SIX world champions lining up in five different teams with two drivers going for a third crown. All this across 20 races in five different continents over nine months of dramatic twists and turns.
Yes, it can only mean one thing - Formula One is back...
TEAM-BY-TEAM PREVIEW
RED BULL-RENAULT
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) GPs: 81 Poles: 30 Wins: 21 Points: 773
2 Mark Webber (Aus) GPs: 176 Poles: 9 Wins: 7 Points: 669.5
It seems as if there cannot be too many more records which Sebastian Vettel is yet to hold but the youngest F1 driver to score championship points, to lead a race, to secure pole position, to win a race, to win a world championship, and to become a double world champion now has his sights on being the sport's youngest triple world champion. That record is currently still held by the late, great Ayrton Senna who achieved it in 1991, aged 31. And so, even if Vettel - aged 25 in July - fails this season, he still has another six years to crack it. Vettel is nothing if not ruthless, though, as he proved throughout 2011 by mercilessly tearing up the field for a second succesive crown and he is undoubtedly the man to beat going into 2012.
That is a tougher task for Vettel's team mate Mark Webber than anyone else - for, though the Aussie has the same car and competed well in 2010, he struggled badly to match the German in 2011. Now with two championships in the bag, Vettel is the darling of the Red Bull team and team orders are likely to favour him again. Webber needs to find a team of his own to lead but he is 35 years old now and time is running out.
McLAREN-MERCEDES
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) GPs: 208 Poles: 7 Wins: 12 Points: 811
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) GPs: 90 Poles: 19 Wins: 17 Points: 723
It is a big year for Jenson Button - and an even bigger one for Lewis Hamilton, as the McLaren team vows to make up for lost time following last year's failure to match Red Bull's place. That, in itself, was no shame, of course - and, indeed, Button - with three wins and nine other podium appearances - seemed at times as if he was the only driver capable of matching the imperious Vettel last year. But it is still a big year for Button because all those efforts ultimately counted for very little in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, a repeat of his 2011 form and aggression would surely give him a good chance of adding to his 2009 title, provided that Vettel is reeled in by the pack.
It is a bigger year for Hamilton as, not only will he presumably be aiming for a place in the championship shake-up, the Stevenage man has some work to do to salvage his reputation as a front-runner after a messy fifth-placed finish in 2011. Hamilton was involved in countless incidents on the track, many of them with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, and the spotlight also shone on his seemingly hectic personal life away from the paddock. Hamilton is a delight to watch when he is in full flow and concentrating on his racing - if he can sort out his head then he, too, can dream of joining Vettel and Alonso on two world championships.
FERRARI
5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) GPs: 177 Poles: 20 Wins: 27 Points: 1,086
6 Felipe Massa (Brz) GPs: 152 Poles: 15 Wins: 11 Points: 582
Sebastian Vettel is not the only driver on the F1 circuit who can take Ayrton Senna's youngest triple world champion record from him - a third championship for Fernando Alonso will mean that he would receive this honour. But, unlike Vettel, Alonso only has one year in which to achieve this goal - and it does not seem likely that his Ferrari team is going to be much in the way of help.
Having been well off the pace in 2011, the last thing Alonso needs is a car which is going to struggle at the start of the season but already technical director Pat Fry has been downplaying hopes of a resurgence from the Prancing Horse. And, while that will undoubtedly prove frustrating for Alonso, it could be terminal for Felipe Massa's chances of carving out a career at the front of the grid after his lacklustre showing in 2011 when he failed to achieve a single podium finish.
MERCEDES
7 Michael Schumacher (Ger) GPs: 287 Poles: 68 Wins: 91 Points: 1,517
8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) GPs: 108 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 306.5
Mercedes was another team which failed to impress in 2011, struggling even to come close to matching a poor effort from Ferrari. Nico Rosberg had plenty of points finishes but did not appear on the podium once and the 26-year-old German is still awaiting his first pole or win after more than a century of races. That is easier said than done with the likes of Vettel around but Mercedes will hope they can compete right at the front of the grid, allowing Rosberg to unearth his undoubted potential. At least Rosberg showed his class in qualifying last year, beating team mate Michael Schumacher in 16 of the 19 sessions.
