2008 SEASON PREVIEW
So, it's the start of another Formula 1 season. The show arrives in Melbourne in the next few days, I myself am off to Bahrain in person a few weeks after that! 2007 was the start of a new era in F1. Take one departing 'legend' add in one British hero, get him involved in the biggest clash within a team since Senna vs Prost. Finish off with the first three-way down-to-the-wire title fight since 1986 with an outsider coming through to take the title. From a neutral perspective, how will that be followed?
Well we have to start at Ferrari. For the second season in a row they field a lineup of Kimi Raikonen and Felipe Massa. This is no questions asked the best driver lineup of 2008. We have one reigning world champion and another guy who was definately in the title mixer until the latter stages of the season! Both of them will surely be in the mixer this time round as well. And all bets are off concerning who'd win the battle for supremacy this time round.
Next up is BMW and like Ferrari they've retained their '07 driver lineup for the second year in a row. Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. So what can they do with them? Well their '07 was solid rather than spectacular but they did wind up with the "best of the rest" title after Ferrari and McLaren. BMW are said however to be looking for wins sooner or later. Could they win in '08? Maybe once, probably through Heidfeld but I'm not expecting that big a season for them.
Renault is where things have been happening, Fisichella has gone to Force India, Kovalainen has gone to McLaren and returning to the team is Fernando Alonso from McLaren and he'll pair up with Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet junior, promoted from GP2 and son of Nelson Piquel, triple world champion from the 1980s. Renault have their double world champion back, good for them. However Renault's biggest problem in '07 was the lack of a quality car and that side of things hasn't improved much. So yes Alonso will get a couple of wins, but he can forget about a third title for the time being. Furthermore the cocky Spaniard should beware of history. Piquet senior gave the legendary Niki Lauda a headache when the pair were teammates in 1979, Piquet's rookie year, forcing the Austrian into what became a temporary retirement! And boy will I have a laugh if Alonso is matched by another rookie teammate!
Next up is Red Bull and for the second year in a row they have DC paired up with Mark Webber. Last season was pretty dodgy for both drivers in terms of reliability but with Adrian Newey now fully in the mixer could things improve? Well the biggest issue in '07 was reliability and how that side of things will play out I don't know. Could they get a win? Yes but then again I said that last year and look what happened. Doesn't stop a fluke from happening though, particularly for the likes of DC!
At Toyota, well finally they have worked out that Ralf Schumacher isn't up to much and he's bailed out to the DTM touring cars series. So now pairing up with Jarno Trulli is Timo Glock, incoming from GP2 though he has done F1 before, racing a few times for the old Jordan team in '04. What he can do with a solid F1 post no one knows. He has spent some time in ChampCar since '04 and was their '05 Rookie of the year. Still, Trulli looks to be the more reliable driver and Toyota are unlikely to make any waves.
Torro Rosso have been overhauled, Scott Speed got booted midseason and is now in NASCAR. Tonio Liuzzi has joined Force India as a test driver. Enter Sebastien Bourdois and Sebastian Vettel. Bourdois is a Frenchman who I've known of for ages, was supposed to drive for Arrows back in '03 but the team never made the grid that year! Bourdois then switched to Champcar and pretty much cleaned up, winning four titles in a row. Vettel is the German guy who made his debut for BMW at Indy last year before replacing Speed from Hungary onwards. Two solid drivers that certainly mean business, unless the car's completely useless, expect interesting things to happen.
Honda. Well they've kept Jenson and Rubens Barrichello around for the second season running. Good for them, the drivers are not such a big problem. Their problem is that their '07 car was completely useless! Their biggest noticeable change has been to hire Ross Brawn, formerly known as the sly bleep on the Ferrari pitwall! He should know what he's doing. How much influence can he have on the '08 season though? Well a win, probably for Jenson isn't out of the question but all bets are off.
Super Aguri have also retained their '07 driver lineup of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson. And Sato certainly made a prat out of Alonso in Canada. However given that they'll be inheriting Honda's useless '07 chassis, I really don't think they're going to get anything out of '08. Their biggest problem is lack of cash! Their "F1 Japan" image has run out of fuel and sponsers are running away. It's touch and go if they'll even make the grid in Oz.
Well first they were Jordam, then they were Midland, then they were Spyker and now they're Force India. Indian steel hotshot Vijay Mallya has cash to burn so he's bought an F1 team! Of the old Spyker lineup well Albers got booted mid season and has returned to DTM. He's been replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella in from Renault which is one heck of a blag for a team used to the back of the grid! With the useful Adrian Sutl as his teammate and Mike Gascoyne still hanging around, we have another team who could provide the odd upset.
Last but definately not least, we have to talk about McLaren. Back of the grid after the insanity of Spygate with Alonso having returned to Renault. He's been replaced by Heikki Kovalainen coming the other way. Lewis is still around and 2008 was supposed to be his year. People who'd seen him in the lower formulae before his F1 debut claimed he'd be the 2008 World Champion. My response before Oz '07? Yeah, right! Now, I'm a believer, and Kovalainen's a solid backup man who might get a win of his own. Can Lewis still create a good bit of history by winning the title in only his second year? In theory, hell yes! I just hope history doesn't repeat itself. Amazing rookies can fade a lot in their second year!
So, the three title contenders for 2008 are going to be Raikonen, Massa and Lewis.
Showtime.
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