2012 Team and Driver Procession

The 2012 grid will attribute no less than six Formula One world champions, at least two rookies, and plenty of thrilling talent in between. Below are details of which teams have long-established that for after that period, when Renault becomes Lotus, Lotus become Caterham, and Virgin become Marussia.

Red Bull Racing Renault
1 Sebastian Vettel (DEU)
2 Mark Webber (AUS)

McLaren Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (GBR)
4 Lewis Hamilton (GBR)

Ferrari
5 Fernando Alonso (ESP)
6 Felipe Massa (BRA)

Mercedes
7 Michael Schumacher (DEU)
8 Nico Rosberg (DEU)

Lotus Renault
9 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)
10 Romain Grosjean (FRA)

Force India Mercedes
11 Paul di Resta (GBR)
12 Nico Hulkenberg (DEU)

Sauber Ferrari
14 Kamui Kobayashi (JPN)
15 Sergio Perez Mendoza (MEX)

STR Ferrari
16 Daniel Ricciardo (AUS)
17 Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA)

Williams Renault
18 Pastor Maldonado (VEN)
19 Bruno Senna (BRA)

Caterham Renault
20 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)
21 Jarno Trulli (ITA)

HRT/TBA
22 Pedro de la Rosa (ESP)
23 TBA

Marussia Cosworth
24 Timo Glock (DEU)
25 Charles Pic (FRA)

Lotus Exige

The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, which is a roadster that is mid-engined and has been in production since 1996.

The original Exige (NA or naturally aspirated Exige) was launched in 2000 and had a 1.8 L Rover K Series engine in VHPD (Very High Performance Derivative) tune. It produced 177 bhp (132 kW; 179 PS) in standard form and 192 bhp (143 kW; 195 PS) in the "track spec" version.

In 2004, the Series 2 Exige was introduced. It features a 1.8 L 16-valve DOHC Toyota/Yamaha engine that produces 190 bhp (142 kW; 193 PS) with the Toyota engine designation of 2ZZ-GE.[1] Compared to the Series 2 Elise, it has a front splitter, fibreglass hardtop roof with roof scoop, rear engine cover, and rear spoiler. The sole purpose of these aerodynamic additions to the base Elise is to create more downforce (almost 100 lb (45 kg) of downforce at 100 mph (160 km/h) in the Exige versus 13 lb (5.9 kg) at 100 mph (160 km/h) in the Elise).

Ford Contour

The Ford Contour, and its rebadged variant, the Mercury Mystique, were compact 4-door sedans marketed from model years 1995-2000 by Ford Motor Company in North America. The Contour and Mystique replaced the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz, were based on Ford's CDW27 platform, were manufactured at Ford's Kansas City Assembly and were derived from the first-generation, globally marketed Ford Mondeo.

The Contour and Mystique ceased production without a direct replacement in Ford's lineup in USA and Canada, while in Mexico, Ford replaced the Contour and Mystique with a locally manufactured variant of the European Ford Mondeo. In addition, Ford stopped selling Mercury vehicles in Mexico from 2000-2003. The larger Ford Fusion was introduced in 2005 to replace the Contour in the United States and Canada, and the Ford Mondeo in Mexico, also falling between the compact Focus and mid-sized Taurus.

Ford Consul

The Ford Consul is a car manufactured by Ford in Britain.

Between 1951 and 1962 the Consul was the four cylinder base model of the three model Ford Zephyr range, comprising Consul, Zephyr and Zephyr Zodiac. In 1962 the line was restyled, and the Consul was replaced by the Zephyr 4, the mid-range Zephyr model becoming the Zephyr 6 and the top of the range Zephyr Zodiac just being called the Zodiac. At this point Consul became a four car range in its own right, the Consul Classic, Consul Capri, Consul Corsair and Consul Cortina.

The Classic, Capri and Corsair were relatively short lived, but the Ford Cortina, after losing in 1964 the "Consul" tag, went on to become a best-seller. The Consul name reappeared from 1972 to 1975 on a replacement for the Zephyr range, now sharing a body with the more luxurious Ford Granada Mk I. The Capri name by now had also been reintroduced, in 1969.