Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

McLaren 2009

With only a few days before the start of the F1 2009 season and the grievances over both the ‘wins over points’ fiasco and the cost of drivers licences seemingly resolved for this year at least, the most eagerly anticipated Formula one season for years gets under way in Melbourne this weekend.

As the other teams have enthused about the new 2009 cars during the short practise period afforded through the new ruling, McLaren appear to have lost ground on the competition and believe that they will start the season at a disadvantage to their rivals as they struggle to overcome handling problems with the new race car.

In an F1 update after testing in Jerez last week McLaren suggested that they had made up some of the ground already, closing in on the fastest time set by the Williams team and I would be surprised if Hamilton and team mate Kovalainen are not in contention come race day.

For various reasons it would be interesting to see just how far off the pace the McLaren really is when it comes down to racing and for me an under performing car would be the greatest test that the reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has ever had in his short F1 career. He has never shown anything less than total commitment to racing at this level but on the other hand has enjoyed the benefits of  having driven what has probably been the best car on the track for two seasons.

Hamilton has previously shown controlled aggression, particularly at the start of races, but with no driver aids he will have to rely on his own skills and driver ability to pursue his dream of retaining the title.

An F1 preview of the 2009 season is practically impossible given the new rules that have been enforced over the winter, but if the short testing period is anything to go by the racing should be much closer than in in recent years. Toyota, Williams, Brawn and BMW all appear to have found an edge over the last few weeks with nothing to really seperate them,but it is impossible to detect a great deal of difference until the cars are racing each other on track.

I am excited by the evolution of the Brawn team and Jenson Button in particular, but I will stop short of making any predictions as I am always totally wrong!