- F1 Rule changes

It’s a good job that Lewis Hamilton likes a fight, because he’s going to have a serious scrap on his hands to stand any chance of adding the trophy for the 2009 Formula One Drivers’ Championship to his already well-stocked cabinet.

Unfortunately for Hamilton, his McLaren team doesn’t seem to have adapted to F1’s new technical rules nearly as well as some rivals. Since he took the driver’s title last year, F1 cars have been transformed with the biggest set of changes for over a decade, returning to ‘slick’ racing tyres, getting their aerodynamic wings trimmed and gaining ‘KERS’ systems to give bursts of extra power.

But before the season has even started, McLaren has already warned that its new MP 4-24 is suffering from a ‘performance deficit’ – and although pre-season testing never gives more than the vaguest view of eventual race pace, its clear that McLaren is struggling to match the pace of some other teams.

So, with that in mind, here’s our rundown on the five drivers we reckon that Lewis will have to beat to emerge victorious in 2009…

The five drivers Lewis must beat in 2009

The five drivers Lewis must beat in 2009