Season 2009

It is upon us - the season of 2009. About time too. The dark and quite of the winter is gone, replaced by the shine of spring and the roar of F1 back on the BBC.

I am quite looking forward to the BBC coverage, actually. Initial impressions are positive. The Web 2.0 website has reasonable content, including videos, opinions and the quality of stories is just behind autosport.com/f1. The team are quite revved up about this assignment, but really, who wouldn't be, especially in these depressing recessionary times. There's quite a lot of interactive functionality BBC are planning and also the prospect of receiving HD F1 feed on Freeview is quite exciting. The selling point for me will be the lack of advertisements - finally my licence fee is serving me well.

In terms of performance, testing times indicate that Ferrari are leading the field. However they do seem to be breaking down in every test. McLaren, by contrast, are lost. Dennis has been defending the test times in the press, but it's quite clear that they have some fundamental problems with the car. When Lewis Hamilton spins in tests on a dry track then you know that he he is pushing hard and that something is wrong. I am quite excited for Brawn GP. What a winter they have had, and to come up with a reliable AND fast car in the first proper test is just commendable. The board at Honda must be kicking themselves right now.

In terms of drivers, Kimi seems quite happy with the car so watch out for him. Massa has built more Schumacherness in his image and seems very solid. If McLaren don't fix their car then Lewis might as well give up. My gut feeling is that 1F Brawn GP maintain their performance advantage and reliability, then Button is in with a very strong chance.

 "The car is beautiful", Barrichello said at the unveiling of the F2002. "And we all know that beautiful cars are fast cars". I have read quotes that the cars are ugly but once the novelty wears off, you do get used to them. Slick tyres should also help keep up the speeds. With following distances reduced to 1second and the introduction of KERS should provide some exciting racing.

With Brawn GP's fantastic testing form, Ferrari's steady improvements and McLaren's apparent screw up, we are set for a great season. Look forward to it.