After long months of design and testing to accomodate the new regulations as well as maintaining speed, the 2005 Formula One season gets underway this weekend in Australia. Roger Horton looks ahead at the opening race of the year and analyses the ten teams who will form this year's Grand Prix grid

The new season is about to start and, for a few days at least, the wonderful sound of unrestrained V10 engines on full song will echo around Albert Park's lakeside track. It also signals the end of the winter 'phoney' war, the time of the year when every team can spin a hopeful message to get an easy headline. But by Sunday afternoon there will be one only one winner and nineteen losers.

The sad part though, is that the opening race in Melbourne is taking part against an almost unprecedented level of disharmony within the sport. On the one hand, most of the teams except Ferrari are locked into an escalating dispute with commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone over the division of the considerable spoils that flow into F1's bulging coffers, whilst on the other hand all the teams seem united in their unhappiness of the way FIA president Max Mosley constantly changes the rules.

"The prevailing atmosphere in the sport at the moment stinks," Frank Williams told Autosport-Atlas at a preseason lunch. "It is very unhealthy. Formula One has never been like this before, even back in 1980 when we all fought the war against Max's predecessor, Jean-Marie Balestre. He never tried to interfere so much in the daily life of the teams.

"Max will not leave things alone" Williams continued." If it was Bernie running it, it would be fine. There is zero evidence that Max is ever corrupted by money, but he is corrupted by power. He is in charge and if you stand up to him, he can cause you a lot of damage."

The fact that Frank Williams was prepared to go on the record with such damaging language is an indication of just how bad the situation within the sport has become. Often the wheelchair-bound team boss is the public voice of calm reason during a race weekends war of words. Clearly, now the gloves are off.

But just how seriously should all this politicking be taken?

Pretty seriously if you use even the most cursory glance at the off season headlines of any mainstream newspaper that covers Formula One, and none more so than the one announcing the news that McLaren boss Ron Dennis was preparing his company for a Formula One withdrawal come 2008 unless the commercial terms on offer were to his liking.

And yet just days later the same team boss was announcing a $28 million per annum multi-year sponsorship deal with drink maker Diageo plc, the world's biggest spirits group, to put the Johnnie Walker whisky brand on their cars later in the season. The accompanying press release talked glowingly of "involvement in the professional, precision and technology-driven world of Formula One."

Does this point to a sport in crises or business as usual?

In a way it's a bit of both, and the great risk to all concerned is that the high stakes game of bluff gets taken too far and suddenly some major players cry enough. It's a delicate balance, and the final outcome is far from certain, but like a bad daytime soap drama this story is sure to play and play throughout the season.

None of this will matter too much to the hordes of Australian fans that will flock to Albert Park to watch the opening race. If history is any guide Ferrari fans will be in the majority, and the odds are that come late Sunday afternoon they will once again be the happiest fans around.

Most F1 pundits have given up predicting that this will be the year when the great Michael Schumacher / Ferrari / Bridgestone combo makes a seriously wrong step and somehow doesn't have the fastest car. Indeed the only real question to pose going to the season isn't who is going to win, but will Ferrari ever lose?

But of all the changes to the regulations this year, none has more potential to upset the established order than the new rules limiting tyre changing during the race. For the first time in a decade a driver is really going to have to go the distance on the set-up he starts with. Of course, it will benefit the driver who can control his natural urges in the early stages and drive smoothly, thus preserving what is going to be a finite amount of grip available.

The challenge for the teams to find a race winning set-up will no longer be all about outright speed, which has been the norm in this last decade of multi stopping sprint races, but about finding a set-up that provides performance over a whole race distance. This is a major mind set change, and it will be interesting to observe which team/driver adjusts best to these new rules.

It could also, perhaps, provide Michelin with a crucial edge over arch rival Bridgestone though sheer weight of numbers. Not only do they have a huge advantage with the number of miles completed in pre-season testing, and therefore more data, but they also have more horses in the race than their Japanese rivals, who are almost solely reliant on Ferrari.

Already there are suggestions that the interim F2004M with which Ferrari will start the season has struggled to provide the drivers with consistent grip over long runs. This of course could still be wishful thinking - in recent years Ferrari has made an art form of destroying their rivals around the Albert Park circuit, having won five of the last six races.

