Fasten your seat belt for F1 action

By the time you will read this, chances are that the first grand prix of the Formula 1 season would have seen a winner in Melbourne. Nonetheless, the start of a new season always has motor sports buffs all excited and this time is no different.

The only big difference is that we will miss the name, MSC on the racing grid. For all Michael Schumacher fans it will be a weird and empty feeling. But as they say, the show must go on.

However, Ferrari after losing the title twice to Renault would be confident of Schumacher's replacement that they have chosen. Kimi Raikkonen, also known as Ice Man for his cool and calm demeanour during the race is being touted as the favourite. Raikkonen is fast, composed and if given a good car can literally leave the competition far behind.

His team-mate, Felippe Massa, who came off age last season under Schumacher's tutelage is also seen as potential champion material. It will be interesting to see how Ferrari, which has a history of having a number one and number two driver handle both these guys.

Defending champion Fernando Alonso finds himself in a new team and would find it hard to complete a hat-trick having won the last two titles. Having Alonso to drive their car is a shot in the arm for Mclaren, who have had a couple of disappointing years, with serious mechanical problems in their car.

Alonso's former team Renault would be in a transition period with a new and an experienced driver behind the wheel: Heikki Kovalainen is a relatively unknown quantity while many experts feel that Giancarlo Fisichella, the second driver for Renault is not good enough to last the entire championship.

Apart from the usual suspects, Honda's Jenson Button and the Toyota drivers would surely add a few twists and turns, but it looks like the championship will be contested closely between Raikkonen, Alonso and Massa.

On the technical front, the sport will see a few changes. Unlike previous seasons, all cars will run on the same compounds (type of tyres) of Bridgestone tyres. Apart from this, every team will have to use two types of tyres, one soft and one hard. It will be up to the teams to use them in any part of the race as they deem fit. This will add spice in the pit-stop strategies of teams.

So fasten your seat belts and get ready for an exciting Formula 1 season.