FORMULA ONE 2008 SEASON PREVIEW:FIVE MONTHS after their bitter, simmering rivalry imploded a season finale characterised by blunders, blow-ups and bad temper, there are still only two names on anyone's lips in Melbourne this week - Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
In every press conference, at every driver interview, in every technical briefing by senior engineers the questions inevitably turn toward one or other driver.
"Is it going to be Hamilton's year this year?" "How will the rules affect Hamilton?" "Is Alonso a devalued competitor?" "Is he a spent force?" "How will they fight it out this year?"
The 2007 season marvellously crystallised around the fierce rivals and the team they then drove for - McLaren. While the two title-contending drivers spat venom at each other in the paddock and almost tore lumps out of each other on the race track, their team was almost on its knees as it swayed under the punches being delivered from all quarters after it had been caught spying on rivals Ferrari.
A fascinating campaign turned to high melodrama in the last five races and the repercussions still ripple through the Melbourne paddock as the 2008 season prepares to kick off tomorrow.
And it's the possibility of more Alonso/Hamilton fireworks that is still igniting imaginations, with every other driver roped into the punditry surrounding the pair.
"It could actually get nastier in terms of the battle on the track because the gloves are off," Red Bull Racing's Australian driver Mark Webber told the BBC this week. "Fernando can take the fight to Lewis - there is a bit of friction there. It could be fascinating."
Despite the fascination with their rivalry, it is only likely to flare sporadically this year, however. When he left Renault for McLaren with the 2006 title in his bag, the Spaniard left behind a team that had brushed Michael Schumacher's Ferrari dominance aside with almost negligent ease. Arriving back though he finds a team that rested on its laurels, let others steal a march and in 2008 is coming off the back of a season in which it never looked like winning races never mind titles.
The legacy of that year in the midfield wilderness will take time to deal with and Alonso is unlikely to threaten this year though he will certainly bring determination, focus and passion back to a team that, aside from team boss Flavio Briatore, conspicuously lacked those qualities last year when its cars were driven by the veteran Giancarlo Fisichella and the initially unpredictable rookie Heikki Kovalainen.
"Fernando would love at the end of next year to have beaten both of them [ McLaren and Hamilton] but he knows it's not possible in the first year," added Webber. "I think every now and then Alonso will put the cat among the pigeons. In the overall picture, he won't win the war, but some of the battles could get juicy."
In 2008 it is far more likely that the biggest battle will be a stealthy and none too explosive war of attrition between Hamilton and the man who beat him to the 2007 driver's title by single point - Kimi Räikkönen.
The Finn is a something of an enigma, a driver even his own team often fails to understand, and it remains something of a miracle that he stole in at the last moment to take his maiden title.
Räikkönen's victories are characterised by their emphatic nature. Just as Dennis Bergkamp never seemed interested in scoring the prosaic tap-in, so Räikkönen appears interested only in shock-and-awe wins, races in which he crushes the opposition so forcefully that spectators could comfortably make tea in the time it takes for the second finisher to follow him across the line.
Anything other and he is capable of snoozing his way through races tootling around on or near the podium while other more savvy drivers are banking points and laurels.
It is on those sleepy Raikkonen days that Hamilton is likely to have to prosper this year. So far Ferrari have set all the winter testing pace and while time sheets from those tests are seldom a very reliable barometer the frequency with which the 2007 champions have shown electric pace suggests that Hamilton and his McLaren team will be the ones chasing harder for wins this time out.
If the championship appears on the surface Ferrari's to lose, and McLaren's to fight for, then what of last year's hopeful chasing pack? BMW-Sauber, 2007's big improvers, look to have taken a retrograde step after second (following McLaren's exclusion), the Polish driver Robert Kubica stating a few days ago his team would find it "impossible" to win a race this year.
"To win a race we have to have the fastest car in the field," Kubica said. "For the moment we are not there, but we are working on it and we will see if we can achieve that. At the moment it is impossible for us to win a race, but in Formula One it can turn around so quickly."
It's a turnaround his team-mate Nick Heidfeld is confident of. "Since the roll-out in January, we have steadily caught up," he said last week. "In other words, the large lap-time gap to the front is no longer there."
