With the transfer season starting late September last year, the market saw many high profile transfers. Two new teams; Forza Rossa and Haas F1 who were originally set to start featuring in Formula One races this season, have been deferred to start in the 2016 season.

2015 F1 Teams and Drivers

Obviously, the biggest news is about the four times World Champion Sebastian Vettel leaving Red Bull to join Ferrari to race alongside Kimi Raikkonen as his team mate. Alonso’s departure from Ferrari was well known last year itself, has finally reviled himself as Jenson Button’s team mate, returning to McLaren after seven long years. Sebastian would be leaving Red Bull, the team which made him World Champion and very popular, as the team’s fortune has seemed to turn upside down last season. Red Bull had a very poor run in the 2014 season starting with a poor 2014 winter testing where they struggled with reliability issues for the season which resulted in Vettel failing to win a single race in the whole season.

The pre-season testing has concluded on 1st March and now teams and drivers are preparing to compete with each other in the Formula One 2015 season which starts on the 15thof March with the Australian Grand Prix. We saw a lot of rivalry between teams and team-mates in 2014. This has prompted many changes in the team line ups for the 2015 season.

Following is the team line-up for 2015 Formula One season:

Mercedes have retained both drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. This will be another interesting season as this time Nico would like to better Lewis unlike last time where he missed out on the Driver’s Championship only after reaching the last race of the season.

Red Bull will feature Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat in their line-up. Giving a young driver the chance after Vettel left, shows that Red Bull is supporting the younger generation of racers to enter the big league.

Ferrari will be represented by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. This signifies two things; first that Alsonso fans will not be sporting the red flags anymore and second, that Vettel fans will be hoping to see their hero emulate what the great Michael Schumacher achieved at Ferrari.

Lotus drivers Pastor Maldonardo and Romain Grosjean will have high hopes this season as they will try to recover from a horrendous season plagued with retirements and crashes, as they incorporate a Mercedes engine this year in their car.

The McLaren cars will be driven by Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Interestingly Jenson’s seat was not confirmed as the management was highly impressed by a young lad by the name of Kevin Magnussen. However, in the end the management preferred experience to youth this season with over 500 race-starts between the two drivers. The fight between the two to be the team’s top driver is pegged to be closer than what most expect.

The Force India cars will be driven by Nico Hulkenburg and Sergio Perez. Both will be looking to continue their good run and try better their performance as compared to last season.

Sauber has signed Macrus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr as their drivers for this season. Both are new drivers but fast drivers. Marcus was earlier with Caterham while Nasr would be racing a Formula One car for the first time. It would be interesting to see how they handle a new team and management at Sauber.

Toro Rosso has overhauled its line-up signing up Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen ; two debutants who are yet to start their Formula One career. Carlos is the current World Champion of Formula Renault 3.5 Series while Max who finished third in the European Formula Three Series is set to become the youngest Formula One driver to debut at the age of 17years 164 days when the 2015 season starts.

Williams has signed Vatteri Bottas and Felipe Massa has it’s drivers. Williams is very happy with their last season performance and looking to better it this year; aiming for podium finishes in many races.

Caterham and Marussia (or Manor F1) are still doubtful and no clear picture has still emerged about both their driver’s line-up.

Tags: Carlos Sainz Jr, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, F1, Felipe Massa, Felipe Nasr, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Force India, Formula One 2015, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Lotus, Macrus Ericsson, Max Verstappen, McLaren, Mercedes, Motorsports, Nico Hulkenburg, Nico Rosberg, Pastor Maldonardo, Red Bull, Romain Grosjean, Sauber, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso, Vatteri Bottas, Williams