Brawn GP

Barrichello's time today of 1m19.236s at Jerez, the final test session before the season opener, is testament to the raw pace of their car. More convincing was the 107 laps he clocked up without any reported reliability concerns (the Mercedes engine seems reliable).

This is the thing about Formula 1 that impresses me the most. The legendary Murray Walker, during his glory days, used to comment "F1 is IF spelt backwards", and how this simple observation manifests itself in different parts of Formula 1. It can be on the track when Lewis Hamilton had this mysterious technical problem at Interlagos 2007, or the dark days Ferrari experienced back in 2005. One way or another, it throws twists that makes it so exciting.

"Honda Pulls Out of Formula One" was plastered all over the news last Autumn. They must be really kicking themselves now. It must have been a board decision back in Japan, people who are very far away from the factory in Brackley. I remember Ross Brawn publicly admitting that he was diverting all resources to the 2009 project and this decision is cleverly bearing fruit now. Brawn, a technical genius himself, should have known that they have a killer machine developing in the factory, and decided to take on the risk and bring it to the track.

So this sport continues to mystify us. And this team truly deserves to be on track and leading it right from Melbourne.