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[Lucky Rathen]

well less than two weeks till the season starts, can Alonso hold on to his crown, can Schumacher wrest the title back, or can McLaren and Raikonnen finally get their act together? Williams have a Rosberg back in the team, can he do the business? Toyota are starting to show promise again. And Honda have twwo pacey drivers in Button & Barrichello. I think this could be a very interesting season.

After watching every race religiously for nigh on 15 years, I stopped watching last year due to how shit the previous few seasons had been - and look what happened, it was a stormer. I'm now back on the F1 bandwagon and I propose a thread for all things F1.

I dont think alonso can repeat it, i think he was a bit lucky due to some of mclaren/raikonnen's failures. I think kimi has a good shot this year. His competitors depend on who's car is faster ferrari or renault.

I'm going to tip Raikonnen hs's the fastest driver out there it just depends on his engine again and thats not looking too good right now reliability wise. I think they will pull it together this time though. Schumachar will be back in the hunt though and Alonso is a more complete driver than Raikonnen and Renault will be strong early on but might lose out later on. Williams are looking like the dark horses and Buttons never done anything so he has a lot to prove. Hes far from the best driver out there and I don't respect him as a person. Thats my tips!

[AttackTimCozine]

Button's gonna have to be lucky &/or Honda need to get there shit together. There's just not enough pace in the Honda but they've had a good two seasons of development and have been in the top 6 so it could be an interesting one.
McLaren I'm really confused by. Yet again reliability is a big issue in testing & I'm sure we're gonna see that on the track too.
Ferrari are in a bad patch & I can't see them doing too well. I think they'll chuck up a few surprises.
Renault are the team to beat from last season. Reliable & fast with two good drivers.

It's gonna be ace. Anyone know if they've reduced the downforce to allow closer racing?

[Monk Rocker]

I'm interested to see how the new qualifying session works out. Seems like a right kerfuffle to me. I genuinely can't see Button doing anything this year. Over 100 races in and not a single win.....

I'm sad that there's no Spa this year. It's my fave track to watch, and Brazil I don't think is confirmed 100% as yet.

Last year of the tyre war also. I wonder if Michelin are going to pull out all the stops or ar they just not going to be arsed!!

I reckon there will be hell to pay if Scuderio Toro Rosso do anything with their detuned V10 enginges, and I'm surprised they are still allowed to use them as it was only Minardi that got a dispensation to use them due to their lack of funds. Red Bull are firing mega bucks into development......

And I wish Valentino Rossi would just fuck off.

it is going to be amusing to watch Super Aguri become the new Minardi of F1.

I am looking forward to it immensely. I reckon this will be Kimi's year.

[Chris]

As long as ferrari don't win anything I'll be happy. Hope Williams do well after being dumped by BMW and I'd like to see Honda continue to beat Toyota, but that's just 'cause I drive a Honda.

[Rob Karloff]

You have to remember that testing results don't mean an awful lot in terms of GP performace. When you test, you run to test specific parts or scenarios, rarely will teams give it a balls-out run just so they top the press coverage of the test session. Most prefer to work away doing what they're there to do and keeping their actual performance level secret until the racing starts. The tracks are never the same as at an event, no matter how much prep goes into them. This I know also from the testing sessions we've done ourselves with the dragster.

McLaren have already openly admitted they're struggling to keep the gears in the back of the car, either running fine or turning the insides of the box into expensive paperweights. But, they always overcome these kind of things.

Button will be very lucky to win a race this year. Rubins is a fierce driver and he's often consistent with it. The BAR car and team are very good, but I don't think Button quite has what it takes to get over the peak of that personal performance hill.

I think Williams will have a much better year, maybe as much as 4th behind Renault, McLaren and Ferrari. I believe they will find themselves in a mid-field tussle with a very strong Red Bull, BMW and Honda. Red Bull I think will show the biggest improvement this year, only 1 year after being dejected and sold by Ford! They have solid drivers (Coultard is one of the best drivers, and has been very unfortunate to have been saddled with an unreliable car since Hakkinen left McLaren), and now they have serious money going in and technical talent with it. Watch out.

My money is on Raikonnen for the title. I think McLaren and Renault will be very close, but I get the feeling despite the win last year that the Renault program does not have the full shoulder of Renualt behind it due to the cost and all the other issues around Briatore and Alonso that have occurred since.

[Bass Cadet]

I'm so excited about the new season it's unreal! I have missed quite a lot of the season last year due to working most Sundays but I'm gonna jack that in soon so I will be able to see them all - hurrah!! Raikonnen is favourite in the bookies 9/4 odds which I think is decent, but like MW used to say anything can happen in formula 1 and it usually does. Thats why we like it so!

I must admit it hasn't been the same since Jos the Boss left, but I have enjoyed it more since Ferrari slipped back and allowed things to get genuinely competitive again.