2021 promises to be an intriguing year in Formula 1. There will be 23 races squeezed into a shade over nine months.
The new season starts this weekend with the Bahrain grand prix this weekend.
Hamilton aiming for his eighth championship
Lewis Hamilton is aiming to become the most successful F1 driver of all time. He will be hunting down an eighth drivers championship which would put him ahead of Michael Schumacher.
Red Bull appears to be the likely challenge to Mercedes to bring to an end the dominance of the Silver Arrows.
Plenty of driver changes for the forthcoming season with Daniel Ricciardo moving to MCLaren. Two time champion Fernando Alonso will ride for Alpine this campaign and the name of Schumacher is back. Mick Scumacher will be making his debut at Haas.
As always, the burning question on everybody’s lips has to be, who can stop Mercedes and Hamilton.
Mercedes
Mercedes enters the final season of the current rules period undefeated. The team have taken every single championship since 2014. The pairing of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are surely the drivers to beat.
During the recent testing they posted the least mileage of any team. Ignore that statement at your peril, with Hamilton as hungry as ever to win yet another championship.
Red Bull
Max Verstappen topped pre-season testing for Red Bull. Verstappen will be joined this season by Sergio Perez, with the team expected to run Mercedes very close.
McLaren
McLaren left pre-season testing in high spirits having shown plenty of power on all three days. Ricciardo seems to have slotted into his new team extremely well. In 2020 McLaren put up some impressive showings during the racing calendar, and this duo should go well this campaign.
Aston Martin
The high rake cars looked much more comfortable with the new regulations during testing. With the addition of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and a new factory under construction, the future looks bright.
Alpine
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso returns back to F1 after Ricciardo’s departure to McLaren. The Spaniard is somebody who isn’t a patient person. Will he be patient at Alpine is the question on everybody’s lips right now.
Ferrari
2020 turned out to be the worst season for Ferrari for 40 years. A disappointing sixth place in the standings and more worryingly only three podium finishes all season.
The team say that this year it has made gains in terms of top end speed. The arrival of Sainz from McLaren will boost Ferrari and should see much more improvement.
Alpha Tauri
A team on the rise and was one of the strongest units during pre-season testing.
Pierre Gasly became a first time F1 winner at Monza last season.Along with the addition of Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, this looks a useful line up ahead of the new campaign.
Alfa Romeo
One of only three teams to have retained an unchanged line up in 2021. The experience of Kimi Raikkonen will be pivotal for the new campaign.
Haas
The return of the name famous in motor racing terms-Schumacher has made the early headlines. Mick Schumacher took the F2 title last season, but this will be a big step up for Schumacher. The car has received limited upgrades since 2020. Will be interesting to see how Haas perform this year.
Williams
2021 will be the first season without a Williams family member at the helm. Main driver George Russell had a terrific season in 2020, with many people saying he will ride for a bigger team very soon.