- 12 Mar 08, 22:24#35415
Kimi Raikkonen 2007's World Champion
The Iceman Will Reign Once More!!!
Melbourne race preview
Monday, 10 March 2008 10:07
Five months of feverish expectation come to an end on Sunday when the Australian Grand Prix and the 2008 season finally get underway.
Winter testing suggests another ultra-tense head-to-head between Ferrari and McLaren for both Melbourne victory and the world title.
But the identity of their nearest challengers is a real mystery as BMW, Renault, Red Bull, Williams and even Toyota and Toro Rosso have all hinted at ‘best of the rest’ potential in recent weeks.
The margins between dicing for pole and making an embarrassing early exit from qualifying could be even closer than in 2007.
Melbourne is the perfect place to kick off a new season – and Bernie Ecclestone’s latest threat to drop the event unless it becomes a night race will disappoint the venue’s many fans.
The temporary parkland circuit encourages drama, with overtaking possible but not easy, plenty of dirt off-line to catch out the careless, and no shortage of unyielding barriers awaiting them.
With many new driver-and-team combinations still acclimatising to each other, the season-opener often sees odd results, unusually large gaps between team-mates, and uncharacteristic errors.
However intensive the winter preparations have been, nothing can ever quite replicate the pressure of lining up on a grand prix grid for the first time with a new team – or the first time ever.
Even top-drawer Formula 1 drivers aren’t immune to first night jitters, as Heikki Kovalainen demonstrated with his wayward debut for Renault last year, and Felipe Massa showed with his wild spin on his first Ferrari appearance in 2006.
So expect a ‘first day back at school’ atmosphere in Australia, with some drivers getting straight down to business and others getting their early season wobbles out of the way.
Lewis Hamilton had no such troubles in Melbourne last year, as he announced his arrival on the F1 scene with an audacious first corner move on team-mate Fernando Alonso and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, and went on to finish a confident third.
But with expectations so much higher after his amazing rookie season, a mere podium would be something of a disappointment for Hamilton 12 months on.
That’s what he might have to settle for, though, because Ferrari appears to have a slight performance advantage at present.
Melbourne is a Ferrari-friendly track, with six of the last nine Australian GPs falling to the Italian cars.
However, that can be deceptive, as was the case last year when Kimi Raikkonen ran away with the race.
The Finn was a dominant force in the opener, yet McLaren trounced Ferrari in Malaysia a fortnight later, and nearly four months passed before Raikkonen won again and got his title challenge on course.
So McLaren need not despair if Ferrari cruises into the distance this weekend, for the picture could totally change within a week, as the teams reconvene at Sepang just a few days after packing up in Albert Park.
Melbourne isn’t just our first chance to check out the latest driver line-ups and cars – the rules have also been shaken up for 2008.
With Q3 shortened to 10 minutes, the baffling and indefensible fuel-burning period has become a thing of the past, which will make qualifying even more frenetic.
But the big change is the unlamented loss of the electronic gizmos, with traction control, assisted engine braking and launch control all a thing of the past (again).
Although the drivers have been quick to dismiss any notion that full-blooded powerslides will return to F1, or that the standard ECU will lead to non-stop overtaking, the new rules will definitely add to the challenge.
A slippery, low-grip track like Albert Park – always the scene of thrills and spills even with driver aids – will be trickier still now that there is no computerised safety net waiting to catch those whose ambition exceeds their ability.
Mercedes has introduced a new-look safety car for this year, and it would be a surprise if it didn’t get an outing on its debut in Australia...
So Melbourne is set to be well worth all the winter anticipation, but don’t necessarily expect it to set a template for the entire season.
After all, a year ago no one could have foreseen the spy scandal that would ultimately overshadow the whole championship, or predicted that Alonso and Hamilton’s relationship would unravel so cataclysmically – and few would have put money on a four-way title fight developing.
Melbourne should be spectacular, but it’s only episode one of the 18-part thriller that is set to unfold between now and November.
