Sam ClarkF1 Season Preview
“I feel ready,” exclaimed British former F1 champ Lewis Hamilton in regards to the start of the new season a few days ago. “I think as a driver you get stronger with every season, so I plan to be better than last year.” Will his derring-do translate to the track? And what other twists and turns does the new season have in store?
Article by Sam Clark
This Sunday, five red lights will illuminate, followed by a moment of taut anticipation: the calm before the storm. Then, the lights will go out, launch systems will engage and the 2015 Formula One season will roar away from the line like a highly strung, and very hungry, lion.
I read once that we process responses to things we see in our peripheral vision far quicker than we can react to visual signals we are looking at directly. It’s an evolutionary trait connected to our fight-or-flight response systems. Ever since learning that, I’ve pictured F1 drivers sitting on the starting grid staring down the track to the first corner with the light gantry hanging in their peripheral vision. It’s a trick I’ve tried when I’m having secret traffic light races against fellow motorists oblivious to my game, but I don’t often get to do it in a multi-million pound, carbon composite, silver rocket ship.
Not like Lewis Hamilton, who will be sitting at the lights of the Australian Grand Prix in his gleaming Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid, ready to defend his second World Drivers’ Championship. The Mercedes Silver Arrows dominated the field last year, with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fighting nose-to-nose for the championship - sometimes a little too close for comfort for Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. Their cars collided going into Les Combes on lap two in Spa, during the Belgian Grand Prix, which lead to Hamilton’s early retirement from the race. After an acrimonious (although entertaining) period, the pair have kissed and made up. At least until the points start to flow this season…..
I’m really pleased to see that Jenson Button will be battling it out again on the track this year after a troubled time last season with an ailing car and the sad passing of his father John Button. Jenson didn’t even know if he would get a seat in the McLaren this year until well after the garages had been closed and tided away for the winter. I think he’ll be back with a clear head and a sense that he has nothing to loose. As a former World Champion he doesn’t need to justify his seat but I think he’ll also feel he has something to prove. He can sit calmly in the shadow of his new team-mate Fernando Alonso waiting for a classic Button strategy moment to slip through and surprise everyone - though it remains to be seen how the troubled McLaren will fair.
In an attempt to turn around their falling fortunes, the Woking-based team have turned to a Honda engine, as they did between 1988 and 1992, but this has already been plagued with reliability problems and has been off the pace throughout pre-season testing. Fernando Alonso really summed up McLaren’s problems when he crashed during testing in Barcelona on 22 February. He sustained concussion and has thankfully made a full recovery: however, on the advice of his doctors, he will miss the opening Grand Prix and Kevin Magnussen will take his place in the McLaren.
Ferrari will be hoping for better results with this year’s car, which they report is better suited to the driving skills of veteran driver Kimi Raikkonen and his new team-mate Sebastian Vettel. In the Red Bull camp, Daniel Ricciardo will be pushing especially hard to win on home turf after last year’s disappointment in Australia (he was disqualified from second place on the podium for a fuel flow rate infringement). 
2015 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE CALENDAR
15 Mar: 2015 FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
29 Mar: 2015 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX (Kuala Lumpur)
12 Apr: 2015 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai)
19 Apr: 2015 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Sakhir)
10 May: FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA PIRELLI 2015 (Catalunya)
24 May: FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2015 (Monte Carlo)
07 Jun: FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2015 (Montréal)
21 Jun: FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH 2015 (Spielberg)
05 Jul: 2015 FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone)
19 Jul: FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2015 (TBA)
26 Jul: FORMULA 1 PIRELLI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2015 (Budapest)
23 Aug: 2015 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps)
06 Sep: FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA 2014 (Monza)
20 Sep: 2015 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX(Singapore)
27 Sep: 2015 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka)
11 Oct: 2015 FORMULA 1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX (Sochi)
25 Oct: 2015 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX (Austin)
01 Nov: FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE MEXICO 2015 (Mexico City)
15 Nov: 2015 FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO DO BRASIL (São Paulo)
29 Nov: 2015 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (Yas Marina)
All images are of Lewis Hamilton. Opener, relaxing in Melbourne, Australia and others at preseason testing the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 W06 Hybrid in Barcelona. Images kindly supplied by Mercedes-Benz, copyright Daimler