The 2009 Formula 1 championship starts this coming weekend in Australia. By Sunday afternoon the world will know if BMW are running a KERS system for the whole season, if McLaren's poor winter testing performances have been sandbagging or not, whether the combination of Mercedes power and a Ross Brawn chassis is really as fast as it seems.
Winter testing times imply that McLaren {link} have struggled to find speed in their MP4-24 with team boss Martin Whitmarsh publicly acknowledging the fact. Melbourne and the opening race will give a far more accurate picture to every team's performance and McLaren will have nowhere to hide. Their car will either prove to be as slow as some believe it to be or they will be challenging for outright victory as most expect.
Mercedes engines are powering 3 teams this year and dramatically it is not McLaren who have been the fastest of the 3. New team Brawn GP {link} have shocked the F1 world with their, frankly, stunning pace in winter testing. Whether they are able to carry this into the actual 2009 season remains to be seen but things are looking good for F1's newest team. One possible blot on the landscape for Brawn GP is controversy surrounding their diffuser, which some teams 9including Red Bull) deem to be too large. Expect this debate to rumble with protests being a possibility in Melbourne.....
The final team using Mercedes engines in Formula 1 are Force India {link}. Winter testing has been reasonably successful for the team although they have not had the impact that Brawn GP have. Force India's main focus is to challenge for mid-field places as they continue their development as a F1 team.
BMW Sauber {link} have had a very successful winter testing and are expected to seriously challenge not only for outright race wins but also for the championship too. One of the few teams that have really embraced the KERS idea it remains a little uncertain as to whether they will use a form of KERS in Melbourne. The benefits and drawbacks of KERS have yet to be fully seen in an actual F1 race meaning there will be even more interest in the Bavarian-Swiss team than normal.
Melbourne should prove to be a very interesting and action packed Formula 1 weekend, with so many questions to be answered the only safe bet is the old adage when the flag drops the BS stops!
