2012 Formula 1, six times the fun!

The upcoming 2012 season is going to be special one as Formula 1 will witness six world champions on the grid.

Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel will all feature in the 2012 season which will be the first for the sport.

The season is bound to be one of the most exciting in the history of the sport as the six world champions are seriously in contention for the world title. The favourite for the title will still be Vettel, but as critics and former drivers have pointed out, Red Bull enjoyed dominance through their innovation of the off-throttle blown diffuser. The design gave prominent advantage to the team as they recorded two back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.

The due credit has to be give to Vettel though for he drove wonderfully to take the title and the fact that his teammate Mark Webber could only manage a single Grand Prix win in the season. The win came at the final race of the season when Vettel suffered technical difficulty and had to slow down his pace in order to save the car. The real challenge for Vettel and the recognition of a true legend in F1 would only be sealed if the German is able to seal the third title in the 2012 season.

Schumacher has remained disappointing since his comeback to F1 in 2010, but speculations of a strong showing from his team Mercedes GP have grown recently. Schumacher worked with Ferrari for a few years before he transformed the team that won him 5 back to back titles and it is expected that the seven-time world champion is working up the same routine at Mercedes.

He gave a statement about his future earlier in the year that he will be assessing his future plans only after analysing the path Mercedes are headed for. The German only meant that he wants to make sure that he can achieve a title win through the team or else he might call it quits. That shows the sheer single minded determination of the German whose sole idea of remaining in the sport is to win titles and not just to make money or fill in race seats.

One would not be able to find a sane follower of the sport to disregard the class and talent of Fernando Alonso the winner of 2005 and 2006 world titles. Alonso joined Ferrari in 2010 and it has been his bad luck that he has found Ferrari in somewhat of a lean patch which the team is looking to change for the 2012 season.

Ferrari produced an uncompetitive car for the 2011 season which is a rarity in the illustrious history of the team. Ferrari are looking to mend their ways and are preparing aggressively for the 2012 season.

Lewis Hamilton has been another driver facing performance issues; he has been off the pace for the past two years but 2011 was one of his worst. The Brit had issues both on and off-track. Although he has been focusing on the sport a lot more and seems to have started getting his form in motion after winning the  2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button is on a quest to be recognised as the leading driver for McLaren and he has been performing consistently to prove just that. Button finished the 2011 season placing 2nd on the drivers’ championship with three Grands Prix wins in the season.

Raikkonen’s return has been a much-anticipated ordeal and whether it will mature the way most fans and followers of the sport want it to remains to be seen. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind though over the brilliance and talent of the Finn’s talent.

Renault have been successful to lure him back out of F1 retirement but can they provide him with a winning car remains to be seen along with how quick Raikkonen can adapt to F1 car after a banishment of two years.

History will be made once the action starts on March 18, 2012, and in all probability will feature the most competitive and entertaining in F1 season ever.

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Posted by Kashif Khan on Jan 31 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.