In the words of McLaren chief Ron Dennis, "To run a Grand Prix team well you need an engineering background." Karl Ludvigsen rates the team bosses and their technical knowledge, and reviews the influence they will have in their squads and their success in the 2002 season

Nobody can bluff like an engineer. In any organization, engineers have the advantage over managers who don't know engineering. They can juggle so many technical factors so artfully that if they want to hide something - the reason for a failure, for example - they can do so easily. I've seen it done, and not only in Ford's boardrooms. I know enough about engineering to be able to enjoy a master of the art of technical obfuscation at work. But it's certainly not of value in the world of Grand Prix racing.

That was the point, I think, of Ron Dennis's recent remark. "To run a Grand Prix team well you need an engineering background," said Ron. He added that a team leader "should also know about budgets, motivating people, solving problems and inspiring." That's a pretty good job description for a Formula One team principal. How many would measure up, and how would that affect their team's performance in 2002?

I believe that Dennis used the term "engineering" in the British sense, in which it refers to almost any kind of mucking about with technical machinery. In this respect Ron certainly qualifies. He has been in and around automotive equipment for most of his life. Dennis is one of the very small handful of Formula One team principals who could take a race car gearbox apart and put it together again without too many missing parts. He has picked up enough knowledge over the years to be able to tell whether Adrian Newey is blowing smoke in his direction. According to Eddie Jordan, "He is a major contributor in team meetings and he has a high understanding of where F1 is headed in the future." That helps account for the strength of McLaren's operation, one which I think will take it to the top of the team championship in 2002.

Two others with ironclad skills in this respect are Peter Sauber and Williams co-leader Patrick Head. Both have designed and built racing cars with their own hands. As well, both have moved with the times so they can keep up with the ideas of their young designers. Backed by Frank Williams, Head has been more willing to invest in the advanced facilities that engineering needs nowadays - the computer-aided design systems and test equipment that allow many problems to be resolved away from the track. With typical Swiss frugality, Sauber is the more likely to conserve his resources. Nevertheless, to his credit, his team's recently been performing above its level. Peter's technical savvy makes a strong contribution.

Of the other team principals I'd rate Tom Walkinshaw of Arrows as the savviest around technical matters. In fact against Ron Dennis's criteria he measures up pretty well. So why isn't Arrows the winningest team out there? I have to put it down to Walkinshaw spreading himself too thinly. An inveterate dealmaker, if Tom hasn't set up two new companies before lunch it hasn't been a good day. Nevertheless I'm picking Arrows to cause some excitement in 2002 with its Cosworth V10 and two very handy drivers. And if the team starts doing better, Tom may give it more of his valuable time.

At the opposite ends of the pitlane we'll have the garages of the two teams run by veteran rallyists: Ferrari, with Jean Todt, and Toyota, with Ove Andersson. In their past both have shown they know their way around machinery, and Todt has proven himself a team builder of the first magnitude. He has, however, been able to draw on a Formula One tradition that's unmatched in the starting field to attract good people, while Andersson has to begin virtually from scratch. That's no easy job. Let's hope that Toyota is able to give him the long-term support that he needs. While I don't expect Toyota to shine in 2002, I do expect to see them perform with surprising toughness and determination.

Then we have the teams that are run by an accountant, a banker and stock-market player: BAR, Jordan and Renault in that order. David Richards has left his accountancy training well behind, but it will come in handy when he tries to deliver value for money to BAR this year. I think he'll have his hands full. BAR, still a team of the future, will have another struggling season, again frustrating its drivers.

Eddie Jordan started as a banker and now he's many banks' best customer. It's tough to see anything in his 2002 formula that will lift his team significantly. Perhaps the Honda engine is one reason why both BAR and Jordan are on Japanese-made Bridgestones, but you'd have thought that it would have been in Honda's interest to spread its odds by having one of its teams on Michelins.

As for Renault, I worry about the lack of technical know-how at the top. Certainly there's lots of engineering skill in the team, but is Flavio Briatore the man you would turn to if you needed a decision on a matter that had a technical dimension? The answer, I think, is self-evident. His boss at Renault, Patrick Faure, is a marketing man. How well will the flamboyant Italian get along with the Ecole Superieur graduates who are running Renault? I'd be surprised if Flavio is still around in 2003. Nevertheless his staying power has been impressive. We'll see good Renault performances in 2002, but they'll then reach a plateau from which new management will be needed to lift them further.

That leaves self-made entrepreneur Paul Stoddart at European Minardi and former racing driver and airline owner Niki Lauda at Jaguar. Neither achieved what they have by being pushovers. I have confidence that both will ask the right questions and probe for weak points even without a technical background. But with Asiatech engines at Minardi and the revolving door at Jaguar neither team is starting the new season in the best of fettle. Both will have character-building years in 2002.