Simple, yet clever. Paul falls for the trap and replies: "That's not for me to decide," and what it would suggest is Di Resta has been given a race seat for 2012, while the second Force India remains up for grabs.

Fair enough, Paul has had a good season. He's been on fairly level terms to his teammate all year, and is definitely worthy of another season. But what about that teammate? Should he get another year?

Adrian Sutil certainly hasn't had a bad year. 34 points is quite respectable considering the best Force India can usually hope for is eighth, ninth or 10th, and a good result in Brazil could make him the highest placed midfield runner in the standings.

Despite this, it seems like he is being nudged out of his seat. Former pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg has been waiting patiently all season for a chance to race in 2012, and is another driver who deserves a second chance.

It's not the worst problem to be facing Force India, but it is giving them something to think about. It could be suspected that Vijay Mallya's delay in announcing a lineup means they do not know what to do.

Fortunately for Vijay, I am here to advise.

My feeling is Force India should stick with what they have. Adrian has been with the team for five years, and both have come a long way in terms of results.

Hulkenberg is undoubtedly a quick driver, but that pole position glorifies what was a pretty average debut season. But I don't think Nico could do better than Adrian in a race seat, especially with a year out.

Sutil is a consistent performer, and I believe he can get the eighth place necessary to overhaul Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov in the championship. Any points at Brazil would give him a scoring strike rate of just under 50 percent since the start of 2010, which is quite impressive for a midfield runner.

If Force India do decide against him, then Williams would be the only other viable option. Kimi Raikkonen could ruin that opportunity, though.

It would be a shame if Sutil was left without a drive for 2012, but it is looking a bit precarious for him.

However, maybe a year off and a new team would give him a fresh start. With his current situation, he could be in danger of becoming the next Heidfeld. Loyal to a team, decent results, yet nothing special.

I'm beginning to understand your predicament Mr. Mallya.

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The race could be postponed until later in the season, possibly a week before or after the race in Abu Dhabi. This would mean three back-to-back races if that did happen.

As for testing, the teams may choose to stay in Barcelona for another week or could move the test session to mid-March, when the Bahrain race would have been taking place.

The Australian GP in Melbourne will now be the season opener on March 25, 26 and 27.

Prince Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa, the man in charge of the race and a member of the Bahraini royal family, said: "We must focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting of the race to a later date."

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At this early stage of the year, it is impossible to gauge which cars and drivers will be fastest come Bahrain. Testing times cannot be considered too important due to differing fuel loads, tyre and strategy choices each team is implementing.

But based on what I've seen in preparation for 2011, things seem a bit strange at McLaren.

Cast your minds back to November 2010. The Formula 1 season has just finished, and straight away teams begin preparing for the following year with a test at Abu Dhabi during the week after the Grand Prix.

The test was organised for teams to study the new Pirelli tyres coming in for this year. It only lasted two days, but it also gave the drivers a first chance to experience the new rubber.

Every team used its race drivers from 2010 or those trying out for a 2011 seat, except for one. Even at the time, it was considered odd that McLaren was using Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey instead of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

It may have been to give their test drivers some experience, but there had been a young driver test just a few days before, so surely it would have been more beneficial to give the first drivers a chance on the Pirelli's.

Fast forward to the beginning of February, and the start of the first test session held at Valencia. Most teams had released their car for 2011 and were busy giving them a shakedown.

Along with a few other teams, McLaren were still using their car from last year, and Paffett was once again driving on the first day. It would not be until February 3rd that both race drivers would finally have driven on the new tyres.

McLaren decided to delay the release of their new car until after the first test session. This gave them more time in development, but again I think this is a mistake.

They had been building this car most likely since before the end of last season and would have been designing it longer still. I don't understand what difference a few days will make over the course of several months, especially when it means missing one of a limited number of test dates with the new car.

Despite using old machinery, McLaren were in the top four on all three days of the first test, getting in plenty of laps and replicating downforce levels that will be on the new car.

It still seems silly to me that they were replicating features of the 2011 car when they should just have been using the 2011 car, but moving on...

McLaren finally launched their new car the day after the test session, and it definitely looked much different from the previous version, as well as the other teams' new creations thanks to some uniquely designed sidepods.

Again, if they wanted more time for development, why didn't they unveil it at the next test session? The car must have been finished slightly before the launch date, especially as the launch was in Germany and the car was built in Woking.

The second preseason test took place last week, at the familiar testing circuit of Jerez.

On the first day, Hamilton undertook the initial checks that the other teams would probably have carried out at Valencia. They focused on short runs, and as a result, chalked up 58 laps.

Fair enough, everyone's test schedule will be different, and they declared themselves satisfied with how it went.

