I figure most of us expect 2010 to have Mercedes, Red Bull, Mclaren, and Ferrari fighting for wins, with the rest of the existing field making up the mid-field, while the new teams will all be backmarkers. So who are you rooting for out of each group?

1st tier: I like that Mclaren is going to be independent of Mercedes at some point, but I'm still sick of Mclaren and Ferrari dominating the sport, so I'd rather see Red Bull or Mercedes do well.

2cd tier: Williams, but I'm glad to see Sauber back as well.

3rd tier: Lotus, but I'd be happy to see Campos or Virgin succeed as well.

Well I went with it but I'm not convinced the new teams will be the backmarkers at all. I reckon there's going to be an interesting mix behind the front four teams (I agree with your choices there).

McLaren to beat the old enemy, obviously...

It would be nice to see Williams on the way back up. Close thing with Renault.

Nearly seduced by the Lotus name and The Rottweiler but went for the nouveau garagiste Virgin. Avoided the national teams, though if they do well on merit good luck to them.

Excellent idea.

Although Renault, Sauber, Williams and Force India could produce race winning cars and be in the top tier.

Also Red Bull and Mercedes could be midfield, same goes for Ferrari and McLaren.

These things are definitely possible, but since 2010 regs are an evolution of 2009, most likely we'll see some continuity in the relative performances.

Mercedez, Sauber and Lotus.

McLaren, Williams and Virgin.

I agree on the second and third comments. I have been slowly swinging from Lotus (irrational nostalgic feeling) to Virgin (either it works and they'll be the heroes, or their car won't work at all - I hope for them that the former is true!), and Williams is my favourite underdog ever since they went back to Cossie in 2006.

As for the top tier, I'm afraid that Brawn has lost some of its momentum and they had to concentrate on the last year's car in order to have a shot for the title, which most likely has compromised their 2010 development. So I hope that Red Bull will have its shot this year, just to keep McLaren and Ferrari one final year away of their return to domination.
But unless something goes wrong, Ferrari and McLaren should have used the last season to understand their cars and build a better one for this year.

Good poll! Will be interesting to see =)

For me, Ferrari, Sauber and USF1 (not because I love them, but I'd love them to see good. It's good for F1 in the US)

What he/she said

As always I'll be cheering McLaren and keeping an eye out for Williams ( thats down to Mansell ) but I'll be interested in seeing how Virgin perform with their low budget and CFD car.
So that is how I voted

We should follow these 'tier' championships!
(and adjust teams in them depending on performance level)

I'm not convinced at all that Mercedes will win races in 2010. They showed one of the worst development rates last year, and McLaren and Ferrari should be back with a vengeance.

Why can't a person support more than one team in a tier?

Why do we need to support a team in each tier?

Newey always does well with new regulations and next year's no-refueling rule might cause enough changes for him to shine again. I hope Ferrari does well, but I don't think they will -- too many Italians. (Full disclosure: my mother is Italian -- my comment is motivated by history, not nationalism.)

Williams is a sentimental favorite.

Would like to see USF1 do well because so many seem to be hoping they fail!

Sort of like football! Teams will be promoted or relegated each season!

- McLaren
- Williams
- USF1

Frankly surprised to see so many favour Sauber over Renault.
Pure racers triumph over corporate raiders...

I have a rule: support one team and one team only. That goes for drivers, too. JB is my driver, but I'm no fan of McLaren. So my team is going to be Virgin.

nice thread

I went Red Bull, Williams, Lotus(because of its history!).

I think next season is going to be the most epic lineup of teams/drivers F1 has ever seen. Especially if Schuey makes a return. *fingers crossed*

I want to see Vettel take the championship, and Webbo close behind, so Red Bull in the top tier.
But i just love the fact that Mercedes have resurrected the Silver Arrows once more. With Ross Brawn at the helm and possibly all German in their lineup,
i'll give them my support over Ferrari and McLaren.

Call me crazy but I chose Toro Rosso as my 2nd tier support. Thats not to say i think they'll be the best in their respective group. In fact I think they'll stink
and wouldn't be surprised at all if one or two of the new teams roundly beat them in the Champonship. And even though i wish the lineup were better
(read; NO Alguersuari, thanks!), I supported them with Vettel, so I'll give the Team another year of support.

I've never been a Williams supporter, Renault are corporate, were shifty and i'm no big Kubica fan, and Sauber just meh.
Was good to see Force India show up to work with some late season (albeit low downforce) pace this year, so my 2nd choice is for Mallya.

Third Tier?
Was stoked when i heard Lotus was returning, avec Msr. Gascoyne, but not ever a Kova or Trulli fan.

Not sure if they want an F1 team or a Railway Co. with that lineup. If one gets stuck behind the other, will they eventually come to a halt???

Branson is a nutter= in the good way. He will be a personality that F1 needs to get behind. Successful, revolutionary, and a playboy. Flav who?
So I support that.
Even though I'm in the US, and would love to see F1 back (done right, of course), PW seems like an arrogant hustler, and they already have issues keeping their word, so no USF1 here.

I really don't know much of Campos, but they've got a Senna, and i like the very idea of that...
Its why i voted Campos then. But to be honest, wherever Senna went, I would've voted that.

BTW great poll Nustang70!

