Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel will be very hard to beat again, but McLaren's Jenson Button could challenge them.
Thanks to our friends at Guardian Sport, article by Anthony Davidson posted in full.www.guardian.co.uk. Photograh of Sebastian Vettel by Albert Gea/REUTERS.
RED BULL
Sebastian Vettel 1 Mark Webber 2
Red Bull have had the dominant car and driver for the past two years and can clearly ride another wave this season. They're the ones with the targets on their back – they have the genius of designer Adrian Newey and in Sebastian Vettel a two-time world champion on absolute peak form. They are going to be very hard to beat but with the change in regulations, it's fair to ask can Newey get it right again? If he pushes the boundaries too far, reliability might be an issue in 2012.
McLAREN
Jenson Button 3 Lewis Hamilton 4
McLaren have a great driver pairing and Jenson Button can be the closest challenger to Vettel, as he was in the latter half of last season. But you never know with Lewis – he has the speed and a strong car that can take on the Red Bulls. It's a clever car and they've taken a few design risks with it – plenty of smart features to eke out the car's performance, such as the blown exhaust to aid downforce.
FERRARI
Fernando Alonso 5 Felipe Massa 6
There's always a lot of pressure on Ferrari, more than any other team on the grid. They are still waiting for a car to pose a clear challenge but after winter testing they are in a worse situation this year going into the new season than in the previous two seasons. It's too late now to do anything other than damage limitation going into Melbourne and they will have to wait until the European races for upgrades. Massa must up his game and Alonso will be looking to improve on last year's one win.
MERCEDES
Michael Schumacher 7 Nico Rosberg 8
Mercedes are probably in third spot at this stage, going into the Australian Grand Prix. They have a nice, tidy car and team principal Ross Brawn clearly knows what he's doing – the Merc has the most powerful engine on the grid, and they have read the new regulations well and taken a realistic approach. And in Michael Schumacher they have a former champion who is beginning to enjoy himself back in Formula One. He may not be the driver of old but he is still ruthless and the hardest-working driver on the grid. My pick for 2012's dark horses.
LOTUS
Kimi Raikkonen 9 Romain Grosjean 10
It's good to see former world champion Kimi Raikkonen (left) back after his break driving rally cars. They were clearly missing Robert Kubica at the tail end of last season when he was injured. Hiring a top driver can really give a team a boost but it has yet to be seen how race rusty Kimi will be – there's always an element of doubt when a driver takes a sabbatical. They had a decent car for the first half of last season and clearly know how to design a car but perhaps lack the resources to maintain that momentum all year.
FORCE INDIA
Paul di Resta 11 Nico Hülkenberg 12
Force India are probably behind Mercedes in terms of performance – they have a good car, realistic expectations and a strong Mercedes engine. That all adds up to possibly the surprise package on the grid – as they were last year when they were able to challenge the Mercedes works team, scoring three sixth-place finishes and scoring points at most races, which was impressive for such a small outfit. They are certainly the most improved team in Formula One and have come a long way since their days as the Spyker team back in 2007.
SAUBER
Kamui Kobayashi 14 Sergio Pérez 15
Sauber have been struggling a bit and although they posted some fast times in testing we've seen that from them before. They were strong in the first half of last season but did not maintain their challenge after Pérez crashed in Monaco qualifying and then had to sit out the Canadian Grand Prix. This year's Ferrari-powered car is looking a bit basic to me and it seems like a lack of funding means they will be ranked with the other smaller teams on this year's grid. In fact I would be surprised if they mounted a serious attack on the midfield pack this season.
TORRO ROSSO
Daniel Ricciardo 16 Jean-Eric Vergne 17
They finished last season strongly so are one of the teams, like Force India, going from strength to strength. They have a great new driver pairing – you can expect fireworks between these two. Ricciardo and Vergne will be fighting for Mark Webber's Red Bull seat for next season and the pressure is on for them to deliver, to be the next Sebastian Vettel coming through, and they certainly have the most potential as any driver pairing on this season's grid. Their testing times were pretty good – so watch this space.
WILLIAMS
Pastor Maldonado 18 Bruno Senna 19
Williams were disappointing last year – they didn't have a fast car and scored just five points all year – and hopefully they will have a better car this season with new technical chief Mike Coughlan from McLaren making an impact. It would be so sad to see a legendary team picking up scraps again. Without the right funding levels in Formula One, however, it's difficult to spend time adapting the car to new regulations. Williams (above) hope to top the midfield pack but I've seen nothing so far to suggest a step forward from last year.
CATHERHAM
Heikki Kovalainen 20 Vitaly Petrov 21
Tony Fernandes's rebranded team were among the first to launch their new car and are making steady progress – hopefully this year will join the tail end of the midfield pack. They did well in keeping above last year's new teams – HRT and Virigin – to score points. Certainly a driver like Heikki Kovalainen (right) will be wringing every last ounce of performance out of their tidy car and could well expect to score their first podium this year. They now have Kers on the 2012 Renault-powered car so that will aid its performance
HRT
Pedro de la Rosa 22 Narain Karthikeyan 23
The Spanish newcomers were late launching their new car for their second season in Formula One and so were not ready for testing – that's not the best position to be in but at least they have made it to round one, unlike last season's late start. The 2012 car doesn't look that bad but I fear it will be an uphill battle for them again this season. The experience of De la Rosa – a Spaniard with 87 grands prix under his belt – will help steer them in the right direction but only so much can be achieved on limited funding in Formula One.
MERUSSIA
Timo Glock 24 Charles Pic 25
A name change and new a driver in the shape of Charles Pic, fresh from GP2, but I feel sorry for the Frenchman as he will go into Melbourne without having spent any time in a Formula One car as it kept failing the pre-season crash tests. Merussia are going to be fighting just to get on the grid at Melbourne so I wouldn't expect too much at this stage. It's going to be painful watching Pic coming to terms with the car: it's impossible to start in an F1 car that is a complete unknown.
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