FORMULA ONE is back - and it's bigger and better with 12 teams and 24 drivers on the starting grid for the first time since 1995 and 19 races for the first time since 2005.
The return of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has dominated the headlines in the off-season.
But the German's track comeback with Mercedes is just one of a myriad of sub-plots which make this F1 season the most eagerly awaited in years.
British pair Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who have shared the last two world championships between them, will compete together at McLaren.
Meanwhile, two-times winner Fernando Alonso finally got his dream move to Ferrari who will be desperate to make up for their struggles in 2009.
There are five debutants among the 24 drivers with the Senna name back in F1 for the first time since Ayrton's untimely death at Imola, 16 years ago. Nephew Bruno will race for the new Hispania Racing team.
The main rule changes have seen refuelling during the race abolished and a new points system intended to get drivers to go for the win.
Twenty-five points will be awarded for a race win, with 18 for second and 15 for third, 12 for fourth, 10 for fifth and then eight, six, four, two and one for drivers finishing between sixth and 10th.
MCLAREN
World champion Jenson Button has made the risky move to McLaren where 2008 winner Lewis Hamilton is already established as the number one driver. Button will aim to displace his compatriot but he may find this difficult as Hamilton is widely regarded as one of the fastest qualifiers on the circuit.
Button won the world championship last year for Brawn GP with a stunning six wins in the first seven races as traditional big-hitters Ferrari and McLaren lagged behind in the development of their cars.
But, once McLaren finally produced a race-worthy machine, it was no surprise to see Hamilton's form pick back up and it seems unlikely that Button will enjoy another early advantage this time around.
Jenson Button
F1 career: Races 172, Wins 7, Pole 7, Points 327 (1 Championship)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 6, Pole 4, Points 95, Pos: Champion
Lewis Hamilton
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 11, Pole 17, Points 256 (1 Championship)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 4, Points 49, Pos: 5th
MERCEDES
Having just about scrambled a team together in time last winter, Brawn GP then did the unthinkable and won the drivers' and constructors' championships.
Jenson Button has now moved on to McLaren - and there were changes at the top of Brawn GP too as Mercedes-Benz and Aaber Investments bought a 75.1% stake and renamed the team.
Nico Rosberg was announced as the team's first driver shortly after the buyout with Rubens Barrichello having moved the opposite way to Williams.
But the biggest news in F1 came two days before Christmas as seven-time champion Michael Schumacher joined the team to complete an all-German line-up.
Schumacher has made it clear that he has not returned just to mix it up with the back markers but he shouldn't worry - the Merc engineers and the technical expertise of Ross Brawn, with whom he won all those world crowns, will ensure his comeback is competitive.
Michael Schumacher
F1 career: Races 250, Wins 91, Pole 68, Points 1369 (7 Championships)
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Nico Rosberg
F1 career: Races 70, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 75.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 34.5, Pos: 7th
RED BULL
Of all the expected front-runners, Red Bull is the only team to keep faith with its driver line-up from 2009.
That decision comes as no surprise after the excellent performances from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber last season saw them both finish in the top four. Along the way, Vettel and Webber gave their Austrian team three 1-2s - in China, Germany and Abu Dhabi.
At 33, Webber is unlikely at his age to improve any further but, given a few more years, 22-year-old Sebastian Vettel has the look of a future world champion in the making.
Sebastian Vettel
F1 career: Races 43, Wins 5, Pole 5, Points 125
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 4, Pole 4, Points 84, Pos: 2nd
Mark Webber
F1 career: Races 140, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 169.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 69.5, Pos: 4th
FERRARI
Ferrari endured their worst ever start to an F1 season in a nightmare 2009 which Felipe Massa was simply glad to have survived. The team failed to score in any of the first three races before Kimi Raikonnen picked up points in sixth in the fourth race at Bahrain.
