2007 Season

Teams & Drivers | Calendar | Championship Standings

The major changes to 2007 include the reigning world champion - Fernando Alonso - switching from Renault to McLaren. The news came before the start of the 2006 season, and caused quite a stir as Fernando didn’t inform his manager and team boss Flavio Briatore at the time. Fernando will be partnered with newcomer Lewis Hamilton, who spent a year testing for McLaren and after winning the GP2 series title, steps up to join Formula One. Alonso is replaced at Renault with their tester Heikki Kovalainen, who impressed team bosses up and down the pit lane with his performances on Friday’s at the Grands Prix.

With Michael Schumacher retiring, Felipe Massa remains with Ferrari, and will be partnered with the exiting-McLaren man Kimi Raikkonen. Toyota remain the same with Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, as do Honda with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. BMW stay with Germany’s Nick Heidfeld and young Polish sensation Robert Kubica, who stepped up after Jacques Villeneuve was dropped mid-2006. The BMW car ran well last year, and Kubica put in some excellent performances to earn his extended contract with the team.

Red Bull Racing dropped Christian Klien in favour of Australia’s Mark Webber, who has left Williams after a disappointing two seasons with the team. Mark is replaced at Williams with their tester and once driver Alex Wurz. Although Alex has not raced in a while (and even then it was one-offs), he spent many years pounding the circuits in a McLaren as their test driver, and still shows speed and dedication as he once again gets a full time drive.

Spyker have retained Christijan Albers, who drive well last year in a car that wasn’t particularly competitive. The Dutch team have partnered Albers with rookie Adrian Sutil, who has apparently signed a long term agreement with Spyker. Anthony Davidson finally gets a drive as well, after following in the footsteps of Wurz and Kubica and testing for teams. Davidson will compete in the second Super Aguri alongside Takuma Sato, and if Aguri get to use last years Honda chassis, they could be moving up the grid and challenging for points. Toro Rosso are yet to announce their driver lineup, but are likely to remain with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed for another year as they adjust to Ferrari’s V8 in the back of their car.