• 2015 season preview - drivers

The expectations game

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to make it two in a row this year © Getty Images

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Lewis Hamilton
Odds to win title: 8/15 (favourite)
For the most part, Hamilton was on another level in 2014. While there were blips in the middle of the season, Hamilton was usually sublime with six wins out of the final seven races highlighting the form he found at the end of the year. He will need to raise his game in qualifying but last year he got the job done when it mattered on Sundays. His high-profile relationship with Nicole Scherzinger ended earlier this year but, though turbulence in his private life has hampered him on track before, all in all we saw a more mature and mentally strong Hamilton in 2014. With another dominant car at his disposal the person with the best chance of stopping him winning a third world title is Hamilton himself.

Nico Rosberg
Odds: 5/2
Last year we saw the good and the bad of Rosberg. On the one hand, Rosberg comprehensively (and surprisingly) out-performed Hamilton in qualifying and ended the year with five wins to his name. However, when the chips were down on Sunday too often he was found wanting, usually to title rival and team-mate Hamilton. Ultimately this cost him the championship. When it came to the straight fights Hamilton relishes - Bahrain, Japan, United States - Rosberg came off second best on each occasion. There is no sugar-coating it, this year he has to prove he can stand toe-to-toe with Hamilton during a race to even stand a chance of winning the title.

Red Bull

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Daniel Ricciardo
Odds:20/1
A revelation in 2014 both on and off the track, Ricciardo now needs to cement himself as the undisputed team leader at Red Bull in the wake of young Kvyat's arrival. It is unlikely the affable Australian will have a car to challenge outright for the title, but if there is even a sniff of victory during a race Ricciardo is the man you want in the cockpit. His only weakness in 2014 were his tardy starts off the line and this is an area he needs to improve - otherwise more of the same will ensure he keeps grabbing headlines.

Daniil Kvyat
Odds: 125/1
Though impressive at points during his first season at Toro Rosso, Kvyat is still something of an unknown quantity, especially at a top team. The unfortunate Jean-Eric Vergne out-scored him by 24 points last year, with Kvyat failing to score from the Italian Grand Prix onwards. There is no doubting Kvyat is quick but it may be a baptism by fire alongside Ricciardo. But then again, everyone said the same about Ricciardo and Vettel this time last year…

Williams

Valtteri Bottas
Odds: 22/1
The only thing Bottas did not do in 2014 was win a race. He's been labelled a future world champion by Sir Frank Williams and last year he showed why. Until the final races of the season he seemed to have the measure of Massa in the other car and there should only be one goal in 2015 - winning. It seems Williams will be head of the chasing pack again and Bottas cannot settle for a collection of podium finishes again this time around.

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Felipe Massa
Odds: 66/1
It seems to be another all or nothing year for Massa. He finished strongly with back-to-back podiums in Brazil and Abu Dhabi and secured the only non-Mercedes pole of the year, but the blemish on his record was the man across the garage; Bottas scored 52 points more than Massa in 2014. He will need to up his game significantly over the course of an entire season or questions will start to surface about his future.

Ferrari

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Sebastian Vettel
Odds: 18/1
Vettel's move to Ferrari is one of the most exciting changes to the grid this season. Leaving the familiar surroundings of Red Bull, Vettel joins a team in a transitional period. Like Michael Schumacher in the late 1990s and early 2000s he can build the team around him as he searches for a fifth world championship. Vettel comes into the new season after a tricky 2014. Questions still linger in some quarters about how much of his success was down to talent and how much was down to the dominant Red Bull. At Ferrari he now has the chance to demonstrate what he can do away from the familiar confines of the team he grew up with.

Kimi Raikkonen
Odds: 33/1
Like his new team-mate, Raikkonen is coming off one of his worst seasons in F1. The 2014 campaign seemed to be a write-off for the Finn from the early stages as he struggled to drive around the F14 T's weaknesses. He already seems happier with Ferrari's 2015 challenger but it will be the internal battle which is most important for him this year. Having been blown out of the water by Fernando Alonso last year Raikkonen cannot have another season where he is comprehensively second best in the Ferrari garage so he needs to take the fight to Vettel from race one.

McLaren

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Fernando Alonso
Odds:40/1
A fresh start for Alonso at McLaren may also be his final chance for that elusive third world championship before he retires. Missing Australia as he recovers from his crash in Barcelona is hardly an ideal start but if anyone can adapt to driving a car not ready to win races it is the Spaniard. McLaren will need every inch of his uncanny ability to out-drive his car in the early stages of the season as it recovers from its slow start with Honda power. He has joined a long-term project and patience, which hasn't always been his strongest trait, will be needed in abundance this year.

Jenson Button
Odds: 80/1
At one point last season it seemed Button was staring at the end of his illustrious Formula One career. A mid-season revival saved his job and set up a mouth-watering partnership with Alonso. The Spaniard has a reputation as the best driver in the current field but Button is a man unfazed by a star team-mate - he more than held his own alongside Hamilton between 2010 and 2012. Unlike his new team-mate, Button needs a car to fit a much more specific skill set but when he has the set-up he craves he can be unbeatable. Button will need to put his experience to good use in the early stages of the campaign to help get McLaren to its best as quickly as possible.

