2010 will be an exciting Formula One season for many reasons, but few can match the potential of seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, two time world champion Fernando Alonso and 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton all being united on the track to do battle.

The prospect is fascinating.

Not since the days of Senna, Prost and Mansell have we been graced with three such different drivers, three different teams, three very different styles and three very different mindsets, but three equally talented megastars.

Schumacher is back and he has all the pieces in place, back at last with Mercedes, the team who gave him his break in Formula One, it is nothing but a surprise that it has taken so long for them to be re-united.

Re-united he is too, with Ross Brawn, the man behind each and everyone one of Schumacher’s world championships and all but three of his 91 race victories.

Alonso is in a Ferrari, Schumacher’s Ferrari. But it is a different era, Todt and Brawn have gone and since 2006 Ferrari have slowly lost ground on the Schumacher heights.

It may take time for Alonso and Ferrari to gel, but when they do, it will be explosive.

And Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion who salvaged two race wins from a potentially awful 2009 season and goes into 2010 full of hope and relishing the prospect of racing against Schumacher.

Mclaren were one of the first to begin heavy development on their 2010 car and Hamilton is sure to create fireworks.

But how will it pan out on the track?

Schumacher in his glory days, was rarely up against such talented opposition.

He knows Fernando Alonso, he knows how determined, ruthless, selfish the Spaniard is, they are in so many ways similar, yet so different.

The battles of Imola 2005 and 2006 taught Schumacher everything he needed to know about Fernando Alonso. In the 2005 race Schumacher was given a first class lesson in defensive driving, Alonso’s Renault perfectly holding its position against Schumacher’s Bridgestone shod Ferrari which was two seconds a lap faster, and while Schumacher got his own back a year later, Alonso hustled him right to the very end.

Alonso meanwhile, is fully aware of Schumacher’s capabilities, of his ability to pull out a blinding lap time, whenever needed, whatever the conditions, but also of his ability to be ruthless, remorseless, selfish and a rule breaker.

The Spaniard’s first lesson was taught going down the hanger straight at Silverstone in 2003, at over 180mph Alonso pulled out to pass Schumacher, only for the German to edge him on to the grass.

Fast forward to Suzuka 2005 however, and Alonso showed Schumacher, and the world, what he is made of, passing the Ferrari around the outside of the 130r corner in an incredible manoeuvre at speeds of up to 200mph. How the apprentice had become the master.

Add these battles to Turkey 2006, to Monaco 2006, and all the tension between the two during the latter part of the 2006 title fight, and you have a brilliant recipe for 2010 action.

And that’s without mentioning Lewis Hamilton, Alonso’s old friend from 2007.

The 2008 world champion endured a tough 2009 season, but salvaged it brilliantly to win in Hungary and Singapore, plus podiums at Valencia and Brazil and pole positions at Valencia, Monza, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. By most accounts he drove better in 2009 than he ever has and now knows it isn’t all easy in Formula One.

Hamilton will come in to 2010 a wiser, much more experienced driver.

He has ruffled Alonso’s feathers before and who will surely do so again. Alonso could not deal with Hamilton’s pace when the pair were team-mates at Mclaren in 2007 and it all came to a head during qualifying in Hungary, where Alonso sabotaged Hamilton’s efforts.

Monaco that year also saw Hamilton fuming at what he thought was the team giving preferential treatment to the Spaniard.

The following season the pair collided during the Bahrain Grand Prix and accusations flew that Alonso had brake tested the Englishman; the claims proved unfounded but on the track, when the stakes are high, a tense rivalry remains.

So how will Hamilton and Schumacher pair up?

Both men are racers who will not back down, and who can control a car like nobody else. Head to head it will be down to who brakes latest, who braves it out.

Hamilton will rejoice in going head to head with Schumacher, while Schumacher has got to, quickly, learn what Hamilton is all about. Which is incredible pace, a great ability at overtaking ,brilliant control in the rain and a never say die attitude.

But of course, all three men have their weaknesses.

Schumacher famously buckles under pressure, as seen at Adelaide ‘94, Jerez ‘97 and Monaco 2006. While Alonso is such a determined, ruthless racer he cannot handle anybody being as fast as him. Hamilton meantime, is the least experienced, and is arguably the least ruthless of the three.

In terms of racing etiquette and rules, Schumacher is famous for pushing the boundaries and going over them, Alonso will go to the edge of them, while Hamilton has yet to show a real ruthless cunning side, and, against Alonso and Schumacher, he’s going to have to find one.

All three men will do their best to mould their team around them, to give themselves the best possible chance of success, all three men are blindingly fast and all will have to adapt to the new rules of no refuelling during races, all are excellent wet weather drivers and all are top class overtakers.

So who is going to prove victorious in this battle of the megastars?

2010 is going to be simply fascinating.

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