Here we go, here we go, here we go....

We're off. A few days earlier than advertised, this blog is now officially active again for the 2008 Formula One season after a break for the winter.

So it's "hello" from me to all you Formula One afficionados wherever you are from Britain to Spain, the United States to Australia, Japan, Italy, Brazil you name it. I hope you enjoy reading what you find here and will feel inspired to take part in the "conversation" that this blog aspires to be. The object is to bring you something a little extra that you won't find in the paper with emphasis on paddock life, paddock gossip and all the little details that lurk in the margins of my notebooks.

To clear one thing up before we start. Last season I got endless emails and messages from people accusing me of being biased on the blog. Please remember the blog appears on The Times website under the heading "Comment". The idea is that this stuff is opinionated; it is a personal commentary and, more often than not, it is not written with the same standards of objectivity you find in the paper.

Anyway that's enough of this. Let's enjoy the season. I wonder who will be world champion by the season's end? There can of course be only three possibilities, Kimi, Felipe or Lewis. No chance for Fernando(sadly for him) or for Heikki or anyone else. What do you think?

Comments

[Chris]

Welcome back Ed, we've missed you over the winter.

I think Kimi will get it again, but it'll be close. Would love it to be McLaren and Lewis after the torrid season last year, but I suspect Ferrari will edge it.

I just hope for less politics this year.

[Ollie]

Looking forward to the opinionated comment. :-)

I actually think Heikki is going to surprise a few this year. He finished 2007 nine points clear of his vastly more experienced team mate and showed some real pace during the latter half of the year. He may not make it as far as the championship showdown, but I think he'll give Hamilton a tough time on occasion.

[Michael Roberts]

It's going to be between Kimi, Lewis, Felipe and Heikki for the championship. Hopefully we'll also see Nico on the podium regularly...

[IDR]

Welcome everybody!

It is Nice to see this blog active again.

I hope to see this season the same level of participation of the previous one, and maybe, just maybe, less controversies.

Anyhow, the first one for you Ed: Why do you think Heiki has no chances this year? I think he should be the "hidden value".

BTW, Bwin is paying: Now (One Month ago) (World champion)

K Raikkonen 2,45 (2,45) Most probable value
L Hamilton 4,00 (3,60) Despite he’s more determine than ever!
F Massa 5,00 (6,00) Just the car, not the driver
H Kovalainen 18,00 (16,00) I have putted 300$ on him.
F Alonso 10,00 (8,00) Still too optimistic.

Best Regards

[Jagannath Moorthy]

I believe Ferrari are sandbagging a bit at the pre-season tests and have a bit in reserve. They should pull clear at the start of the season. However, as we saw last year, the ultimate winner depends on how the cars develop over the year, so it's too close to call.

[Dean Rodrigues]

Welcome back Ed!

I will consider 2008 a successful season if Fernando Alonso fails to make the podium once, and ideally crashes out in both Spanish Grands Prix. And if Lewis bags victories at these latter two right in front of the racists, however much of a minority they are, then all the better.

[don]

So good to hear you survived the winter. Looking forward to Melbourne. I understand there's a bunch of kangaroos near the track. Ought to be interesting.

[Anon]

I don't want to be too optimistic, but I have the feeling that people are really underestimating Renault. They made a stumble due to having focused too much on their 2006 car and frmo having to switch from Michelin to Bridgestone. Both of those problems will be non- existent this year. Michelin was a huge loss to Renault and to the sport as a whole though... I would be surprised if Alonso had a shot at the championship, but I expect him to get like 90-95 points this season. He also now gets the crucial flying lap.

[Jonah]

Nice to have you back Ed, I suspect you'll have a much quieter response this season! I'm looking forward to see whether Hamilton can really fight for the title again, with a year's experience he should be phenomenal, I just hope McLaren can overcome all the distractions thrown at them to provide him with a great car.

[CHIUNDA]

Yeah i agree with you about the Ferraris and McLaren. Count Massa out, Ferrari wouldn't let him - so it will be Kimi Lewis and Kov. Don't count out Alonso and Nico and Trulli as an outside shot. But the best races will be those where Alonso and Lewis find themselves on the same piece of tarmac after qualifying or where Lewis is racing Kimi and has to overtake Alonso after the pits - boy, those will be the sparky times.

[Juan]

Hello everybody. If we listen to Alain Prost or Alonso (tought the times never said, you can read the interview in the bbc, Alonso has no problems to recognize it at all, but this doesn't contribute to the Time F1 politics to sell the story) Hamilton is very likely to win the title because his Silver Ferrari is quick enough. But I don't understand why you, Ed, keep aside Heikki. He's not Spaniard so you will find it not so easy to blame him if he start to perform and McLaren display the same "equality" they did last year. If we continue listening to Prost, in the BBC again, we are able to find statements as, if you have the proper car, -nowadays F1 is like playing the playstation, he said- and he suggested that a complete bunch of drivers placed now in the mid grid could easily perform like Hamilton, Alonso or Kimy -just with the proper car-. So the question for me is, which car will be faster and more reliable this season, the Red or the Silver Ferraries? Regards.

