A long and tough trek to 2010 season

It might be only 131 days and 400 kilometers, from the scene of last year's final race in Abu Dhabi to the first of the new decade in Bahrain but the journey for most of the 12 teams has been long and tortuous.

Last year, F1's governors, the FIA, proposed severe restrictions on the expense of Grand Prix racing. Ultimately these were deferred mostly to 2011 (and in a watered-down form) but they spawned 15 applications from hopefuls encouraged by the idea of F1 at a discount. The maximum capacity of most circuits is 13 two-car teams so, with 10 entered in 2009, the FIA chose three new entrants: Campos-Meta, Manor Motorsport and USF1.

In August, one of the existing teams, BMW Sauber, announced its withdrawal. Its place was quickly filled by a fourth start-up: Lotus F1 - a classic name returning to the sport with funding (and management) from Malaysia. This presented a problem for Peter Sauber who was negotiating to buy back the team he had sold to BMW in late 2005. Whilst sad for the sport, Toyota's decision in November to quit F1 provided a new opening on the grid. Sauber was back in - now with Ferrari engines but, confusingly, still the BMW team name prefix.