The Williams racing livery will be officially unveiled at the

What Frank Williams doesn’t know about All in all 2007 was a bit of a scrappy year, with Webber and probably isn’t worth knowing. His team have won nine Coulthard finishing in the points only seven times between constructors’ and seven drivers’ championships and when them. The team’s best result was third for Webber at the they line up on the grid in Australia they will be starting their , where Coulthard was fifth. I was hoping 30th season and 500th grand prix. I think Williams have for a really special -designed car last season but suffered in recent years from the surge in manufacturer teams for whatever reason it didn’t perform as well as many had such as BMW, , and . I hope that Frank expected. certainly are a solid midfield team but now does not sell to a faceless brand because F1 needs Williams. is the time to push themselves and begin to climb the success This season the car has been looking good throughout testing ladder. Coulthard doesn’t have many seasons left and if he and both their drivers are extremely competent behind the was going to be champion it would have happened already. wheel. I reckon business might be about to pick up. Give Webber a good team-mate and fame and fortune beckon. 2008 chances: Competitive enough to challenge BMW 2008 chances: Same as last year. Maybe better, maybe not

Toyota certainly have the passion to win and their pockets are Selling was the best thing ever did, and so deep money is not a problem, so why do they consistently even though Toro Rosso is viewed as Red Bull’s training camp it under-achieve season after season? Their best result to date is is still very much a team in its own merit. (Did you think they third place in the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, and that is would finish ahead of Honda last season?) This year sees them unlikely to put smiles on the faces of the men in suits back in powered by engines once again and they also have the Japan. Trulli is okay as drivers go, but he has this amazing benefit of sharing certain technical resources with Red Bull. ability to qualify well only to promptly fall away once the race Last year was a rather lacklustre one for the team, highlighted starts and struggle to stay in the top ten. Glock is the current only by them claiming fourth and sixth places at the Chinese GP2 champion who, thanks to some disqualifications, scored Grand Prix. However, Vettel is no slouch and Bourdais has two points in his first-ever F1 Grand Prix back in 2004. It remains raced in , at Le Mans and has held the US Champ Car to be seen whether the 2008 car is any better than last year. title since 2004. Now it’s time to play with the big boys. 2008 chances: Double-figure points if they’re very lucky Sébastien Bourdais 2008 chances: Looking to be the best of the back-markers

Very interesting days lie ahead for Honda. Securing the services The F1 minnows achieved their first-ever points haul last of the mighty is a huge coup for the team. Brawn’s season with eighth place at the Spanish Grand Prix and sixth technical and strategical genius is unparalleled and his move place in Canada. Other than that, their best finish was 12th. to Honda after a year off must have turned more than a few This season hasn’t started so well either, as they have done heads in the paddock. No, we can’t expect miracles from the minimal testing and are still struggling to finalise funding from man this season but the coming months will certainly give him investors and other ‘technical arrangements’. I think it‘s highly the information he needs to build a championship-winning unlikely that Super Aguri will do any better this year although team as he did with Ferrari ten years ago. However, a good stranger things have happened (remember team needs good drivers and I don’t think Honda have that overtaking Alonso’s McLaren last year?). The back end of the yet. Barrichello has had his day and Button has never lived up grid is more crowded than ever and, come Australia, it will be to the hype. Can you feel the wind of change? interesting to see which team rises to the occasion first. Takuma Sato 2008 chances: A scattering of points, nothing more 2008 chances: Points, if all the top teams crash out first

The team formerly known as Spyker, formerly known as McLaren must bring the fight to Ferrari’s garage door this season. Midland, formerly known as Jordan. Their current owner is They were stripped of all constructors points last year and as a an Indian billionaire who is CEO of a brewery and an airline, result have been relocated to the bottom garages of the pit-lane, making him the perfect F1 team owner! Money, alas, does not plus they have ceased technical development on certain bring rewards in this game as many people have found out. elements of their 2008 car. I think Hamilton and Kovalainen will Sure he’s got a car, a couple of journeyman drivers and make a great pairing, and they should work alongside each probably a very capable group of mechanics but you need so other in total harmony, just like we thought would happen last much more in Formula One. Performance during a season is season. But let’s be honest, what sort of world champion is it only the start and we’ll have to see whether are that whinges and whines and then threatens his own team? accepted into the paddock and whether they have the You can be sure that Prost, Senna, Schumacher, Stewart, Hunt, staying power of the likes of Williams, Ferrari and McLaren. Mansell, Lauda, Hakkinen et al would never have done that... 2008 chances: Finishing races, scoring points is unlikely 2008 chances: Title-fighting all the way to the finish line CMYK