Formula 1. Love it or hate it, one thing is for certain; you can't ignore it! Once the cars take to the track in Melbourne, Australia on Friday morning for first practice, the pundits will be hard at it, trying to forecast the front runners for this new Grand Prix season.
With its host of rule and regulation changes, F1 promises an intriguing season, perhaps one of the most open for many years. Pre-season testing has shown that any one of five teams could be in with a realistic chance of! winning races this year. It seems much longer than just 5 months ago that we witnessed that gut wrenching sight of Massa, jubilant in the cockpit of his Ferrari one moment as the World Title was within his grasp, in despair the next as he learnt that Hamilton had fortuitously made up the one place that would bring him the World crown. Now we're at the start of a brand new season, so what should we be looking out for this year?
There are some mouth watering cameos in store on the driver front.
Jensen Button: What an enigma. Silky smooth in a race car, but too often the lover of big boy's toys and the highlife away from the track. This season offers a trip to the last chance saloon for Jensen. As if by magic, however, the new Brawn F1 (ex Honda F1) car seems to be the set of wheels to have under you if you want to be at the front of the grid. Expect fireworks as team mate Rubens tries to leave F1 on a h! igh note and Jensen strives to silence his many critics.
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Fernando Alonso: A superb showing in 2008 and still desperate to get the Ferrari seat that he has always longed for. Could this be his year? He would be hard to bet against. His team mate, Piquet however, has a lot to prove after a poor debut season. He needs to show some aggression that was sadly lacking last year.
Lewis Hamilton: Rated highly by his team and many past F1 Champions. Will he be as motivated this year or will a more relaxed attitude pay dividends. Lewis struggles to understand why he is not universally popular, despite winning the Title in 2008. His attitude within F1 will be watched closely. Expect more pressure this year from his team mate, Kovalainen. It seems that the new McLaren may not be as competitive as previously, so we should see the aggressive Lewis at his best as he tries to wring its neck.
Robert Kubica: In many people's view the lanky Pole is a World Champion elect. You couldn't have two more differing backgrounds than those of Hamilton and Kubica. One came into F1 having had more money spent on his previous 4 years of racing, than any other driver. The other, in stark contrast, learned to race karts with his father laying out a track in a car park in Poland, marked out be old milk ! bottles! Will the BMW provide him with the chance to challenge! Lewis? Let's hope so, as a season long battle royal between these two karting rivals would be a sight to relish.
Who would have thought that we would have three Sebastiens in F1, with 2 in the same team? It has to be the Vettel version of the Sebastien brand that carries the highest hopes for success and there will be one very determined Aussie team-mate wanting to show the world that there was too much hype over Vettels' debut year. Is Webber right? We shall see.
Then there is the Williams duo, both sons of former F1 drivers. Former Ferrari F1 Designer, Rory Byrne, tipped Williams as a good outside bet when I spoke to him recently. Rosberg has now been in F1 long enough to need to turn potential into results. Could this be his year?
Force India, now powered by the same Mercedes engines as in the McLarens (Oh Yes???), could spring a few surprises, but race wins are unlikely.
Toyota has been impressive and with Timo Glock getting quicker a! nd quicker, Trulli will need to call on all of his experience to stay in contention. Questions still surround the legality of the team's innovative rear aerodynamic diffuser, so expect protests if the team goes well.
The trouble is with F1 predictions, you can so easily end up with egg all over your face, especially at the first race and with so many changes to the cars. However, there is often an unusual result in Australia and I'm going to predict my top 3 but not in order!
• Kubica / Massa /Alonso
Things to watch out for:
• The first corners, particularly in the early Grands Prix, should see some expensive carnage until drivers learn the width of the new wide front wings
• Sebastien Bourdais may find his extensive experience of slick tyres in his Indycar racing in the USA beneficial
• A high number of hungry GP2 racers wandering the pits, putting pressure on several ! "iffy" fading F1 stars
• The new BBC TV reporting t! eam, bri nging a welcome change to the way in which F1 is presented on TV, now that ITV has lost the contract
• A lot of top ranking South African politicians swanning around the Pits at the more glamorous Grands Prix, as they endeavour to "investigate the feasibility of a SA race"
Brian Sims is the founder of the SA Motorsport Industry Association. He's a former sports commentator, pro race driver and manager of the Kyalami Racing Circuit. He was the commercial director at the Benetton Formula 1 team before its sale to Renault in 2000.
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