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Red Bull
2007 Points: 24
Current Driver Lineup: David Coulthard & Mark Webber
Chassis: RB4
Engine: Renault RS27
An impressive run for the old Jaguar team, 2007 ended up being a pretty good year for Red Bull. Having to run a car that was an evolution of their 2006 chassis in the first half of the year, the revisions penned by their new hire, Adrian Newey, provided for a very productive second half of the season. Reliability improved as did their overall performance. Newey seems to definitely be enjoying himself at his new home in Formula One.
Although they are a couple of the oldest drivers in F1, David Coulthard and Mark Webber provide plenty of fire for this very aggressive team. They have both proven to be quite proficient in developing a car as well. David Coulthard left a very lucrative gig at McLaren to take on this position and seems to be proving himself with every turn of the wheel. Mark Webber, although not turning out to be the genius that many thought he would be, is still putting in quite a show and is a good enough driver to bring a car home in the toughest of times. We expect to see more of the same from this duo and maybe a bit more in 2008 with hopefully a few surprises thrown in for good measure.
Williams
2007 Points: 33
Current Driver Lineup: Nico Rosberg & Kazuki Nakajima
Chassis: FW30
Engine: Toyota
After a horrendous 2006, Williams F1 seemed to finally have their lags back under them for 2007. They are improving at a very respectable rate and are coming up with what appears to be a very good chassis for 2008. We expected them to implode after 2006, so we are very delighted to see them come this far and have such a bright future in front of them.
Williams struck gold when they landed Nico Rosberg. He's intelligent, quick and extremely motivated. He has the skills to take Williams even further than they went last year. The question remains though, can they provide him the car to get it done? The first driver to graduate from the Toyota development program, Kazuki Nakajima is an unknown quantity. On paper Nakajima doesn't give us warm fuzzy's. In testing he hasn't proven to be all that quick either. So, we're predicting that he will either be out before the year is up or this will be a "one hit wonder" for Kazuki. That said, Nico should provide plenty of points for Williams to keep moving ahead.
Renault
2007 Points: 51
Current Driver Lineup: Fernando Alonso & Nelsinho Piquet
Chassis: R28
Engine: Renault Rs27
Renault never quite recovered from Michelin pulling out of Formula One. With their revolutionary suspension being a collaboration between them and Michelin it was bound to be a problem when they were forced to change tire suppliers. Now that their prodigal son has returned, Renault hope to rekindle what they had and produce a winning team again. This could be one of the smartest moves Fernando has ever made or it could destroy his career in F1. We'll have to wait and see.
Alonso has a lot of work to do now that he's back home. He has a pig of a car and a lot of pressure on his shoulders. We're not completely convinced that his team has forgiven him for leaving yet either, which could provide for some tension within the garage itself. Nevertheless, he has to get on with it and if he can stop twitching from being stabbed in the back so many times at McLaren, he should be able to drag Renault back to where they belong. Quietly doing his job on the other side of the garage, we have Nelsinho Piquet. We are predicting that he will be a huge surprise to most F1 fans as he is very capable of getting a car to move quite briskly around a track. We think that Alonso may have his hands full with yet another rookie. Watch your back Fernando.
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