F1 2006 - The Pressure Season

There has always been pressure for F1 drivers and their teams as they try to do their business of delighting fans and sponsors. But in all the years of watching F1, I cannot remember a time when so many drivers and teams had something to prove except to drive fast. Lets start with Jenson Button, having invested much of his own personal money to buy out his contract, now has to prove that this investment was worth it by winning races. If he does not win, he may as well have stayed at Williams who are hinted to be stronger than we first might have expected. Then there is Michael Schumacher, who in his standards had a disastrous year last year only coming third in the championship and that embarrassing win in the USA. If he does not win the championship this year he may quit at the end of the season. Alonso the current world champion will be feeling the pressure as he will want to prove that lasts year was not just a fluke and that he rightfully deserved to be the youngest ever world champion, especially as Renault have announced they will be leaving F1 in 2007. Montoya had a few scrapes with the press last year with his tennis accident or motorcycle accident depending on what story you believe, that cost him points by missing some races. He is in Raikkonen's shadow at the moment, he will want shrug off last year and prove his driving talent. Barichello who is now partnering Jenson Button at BAR has left his long-standing post of number 2 driver at Ferrari to be able to race with Jenson head on. He knows he has an opportunity to show what he can do and prove it was not just the strength of Ferrari that allowed him to win races. Williams has lost its major engine supplier BMW and are now with Cosworth, many have written Williams off this year. Frank Williams will want to prove everyone wrong; it may be for the security of the team, his team will need to perform like they never have this season. Toyota have one of the biggest budgets in F1 but have little to show for it, they will be pushing more than ever to prove the investment was worth it. BMWs new team (ex Sauber) will want to show it was worth the move from engine supplier to Williams to a fully-fledged team. Other new teams are the 2nd Red bull team who bought out Minardi and a brand new Japanese team called Aguri who know they wont win any races but still need to finish them with very time to prepare for Bahrain. There is still much more to talk about, it just seems like a huge list of personal challenges and corporate ones too. What is certain though, the 2006 f1 season already has a lot going for it and I for one can't wait.