This year the Australian Grand Prix celebrates its 80th anniversary. In 1928 the race was held at Phillip Island. And in 1953 and 1956, Albert Park was the host of the race – a full 40 years before it became a world championship event.
The rigorous European winter-testing season is now over and the opening round of the 2008 Formula One World Championship will finally kick off this weekend.
The race, at Albert Park in Melbourne, marks the 24th consecutive Australian Formula One Grand Prix. With the contract renewal in doubt beyond 2010, opportunities to witness the world's most advanced racing cars competing here are dwindling.
This season will see 11 teams (comprising two cars each) vie for the title across 18 races. Last year, Scuderia Ferrari may have won both Driver and Constructors titles, but in the lead-up to this year, the focus has been on the usual off-season movements along pit lane.
Driver pairings
Ferrari will be hoping to repeat their successes with last year's champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen (28 years old) and Brazilian Felipe Massa (26).
BMW-Sauber have stability, momentum and a quick pair of drivers. The team, which finished second to Ferrari last year after McLaren's disqualification in the Constructors' Championship, could win races in 2008. Nick Heidfeld (30), a veteran of 132 races, will lead the charge. The German will be supported by Poland's Robert Kubica (23), who goes into his second full season of Grand Prix racing.
After a turbulent 2007 season, McLaren-Mercedes will go into 2008 with a less volatile driver line-up, having parted ways with the fickle Fernando Alonso (26). Heikki Kovalainen (26), after a promising first year at Renault, has made a direct swap with Alonso and heads to McLaren. The Finn will be partnering Lewis Hamilton (23) – the Englishman who stunned the F1 world with runner-up in his first championship season.
Meanwhile Alonso returns to Renault, where he won his two world titles in 2005 and 2006. The second Renault driver will be Nelson Piquet Junior (the 22-year-old son of three-time champion Nelson Piquet), who will make his debut in Melbourne. Renault struggled in 2007 following the move to Bridgestone tyres. They are unlikely to challenge the top three.
There is a highly-competitive group just behind Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. Leading the charge is Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull
With the experience of David Coulthard (36) and Mark Webber (31), and a star line-up of designers and technical boffins, the team should have the pace to challenge for points and podiums.
Red Bull's reliability demons in the past have hopefully disappeared after intensive testing over the break. But while there were occasional technical glitches, the place to break the car and push its limits is in testing – not during a race weekend.
Williams regained respectability in 2007 and have got the super-impressive Nico Rosberg (22) to fight for potential podiums. He will be joined by Japan's Kazuki Nakajima (23), who debuted in the final race of last season.
Toyota's underwhelming F1 achievements don't look like improving in 2008. The team has brought in GP2 champion Timo Glock (25) to replace fellow German Ralf Schumacher. The six-time Grand Prix winner departs F1 altogether after 11 years in the sport, including three fruitless seasons at Toyota. Jarno Trulli (33), though, remains with the team on their quest for improvement.
Honda also had a horror 2007, but now have former Ferrari mastermind Ross Brawn as Team Principal. Jenson Button (28) will start his sixth season with the team in Melbourne, while Rubens Barrichello (35) will become F1's most experienced driver ever during this season – breaking Riccardo Patrese's record of 256 races.
Scuderia Toro Rosso has a strong driver line-up too. Four-time ChampCar champion Sebastien Bourdais finally gets his F1 chance, albeit at 29, and he will be joined by Sebastian Vettel (20), who scored a point on debut as a 19-year-old at the US Grand Prix last year.
The back of the grid will consist of Super Aguri (who retain drivers Takuma Sato, 31, and Anthony Davidson, 28) and the newly-named Force India.
The Force India team, whose budget is $134 million this year, will have the experienced Giancarlo Fisichella (35) and the talented Adrian Sutil (25), one of five Germans on the grid. The team formerly known as Spyker (2007), Midland (2006) and Jordan (2005) will be looking to build a stable foundation for success.
No traction control
In 2008 drivers will no longer have traction control on their cars, which will mean more mistakes and more passing.
Traction control detects when the car's tyres are spinning excessively during a corner and regulates the engine's power to provide the appropriate grip needed for the driver to get a clean exit out of a corner. With no such luxury now, drivers must rely on a smoother driving style, which will also have the benefit of reduced tyre wear.
Year 2008 continues the trend of F1 teams giving youth the chance to shine. Young drivers tend to be very hungry for success and they are relatively cheap compared to the more established drivers on the circuit.
For the previous two seasons, the winner of the Australian Grand Prix has proceeded to win the Driver's Championship. Can the experienced heads hold their ground or will the young chargers get the spoils? Albert Park will provide the answer to the first part of the 2008 puzzle.
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