F1 2009 - Constructors Season Review - Part 2

And now for the second part of our 2009 F1 season review. Here are a look at the top five teams specifically and how their fared throughout the season as told by Samantha Wilcox.

If you have not read the first part of this article you can see it here: F1 2009 - Constructors Season Review - Part 1

5th - TOYOTA

At the start of the year Toyota looked set to break their curse and finally score that elusive first win. Glock and Trulli are both strong drivers, if a little error-prone, and the team was one of only three that had a double-diffuser from the start. Somehow though Toyota's season was decidedly hit and miss, arguably the best things to come from 2009 was the emergence of Japanese driver Kobayashi and the frankly hilarious argument between Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil which raged from track of Brazil to the press rooms of Abu Dhabi. The team recently announced their withdrawl from the sport and I'm sure they'll be missed. I'll be watching with interest to see what becomes of the drivers and the team overall and wish them the best of luck with finding new positions.

4th - FERRARI

Ferrari's season looked as if it would be dominated by the double-diffuser row that affected most of the teams for the first few races of the season but then came Hungary and Felipe Massa's horrifying accident involving a wheel spring from the car of Ruben's Barrichello. The team rallied around their young driver who underwent a great recovery and guaranteed him a job should he be able to drive again (thankfully no problems there). The team handled the Massa incident in a great manner - the media were given constant updates on progress, photos of the team with good-luck messages were spread and he was seen around the Ferrari paddock for the final few races. It also lead to the news that F1's most successful driver was returning to the paddock, yes Michael Schumacher was meant to make a welcome return to the paddock and fans (and a fair few drivers) were relishing the opportunity. Sadly it didn't happen and, as a double blow, the team were left with the, eerm, well, they brought in Luca Badoer and I'm sure everyone knows how that ended.

The Ferrari brand has always been iconic within motor-racing but this was put to the test with a threatened break from F1 and the formation of a new championship. Debates raged across TV, radio and internet forums about the pros and cons of this and the amount of press generated threatened to over-shadow the racing altogether. Happily a compromise was reached and F1 will continue along with the iconic prancing horse.

Aside from this Ferrari were slowly showing signs of recovery, the first few races had been a disaster (Kimi leaving a rain-soaked Malaysia to get an ice-cream will be an enduring memory for the most people!) but pace was slowly coming to the car until the decision was made to halt work and begin designing the 2010 model. Looking to 2010 the team have made the decision to bring in Alonso to replace 2007 champion Raikkonen, given that the Finn was supposed to have a contract until 2011 the news s of surprise to some but the team have departed on good terms; team boss Stefano Domenicali refusing to criticise the outgoing ex-champion.

3rd - McLAREN

McLaren began the season on the back foot. Like Ferrari they found themselves on the wrong-side of the double-diffuser row and worked hard to play catch-up. They were more successful than the majority of their rivals, 3rd place in the constructors championship was testament to that. The team also suffered big humiliation in Australia when they were found to have lied to stewards about an over-taking maneuver. The team handled the PR nightmare well, albeit at the expense of manager Ron Dennis and engineer Dave Stewart. Martin Whitmarsh took his place and, as with Bob Bell at Renault proved to be quite a change from Ron Dennis bringing a new atmosphere to the Woking squad. Although Renault, BMW and Ferrari all tried KERS McLaren seemed to be the only team to make it work, the banning of the system for next season could prove a challenge.

I think 2009 will be remembered as a year of growth for drivers Lewis and Heikki, arguably two of the most media-trained drivers in the paddock the cracks started to show in their facades at the start of the year but ultimately both appear to have benefited from it and, for Lewis in particular, a lot of his critics saw a different side to him and a maturity begin to show itself. Again strong contenders for 2010, although that could depend upon who ends up in the number two car.

2nd - Red Bull

The team has constantly produced great performances this year, in the latter half of the year they could have even been considered better than Brawn. Now only did the team have a strong car but, with star rookie Sebastian Vettel and experienced Aussie Mark Webber on their books they also had arguably one of the best driver line-ups on the grid. I'm sure many felt Vettel's frustration when his title-campaign came to an end in Brazil but he has plenty of years in the sport and is more than living up to his nickname of 'Baby Schumi'.

In 2008 the team had a bad year, compounded by David Coulthard's retirement in his last race at Brazil. Looking forward to 2010 the team is looking consistent and should be strong challengers. I also think in Christian Horner the team has a great manager who knows how to work with the media and is a popular figure in the paddock. The independent team rely on money from their title-sponsor and a number of other sponsors and a good media relationship is vital to secure the coverage they need to keep investors happy.

World Champions - BRAWN GP

The team, which didn't even have a place at the start of the year, has gone down in F1 history. The team have won virtually every competition in the sport, not only did they win both the drivers and constructors championships with one race to go but they did it without ever dropping from the top spots throughout the year. The team also proved to be a sponsorship bargain, the amount of TV time and media coverage they generated was worth in excess of £300m and, although they didn't have a team title sponsor for this year that shouldn't be a problem going into 2010. They have had their criticisms and awkward moments (wonder how much blah, blah, blah Rubens is listening to now) but have come through them successfully and remained tight-knit.

The team also embraced new technology, both drivers and the team are regular Tweeters and their website features a variety of ways for fans to interact. After so many years at the back the team is now looking forward but hasn't forgotten about those they had to let go due to budget constraints; hopefully as the money continues to come the team can expand once again.