That's going to be tricky hoping JB gets the WDC while also hoping Virgin gets the WCC

Not really support anything, but I think Mercedes Sauber and Lotus are closest to my thoughts of these.

This is how I voted.

Top Tier: I went with Mercedes, the decision was that I don't really like any of the drivers in the other teams.
Tier 2. My current choice is Renault, but only if Kubica stays there. If he goes somewhere else, then I'll go with Williams.
Tier 3. Had to go with USF1, this is the country I live in and being that F1 hasn't had the best relationship in the last few years with this us, I won't mind buying some hats or t-shirts to support the cause of this team.

T1: Red Bull + Jenson
T2: Williams (Rubihno!!! )
T3: USF1

I'm glad you stayed away from national teams

Red Bull, Sauber, Lotus for me.

+1

1st tier: Red Bull for me.

Mid Tier: Sauber. I really hope they bounce back from the disaster that was 2009 and avoid slipping to the back end of the grid.

3rd Tier: It's a tie between Lotus and Virgin, for now.

Ferrari first and only. I'll admit to having a soft spot for Sauber though and will be interested to see how Lotus get on.

x2

You voted USF1 then

I'm still wondering what'll happen if/when there's a second team in the USA.

1. McLaren.

2. Force India. Almost chose Williams there, but then the distant memories of early nineties suddenly came back to me, so I didn't. Yeah, I know... but your mind plays strange tricks with you sometimes And anyway, I like how FI seems to be going forward, they made quite a progress this year. Hope they can keep it up.

3. Lotus. Just for the name.

Voted Mercedes (supposing Schumacher goes there), Sauber and Lotus.

Voted Ferrari (always have been a fan for the team since 1990)

-Toro Rosso (but if Bertrand Baguette gets a drive in a Sauber or Renault this could change)

-Lotus (love it they are sort of coming back and good drivers line-up)

I'll support Red Bull, Renault, and Torro Rosso.

I put Torro Rosso in the new team section, as this is the first year in 4/5 ? years, that they have designed thier own car.

I know one of the Torro Rosso aerodynamicists, and when I said to him "good luck for next year" he replied "We're going to need it !"

Okay, since it turns out that I have to vote for one team in each category to have that vote accepted, I'm going to say Red Bull (I'm tempted to put Mercedes, but I have this thing against manufacturers), Williams and Virgin. Independents, the lot of them.

Same choice for me. Different reasons.

You don't know who will be at the front yet. For all you know BMW-Sauber could have designed the best car on the grid for Sauber to use, similar to Honda designing what JB called "a monster" for Brawn GP to use for this year.

Anyway, I voted for the 3 British teams, McLaren, Williams and Virgin.

I've always tended to favour McLaren, and certainly will while Hamilton remains there. Otherwise it's pretty close between all the other teams and with no ill feeling towards anyone... unless someone starts finding it a bit too easy. With the new teams it's a much closer call as they are all something of an unknown quantity, but Virgin just edged it if only for the strength of the branding and the potential of their drivers. Maybe I will get stronger opinions when (or if) we see their cars, how the teams operate and how they perform.

Ferrari
Williams
Campos

British website, british poll. Results favouring; McLaren, Williams, Lotus.

Not really surprising I suppose.

British website or not, I'm surprised that Ferrari has the least votes so far out of the top four.

I'm with ya on that. I'd also like to note that its a little(*way*) too early to tell which teams will be in which tier.

I'd like to see Ferrari and Red Bull do well, particularly because of the drivers onboard that I happen to like.

I'll be rooting for Renault cuz I want to see Kubica do well. Sauber because they're a classic independent with potential. Force India cuz its great to see a new independent on the up. And I also wouldn't mind seeing Hulkenberg and Barrichello doing well, even if I'm not a big Williams supporter(not that I dislike them or anything).

For the 3rd tier, I'd be excited to see any of them succeed. Virgin has a nice driver line-up and seem fairly serious about their stuff. Ditto for Lotus. I'll be cheering for USF1(if there's something worth cheering for!) because it'll be my 'home' team. And while I'm somewhat 'meh' on Campos at this point, I wish them all the best, as well.

Supported Ferrari all my F1 life not going to change now

Had a soft spot for Williams all my F1 life largely due to Mansell and Montoya so not going to change now

Virgin because a true racing man is heading it up, John Booth

More of a driver fan than team, so McLaren for tier 1 as Hamilton is driving there.

For teir 2, Williams thanks to F1 heritage and Hulkenberg.

For teir 3, Virgin as they're my "local" team as it were (cue arguments over whether they are Sheffield or Rotherham based ...).

My choices are leading.

McLaren because of the Brit-fest and JB is an ex (if not loyal) Williams driver.

Williams, because they're my team.

Lotus because of the name and I rather like the Rott, will be interesting to see if he can pen a quick car.

McLaren (+ Ferrari = F1, but i like McLaren more)
Sauber (ex BMW)
Lotus (legendary Name, Drivers)

Exactly the same:
- Massa
- Barrichello
- Senna

McLaren, Force India and Lotus for me.

If Schumacher goes to Merc Works, even though I always despised him and his dominance at Ferrari I would like to see him do well with the Merc Works.

I also want USF1 to do good because everyone here seems to hate that team and the USA in general.

I don't want Virgin to do well because I think Branson is annoying.