This is the third F1 race to be held in Buenos Aires since its rebirth in 1995. In it's vintage form, the track was a favourite, but its current guise it has little to recommend it over tracks such as Donnington in the UK or Laguna Seca in the States. Regardless, the F1 circus has rolled into town and everyone is hoping that the organisers have sorted out the problem bumps that marred the race last year.

Lap Guide

The 6th gear start-finish straight leads into a slow corner that is taken in 3rd gear. A short spurt sees the drivers getting into 5th gear before braking hard for the 2nd gear Confiteria Curve. Hard back on the throttle before lifting slightly and then another short burst of acceleration before having to brake for Curve 8 (3rd gear). After this corner (double apex) is exited, the driver enter the second of the 6th gear straights, topping 160 mph before lifting slightly for the 150+ mph Ascari Bend. The flat out section ends at the tight double apex corner (2nd gear) that marks the start of the 4th gear Esses. At the end of the Esses, there are two 90 degree left handers to be taken in 4th before a short straight that culminates in a tight second gear left hand bend. This corner leads into the deriguer Senna corner which is another 2nd gear bend. The exit leads onto another short straight at the end of which the drivers have to brake from 5th gear to 2nd for the Horquilla hairpin. After this there is only a shallow bend in the otherwise straight track before the cars cross the finishing line. Circuit length: 2.646 miles / 4.259 km Race length: 72 laps (190.542 miles / 306.648 km)

What happened last year?

The Field

Arrows-Yamaha

Damon Hill and Pedro Diniz should fare quite well on the bendy Argentine track. The Yamaha engine lacks in top end power, but as we saw with Tyrrell last season, it handles the slower speed tracks well. The chassis is said to have no nasty vices and as such, expect Damon to do another sterling job in qualifying. If it rains, points for both cars could be on the cards.

Rothmans Williams-Renault

Anything short of a 1-2 will be a travesty at the weekend. Both drivers are treated equally and have the best F1 car ever. Once again, Heinz-Harald Frentzen has a lot to lose should he fail to get close to, or beat, his team mate, Jacques Villeneuve. If the track is bumpy, the Williams FW19 will make short work of them as the FW18 did last year, so don't expect too many problems for the Championship favourites.

Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari

Michael Schumacher had to wring the neck of his F310 to qualify where he did in Brazil and I expect this GP to be as hard. The new engine will be used in practice and possibly the race, but there are questions over its reliability. Rumours suggest that unless Eddie Irvine does well, he could be replaced by test driver Gianni Morbidelli, and whether this is true or not he will need a good result to bolster his confidence after a disappointing Brazilian GP.

Mild Seven Benetton-Renault

Benetton regained their title as the only serious challenge to Williams at Interlagos. Last year the bumps proved disastrous but the less pitch sensitive B197 should be a night-and-day difference. Gerhard Berger looks to be the more comfortable of the two drivers and I fully expect him to beat Jean Alesi again this time round. Even if the Williams pair don't have any problems, don't be surprised to see a Benetton driver in any of the podium spots.

West McLaren-Mercedes

McLaren have once again said that they don't expect a win in Argentina and I would agree. The McLaren was poor over the bumps in Brazil and will be as bad here unless the team have made a massive leap with the chassis. This fact means that Mika Hakkinen should out qualify and out race David Coulthard, as he did last year.

Benson and Hedges Total Jordan-Peugeot

Without wishing to sound like ever other pundit, I can only say that Jordan show much potential, but as yet have failed to deliver. If the team can get both Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella on form in both qualifying and the race, they could challenge both Ferrari and McLaren for honours. The key word here is "if" and I doubt that they will manage it until the circus arrives in Europe.

Gauloises Blondes Prost-Mugen Honda

I fully expect the "Ligier" revival to continue this race. As I have said before, the chassis is good, the engine powerful and the tyres excellent. This package will be a potent force in the dry and could be in a class of its own in the wet. Olivier Panis is very much the focus of the teams attentions, yet Shinji Nakano is doing a solid job as number 2.

Red Bull Sauber-Petronas

After a promising debut in Melbourne the team fell apart in Brazil and will be looking to Argentina for results. The similarity of this track surface to Brazil may well mean that neither car qualifies or races well, but of the two drivers, Johnny Herbert is still the man to watch (although Nicola Larini is should be getting closer to the Essex man).

Tyrrell-Ford

After all the confidence of the pre-season, it must have been hard for this once great team to be relegated to tail-end charlies. Jos Verstappen and Mika Salo are both great drivers, but need the equipment to do a good job. I fully expect Tyrrell to be better than in the last race, but will still be lurking around the back.

Minardi-Hart

With the promotion of Arrows to the midfield and the drop in performance of Tyrrell, the Minardi drivers are left to fight each other. Despite me saying that Ukyo Katayama would keep his team mate at bay for the first half of the season, Jarno Trulli has shown exactly why he is considered the best Italian F1 driver of the decade. The car seems reliable and should the race be wet, we could see the little Italian team surprising many of the bigger teams.

Stewart-Ford

Stewart Grand Prix arrive at their third race with increasing expectation placed on their already overburdened shoulders. Rubens Barrichello is doing a faultless job as team leader, but I have been completely underwhelmed by Jan Magnussen so far this year. A wet race offers their best chance of points, and the bumpy circuit should put their poor reliability to the test.

Enjoy the race.