In the second half of the season, matters improved slightly and Raikonnen won the Belgian GP but Ferrari struggled to provide any back-up for the Finn after Massa's freak accident in qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
Thankfully, Massa has made a full recovery but the Brazilian will face a tough new challenge from Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard finally got his dream move to Ferrari after he was unable to repeat his world championship successes in a second spell at Renault.
The recent seasons of struggle will have made Alonso arguably the hungriest man on the grid and he should be aided by a Ferrari team also desperate to avoid another 2009.
Felipe Massa
F1 career: Races 116, Wins 11, Pole 15, Points 320
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 22, Pos: 11th
Fernando Alonso
F1 career: Races 140, Wins 21, Pole 18, Points 577 (2 Championships)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 1, Points 26, Pos: 9th
WILLIAMS
A complete driver change for Williams with Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenburg in for Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima.
Williams have made a sound choice with Barrichello who is the fourth highest points scorer in F1 history despite never having won a world championship. The unlucky Brazilian has had to play second fiddle over the years to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and then, again, to Jenson Button last season at Brawn GP.
But Barrichello often out-qualified and outshone eventual champ Button in the second part of last season and this is a belated chance for him to establish himself as a team's number one.
Former test driver Nico Hulkenburg will be looking to impress having graduated to a main seat after winning both the Formula 3 and GP2 series in the last two years.
Rubens Barrichello
F1 career: Races 288, Wins 11, Pole 14, Points 607
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 77, Pos: 3rd
Nico Hulkenburg
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
RENAULT
The exits of fellow-manufacturers Toyota and BMW caused speculation that Renault would be the next team to leave F1 as the recession began to take effect.
The feeling that F1 was more trouble than its worth to Renault increased further after their shameful appearance before the courts for race-fixing. That episode ended with a suspended two-year ban for the team and a life-ban for then-managing director Flavio Briatore.
But, having sold their majority stake to a Luxembourg investment company, Renault remain in F1 for now.
They are a long way away from repeating the Fernando Alonso world championship years of 2005 and 2006, though, and they have the less than glamorous line-up of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov who, nevertheless, becomes the first ever Russian F1 driver.
Robert Kubica
F1 career: Races 57, Wins 1, Pole 1, Points 137
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 17, Pos: 14th
Vitaly Petrov
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
FORCE INDIA
It is a big season for Force India who showed signs of getting it right in the latter part of last year, even going as far as earning their first pole position.
That came courtesy of Giancarlo Fisichella at the Belgian GP before the Italian was allowed to replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari for the rest of the season.
Still, in his absence, Adrian Sutil did reasonably well and finished fourth in the Italian GP, having qualified in second. Much more will be expected from Sutil all season round, this time.
Fisichella's replacement Vitantonio Liuzzi was also running well at Monza when a gearbox failure forced him to retire and he was deemed to have done a good enough filling in job to gain a seat for this season.
Adrian Sutil
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 5, Pos: 17th
Vitantonio Liuzzi
F1 career: Races 44, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 5
2009 F1 Season: Races 5, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0, Pos: 22nd
TORO ROSSO
Toro Rosso endured a tough 2009 season, finishing last in the constructors' championship, after failing to cope the pre-season loss of Sebastian Vettel to sister team Red Bull Racing.
The performances of Sebastien Bourdais, in particular, were heavily criticised and he crashed into team-mate Sebastien Buemi on the first lap of the Spanish GP, the Frenchman was replaced mid-season by 19-year-old Jaime Alguersuari.
Alguersuari failed to score a point in any of his eight races but, with youth on his side, he retains his seat alongside Buemi in a youthful team. Buemi improved in the latter part of last season to record points finishes in the final two races.
But the odd points finish here and there will be all that either of these two drivers can expect this season.
Sebastien Buemi
F1 career: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6, Pos: 16th
Jaime Alguersuari
F1 career: Races 8, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0
2009 F1 Season: Races 8, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0, Pos: 24th
LOTUS F1
Lotus F1 would like to remind everyone that Michael Schumacher is not the only famous name making a comeback this season.
