//:: __ :://: //:: Australian GP! Here we come!

In about 2 weeks time Australia is gonna be hosting the first race of the Formula 1 2009 season. People are very excited to see how teams got on with the new radical rules changes and as some experts say... The biggest rule change since 1997. We see new radical rule changes in the aero dynamics, slick tires are back, and with the introduction of KERS.

In the first tests of the teams. No once could really tell at least alil story about the grid. As Toyota, BMW and Ferrari took Bahrain while Mclaren, Renault & Williams along with Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Honda running their 2008 cars did it in Jerez. No one could really tell who did the right thing and who made the mistake for designing the car for this season cause they are not all together on 1 track and some of the teams has not released their 2009 spec car. Came late February and early March where teams gathered at Jerez and Barcelona to test their latest setups and packages for the preparation of the Australian GP. All the teams have not brought out their 2009 cars including Force India which is now powered by Mercedez and former Honda F1 Team which is now Brawn GP team which is also now powered by Mercedez.

Alot of questions has been raised to Mclaren. "What the hell is going on with their car?" As where even Force India is making them run for their money! Mclaren's Heikki and Lewis has consistently recorded low lap times as if they where at the bottom of the list. Ferrari as usual is at the top with BMW at first. But the biggest surprise for me was Brawn GP. They have been hammering down the track and during buttons last day of test he clocked 1.19.xxx's and then the next day Rubens Barichello clock 1.18.xxx's and it was really a surprise for everyone. I think Brawn GP's aero team has done a really really good job after abandoning their development for 2008 campaign they where pretty much the first team to do the research in preparation for the coming 2009 season.

My biggest issue here is clearly Mc Laren which I should point out that I'm really happy with the news knowing they are in the middle of the field. I've read one article saying about Lewis' who became a champion for driving a winning car. To be fair to Lewis if Mc Laren really is struggling with what people say "Rear Grip" then perhaps we will see how Lewis is gonna deal with it for the season. In 2008 Fernando Alonso drove a car that was literally drove a car that was uncompetitive compared to Ferrari, Mc Laren and BMW but you can really see him pushing very hard just to try to keep up with the front runners. You can really see him fighting his car as it tries to slide and move away from his controls as he tries to keep up with the front runners. Eventually he still failed to keep up because of the lack of speed of the car. But what performance displayed by the 2 time world champion. For me a world champion has to have those skills. The ability to push a car that's not even that competitive enough to compete with the front runners.

This season too I would really like to see also Sebastian Vettel win more races and get more positions in the podium. Seb is a great driver and he has really showed it last year specially when the weather got bad during a race. Seb was always on the top list nor was even challenging Lewis and passed him during wet races. Seb is a natural talent and at such a young age and more races in his career I think we are looking at a future champion.

And of course Ferrari. My bet this year would still be Kimi. Last year was tough for him as he was not really that happy with the F2008. This year though is a different story as he likes the car better now than last year. I do hope that Ferrari has really got over the reliability issues that they have been experiencing now for years and I think it all started in 2006 and cost them the championship.

Wait in 2 weeks time to see the real story of how the teams have ended up with their designs and let the race answer questions about the speculations of who nailed the design and who made the mistake... Catch the race live here at http://althonealexis.blogspot.com ... Live video feed will be featured on this site on race day March 29, 2009 .... see you!

Here are some pictures from the test in Spain last March 2009

Red Bull