AZCATS182

So, with the Australian GP kicking off the 2008 Formula 1 season in a couple of weeks, I must say that I am more excited for this season than I have been in a very long time.  There are so many variables to and off season changes to the ranks, that should keep the fans guessing right up until the end of the year. 

What I am looking forward to...

1. No more traction control.  Excellent decision by the FIA.  As Formula 1 is the epitome of road racing, these are supposed to be the World's greatest drivers, not the World's greatest on board electronics systems.  Part of being a great driver is having the ability to manipulate weight transfer, wheelspin, and throttle steer.  Should be exciting to watch, with a LOT more slipping and sliding along the way.  Bonus, is there anything worse sounding than the 'blap, blap, blap' of an F1 engine being cut out by the ECU?  Some points to consider.  Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Nelsinho Piquet and all other driver who competed in GP2 over the past 3 years hold the upper hand here as GP2 cars do not have TC.  Another thing to consider, current World Champion Kimi Raikkonen has never driver a true 'car' without TC (went straight from Formula Renault to F1, good eye Peter Sauber).

2. Alonso - Quiet the critics or out yourself as lucky.  Going from McLaren to a lackluster Renault team leaves Alonso with the unique opportunity to either prove that he is one of the greats (only driver to beat Schumacher to the title since 2000, and only current driver to ever do so, farewell Jacques) or to show that he was in the right place at the right time (i.e. Renault and McLaren having superior cars to the rest of the field over the past 3 years).  With Renault's poor showing last year this is Alonso's chance to show that he can pull a team around him to motivate them, help  develop a competitive car, and drive through any technical shortcomings of that car early in the year.  Or its his opportunity to show that he picked the right teams at the right time. 

3. No USGP. Living in the States some might think this is heresy.  My point is the debacle that was the '05 USGP (Please FIA, strike this 'race' from the record books, did Pantero REALLY deserve a podium finish?) and the lack of interest of the sport in the states since, oh about forever, shows that the US should not host an event.  That and the fact that it is possibly the worst F1 track ever (no elevation change, high speed straight, followed by a series of laughable left-right layout with a silly little hairpin) will be good for the sport.  The US should host a GP, but there are better tracks.  Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen, etc.

4. BMW-Sauber - Will they continue their rise to the F1 elite.  I say 'yes'.  They have the budget (BMW), experience (Thiessen), drivers (Heidfeld).  Look for a win or 2 this year, and really competing for the Championship 2-3 years down the road.

5. Lewis Hamilton - No driver has ever come in with the hype that Lewis did, and he delivered last year.  Team in-fighting and rookie mistakes may have cost him the championship, and no one, other teams included, will be underestimating him this year. 

What I'm not looking forward to....

1. Scandal - Please, no spying scandal.  Ruined the season last year.  Not sure who to blame here.  McLaren?  Ferrari? Renault is in the discussion now.  Please FIA, relax your standards a bit.  Engineers switch teams and take information with them, whether it is only in their heads or on paper is a moot point.  Engineers share information.  Anyone who denies this is bonkers.

2. Standard ECU - I'm not against an standardized ECU, but rather that it will be built by McLaren Electronics (guess who owns THAT company).  Don't get me wrong.  I am a huge McLaren fan (only started rooting for Ferrari when Kimi went there), but they should have gone to an outside electronics company to produce the ECU.  Not saying that McLaren will cheat, or even be able to cheat, but they will know the source code better than any other team, and thus be able to tune their engines that much more efficiently and quickly.  Could be a huge advantage early in the year.  FIA should have commisioned these from an outside company (someone not affiliated with F1 or any team competing in F1) and given the teams the ECUs and source code at the same time.

3. Qualifying - System in place for the past 2 years is MUCH better than the single car one lap qualifying of a few years ago.   Still boring though.  I especially take issue with the final round 'fuel burn off' until the final minute when everyone puts their fliers in.  New rules.  No pit stops during qualifying to eliminate one lap out-flier-in laps, no fuel burn credit (i.e. do as few or as many laps as you want, but you must have enough fuel on board for your qualifying session plus however long you want to go for your first stint in the race), and since you can't pit, you can't put up a quick lap early and then refuel.  They say that they went to the knockout quali system because no one watched the first 45 minutes of quali when it was basically 60 minutes of open track (because no one but the cellar dwellers would go out on the track early).  Guess what, no one is watching it now.  Stop pandering to the casual fan and go back to the original system that ensured the quickest cars were up front, not the car who timed the pit stop and one lap flyer just right.

4. PC - Drivers are kept in check so much these days, no one can speak their mind in the open.  As these drivers represent their teams and sponsors 24/7 they can't say anything.  Instead of  "The team put together a real brick in the offseason, and we weren't able to develop it during testing" we will hear "We are confident that as the season progresses we will move up the grid.  The car has  lot of potential, blah, blah, blah"  Right, you can't wait to get out of this team and into better machinery.  Instead of "Yeah, off the start 'driverA' was an absolute madman, forcing me onto the grass.  Could have taken us both out.  I will be lobbying the FIA to investigate" we will be fed "Uhhmmm, he made a nice start and made it very difficult for me in the first corner."  Uh-huh, where is Senna decking Eddie Irvine when you need it. Would be nice if the drivers could speak their minds and stir things up a bit.

5. Jordan/Midland/Spyker/whatever they are now - Would be nice to see a team buy into the sport and stick with it.  We all knew that for Midland this was a VC venture, and I was shocked to see Eddie Jordan sell the team to them.  Then we had hope when Spyker took over.  Now they are out.  Hopefully the new owners are in for the long haul, and want to put this team back up on the sharp end of the grid.  Or if they do sell out, maybe Eddie can come back to run things?  Face it, he's a better team owner than journalist.

All in all, should be a great season.  Can't wait to see who will come out on top, and how the lack of TC gives some of these drivers fits.