NOVEMBER 17, 2004

Who is who in 2005?

The recent pushing and shoving in Formula 1 circles has been relatively quiet as F1 team people recover from the long F1 season. But now the entries are closed for 2005 and it is anticipated that there will be 10 teams in the World Championship next year. The official entry list will come out on December 1 but we expect the teams to be lined up as follows with Ferrari once again claiming numbers 1 and 2 thanks to Michael Schumacher's World Championship. Michael will drive car number 1 and Rubens Barrichello will be in car 2. It is expected that Jenson Button will get car 3 and Takuma Sato will be in number 4. Fernando Alonso should be in 5 and Giancarlo Fisichella in 6. Mark Webber will be number 7 while number 8 will probably go to Antonio Pizzonia although the team is testing Anthony Davidson and Nick Heidfeld in the weeks ahead. Kimi Raikkonen will be at the wheel of McLaren number 9 with Juan Pablo Montoya in 10 (or vice versa) while Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve will have 11 and 12. It is not clear whether Massa will keep his number 12 and let Villeneuve be 11 or vice versa. Red Bull Racing will have numbers 14 and 15, Toyota will run again with 16 and 17 (Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli yet to decide who carries which number), with Jordan (which may become Arden F1 before the start of the year) taking numbers 18 and 19, leaving Minardi to bring up the rear as usual with numbers 20 and 21.