But a gap does remain, and BMW are likely to have competition for this third place from Alonso's Renault team and initially from a resurgent Williams, who have impressed in winter testing.
Team principal Frank Williams was dismissive of the suggestion earlier in the week, however, saying press optimism about the team's prospects was misplaced.
"I don't subscribe to what the press has said," he remarks. "Our competitors around us, of which there are many, are just as competitive. To think that we're going to sail into third place in the first few races is pie in the sky. If we do, it'll be a tight fit."
Beyond Williams it is hard to see a sustained challenge coming from any quarter. The improvement in form from Red Bull Racing towards the end of last season and some positive test times could point to the occasional pole or podium position for the Anglo-Austrian team but further our there is little to suggest those perennial disappointments Honda and Toyota will spring a surprise.
And, as last year, the scraps will be fought over by the minnows at Scuderia Toro Rosso and the recently rescued Super Aguri and Force India teams.
The sharp end of the 2008 grid is still, however, to be disputed by the chief protagonists from last season's astonishing epic, and as the fight begins in Australia tomorrow, it seems the blades have hardly dulled any over the winter.
Main rule changes
Traction control
The introduction of a common electronic control unit (ECU), which manages the engine, gearbox and clutch, means this year driver aids such as traction control are removed from the teams' arsenals.
The result is a lot less grip, a car that is more difficult to control and prone to sliding if too much power is applied. It is believed it will help overtaking but some drivers have suggested it could also lead to more accidents.
The common system is also controversial in that it has been designed by McLaren in association with Microsoft, and some teams suggest it could give McLaren an early-season advantage as the rest of the field adapts to it.
Qualifying
Teams are no longer allowed to refuel cars between the end of qualifying and the start of racing, which could mean shorter first-race stints for teams and some teams running very light in a bid to claim pole.
Qualifying is again a three-phase affair, though this year the first phase will last 20 minutes, the second 15 and the third just 10, eliminating the fuel-burning laps indulged in during last year's longer final shoot-out, which were deemed wasteful.
Engine changes
Drivers are now allowed one "free" engine change without the normal 10-place penalty on the grid.
This must be a driver's first change of the season and must be the result of genuine engine failure rather than tactical.
Gearbox
Gearboxes now have to last four race weekends. Any unscheduled change of gearbox will incur a five-place penalty on the starting grid at that event.
Like engines, gearboxes can be changed for the following race if a driver fails to finish for reasons beyond his or the team's control.
Mar 16 Australian GP ... Melbourne
Mar 23 Malaysian GP ... Kuala Lumpur
Apr 6 Bahrain GP ... Bahrain
Apr 27 Spanish GP ... Catalunya
May 11 Turkish GP ... Istanbul
May 25 Monaco GP ... Monte Carlo
Jun 8 Canadian GP ... Montreal
Jun 22 French GP ... Magny-Cours
Jul 6 British GP ... Silverstone
Jul 20 German GP ... Hockenheim
Aug 3 Hungarian GP ... Budapest
Aug 24 European GP ... Valencia
Sep 7 Belgian GP ... Spa-Francorchamps
Sep 14 Italian GP ... Monza
Sep 28 Singapore GP ... Singapore
Oct 12 Japanese GP ... Fuji Speedway
Oct 19 Chinese GP ... Shanghai
Nov 2 Brazilian GP ... Sao Paulo
Ferrari
2007: 1st (204 points)
Drivers: Kimi Räikkönen (Finland). Age: 28. 2007: 1st (110 points)
Felipe Massa (Brazil). Age: 26. 2007: 4th (94 points)
Once again the form team, Ferrari head into the season as constructors' title holders and with the drivers' champion spearheading a confident challenge. The '08 car looks another gem and only Räikkönen's inconsistency can let them down. Massa looking increasingly like Rubens Barrichello, Part 2.
BMW-Sauber
2007: 2nd (101 points)
Drivers: Nick Heidfeld (Germany). Age: 30. 2007: 5th (61 points)
Robert Kubica (Poland). Age: 23. 2007: 6th (39 points)
The expectation was that, after last year's heroics in building a highly competitive car, BMW would bring a world-beater to the show this term. It hasn't worked out like that. Ultra-consistent lead driver Nick Heidfeld called the '08 car the most beautiful he'd ever seen at its launch. So far it's only skin deep.