In any Grand Prix event the greatest unknown is the weather, and Melbourne especially is famous for its 'four seasons in one day' syndrome. In recent years there have been 10-15 degree temperature shifts between one day and the next, and this could play havoc with all the tyre choices and set-up options that the teams have to decide on.

The Williams team is sure to be the centre of attention at Albert Park following the signing of Australian Mark Webber. In recent days the team have been busy playing down expectations, especially of their early season prospects. Mind games aside, this is an important year for the Grove-based outfit: has the team permanently lost its ability to be a technology leader, something that was almost imprinted into its DNA in the nineties? Or will it maintain it position on the fringes of the leading teams, good enough to win the odd race but never to be a Championship contender again?

Frank Williams is a hard, pragmatic team boss who has seen it all in Formula One, and must understand that if his team is to remain independent and successful only race wins will suffice. But if Williams are again seriously off the pace in Australia then legitimate questions will begin to be asked concerning the top management of this famous and respected team.

Last year it was the 'greys' of McLaren that were seriously under the cosh when the team's cars were both unreliable and slow. Team boss Ron Dennis took his lumps from the media, and the team fought back to once again be a factor by the end of the season.

The team has dumped the long serving but uninspiring David Coulthard in favour of the fiery Juan Pablo Montoya. Whether this turns out to be the masterstroke that revitalizes the team's fortunes or the precursor to endless internal warfare is sure to be a serial in nineteen parts, and the first instalment will be beamed live around the world from Albert Park this weekend.

Ironically, because the team finished out of the top four in the constructor's standing last year they are being handsomely rewarding for their relative mediocrity by being allowed to run a third car during Friday practice. Given the new tyre rules and the extra mileage restrictions initiated by engines having to last two races; this extra track time could turn out to be a major race winning advantage.

Toyota are now four years into their Grand Prix adventure (five, if you count the 2001 season when they tested privately at most GP venues) and so far they have precious little to show for all their efforts given their budget and resources. The team have always been savvy in their media relations, and so the Japanese giants have avoided much of the criticism that others have endured, although this could change unless the team starts to fulfil its potential.

For the second time in four years of (active) participation Toyota has seen fit to begin the season with an entirely new driver line up. Although it can be argued that in the selection of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli the team has shown more ambition than previous pairings, it also highlights the strange decision-making process that is the hallmark of a large corporate conglomerate.

The new TF105 will the first Toyota built under the direction of the experienced Mike Gascoyne who has at least a pretty solid background of Formula One achievement, something painfully missing from some of their previous technical personnel. But make no mistake; Toyota has a lot riding on the performance of this car.

So too does Ralf Schumacher. Who now remembers his form way back in 2001 when he raced wheel to wheel with his illustrious brother and emerged victorious? He seemed then to have the Formula One world at his feet and looked certain to be a future Champion. Back then his pre-season comments were about wins and title challenges. Now it's about podiums and points, a rather strange career progression!

Also, the German has been especially vocal in his criticism of his old team, which could backfire spectacularly unless he and his new team perform really well. Whatever the PR people might like to spin in their press releases, there is a distinct pecking order in the Formula One pitlane which transcends the physical locations of the pit boxes determined by the previous seasons finishing order. Whatever the current problems being experienced by Williams, the team does at least have a world title-winning pedigree and Renault and McLaren for neighbours.

Ralf often seemed ill at ease amongst the 'Englishness' at Williams, and it could well be that he will feel happier with the Cologne-based Toyota outfit. In Trulli though, he will have a teammate hungry for success and perhaps more prepared for life in a midfield team. Ralf may have the long-term dream of building the Toyota team around him as his elder brother has done at Ferrari, but as yet Toyota is nowhere near becoming another Ferrari, and for sure Ralf is never going to be another Michael.

Once again Jenson Button carries Britain's hopes of Formula One glory after a series of mature drives last year that buried forever the 'boy-band' jibes that grew credence during his difficult years at Renault (formerly Benetton). No one now questions whether Button is the real deal, but question marks do remain whether his team BAR-Honda can maintain their impressive form of last season, when they took everyone by surprise. In recent years there have been two constants in Formula One. The first is that a Ferrari wins most of the races and all of the Championships. The second is that the first race of the season is held under a whole new bunch of rules and regulations designed to spice up the show, cut costs, and some say, stop Ferrari winning most of the races and all of the Championships.

By late Sunday afternoon we will know whether this year, the first chapter of this season's story will be any different.

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