AS the start of the 2012 Formula 1 season looms large on the calendar, March 18th to be exact, it seems the appropriate time to introduce all the players in what is sure to be another exhilarating year of motor racing.

Red Bull racing

TEAM PRINCIPAL: Christian Horner’s meteoric rise to principal of F1’s leading team came on the back of a successful period in F3000.

After retiring as a race driver in 1997, Horner established the Arden International F3000 team. It was his considerable success with this team that would eventually grab the attention of Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz. From the remnants of the Jaguar team Horner and Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey, and many others, have led RBR to double world championship glory in the staggeringly short period of six years.

DRIVERS: Sebastian Vettel holds, among many others, the record as the youngest ever double world champion in Formula 1. Domination, however, is no foreign concept to the German.

At the age of 16 he dominated the Formula BMW series by winning 18 of the 20 races. His performance earned him a testing role with the Williams and BMW-Sauber F1 teams. His debut in F1 came during a Friday practice session for the BMW-Sauber team. Later that same year he would become the youngest ever point scorer in F1 with an eighth place at the Indianapolis GP. In his first full year of racing Vettel romped to a memorable victory at the 2008 Italian GP in the Toro Rosso. Two consecutive world titles later Vettel has gone from ‘baby Schumi’ to undisputedly, the one to beat.

Mark Webber started his foray into F1 as test driver for Benetton in 2001 while simultaneously racing for the Super Nova F3000 team. In 2002 he got his first full-time race-seat at the now defunct Minardi.

A sensational fifth place at the Australian GP in that same year, ironically, still remains his best result on home soil. His move to first Jaguar in 2003 and later Williams in 2005 would begin to reveal a gutsy, no-nonsense driver. That trademark grit would carry him towards a first podium finish at the 2005 Monaco GP. The Australian moved to Red Bull for the 2007 season and has since won seven grand prix events.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

TEAM PRINCIPAL: Martin Whitmarsh inherited the reigns from F1’s ultimate perfectionist, Ron Dennis, in 2009 after having joined McLaren as head of operations in 1989.

DRIVERS: Jenson Button’s career reads pretty much like a fairytale. A mere three months before the start of the 2009 season he was without a drive only to magically end that season as the world champion. JB started his career in F1 by winning a shoot-out set up by Frank Williams with Bruno Junqueira and thus earned his first race drive with Williams in 2000. A move to Benetton would be followed up with a switch to the BAR team in 2003. He scored his first podium with a third in Malaysia the following year and proved to be the only non-Ferrari challenger in 2004. The following years were spent racing under the Honda name with little success save a brilliant first victory in the 2006 Hungarian GP. Since joining McLaren JB has gone from strength to strength and remains a serious contender for the title.

Lewis Hamilton entered F1 as the most prepared rookie in the history of the sport. So prepared in fact that he nearly pulled off the championship in his rookie year! He fairly stormed to the GP2 title in 2006 leading to a race drive with his favoured McLaren team. The young Lewis Hamilton lived up to all the hype this guy was mega fast; much to the chagrin of teammate Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton’s first victory came in Canada and the bulletproof McLaren looked set to carry him to the title. It wasn’t to be in 2007 but the following year he would snap the title from Felipe Massa at literally the last possible moment. Hamilton’s frustration and aggression reached boiling point last season but he is too good a driver to cast aside in 2012.

On paper these two teams seem to have it all: rich history, dedicated personnel, a ridiculous amount of talent and most importantly the desire to be the best. But it will only be when they get onto the twisty confines of the Albert Park race track that the champions will be sorted from the pretenders.