Now that the new Mercedes 'f-duct' system is confirmed legal teams face a costly and time-consuming race to replicate the design — but does this innovation benefit the sport?

In recent years the start of every season has been clouded by confusion over whether innovative solutions that appear on new cars are positive exploitations of legal loopholes or whether they go against the spirit of the regulations and are a step too far.

In 2009, the double diffuser proved most controversial with several teams officially protesting the innovation at the season's opening race. The design, introduced by

Red Bull have downforce issuesRed Bull lost out to McLaren in Australia last weekend — and while the champions insist they just had an off day, signs in the data suggest they have actually been hit hard by this year's rule changes.

McLaren's front-row lock-out in qualifying led to some uncomfortable questions for Red Bull last Saturday, with some journalists suggesting they were down and out before the five red lights had even come on to start the season.

It's fair to say that Red Bull's fifth and sixth grid positions were not what we have come to expect, but the lap-times tell an even more interesting story.

First of all,

Who will step up and become team leader?It's been 13 years since McLaren won a constructors world title — but after their most settled pre-season for a long time could this be the year they finally live up to their potential?

Red Bull may be the champions but McLaren have laid down the gauntlet and, with a settled team of engineers, a stable driver line-up and what looks to be a strong car, there is serious hope that they can mount a strong challenge this year.

Testing suggests Red Bull is still the car to beat, but there are several key elements that are different for McLaren this year that could help their hopes of planning an

Is there a closer gap to Red Bull this year?It will be tough for Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel to better last year's dominant performance — but with suggestions that their rivals are closing in they could be facing a very different challenge.

Vettel had one of those incredible seasons in 2011 where everything seemed to slot into place, allowing him to secure an unprecedented 15 pole positions in the 19 races with a total of 11 race wins helping him to cruise to the title.

In varying measures, his success was down to his pre-planning of how to get the best from the tyres, the struggles of his team-mate Mark Webber and the inability of

14032012Ferrari

The most radical Ferrari F1 car in recent years was rolled out in the snow last month as the team pushed to make a major step forward in 2012 — but their prospects have been sliding downhill ever since.

Before the season has even started, new technical chief Pat Fry is under immense pressure to perform after admitting he does not believe he and his team have been able to deliver a car that can get either of its drivers on the podium in Australia.

Some say it's even worse than that — but comments on the team's current situation range from "a disaster" to "not that bad" depending on who you

Mercedes boast a 'dream team' of technical chiefsMercedes stepped into F1 by buying world champion team BrawnGP in 2009, but after two seasons they are still chasing their first victory. Have they finally got what it takes to step up this season?

Mercedes suffered a big disappointment last year when their W02 machine failed to keep up with the lead pack despite the team having committed more development time to it at the end of 2010 than their rivals had on their cars.

They had to deal with a serious threat from Renault in the early part of the season and did so strongly in the second half of the year, but after treading water in a distant

Raikkonen can drive development at LotusThe rebranded Renault team is looking to bounce back strongly from a tough end to the year in 2011 — so with a top-line driver and a car that looks tidy, fast and reliable, what can they hope to achieve?

The target for 2012 will be to retain fifth place but after some promising testing form (despite a major setback which cost them crucial running) several factors suggest those aspirations could be raised higher.

LINE-UP

Last year, this team was missing a front-line driver after Robert Kubica suffered a rally accident before the season began. The loss of his technical feedback and his driving

The team formerly known as Virgin enters a new era as Marussia this year — but it's the same old story as pre-season problems leave them still firmly at the back of the pack.

After two years attempting to make an F1 car using only computer simulation and design, former technical director Nick Wirth's unique technique was dismissed, along with his consultancy company, in favour of the traditional wind tunnel testing route.

So now they are following the same design approach as the rest of the grid, how far can the new regime and philosophy take them?

THE NEW LEADER

The arrival of extremely