Force India

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Nico Hulkenberg
Odds: 1000/1
Hulkenberg's consistency and form at the start of last year was very impressive. He dipped in the middle of the year but he proved what an impressive talent he is in 2014. The one blot on his record is a failure to score a podium, something team-mate Sergio Perez did in 2014 at Bahrain. What sort of car Force India will have at its disposal this year after it missed two tests remains to be seen. Hulkenberg will divide his attention between Formula One and two World Endurance Championship rounds (including Le Mans) this season and time will tell if that is a help or a hindrance to his form.

Sergio Perez
Odds: 1000/1
Despite that podium in Bahrain, Perez was the epitome of Jekyll and Hyde last year. His inconsistency was frustrating and he finished a long way down on Hulkenberg in the points table. However, the talent is clearly there and he displayed a fighting spirit towards the end of the season which earned praise from Vijay Mallya. In 2015 he needs more consistency alongside Hulkenberg, which he could do by reigning in some of his aggression, and prove he can manage fuel, which seemed to be a regular concern for Force India during races last year.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean
Odds: 250/1
It was hard not to feel sorry for Grosjean in 2014. He was one of the standout performers in 2013, only to be handed the horrendously uncompetitive E22 last season. Mercedes power seems to have given Lotus a new lease of life this winter and Grosjean may finally have the tools he needs to build on his breakthrough campaign in 2013. Undoubtedly he's grown as a driver since he first joined the sport and this year he needs to show by just how much when he has a competitive car underneath him.

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Pastor Maldonado
Odds: 500/1
It's an understatement to say Maldonado's reputation took a battering in 2014. Already renowned for his penchant for crashing, Maldonado's campaign with the uncompetitive E22 was littered with shunts - sometimes with other drivers, sometimes without. Lotus is clearly in a much better place coming into 2015 and Maldonado now needs to prove he can harness his aggression into consistent finishes.

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz
Odds: 1000/1
Sainz, the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 champion, got the nod instead of GP3 winner Alex Lynn. 2014 was a last chance saloon in terms of his Red Bull future and he responded admirably to the pressure with seven victories and the first major championship of his career. Alongside him is Max Verstappen, a 17-year-old you would expect him to have the edge over due to his greater single-seater experience. Failing to beat the youngster could be hugely damaging in his rookie season, regardless of Verstappen's talent.

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Max Verstappen
Odds: 1000/1
We already know Verstappen is a record-breaker in waiting; he will shatter records for youngest F1 driver when he starts in Melbourne. The fact a 17-year-old convinced Red Bull to not only sign him but place him at Toro Rosso for a senior drive highlights the potential Verstappen has at his disposal. How he will cope with the spotlight during the season remains to be seen but during the winter Verstappen seemed completely unflappable. He will benefit from being alongside a fellow rookie but bad results will likely be used by critics to suggest such a younger driver should not be in the sport at all.

Sauber

At the time of publication, Sauber's line-up for Melbourne remained uncertain following Giedo van der Garde's legal action against the team.
Marcus Ericsson
Odds: 2000/1
Ericsson hardly set F1 alight with his performances last year. He was driving at a back-marking team but his performances alongside his various team-mates only improved in the latter part of the year. He has found a second home at Sauber and, with a rookie alongside him, he needs to prove he can out-perform a team-mate over the course of an entire season and is worth more than just the Swedish krona he brings.

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Felipe Nasr
Odds:2000/1
Nasr's significant Banco do Brasil funding already gives him the unfortunate label of a pay driver. He proved in GP2 he is quick but his failure to take the title fight to Jolyon Palmer last season should be a concern, as should the fact he did not win a race until his third and final season in the series. He joins a team which failed to score a point in 2014 and the onus will be on him to adapt to F1 quickly this year. His only focus at the start of the season should be beating Ericsson and there's no reason to doubt he can.

Manor

© Manor MS

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Will Stevens
Stevens was so erratic at one point during his debut in Abu Dhabi last year that Fernando Alonso asked Ferrari "who is this f****** guy!?" while trying to pass his weaving Caterham. It was a hard environment to step into and Stevens should not be judged on one race, especially one at the end of a season when his rivals had so much more experience of V6 power. Being at a back-marking team is hardly a great way to showcase your talent but it's a foot in the door and Stevens needs to do whatever he can with the machinery at his disposal.

Roberto Merhi
Merhi has even less time to prepare for his rookie F1 season than Stevens. Named driver just three days before the first practice session he may feel like he's been thrown in at the deep end in Melbourne. It is not yet confirmed how long he will have a drive but Merhi needs to be as consistent as he can to impress at a team likely to be a long way off the pace. Friday practice sessions with Caterham last year should help him do just that.

Nate is assistant editor of ESPNF1

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