Button switched with Hamilton for the second day of running, and it was his turn to get used to the new McLaren. He managed 69 laps, which was still a lot less than fellow frontrunners Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, who clocked up more than 110 each.

After a reasonable first two days of testing, Hamilton was back in the seat for day three. Yet for a team as professional and with as long a history as McLaren, it was a shortage of spare parts that meant there would be limited running.

This really isn't the sort of thing you would expect from such a top team.

As a result, Hamilton could only put in 36 laps, and after having missed the first test and not done a substantial mileage so far, the 2011 car could be lacking some match fitness.

Day four took place earlier today, and Button was to finish off the new car's first test session. However, it wasn't to be a happy end, as Button struggled to find a decent setup and was brought to an early end due to the failure of an internal car component.

Another 70 laps were added, giving the new McLaren 233 laps of running. Only last year's new teams completed less, with Virgin clocking up 216, Lotus 198 and Hispania not attending.

When you compare McLaren's 233 to Ferrari's 463 at this test, it looks a bit worrying.

Of course, this is all just speculation. It only struck me earlier today that there had been all of these strange occurrences, and I just wondered if everything is as happy as it seems at Woking.

Even if this car goes on to win every race this year, I will still believe that their preseason could have been used a lot more effectively.

If they finish the season behind Virgin in the constructor's, then I will only be too happy to take over from Martin Whitmarsh.

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However, the business of Formula 1 continues, and there is plenty of speculation as to who is going to replace him while he is out.

Lotus have narrowed it down to three drivers. In terms of experience and consistency, it would seem that Nick Heidfeld is the obvious choice, although Vitantonio Liuzzi and Bruno Senna are also in the frame.

But how does Kubica's accident affect his team-mate?

Petrov didn't have a great time of it in 2010. Over the season he was completely outclassed by Kubica, and often found himself a long way behind the Pole in qualifying and the race.

At the beginning of 2010, it was reported that Petrov would have to score points equivalent to 40 percent of Kubica's final total to keep his seat for 2011. With Robert earning 136 to Vitaly's 27, it works out at just under 20 percent.

Despite that, he kept his job, but he will need to give a much better performance this year. With Kubica sidelined for at least the first couple of months, it gives Petrov the opportunity to become team leader.

If he can drive the wheels off of his Lotus without the pressure of being compared to Kubica, it would certainly be a big help to keep his job in 2012.

Petrov has shown he is a competent racer. His drives in Turkey and Hungary have proved that, along with keeping a title-chasing Fernando Alonso behind him at Abu Dhabi.

He even got the fastest lap at Istanbul.

Yet there were numerous occasions when he was barely noticeable. Even when you acknowledge that it was his rookie season, too often he was too far behind his team-mate.

He has to make the most of this chance. Vitaly will need to make a good impression if he wants to keep his career going, otherwise he will end up in the wilderness of testing like Hulkenberg this year.

In my opinion, Petrov certainly has the talent to at least match Heidfeld, Liuzzi and Senna, so it is up to him to prove he can consistently score points in 2011.

It may be in horrible circumstances, but this could be Petrov's chance to shine.

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It is obvious that Hispania picked him up because of his links with the Indian conglomerate Tata and it's likely the second driver will have an attractive sponsor as well.

With the economy still looking a bit grim, could this mean the return of pay-drivers synonymous with the early-to-mid 1990's?

While they still have a shed load more talent than me, pay-drivers could never really compete at top level racing.

Many small teams would bring them in just to pay the bills.

Jean-Denis Deletraz is a name that sticks out as a classic example of a pay-driver. He entered three races through 1994 and 1995 for Larrousse and Pacific; two unsuccessful teams desperately in need of money.

His first race in Australia 1994 saw him qualify 25th out of 26, and not to be last was a big surprise. However, after losing his position at the first corner, Deletraz found himself being lapped ten times, before retiring with mechanical problems.

After his underwhelming performance, it should have been the last of Deletraz. Larrousse had folded, but then Pacific hired the Swiss driver for the final five races of 1995.

Arriving at Portugal, Deletraz proceeded to qualify 12 seconds slower than pole-sitter David Coulthard. After just three laps, he was already 40 seconds off the pace, and lapping eight seconds slower than his team-mate.

He retired on lap 14 with cramp in his left arm, which many people found strange since Estoril was a clockwise circuit.

He was only nine seconds off pole at the next race around the Nurburgring and he managed to get to the end, only seven laps behind Michael Schumacher.

Sadly for Deletraz, his sponsor hadn't paid up.

Pacific team principal Keith Wiggins dropped him for the rest of the season, stating: "On ability alone, we are not prepared to keep him."

