F1: A Beginners Guide - The Top Teams and Drivers - Page 2

Drivers - Fernando Alonso (Spain, 15 wins and 2 world championships) and Lewis Hamilton (England, Rookie season)

Prediction - Like the Ferrari team, the McLaren team has a lot of changes. New for this year are both drivers, Fernando is a proven race and championship winner, and if the car is reliable and quick, will be the driver to beat. Hamilton, who is the first coloured driver in the championship, is an extremely fast, talented and focused driver, who has won everything he has driven. If he can keep on top of the steep learning curve, he will do well. The MP4-22 car has shown itself to be quick in testing, constantly as fast, if not faster than, the Ferrari F2007. The outlook is good, they have the best driver of last year, and one of the most talented rookies to come to the sport for years, McLaren should be a very strong team.

ING Renault F1 - Renault have competed in F1 since 1977. For most of that time they were engine suppliers, and as such have won championships with both the Beneton and Williams teams. They took over the running of the Beneton F1 team in 2001 and in 2005 and 2006 they won both constructors and drivers' championship with Fernando Alonso at the wheel. The French owned team are another English based race crew.

Drivers - Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy, 3 Wins) and Heikki Kovalainen (Finland, Rookie season)

Prediction - The R26 of last year was not ultimately the fastest car on the grid, but it was reliable and probably the best all round car. It looks like the R27 could be the same, the car has always been close to the top times in winter testing, though certainly not the quickest. The team, like McLaren, also has a rookie at the helm of the second car. Giancarlo Fisichella takes over as the team leader, and has shown he can be quick, perhaps now that he is out from under the shadow of Alonso he may shine. Heikki Kovalainen is a bit of an unknown quantity, he has been quick in testing, as well as showing promise driving the third car last year for Renault. The team could do well, it's down to the drivers mostly. Alonso made a slightly off-pace Renault look good last year, the team is very innovative in the aerodynamics department, and have a good pit and strategy squad.

Article Author: Ashleigh Charlesworth

Ashleigh currently writes for Naked Cleaner and F1 Blog. His interest lie in Technology (of all forms) and engineering. Day to day he does network security for living (yes I AM that nerdy).

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