It’s F1 time

Not since November has the sporting calendar looked so good. Nay, great! Hot on the heels of the IPL kicking off this weekend, it will also be F1 time. I’m so happy!

Not having kept abreast of all developments over the last couple of months, I must admit, my focus is not that good at present. However, I will still hazard some predictions.

Specifically for Bahrain, I predict that McLaren and Ferrari would be frontrunners. There will of course be Red Bull who has proved itself to be a force, but the season opener is always a tricky one. An ongoing vote on F1.com pegs Ferrari as a favourite to win but only just from McLaren.

In 2009, Brawn GP blew everyone away in Australia and didn’t look back. Despite a poor second half of the season, they did lift both titles. Now that their winning driver has jumped camps, they will have to do some more work. Racing as Mercedes GP and with Michael Schumacher in their line-up, they are contenders. But only if the car has developed as planned… moving from being Toyota to Mercedes in just a season is quite something!

Then of course, there are the dark horses – all the newcomers. HRT (another Indian connection now), Virgin Racing (not so new, but new nonetheless), Sauber (again, old wine, new-ish bottle), Lotus (hardcore fans will continue to cry this isn’t the real deal!) and Force India. Now Force India isn’t really a newcomer, but we just wanted to talk about them! They have had a good run of late. And one hopes that for Dr Mallya’s sake they continue to improve and do better.

If the pre-season testing is anything to go by (usually, I wouldn’t have it account for too much), Ferrari and McLaren will have to fight Red Bull for the title. In all this, though, we haven’t forgotten Toro Rosso or Renault either. Renault will be plagued by too many changes and controversy through 2009. Their focus couldn’t have been on car development at all. So they should be backmarkers at least for the first half of the season.

Rule changes will also play a big part in 2010. As will the increased number of cars on the starting grid. It will be interesting to see how a driver in 24th can move ahead at the start. Perhaps the number of accidents will also rise this season.

Karun Chandok takes a seat in F1 this season. After commentating on other drivers and teams, he will have a chance to put his money where his mouth is! And we really hope he does well, for he has shown talent. Bernie is backing him and insisting that he get enough time to prove himself, but one wonders if he will get the kind of fan following/media attention that Narain Karthikeyan got. We hope so!

While we have hazarded a guess at the winning team, the winning driver will be a dogfight. Schumacher versus Massa versus Alonso versus Hamilton versus Button will be one dirty fight to the finish. And we will hazard the guess that the champion will be from one of these. Our hope is with Alonso (if only he weren’t Ferrari), head with Massa (again, why Ferrari) and money firmly in our pocket!

Can’t wait for the lights to turn green.

So testing’s underway…

Kimi Raikkonen has hit the circuits and is now testing the F2007 car. But that’s hardly the main news… the big issue is that Australian Mark Webber has expressed sympathy for Raikkonen. Why?

Because Schumi just won’t leave. And no, he isn’t returning to F1, but just hanging around as ‘super assistant’ to Jean Todt.

“It’s odd having him (Schumacher) at the tests, I think – really odd,” Webber told ITV.

“It’s like having your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend there. Kimi must go ‘what the f***?’

“It must feel so strange to have the teacher’s pet standing above you while you are trying to get on with your own new programme. Suffocation or what?”

Hm. So do you think it will be Kimi driving this season or it will be Schumi ‘ghost driving’?