Revved up for new Formula One season

If the Formula One 2011 season were a movie, it would want to be a movie sequel. You see, a movie sequel by definition lowers expectations. Remember the Next Karate Kid or Iron Man 2… No? Exactly!

After a 2009 season that only the pit crew at Brawn GP enjoyed, 2010 was a crackerjack season with the championship winner, Sebastian Vettel, being decided in the final race. For the first time, we had four former champions on the grid, a final race that had four drivers going in with a chance to win the title - 2010 raised the bar as far as excitement goes.

Now with much expectation on its shoulder, the 2011 season beckons. A new circuit, a cancellation and a returning bore, the season's already generating some newsprint. Here's what you need to be excited about.

The Delhi Dash

Formula One comes to the subcontinent for the first time on October 30 as the 17th race of the 2011 season. The 5.14km, built in Greater Noida (about 50km from Delhi) is a Hermann Tilke design and is set to be one of the fastest tracks on the circuit with cars expected to reach speeds of 320km/h on the back straight. Just hope there are no organisational glitches - the sort that stole all the headlines in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games last year. 

Eye on Vettel

Last year, we marked out Sebastian Vettel as the driver to watch, despite the presence of four former champions on the grid. Now with a championship under his belt, Vettel's confidence is sky high and it showed in pre-season testing. The baby-faced German remains the driver to watch this year. 

Pirelli

Not the calendar, sadly. But this season F1 welcomes a new tyre manufacturer into the sport to replace the departing folks at Bridgestone. There have been early reports that talked about faster tyre degradation and how it could affect race strategy. Bridgestone had a good run at F1, we'll have to wait to see how Pirelli performs on its return. Expect more pit stops. 

107's the magic number

Beginning this year, any driver who fails to set a lap within 107 per cent of the fastest Q1 time during the first phase of qualifying will not be allowed to start the race. No, that's not why Karun Chandhok doesn't get to race with any team this year. Only under ‘exceptional circumstances' will stewards allow a driver to start a race if he fails the 107 mark. 

Team Orders are OK now

Rob Smedley, Felipe Massa's race engineer is a much-relieved man now. The Brit was at the centre of a team orders controversy last year at Hungary when Massa was allegedly asked to slow down and let teammate Fernando Alonso win the race in a bid to bolster the latter's title bid. 

Driver merry-go-round

Robert Kubica's absence gives Nick Heidfeld a drive with the Lotus Renault team. Here's some trivia - Heidfeld has 150 GP starts without a win. In the unlikely event that he wins a race this season, he breaks Mark Webber's record for most starts before a win. The Aussie won on his 131st attempt. Chandhok remains absent from the grid but Narain Karthikeyan returns as India's sole representative on the grid this year. The former Jordan driver is with the Hispania Racing Team, a team that's no stranger to flop drivers themselves. After a much pre-season hype last year, Hispania's Bruno Senna did nothing to live up to his illustrious surname. Ayrton Senna's nephew is a test driver at Lotus Renault this year.

The debutants

Sergio Perez, Sauber:
The 21-year-old Mexican driver comes from the feeder GP2 series and replaces Heidfeld as Kamui Kobayashi's co-driver at Sauber. 

Pastor Maldonado, Willams:
Venezuelan racing driver and 2010 GP2 Champion, Maldonado is also a former winner of the Italian Formula Renault series. His participation in F1 is being backed by the Venezuelan government.

Jerome D'Ambrosio, Marussia Virgin:
The Belgian driver of Italian descent was a test driver with Virgin Racing last year. He spent the last four seasons in GP2 cars. 

Paul di Resta, Force India:
The 24-year-old Scottish driver is the current German DTM champion - a series where he's finished in the top three for three consecutive seasons.