[Emilio]

Welcome back Mr. Gorman.

The main lesson learnt from las season greek tragedy is that "Team" means business means money means cahmpionships. Lewis will be McMerc leader as Kimi will be Ferrari's. The italians have and edge though, since they wrote the little red book both teams have used to develop this coming season's cars, so there will not be any translation loss.
I'd love to see Fernando being Maranello and Woking worst nightmare, but that is justa a wild dream, As other poster stated below, 95 points would be a huge success THIS year. 2009 season will see Fernando up on the podium where he belongs.
And to make things better Nick, Robert and Nico- and maybe sebastiasn and Timo- should scrap points off the natural leaders so no one gets more than 100 points this year.
These are my predictions:

1- Kimi
2- Felipe
3- Lewis

1- Ferrari
2- BMW
3- McMerc

[Jarros, Madrid]

Ed, nice to have you back in F1 blog-town again.

Funny to find out, 2008 season has not started as yet, but we already have "fair F1 fans", wishing "the very best of luck" to Fernando Alonso asl long as he crushes out, in both Spanish Grand Prix races)".

Nice chap this, Dean Rodrigues.
Who would think his surname is Spanish?.

Good luck for everyone, and let us enyoy the show.

[Weasel]

I really missed this blog over the winter - welcome back Ed.

No predictions, I just (naively) wish for a non political, clean racing season, unmarred by cheating and controversies - manufactured or otherwise and for sporting behaviour and comments on this blog from fans all over the world.

[Liquid]

I believe we'll see a lot of mix ups in the midfield... a lot of new ppl might get their deserved share of the midfield.. like with teams like Force India.. but definitely on the front end i'd love to see kimi...! the mclarens might be a lil more aggressive this year... but i still think kimi and massa can pull it off... here's for a great season ahead...!!

[IDR]

To JARROS

“Nice chap this, Dean Rodrigues.
Who would think his surname is Spanish?”

Rodrigues has Hispanic origin for sure. But in reality, the correct surname should be Rodriguez that means “son of Rodrigo”.

Rodrigues, is quite common in South American Countries, because in those countries, they confuse quite often the letters “Z” and “S”. (They pronounce both as the same. One can see quite often many spelling errors in writing words containing the letter “Z”.

If you read previous season’s comments of this guy , you will see a lot of anger to everything related to Spanish origin.

My personal guess is that this guy has suffered racist abuses due to his surname (probably in English speaking countries) and he doesn’t support to have to carry that surname, or he is racist and feels shame in carrying a South American’s origin surname.

In any case, be sure that the problem is on his shoulders and nobody cares about it.

[Nadie]

About the bias issue, I think we all understand a blog is, by its own nature, a subjective view about anything. But frankly, I expected a less fanatic attitude coming from the official Times F1 blog.

I think you should have realized that at some point of the season, but you didn't.

Anyway, here we are again. This year (hopefully), there won't be so many infamatory posts about Fernando nor Lewis, so if you want to keep us here, you'll need to try something different.

Are you ready to write for a global audience? I wish you do.

[Kathryn S]

Here’s my prediction…
#1—Kimi
#2—Heikki
#3—Lewis

This is assuming the pace during testing was reasonably representative.

I think Kimi has the momentum and will get and stay ahead from the beginning of the season.

It looks like Heikki has taken a very clear-eyed look at last year’s season and has a good idea of how to up his game, compete against and beat Lewis. I expect him to start off just behind Lewis’s pace, but catch up and pass him by midseason.

I went back to the end of last season and came to the conclusion that Lewis’s last stunningly good race was the USGP (aargh, even typing that out breaks my heart—the USGP part, I mean). Not that he didn’t race well after that or show moments of brilliance, but he seemed to lose that indefinable sparkle that characterized his previous races. Perhaps he started trying too hard at Silverstone and lost that relaxed rhythm…or it was reported that the set up there was his alone—and maybe a little doubt crept in and he lost just a little bit of the edge. From some of his comments, I fully expect him to “pull an Alonso” as he finds Heikki outpacing him.

On the rest of the field…Felipe may actually drop to fifth…the loss of traction control scares him too much…I peg Robert to beat out Nick—he seems to be more comfortable with this year’s car—and slip into the fourth spot. Sixth will be a real toss up among Fernando, Nick and Nico. I think it’s going to be a fun season.

This is, of course, only my opinion…I could certainly be wrong.

[Jarros, Madrid]

TO IDR,

Thanks for your post back.

Totally agree with your detailed explanation about "Rodrigues" surname roots.

Concerning "psicological" impact on this chap,and evident "consequences". I think it does not worth a penny to spend a single nanosecond talking about it anymore.

Thanks again, let us enjoy the show, and mantain a fair and honest debate about F1 racing, regardless, races,colours, languages, and countries of origin.

Best regards