Maybe comparing Karthikeyan to Deletraz is a bit harsh, but there are similarities in the story: An underfunded team that is just about surviving in Formula 1 hiring a driver with a not brilliant reputation, but a healthy sponsor.

It is the same reason why Sakon Yamamoto was brought in last year, and it is likely we haven't seen the last of him either.

Who knows, he might keep the Hispania drive for 2011.

Hopefully, this isn't the start of another era of pay-drivers in Formula 1. There are many other drivers who are much more talented who deserve a seat but don't bring in any money.

Nick Heidfeld, Nico Hulkenberg, Anthony Davidson, all of these are probably better than Karthikeyan.

If a team does need the cash though, they should do a Williams and hire a GP2 champion with a lot of Venezuelan money. Sauber got the right idea as well.

Sadly, it looks like Narain and Sakon might be holding up races a bit longer yet.

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I have a habit of getting these predictions completely wrong, although 2010 was the first year I got one right. With anticipation of guessing correctly for the second year in a row, here is a selection of drivers who should be in with a shot of the title.

Sebastian Vettel

It would take until the final race of the season, but Vettel just about managed to win the title from Alonso and Webber, who conveniently had disastrous races in Abu Dhabi.

Vettel's talent has been clear since he won his first race for Toro Rosso in 2008. He became a very successful driver very young, and he still has a tendency to make mistakes. Turkey and Belgium certainly made the championship more difficult.

However, Red Bull still has a problem. Every so often, the car will blow itself up or they will find some sort of mechanical issue. Bahrain, Australia and Korea were vital points lost, and this title should have been won a lot more convincingly.

This will be Vettel's third year at the team, and there is no arguing that he has their full support. With a title under his belt, you would like to think that those silly mistakes will start to disappear. There is no doubt he is a strong championship challenger.

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton drove brilliantly in a car that was never really the fastest in the field in 2010. Up until Monza, he was leading the standings and had outperformed teammate and reigning champion Jenson Button fairly comfortably.

It all fell apart after that though, as accidents in Italy and Singapore, plus an unhelpful practice crash in Japan, would end any chances of a second title.

There is nothing wrong with his driving, until he starts to feel the pressure of the title. This was noticeable in 2007, parts of 2008 and I believe it happened again last year.

Every year of his F1 career, Lewis has won races and been within a shout of the title three of the past four years. There's definitely another championship in him, and 2011 might be that chance.

Fernando Alonso

Going into Germany, Alonso was nowhere in the championship. Ferrari had been pretty average up until then, and suffered their fair share of bad luck in Valencia and Silverstone. To be leading the standings with one race to go was some achievement.

Of course, Felipe Massa helped him out along the way.

The reason why the title was lost in Abu Dhabi was all Ferrari's fault. However, a jump start in China and a silly practice crash in Monaco provided an erratic start to his season. The famous Alonso consistency seemed a bit lacking in 2010.

Alonso's year was made easier by Massa's miserable season, so it could be said that if Felipe were to regain form, Alonso might be harder pushed. For a driver of Fernando's quality, he will always be a contender in a good car, regardless of his teammate.

So Who Will Win?

In my opinion, it will be the order I have written them in: Vettel first, Hamilton second, Alonso third. With Adrian Newey designing the Red Bulls, I think Vettel has the potential to be champion for a few years yet, never mind just 2011.

Notable absentees from this list include Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. Simply, Webber, Button and Massa just aren't as good as their teammates, Rosberg doesn't have enough experience of good machinery and Schumacher is past it.

However, I am going to give a special mention to Robert Kubica. He was one of the best drivers in 2010, but didn't have the car to back him up. If Lotus/Renault can build him something decent, he could be in for a good year.

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For only the second time since 1996, Australia won't be hosting the first race. As in 2006, Bahrain gets that honour, which is a shame as Melbourne usually throws up a good race, and I do quite enjoy getting up at early o'clock for F1. It makes it feel special as a season opener.

Anyway, Bahrain. It's been part of the calendar since 2004, and was the first race to be held in the Middle East. The facilities at the track weren't quite finished for the first race, but it went ahead anyway. Up until this year, the layout of the track had remained the same.

The Track

For 2010, an extra half a mile has been added just after turn four, bringing the total length of the circuit to just under four miles. There are a few places to overtake—the slow corners following the long straights tend to provide the best chances.

One of the most difficult things for the drivers and teams to cope with is the heat. The cars have to cope with some pretty high temperatures, with forecasts suggesting air temperature will be around 36 degrees Celsius. It wouldn't be surprising if several cars blew up during the course of the weekend.

History

All of the previous winners of the Bahrain GP will be present, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa taking two victories each, and Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button both winning one.

