SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Feature: F1 2004 Season Preview

With a management shake up during the of season Toyota are back with a new car, new team principal and new technical director. Highly rated former Jordan a Renault designer Mike Gascoigne joins the team while Ove Adersson has retired and made way for Tsutomu Tomita a manager from Japan. As has been the case in the previous two years the new car has looked useful in testing but unlike last year the team have not aimed for dazzling lap times but have instead gone for a more structured approach. Next year Gascoigne's first design will hit the tracks and it is this (as well as the tweaks he can perform on this year's car) which are keenly anticipated. With Gustav Bruner alongside him the team can only improve but first the team must gain the experience and strategic mentality which it is so desperately in need if.

20. Panis

Like many other oldest drivers on the grid before him all Olivier Panis ever seems to be asked about these days is his age and when is he going to retire! Panis is in no way a slow driver and his technical feedback is said to be second to none. Although Toyota are not yet setting the world alight it is clear that the team will get there and will probably do so sooner rather than later and it is to this end that Panis is staying with the team. Panis would love nothing more than to prove his win in Monaco in 1996 was no fluke. Doing this is the difficult bit. With this year likely to be Panis' last in F1 he is looking more likely to get a podium or win at the end of the season than at the beginning. For the early races he may well struggle in the midfield and reliability may be a concern.

21. Da Matta

After a debut season of brilliance and mediocrity mixed in equal measure the early races of this season may well make or break Christiano's Formula 1 career. Da Matta has admitted struggling in terms of giving technical feedback and shocked Michael Schumacher at a recent press conference by saying that he had no idea where the mid part of a corner was only the entry & exit! Da Matta and Panis get on well and Christiano is certainly learning from his team mate yet he really has to accelerate in this if his results are to match his talent.

Jaguar (Green with HSBC graphics)

In the team's attempt to turn itself from a PR disaster into a halfway respectable Formula 1 team Jaguar seem to have slightly forgotten that they are also supposed to produce a little razzmatazz! Justin Wilson has been dropped for rookie Christian Klein. The team made a huge deal out of saying that they had not taken Klein on for the money he brings yet the fact he is backed by Red Bull to such excess in itself puts pressures on Klein who is still only 20. The R5 looks pretty unspectacular and the team have already admitted that it is not living up to all they expected it to be and, after the false dawn of last year's R4, Jaguar once again look like they may be facing another year in the doldrums. If they can hold onto Mark Webber next year they will be doing well.

14. Webber

Currently number 1 target for Williams it is expected to be a case of when rather than if Mark Webber signs for the team. In the interim all Mark has to do is carry on showing just why he is the only thing keeping Jaguar with any hope of points this season. The Jaguar R4 was a great qualifying car due to its ability to generate heat in its tires quickly. This paid huge dividends over a single qualifying lap and led to some impressive performances by Webber in the car. Unfortunately for the races the heat generated in the tires led to them wearing out quickly and the car quickly slipped back after the first few laps. Like the team Webber has been at pains to stress how fast his team mate is and this could only have been brought about through pressure from inside Jaguar. Hopefully Mark will be able to ignore his team mate and concentrate on doing his usual superb job this season.

15. Klein

Vilified by many outside the team (and some inside) for being responsible for chucking out Justin Wilson. Austrian Klein is being bankrolled by Red Bull by as much as $9 million and, although no Red Bull signs are appearing on the car, new sponsor Hanger 7's logos do look a mite familiar! With Red Bull now banned in France and facing legal action in the States it remains to be seen whether the company can continue to back two teams in Formula 1 (they already sponsor Sauber). Should they choose to withdraw their funding from Klein he is unlikely to stay in his seat for very long.

Jordan (Yellow with B&H graphics)

After protracted negotiations with Jos Verstappen (and his principal backer computer company Trust) Jordan finally had to call a halt to the proceedings after Verstappen's manager (Hubert Rothgauer, a former Formula 1 driver himself) demanded 30% on all moneys exchanged by either party. This would have meant that he would have been entitled to 30% of all moneys including sponsorship paid to Jordan by Trust. Not surprisingly both Trust and Jordan found this arrangement unacceptable and talented Italian F3000 racer Giorgio Pantano was signed instead. Although the team have the same spec engines as Jaguar this season it is difficult to see them making use of them in the same way. Jordan's lucky win in Brazil was all well and good but lack of development funding, being on the wrong tires and a driver pairing that, while talented, are not likely to set the world on fire will blunt their impact this season.

11. Heidfeld

A great driver in his own right Nick Heidfeld and Jordan seem a match made in heaven. Heidfeld has always been on the bland side of boring (Martin Brundle once remarked that Heidfeld had been in Formula 1 for three years & he still couldn't remember what he looked like!). Being in a team as vibrant and lively as Jordan may well help Nick overcome his lack of a media personality and inject some life into his otherwise staid F1 career. For his part Heidfeld is very quick and is a methodical driver on a bad day and a brilliant driver on a good one. Heidfeld will work his socks off to improve the car and the Jordan engineers already love him. If there was a perfect driver with which to start rebuilding the team it may well be Nick Heidfeld.

12. Pantano

Giorgio Pantano has spent the last couple of years racing in F3000. Always a good rather than a great racer Pantano has still won a clutch of races and has done a reliable enough job in testing with Benetton and McLaren in the past. It seems unlikely that Pantano will be more than a journeyman in his F1 career but at least he will be supported by a decent infrastructure and have the knowledge and experience of Jordan to back him up. Jordan's third driver will be Timo Glock. With two Germans in the team many are wondering whether Heidfeld's Mercedes ties are completely severed and whether the team will be running with German engines in the back of their cars next season.

Minardi (TBC black, white & red - principal sponsor is yet unannounced)

As with most seasons the main achievement for Minardi is to make it to the start of another year. Rumors of Roman Abramovich buying into the team came to nothing (although he was subsequently linked to Jordan) and the PS04 is currently running around Vallelunga in Italy without any sponsorship whatsoever. Appearance wise the PS04 looks almost exactly a cross between the 2002 Arrows A23 and last year's PS03. The team are unlikely to challenge for points and their being on Bridgestone tires will only add to the handicaps they face already. Even so the team are fighters and a surprise result or a few wet races could lead to a rich haul of points for the tiny Faenza team.

18. Bruni

Another talented Italian who has made it to Formula 1 through money and good fortune Gianmaria Bruni (he is a bloke) is another F3000 racer who has had some good races and managed to raise enough sponsorship to buy a drive for this season. Bruni is certainly quick and is also one of the most consistent F3000 racing drivers around, even so he is no Justin Wilson or Jos Verstappen. Occasional flash in the pan results may follow but the team really need another Gene, Alonso or Wilson if they are to progress.

19. Baumgartner

Hmm... the Minardi number 2 seat says it all really! I am not sure if the team have ever had a number two driver who has not paid his way into Formula 1 Baumgartner did not damage any Jordans too badly in his two races with the team and, although he was lamentably slow, he at least is backed by the Hungarian Government as well as several Hungarian businesses (opening the door to more Eastern European sponsorship). Minardi are sure to gather plenty of column inches in the press in new markets and the knock on effect is hopefully to gain them more sponsorship. I hope this works because there is no other reason to have Zsolt aboard!

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