Although Schumacher actually achieved the team's best result of the season - a fourth place in Canada - he was wildly inconsistent, and suffered five retirements. It is no surprise then that big questions remain over whether the seven-time world champion should have ever come back. Irritatingly for him, those questions are unlikely to go away any time soon.
LOTUS-RENAULT
9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) GPs: 156 Poles: 16 Wins: 18 Points: 579
10 Romain Grosjean (Fra) GPs: 7 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 0
Lotus-Renault will hope to gain to a new lease of life by putting a former world champion in its car for the 2012 season. For, the Iceman returns to F1 and he arrives with a deservedly big reputation after his 2007 title at Ferrari. It seems exactly what the team needs having failed to win a race since Fernando Alonso was still racing for them in 2008 and there are high hopes that the Lotus team will awake from its mid table slumber in this campaign.
The employ of the inexperienced Romain Grosjean is more of a risk but the Geneva-born French licence holder can rely on plenty of support from boss Eric Boullier, simply for being French - or, at least, pretty much French. But, of course, the highest hopes are for Raikkonen and so it will be fascinating to see how the Finn re-adapts to F1 having spent more than a couple of years rallying.
FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES
11 Paul di Resta (Gbr) GPs: 19 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 27
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) GPs: 19 Poles: 1 Wins: 0 Points: 22
It has been an eventful close season for the Force India team with former number one driver Adrian Sutil found guilty in January by a German court of grievous bodily harm following an incident at the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix. Sutil received an 18-month suspended prison sentence and was fined 200,000 euros but the upshot of it in F1 terms was that Scotland's Paul di Resta became Force India's lead driver despite having only completed an admittedly impressive rookie season in 2011.
Di Resta's team mate, Nico Hulkenberg, was unfortunate last year not to have a seat after a decent enough finish to his 2010 season at Williams and the 24-year-old German will push di Resta all the way with the Scot only himself still just learning his trade at this level. Team principal Vijay Mallya has apparently demanded his team go for fifth place this season but, while that is of course within the realms of possibility, a consolidation of sixth would still not necessarily be a bad result, given the inexperience on display.
SAUBER-FERRARI
14 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) GPs: 40 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 65
15 Sergio Perez (Mex) GPs: 17 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 14
Sauber was again a solid, mid table outfit in 2011, and the team can expect yet more of the same this time around having retained the services of unpredictable pair, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez - just don't expect the means to this end to be anything like straightforward. Whereas Japan's Kobayashi started impressively with six points finishes from the first seven races before fading, Mexican Perez recovered from a nasty accident in the Monaco tunnel to score in three of the last six races. Indeed, if the team and the drivers could improve on their consistency, Sauber may yet spring a surprise - but such an outcome is not worth betting on, though.
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
16 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) GPs: 11 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 0
17 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) 2012 is debut season in F1
Toro Rosso made the surprise choice to dispense with the services of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi for this new 2012 season. Well, at least the decision looks surprising to an outsider after both drivers scored consistently enough throughout 2011 for the team to merit a lower mid-table place. However, as team principal Franz Tost explained, Toro Rosso effectively exists in F1 as "rookie training school" - and now it has been decided that Alguersuari and Buemi have 'graduated' from the team's ranks to be replaced by two more eager recruits, 22-year-old Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, aged 21. Ricciardo arrives after just half-a-season at HRT last year while rookie Frenchman Vergne is signed up having been British Formula Three champion in 2010. As such, this whole season should definitely be regarded as just a transitional one for Toro Rosso.
WILLIAMS-RENAULT
18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) GPs: 19 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 1
19 Bruno Senna (Brz) GPs: 26 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 2
Williams enter 2012 in desperate need of a good - or even half-decent - year after their disastrous 2011. Last season, the Oxfordshire-based team had a wretched car and scored just five points in the whole campaign. Unsurprisingly, for a team which used to win championships, that was their worst ever return in their 34 years in F1 and, even then, they only scored those points because the generous system now rewards down to 10th position. Certainly, it was a sad way for Rubens Barrichello to depart F1 but, looking ahead, Williams fans can only hope that the team provides better equipment to Barrichello's promising compatriot, Bruno Senna, following his move from Renault. A proper mid-table challenge from Williams is a must.
