Hamilton's First

It was only a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ Hamilton was going to win his first race. And like when you are waiting for a bus, when the first comes a few more come after it in succession. In Hamilton’s case he followed up his victory in the action packed Canadian grand prix with victory at Indy a week later.

Straight out of the box it was easy to see that Lewis had taking to Formula One like a duck to water. He’s given his world champion team-mate the run-around on a number of occasions earlier in the year and seeing him on the top step was only going to be a matter of time. When all those around him in Canada lost their head, he kept his. Like the parting of the Red Sea, as all those around him fell to pieces with silly mistakes, such as Massa running the red light at the end of the pit lane along with unavoidable instances of needing to pit when the pit lane was closed for Alonso – all that was required of Hamilton was to keep it on the island (literally) and bring the car home. Heidfeld’s BMW and Wurz’s Williams produced two great drives but were never going to challenge the McLaren for raw pace. At this stage in the season the front two teams are still a long way ahead in terms of race pace.

In a race full of incident we were witness to the strength of today’s Formula One crash test procedures. Robert Kubica was a passenger in a massive shunt heading down to the hairpin that saw him like a ping pong ball across the track, narrowly missing the parked Torro Rosso and everyone else before coming to a rest. Despite original statements claiming broken bones the Pole got away with just a concussion and a sprain. A fine example of how far car safety has come. His desire to jump straight back in and go driving a week later at Indy was admirable even though he had to sit it out on medical grounds. A safe bet given Indy’s history with high speed crashes, something Ralf Schumacher can attest to.

2007 Preview - [Part Three]

Now on to the final teams that will take part this season.

Williams

In Nico Rosberg, Williams have one of the stars of the future. At the beginning of last season he showed good promise before the failing car brought him back down to earth. If Williams can give him a good car then expect him to bring home points.

Alexander Wurz has not raced since the 2000 season. That is a long time out of the cockpit. In the meantime he's been testing for McLaren and Williams. To make a comeback after this long and be successful will be quite a story if Wurz can pull it off. The Austrian is highly talented and his return to the cockpit is richly deserved.

After the worst season in their history, Williams have worked hard during the winter to improve - the most notable been the change to Toyota power. The 2007 package so far appears to have made strides and the team sits comfortable in mid-table after the winter tests. Lack of funds and the inability to make the Bahrain test show the limitations the team are already under for the coming year.


Scuderia Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso remain with an unchanged line-up but 2007 is likely to be the last chance Liuzzi and Speed have to impress. This years car looks like a modified version of the A team car, powered by the Ferrari engine. There is no excuses for STR not to make strides up the field. With a number of Red Bull backed drivers waiting for their chance, both drivers must deliver.


Spyker

Another new owner for the former Jordan team this year with the Dutch Spyker team. As was the case with the Midland guise there is a lot of optimism. Albers goes into his third year of Formula One now, his seat security helped by his Dutch ties. In Adrian Sutil they bring a young albeit unknown talent to the table. Despite the hype I expect Spyker to struggle at the tail end of the grid as has become the case from the former race-winning team.


Super Aguri

The Japanese team was one of the highlights of the last season. They went from 5 seconds off the pace in an aged car to hauling themselves up onto the tail end of the grid. With the aid of Honda and their status as a B team will undoubtedly help them make strides in terms of development. Taku Sato has improved from been erratic to a team leader to add to his pace. In Anthony Davidson they have another, like Button who has been overly hyped by the media and must earn his place on the grid. It will be difficult to properly judge Aguri as like STR, they are expected to run a modified customer chassis from their parent company.


Who wins, who loses will soon be decided. All the smokes and mirrors of winter testing will be removed come March 18th at Melbourne. The first race in the post-Schumacher era promises to be interesting.