Last years race saw the two Toyota's on the front row of the grid, with Button starting in fourth. Jenson managed to overtake Sebastian Vettel on the first lap, but Lewis Hamilton had taken them both, moving from fifth to third. Button's impressive move on Lewis on the next lap moved him up a place, and once the Toyota's pitted, he was in the lead, and went on to win the race.

Prediction

As it's the first race of the year and I'm doing this before practice or qualifying, this is going to be a complete guess. With it looking like there could be four teams challenging for the title in 2010, that means there are potentially eight drivers who have a realistic chance of the victory here.

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Sebastian Vettel
3. Felipe Massa
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Michael Schumacher
6. Jenson Button
7. Rubens Barrichello
8. Mark Webber
9. Nico Rosberg
10. Kamui Kobayashi

Bahrain GP on the BBC

First Practice: Friday, 12th March. 0655-0835, BBC Red Button
Second Practice: Friday, 12th March. 1055-1235, BBC Red Button
Third Practice: Saturday, 13th March. 0755-0905, BBC Red Button
Qualifying: Saturday, 13th March. 1010-1230, BBC One
Race: Sunday, 14th March. 1110-1415, BBC One

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There have been many other drivers who have returned to F1 with mixed levels of success throughout the history of the sport. Therefore, it is worth looking to see how they coped with coming back to get an idea of how the drivers in 2010 will do.

Luca Badoer

Last F1 Race: 1999. Returned: 2009

Poor old Badoer. He finally achieved his dream of driving a Ferrari 10 years after his last grand prix, and it happened to be the worst one since 1993. In-season testing had also been banned, so there was no chance that this was ever going to be a success.

After qualifying and finishing at the back in Valencia and Belgium, he was replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella, who in fairness to Luca wasn't much better. Those two races means that Badoer has competed in 50 races without scoring a single point—not really a record to be proud of.

Alexander Wurz

Last F1 Race: 2000. Returned: 2005 (1 race), 2007 (season)

Wurz had a promising start to his career, but found himself without a drive in 2001. It wouldn't be until Juan Pablo Montoya's injury in early 2005 that Wurz would get another race. And it couldn't have gone much better, with a solid third place at San Marino after the B.A.R's were disqualified.

His next comeback would be in 2007, driving a full season for Williams. Despite another podium at Canada and two other points finishes, he was often out-paced by team-mate Nico Rosberg, and retired from the sport before the final race. Overall, his return to F1 wasn't bad, but it was nothing special.

Nigel Mansell

Last F1 Race: 1992. Returned: 1994/1995

After "retiring" from the sport in 1990 and in 1992, Mansell came back for a few races with Williams during the 1994 season. After a shaky start, Mansell's battle with Jean Alesi towards the end of the Japanese GP showed he could still race competitively. Pole position and the win in Australia capped a decent comeback.

Nigel was sure that Williams would keep him for 1995, but instead the team hired a young David Coulthard. Mansell instead went to McLaren for a disastrous two races, before finally calling it a day. He had been in Formula One since 1980, and there was still rumours of him driving a Jordan in 1996. It seemed like he was never going to leave.

Alain Prost

Last F1 Race: 1991. Returned: 1993

Ferrari weren't too pleased with Alain's performance in 1991, and he was sacked before the final race of the year. Prost had described the Ferrari as a 'truck', and the Italian team were a bit unhappy about this.

Prost had a year off in 1992, before moving to Williams in 1993. It was to be another year contesting his rivalry with Ayrton Senna, and Prost managed to claim the championship at the Portuguese GP. After this season, Prost retired from F1 for good. You couldn't ask for much more of a comeback than that.

Niki Lauda

Last F1 Race: 1979. Returned: 1982-85

Retiring from Formula One as a two-time world champion would suit most people, but Lauda came back a few years later for another stint in the sport. In probably what is the most successful comeback so far, along with Prost's, Niki managed to claim another championship in 1984.

As well as a title, there was eight race wins and 128 points during this four-year period with McLaren. Considering he was nearly burnt to death several years before, these are some quite impressive statistics.

Some of the others

There have been many other drivers that have made comebacks after long periods out of the sport. Jan Lammers, Tarso Marques, and Nicola Larini just to name a few have all returned after some years away: Lammers in fact having the longest gap between two races from 1982 to 1992.

Alain Prost and Niki Lauda showed that it is possible to be successful after a few years out of Formula 1, and Luca Badoer has shown it is possible to be useless. It should be interesting to see how Schumacher and de la Rosa do alongside their much younger team-mates. Should Stefan GP see the light of day, Villeneuve should get another crack at the sport as well.

And you never know, maybe some more old drivers will come along in 2011. Mika Hakkinen? Gerhard Berger? Yuji Ide? Who knows.

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