Monday, 10 March 2008 10:07
Five months of feverish expectation come to an end on Sunday when the Australian Grand Prix and the 2008 season finally get underway.
Winter testing suggests another ultra-tense head-to-head between Ferrari and McLaren for both Melbourne victory and the world title.
But the identity of their nearest challengers is a real mystery as BMW, Renault, Red Bull, Williams and even Toyota and Toro Rosso have all hinted at ‘best of the rest’ potential in recent weeks.
The margins between dicing for pole and making an embarrassing early exit from qualifying could be even closer than in 2007.
Melbourne is the perfect place to kick off a new season – and Bernie Ecclestone’s latest threat to drop the event unless it becomes a night race will disappoint the venue’s many fans.
The temporary parkland circuit encourages drama, with overtaking possible but not easy, plenty of dirt off-line to catch out the careless, and no shortage of unyielding barriers awaiting them.
With many new driver-and-team combinations still acclimatising to each other, the season-opener often sees odd results, unusually large gaps between team-mates, and uncharacteristic errors.
However intensive the winter preparations have been, nothing can ever quite replicate the pressure of lining up on a grand prix grid for the first time with a new team – or the first time ever.
Even top-drawer Formula 1 drivers aren’t immune to first night jitters, as Heikki Kovalainen demonstrated with his wayward debut for Renault last year, and Felipe Massa showed with his wild spin on his first Ferrari appearance in 2006.
So expect a ‘first day back at school’ atmosphere in Australia, with some drivers getting straight down to business and others getting their early season wobbles out of the way.
Lewis Hamilton had no such troubles in Melbourne last year, as he announced his arrival on the F1 scene with an audacious first corner move on team-mate Fernando Alonso and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, and went on to finish a confident third.
But with expectations so much higher after his amazing rookie season, a mere podium would be something of a disappointment for Hamilton 12 months on.
That’s what he might have to settle for, though, because Ferrari appears to have a slight performance advantage at present.
Melbourne is a Ferrari-friendly track, with six of the last nine Australian GPs falling to the Italian cars.
However, that can be deceptive, as was the case last year when Kimi Raikkonen ran away with the race.
The Finn was a dominant force in the opener, yet McLaren trounced Ferrari in Malaysia a fortnight later, and nearly four months passed before Raikkonen won again and got his title challenge on course.
So McLaren need not despair if Ferrari cruises into the distance this weekend, for the picture could totally change within a week, as the teams reconvene at Sepang just a few days after packing up in Albert Park.
Melbourne isn’t just our first chance to check out the latest driver line-ups and cars – the rules have also been shaken up for 2008.
With Q3 shortened to 10 minutes, the baffling and indefensible fuel-burning period has become a thing of the past, which will make qualifying even more frenetic.
But the big change is the unlamented loss of the electronic gizmos, with traction control, assisted engine braking and launch control all a thing of the past (again).
Although the drivers have been quick to dismiss any notion that full-blooded powerslides will return to F1, or that the standard ECU will lead to non-stop overtaking, the new rules will definitely add to the challenge.
A slippery, low-grip track like Albert Park – always the scene of thrills and spills even with driver aids – will be trickier still now that there is no computerised safety net waiting to catch those whose ambition exceeds their ability.
Mercedes has introduced a new-look safety car for this year, and it would be a surprise if it didn’t get an outing on its debut in Australia...
So Melbourne is set to be well worth all the winter anticipation, but don’t necessarily expect it to set a template for the entire season.
After all, a year ago no one could have foreseen the spy scandal that would ultimately overshadow the whole championship, or predicted that Alonso and Hamilton’s relationship would unravel so cataclysmically – and few would have put money on a four-way title fight developing.
Melbourne should be spectacular, but it’s only episode one of the 18-part thriller that is set to unfold between now and November.
Kimi Raikkonen 2007's World Champion
The Iceman Will Reign Once More!!!