Renault drivers Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen, Spain’s Fernando Alonso and Italy’s Giancarlo Fisichella (left to right) pose with the new Renault R26 Formula One for the 2006 season; (below) Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa

It’s that time of the year again. Formula One fever is in the air and come 5.30 every Sunday evening starting tomorrow, more people than ever before will be huddled around television sets all around the country, not to mention the world. It’s quite amazing really just how F1 has caught on in India. The big push came last year when Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian to compete in Formula One. This year, Narain will have a supporting role as a tester and testers do a lot more mileage in the car than a driver does in the race.

Also, it’s due to the testers that a car goes as well as it does in the race. But more on the team he is with later. This week, we’ll look at the teams that will be fighting for honours as well as those that will be snapping at their heels.

Let’s start with the rookie team of the year ? Super Aguri. Aguri Suzuki was a half-decent driver who was in Formula One for a few years. Touted as Honda’s second team, Super Aguri will be using a rather old chassis design to start, with the Honda RA806E engine sitting at the back. The team will be based like most other teams, in the UK and the drivers will be Takuma Sato (who many feel is the reason for Honda backing the team as he was discarded by BAR). Everybody talks big before the season but it would be silly to expect too much of a team that has been put together a few months before the season starts. Bridgestone is supplying tyres to the team.

Toro Rosso (Italian for Red Bull) is up next. This used to be the Minardi team of old and is still based at Faenza in Italy. It is basically the second string Red Bull team and will have Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed as drivers. It’s the only team to be using the rev-limited version of last year’s Cosworth V10 engines, as the others have switched to 2006-spec V8s. The tyres will come from Michelin.

MF1 is the new name for the erstwhile Jordan team. Tiago Monteiro is one driver while the other is Christjan Albers. The chassis is simply known as the M16 and despite talks of Toyota and Midland having differences over payments, 2006 will see the Toyota RVX-06 engine installed at the rear of the car. The team has entered with a Russian licence ? a first for Formula One ? but one doesn’t expect it to do very much better than it did last year.

Now those were the minnows, but BMW-Sauber is anything but that. Peter Sauber’s has always been a formidable team and BMW is a formidable group. With the two having come together (BMW having bought up Sauber), the combination could well be a smouldering bomb. The chassis is the F.06 and the engine is BMW’s P86. Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve will be doing duty behind the wheel and while Heidfeld is an exciting talent, the wisdom behind the choice of Villeneuve is questionable. True, he’s been a world champion in the past, but that was well... the past. But all will be revealed when the flag drops.

Team Red Bull surprised many with its speed and reliability last year despite having David Coulthard at the wheel. In fact, the Scotsman has actually got a new lease of life and will be partnered by Christian Klien. The RB2 chassis has a Ferrari engine in it and with Ferrari’s non-performance last year, it remains to be seen whether it was a masterstroke or a gamble that backfired. If all goes well though, Red Bull could finish in the top five ? the team is certainly very generously funded.

After a few years of powering the BAR team cars, Honda has decided to go it alone. Thus BAR has been bought out and renamed Honda, and the RA106 chassis will have an RA806E lump sitting at the rear. Jenson Button continues as driver from last year but for the first time, Rubens Barrichello will be seen in a car not painted red. If the package works, Rubens could well prove himself to be a contender for a podium finish. If the package works...

The BMW-Williams alliance (pun intended) was coming apart at the seams by the middle of last year with each partner accusing the other of non-performance. So this year, with BMW opting for Sauber, a Cosworth CA2006 engine will power the FW28. Cosworth is a V8 technology specialist so one expects the engine to be at par or close to the other engines. It will be up to Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg to continue the fight for points and a lot of input from Narain Karthikeyan and Alexander Wurz to keep improving the car as the season progresses. Toyota has approached Formula One in a very single-minded manner ever since the team was created in 2000 and the results are there to be seen ? fourth in the championship last year. In Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, the team has two very capable though not very consistent drivers. Toyota’s TF106 chassis and RVX-06 engine combination will see stiff competition from Honda, specially because the former did better than the latter last year, having come into F1 later and that’s certainly not a good thing as far as Honda and the Land of the Rising Sun is concerned.

Now, for the top three. Last year Ferrari only got there because of the Indianapolis fiasco and much though one would like to see it bouncing back, there is an element of doubt. Of course, Red Bull is bound to be used as a mobile test bed and also, the team is hoping for better tyres from Bridgestone. Felipe Massa who is known to be a quick driver has joined the Rainmeister. But there are lots of ifs and buts and the others do not fear the Italians as much as they used to in the years of Ferrari’s dominance. Last year proved that change is the only constant. This year, McLaren and Renault will hog the attention.

To finish first one has to first finish, goes a racing saying and this is exactly what did not happen with McLaren last year. There was no point in being the fastest car on the grid if it wasn’t the first one to finish. Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya went through a lot of agony last year. This year, a Mercedes FO 108S engine powers the MP4-21 and though the chassis has a different livery, reliability will be the key issue. Raikkonen will be itching to set things right but will the car let him?

Renault has a lot at stake ? being top dog means everybody is gunning for you. Last year, strategy played a big role, as did car reliability. France celebrated like never before and would like the champagne to keep flowing this year. Fernando Alonso knows he is the youngest champion ever and there’s a lot of pressure on him to perform. Giancarlo Fisichella will back him up though, he was the bad luck magnet for the team last year. The R26 chassis and RS26 engine are the weapons of choice for the two to defend their crowns. But a certain Finn may not care for royalty.

It’s going to be an interesting year all right ? defence of the title, deposed kings trying to come back along with various vassals squabbling amongst themselves and trying to trip each other up. Happy watching!

My dream car

Shefali Talwar, model

My dream car should ideally give good mileage, be easy to maintain, have very comfortable seats (since I drive myself around most of the time) and preferably have an excellent music system. Also, and this is important in my book, the car should be easy to manoeuvre and park — it shuld hug the road. In other words, it should be sleek, trendy and stylish. While zeroing in on any one model is a tough task, I think I’d probably opt for something big like a sedan or the Toyota Camry.

For everyday use though, an SUV or a high-end pagero would be perfect, as it would suitable reflect my sporty, adventurous side. However, if I had to go with something slightly smaller, it would be the new Honda Civic hatchback, which is a terrific car. That apart, I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing some of the new cars that are going to be launched this summer.