Team Lotus raced in Formula One for 37 years until 1994, winning six drivers' championship and seven constructors' crowns, and the new team have been making a lot of positive noises with technical director Mike Gascoyne sounding particularly bullish.
An relatively experienced driver line-up will give Lotus the best chance of all the new entrants of making a few waves but a Brawn GP repeat would be an even bigger surprise than last year.
Jarno Trulli
F1 career: Races 219, Wins 1, Pole 4, Points 246.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 1, Points 32.5, Pos: 8th
Heikki Kovalainen
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 1, Pole 1, Points 105
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 22, Pos: 12th
HISPANIA RACING TEAM
While Lotus GP may have invested in experience, another new team Hispania Racing will be relying on beginner's luck.
The Spanish team are fielding two debutants Karun Chandhok - only the second Indian driver in F1 history after Narain Karthikeyan in 2005 - and Bruno Senna.
The return of the Senna name to F1, 16 years after Ayrton's death at Imola, has generated some excitement. But it will be interesting to see how long into the season that it lasts, if Chandhok and Senna struggle round in what looks like a rather slow car.
Karun Chandhok
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Bruno Senna
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
BMW SAUBER
Sauber make an unexpected appearance on the grid after it looked as if their participation had ended. The FIA even went so far as to accept their resignation and put the Lotus F1 team in their place.
The chances of a Sauber appearance in 2010 looked even bleaker when a deal to put them on the track with investment company Qadbak fell through. But just a week later, BMW sold its 80% share to Peter Sauber and replaced Toyota who were definitely leaving.
Toyota's departure left Kamui Kobayashi without a seat despite an impressive sixth-placed finish in Abu Dhabi.
But Sauber snapped up the Japanese driver and have paired him with a more experienced man in Pedro de la Rosa who has spent the last six years testing at McLaren.
Of all the teams, Sauber will be glad that their rather chaotic winter is over and the real action can begin.
Pedro de la Rosa
F1 career: Races 72, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 29
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Kamui Kobayashi
F1 career: Races 2, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 3
2009 F1 Season: Races 2, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 3, Pos: 18th
VIRGIN RACING
Virgin supremo Richard Branson tested the water last season with his sponsorship of the successful Brawn GP team but, this year, the bearded billionaire has decided to grab a piece of the action with his own team.
Timo Glock has signed up having rejected Renault to guarantee himself number one driver status ahead of debutant Lucas di Grassi.
German Glock has proven to be a solid enough driver at Toyota while Brazilian di Grassi has featured at the right end of the track in the GP2 series for the last three years.
But Branson should not expect immediate results a la Brawn GP for, if he does, this adventure could be very short-lived.
Timo Glock
F1 career: Races 37, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 51
2009 F1 Season: Races 14, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 24, Pos: 10th
Lucas di Grassi
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Race Calendar
The season begins in Bahrain tomorrow and finishes in Abu Dhabi on 14 November. The Monte Carlo GP is on 16 May and the British GP from Silverstone is on 11 July.
Canada returns to the calendar on 13 June after a one-year hiatus with the Korean GP from Yeongam making its F1 bow.
14 March Bahrain GP (Sakhir)
28 March Australian GP (Melbourne)
4 April Malaysian GP (Sepang)
18 April Chinese GP (Shanghai)
9 May Spanish GP (Barcelona)
16 May Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
30 May Turkish GP (Istanbul)
13 June Canadian GP (Montreal)
27 June European GP (Valencia)
11 July British GP (Silverstone)
25 July German GP (Hockenheim)
1 August Hungarian GP (Budapest)
29 August Belgian GP (Spa)
12 September Italian GP (Monza)
26 September Singapore GP (Singapore)
10 October Japanese GP (Suzuka)
24 October Korean GP (Yeongam)
7 November Brazilian GP (Sao Paulo)
14 November Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Island)
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