divtext-align: center""2008 : AN ALL FERRARI SHOW?
divtext-align: justify""Another eagerly awaited Formula 1 season is due to commence. Just last year we've had the most competitive Formula 1 season for quite some time. For some, it was the exit of Michael Schumacher that made the season so much interesting and some thought that the sport was never going to be the same again. They were right.
Formula 1 lately had become a one man show. The first five years of this century belonged to Schumacher and the next two years were somewhat Fernando Alonso's. What sport enthusiasts feared the most was another domination era. Schumacher's exit and his dramatic retirement during the Italian Grand Prix of 2006 was felt as an end result of a war. There was enormous joy on one side and extreme disbelief and agony on the other. But it did a whole lot of good to the sport.
After fine tuning the rules and helped by some team switching Formula 1 was a successful show last year. It was packed with action, drama, entertainment and something that was missing from the sport for a long time. Something that was bigger than Schumacher's parking at Monaco and something that earned the sport headlines all across the world. Controversy. A controversy that became so notorious that it made McLaren's top order woes look like kinder garden mischief. The legal quarrel between Ferrari and McLaren became very productive for the sport on McLaren's expense as they were first accused and then found guilty of cheating.
Ferrari on the other hand exploited McLaren's wrong doing and were gifted the championship. Rightly so. But the way the drivers' championship was fought stole the show. I can't recall when was the last time, that we saw three drivers in contention fighting for the title during the last race of the season. I thought Lewis Hamilton had it in the bag but then he made those mistakes he was never famous and had a team that looked so astonishing earlier and later humiliated first by the jury and then by the sloppiest team work in the history of the game.
This year it looks like as if it is going to be a Ferrari show straight away. Fernando Alonso after having left Mclaren has found himself in a sluggish Renault and Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren was last known to me as a rookie who lost it under pressure. It was always going to be too good to be true for him being a rookie and winning the championship in his first season. I still believe that
If Alonso was given the sort of treatment Raikkonen has been in Ferrari, he would have outdone Raikkonen, because he had a great car. But having said that, I now say that it would have been too good to be true for him too, after leaving a champion car for a car that was unreliable to the extent of being deemed unfair.
Raikkonen deserved the championship more than any body on the grid. His switch to Ferrari worked extremely well. After having won the championship he now has the car, the team and the support his rivals dream of. I reckon he is in for another year as champion. But then, there is his team mate also.
Filipe Massa is another guy to keep an eye on this year. During his two seasons at Ferrari he has proved that on some occasions he is just unbeatable and if he hangs on to seconds, thirds and fourths give him some wins and there you have another contender. His role last year was solely as supportive. He happily let his home Grand Prix go but how long can Filipe Massa play Rubens Barichello is still to be seen.
There are other teams to look forward to as well. Honda despite last year's trouble is hopeful of doing better and with the expertise of Ross Brawn they really can do better, in fact they should. If Ross Brawn can't save the ship no human can. I have a sympathetic feeling for Ruben Barichello, I always thought was a good driver and when things are on his side he really can be a winner which he has shown with Ferrari where normally his goal used to be finishing second. When he went to Honda I felt that that things will be good for him but they weren't.
Never to forget BMW Sauber that slowly and gradually is keeping up with the big ones. I will be keeping an eye on them and also Red Bull.