I must admit that the only sport I am interested in, is Formula One. Football, rugby, golf and tennis do nothing for me, if it’s not fast and dangerous, I don’t care.

This up and coming season of the motor-sport has seen some drastic changes, which some could argue are rather complicated.

NOTABLE CHANGES:

Firstly, I am going to talk about the coverage. In previous years, BBC Sports has covered the qualifying and race sessions live on BBC 1, with extra footage online and via the red button. This year, Sky Sports have taken over and will see the grand prix until at least 2018. Unlike the BBC, Sky have a set channel dedicated to the sport which will show all practice and qualifying sessions, as well as the race itself. On 9th March 2012, we will see ‘Sky Sports F1′ launch through subscribers to the HD pack, or Sky Sports 1 & 2. The first event is held only a few days later on the 16th, the first practice session for the Melbourne Grand Prix in Australia. More information on the coverage by Sky Sports can be found here.

Secondly, there has been small confusion with various name changes to the teams. A full run-down of teams and drivers can be found at the end of this article, but here are the main changes.

- Team Lotus >> Caterham F1 Team

- Lotus Renault GP >> Lotus F1 Team

- Virgin Racing >> Marussia F1 Team

Finally, some of the regulations have changed. Some of these might not mean anything to you, but for the Formula 1 ‘know alls’, it’ll change loads. For the safety of the drivers, crash tests are being toughened, especially for side impacts. Every car is now required to pass FIA tests before any on-track testing. If the safety car is used during a race, any car that has been lapped will be allowed to catch up with the back of the grid so that there is a clean restart without any slower cars in front of the leading drivers.  Drivers will not be allowed to return to the racing line on the track after moving off it to defend their position.

There has previously been no in-season testing, however there will be a three day testing session during the season.

Technical regulations;

- There will be no blown diffusers, so designers will not be allowed to position the exhaust so that they can use exhaust gases to boost the cars aerodynamics.

- All tyres that are allocated to each driver must all be used on the first day of practice.

- The FIA have imposed a restriction on the height of the nose section of the cars to reduce the chance of it entering the cockpit of another car during a collision. This has led to odd looking designs and cars which look out of place…

TEAMS AND DRIVERS:

Red Bull Racing

• Sebastian Vettel
• Mark Webber

Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes 

• Jenson Button
• Lewis Hamilton

Scuderia Ferrari

• Fernando Alonso
• Felipe Massa

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

• Michael Schumacher
• Nico Rosberg

Lotus F1 Team

• Kimi Raikkonen
• Romain Grosjean

Sahara Force India F1 Team

• Paul di Reata
• Nico Hulkenburg

Sauber F1 Team

• Kamui Kobayashi
• Sergio Perez

Scuderia Toro Rosso

• Daniel Ricciardo
• Jean-Eric Vergne

Williams F1 

• Pastor Maldanado
• Bruno Senna

Caterham F1 Team

• Heikki Kovalainen
• Jarno Trulli

HRT F1 Team

• Pedro de la Rosa
• Narain Karthikeyan

Marussia F1 Team

• Timo Glock
• Charles Pic

2012 CALENDAR: