only 20-25 laps up till now they will have to last much longer. It is probably impossible to simply pick up hard compounds as it would make driving performance much worse. Bridgeston and Michelin will need to come up with new technologies, which could influence especially the first races of the season.Let me finish with a wish to see as many surprising and unexpected results as possible. That is the spice of F1, isn't it?Lubos Pechacek