CATERHAM-RENAULT
20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) GPs: 89 Poles: 1 Wins: 1 Points: 105
21 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) GPs: 38 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 64
Caterham, as the team is now called, was forced to shed the Lotus name in the close season after an "amicable settlement" with Renault. Nevertheless, the Tony Fernandes-backed outfit will hope that this fresh start will be more successful than the team's first two seasons which have garnered exactly nul points. In comes Russian Vitaly Petrov from Renault (now, ironically, Lotus-Renault) after he failed to be consistent enough further up the grid. He joins Finland's Heikki Kovalainen whose couple of seasons at McLaren in 2008 and 2009 must now seem like a lifetime away. But, despite their patchy records, these drivers still probably represent Caterham's best chance of breaking its points duck. Expect wild celebrations from Fernandes if, or when, it eventually happens.
HRT-COSWORTH
22 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) GPs: 86 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 35
23 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) GPs: 27 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 5
That HRT is putting all of its hopes on 41-year-old Pedro de la Rosa and 35-year-old Narain Karthikeyan speaks volumes of exactly where this team can expect to find itself throughout the 2012 F1 season. Yes, HRT will, more often than not, be bringing up the rear again having already spent two seasons barely threatening to score a point. That is not to say the move for de la Rosa is a particularly bad one: a former McLaren test driver, he is now hugely experienced and presumably highly knowledgeable about F1. Also, as a Spaniard, he will also indulge in some patriotic flag-waving for his team if - and it is a big 'if' - he gets the chance. The presence of Karthikeyan is less easily explained, until the subject of rupees is approached.
MARUSSIA-COSWORTH
24 Timo Glock (Ger) GPs: 72 Poles: 0 Wins: 0 Points: 51
25 Charles Pic (Fra) 2012 is debut season in F1
Marussia is another new name on the F1 circuit, appearing after the Russian supercar manufacturers replaced Virgin Racing as the team's majority shareholders. So far this has not exactly been a successful enterprise for all concerned with the team having propped up the Constructors' standings for the last two years. Finishing behind HRT in 2010 was bad enough but, incredibly, it happened again in another pointless season in 2011. And now, even the change of name in has not helped with Marussia failing the FIA's crash test in February, meaning the 2012 car arrives in Melbourne without having been tested. Consequently, it seems that the Franco-German pair Timo Glock and Charles Pic will already have their work cut out to impress in this campaign.
2012 RACE CALENDAR
For the first time ever this season, Sky will have live coverage of every race on their dedicated channel (Sky 408) after their controversial agreement last July. Where Sky is listed in the column below, the satellite channel will have exclusively live coverage and the BBC will only show extended (delayed) highlights. The BBC also has live coverage of 10 races where its name is listed below.
| Date | TV | Pole position | Fastest lap | Winner | |
| 18 March | Sky | Australian Grand Prix | Hamilton | Button | Button |
| 25 March | Sky | Malaysian Grand Prix | Hamilton | Raikkonen | Alonso |
| 15 April | BBC | Chinese Grand Prix | Rosberg | Kobayashi | Rosberg |
| 22 April | Sky | Bahrain Grand Prix | Vettel | Vettel | Vettel |
| 13 May | BBC | Spanish Grand Prix | Maldonado | Grosjean | Maldonado |
| 27 May | BBC | Monaco Grand Prix | |||
| 10 June | Sky | Canadian Grand Prix | |||
| 24 June | BBC | European Grand Prix | |||
| 8 July | BBC | British Grand Prix | |||
| 22 July | Sky | German Grand Prix | |||
| 29 July | Sky | Hungarian Grand Prix | |||
| 2 September | BBC | Belgian Grand Prix | |||
| 9 September | Sky | Italian Grand Prix | |||
| 23 September | BBC | Singapore Grand Prix | |||
| 7 October | Sky | Japanese Grand Prix | |||
| 14 October | BBC | Korean Grand Prix | |||
| 28 October | Sky | Indian Grand Prix | |||
| 4 November | BBC | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | |||
| 18 November | Sky | United States Grand Prix | |||
| 25 November | BBC | Brazilian Grand Prix |
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