Renault
2007: 3rd (51 points)
Drivers: Fernando Alonso (Spain). Age: 26. 2007: 3rd (109 points)
Nelson Piquet jnr (Brazil). Age: 22. 2007: Did not race.
The 2007 season was one of unfulfilled expectations for Renault.
They'd lost Fernando Alonso to McLaren and it was backward all the way for the '05 and '06 champs. Alonso is now back, but it will be a monumental task to lift Renault back to championship contention. Alonso should dismiss Piquet jnr with ease.
Williams
2007: 4th (33 points)
Drivers: Nico Rosberg (Germany). Age: 22. 2007: 9th (20 points)
Kazuki Nakajima (Japan). Age: 23. 2007: 1 race (0 points)
Williams last won a race with Juan Pablo Montoya behind the wheel in 2004 but this year looked to have made a dramatic step forward. Rosberg is a star in the making and will bank the bulk of their points. Nakajima acquitted himself well in his single race in Brazil last year, standing in for the retiring Alex Wurz.
Red Bull Racing
2007: 5th (24 points)
Drivers: David Coulthard (Britain). Age: 36. 2007: 10th (14 points)
Mark Webber (Australia). Age: 31. 2007: 12th (12 points)
Fifth last season was a respectable result for the Renault-powered team, but this year expectations are high. Superstar designer Adrian Newey has had time to mould an engineering team around him and the word from inside is that results are being demanded. Expectations, though, are often the first things to be dashed in F1.
Toyota
2007: 6th (13 points)
Drivers: Jarno Trulli (Italy). Age: 33. 2007: 13th (8 points)
Timo Glock (Germany). Age: 25. 2007: Did not race
If RBR are looking for results, Toyota must be screaming for action after seven seasons of little return for astronomical investment. So far the car is not looking like being a threat to the top four places. Trulli has lost none of his electrifying pace, but also none of his inconsistency. And Glock is still a risk.
S Toro Rosso
2007: 7th (8 points)
Drivers: Sébastien Bourdais (France). Age: 29. 2007: Did not race
Sebastien Vettel (Germany). Age: 20. 2007: 14th (6 points)
Not much is expected, but the junior Red Bull team do have one ace up their sleeve in the shape of Sebastian Vettel. Frenchman Bourdais arrives from the US as four-time Champ Car title winner.
Honda
2007: 8th (6 points)
Drivers: Jenson Button (Britain). Age: 28. 2007: 15th (6 points)
Rubens Barrichello (Brazil). Age: 35. 2007: 20th (0 points)
Honda were hideous last year, a team seemingly lacking drive and focus. That may now have arrived in the shape of tech guru Ross Brawn from Ferrari. Button remains an unexploited talent.
Super Aguri
2007: 9th (4 points)
Drivers: Takuma Sato (Japan). Age: 31. 2007: 17th (4 points)
Anthony Davidson (Britain). Age: 28. 2007: 23rd (0 points)
There always has to be an underdog to root for and underfunded, underresourced Super Aguri are it. Sato put in some astonishing performances last year and is at last maturing into a capable racer.
Force India
2007: 10th (1 pt, as Spyker-Ferrari)
Drivers: Adrian Sutil (Germany). Age: 25. 2007: 19th (1 point)
Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy). Age: 35. 2007: 8th (21 points)
Jordan to Midland to Spyker to Force India, the Silverstone-based team has endured turbulent times. Things could soon be looking up, however, with the investment of Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya.
McLaren
2007: 10th (0 points)
Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (Britain). Age: 23. 2007: 2nd (109 points)
Heikki Kovalainen (Finland). Age: 26. 2007: 7th (30 points)
Last year was an annus both mirabilis and horribilis for McLaren. In Lewis Hamilton they found an incredible talent whose chances of winning the title in his debut year were shattered only at the final race. But the team were embroiled in a scandal linking them to spying on Ferrari, being hit with a $100 million fine and the loss of their constructors' points. This season could not be worse. They won't win it but it'll be close. ...
... - JUSTIN HYNES
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)