Formula 1 - 2012 season

Nice to se plenty of rule changes yet again this year. Good to see Bernie finally gave the go ahead with the new American track too, let's hope it lives up to expectations.

So Lotus (Renault) completely changing its driver line up for Raikkonen and Grosjean. Shame for Senna as I think he showed a lot of promise in the little time he had in that car, but there's just too many drivers competing for seats at the moment and money can talk more than talent (ably demonstrated by Maldonado otherwise inexplicably retaining his seat at Williams!). There's still the potential of the other Williams seat, but I reckon Sutil will bag that, leaving only HRT - definitely a backward step for him.

EDIT - that's not to say Grosjean isn't talented by the way - we'll see how he does in F1 now after his win in GP2.

Yep, it's getting a bit of a crazy scramble for seats. Shame that 'pay' drivers (actually or effectively, via sponsors) like Maldonado get the nod over obvious flair/potential, but guess that's the way of world...

Wonder if we'll ever see Kubica back in a car, too.

Hope so!

Well it is looking ever-less likely Kubica will be back, what with him re-breaking his leg, poor chap

Anyhow, more F1 news - Damon Hill is joining Sky for some of the F1 races next season: story here

And more F1 news.... There's a Senna back at Williams: Bruno has just joined the team

Good news, though Barrichello really deserved the other seat over Maldonado. Shame that he's just fizzled out of the sport really (really can't imagine he will take the HRT seat). He will be missed.

Im glad Senna has got a seat for this year as he showed alot of potential last year. Ayrton certainly thought highly of Bruno saying "If you think I'm fast, just wait until you see my nephew Bruno". I just wonder how good Senna could have been if he didn't stop racing for 10 years after Ayrton's tragic death. With his uncles knowledge and guidance and an extra 10 years worth of racing under his belt who knows how good he could have been if things had turned out differently. Will be difficult for him this year with an underperforming Williams and his team mate who is one of the worst drivers I have ever seen. 

Feel really sorry for Rubens as I think he is a really good driver and really knows his stuff when it comes to developing and setting up a car. Just a shame that some "drivers" get a seat due to the large amounts of cash they can give to a team. They should have kept Rubens for another year to help develop the car with the new staff back at the factory. With two inexperinced drivers I think they are going to have a hard time developing the car no matter how much money they have to throw into it. Rubens and Senna would have been a perfect line up for them this year as you have a very experienced driver with a young driver with plenty of talent. Time will tell but I just hope for Brunos sake that this years car is not a complete shambles.

Is it just me or does it seem like a loooooong time since the end of the season........hurry up March as I cant wait for the new season to start.

BBC's commentary team now includes James Allen - albeit restricted to R5 Live, mercifully - and Ben Edwards. Eww!

Who will the Beeb resurrect next, William Woollard??  

Lewis, after his first drive in the new McLaren, seems happy. Watch the post-test interview in the link below, and note the twinkle in his eye - very content.

Does he know 'something'; is McLaren sandbagging? 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/16972087

Would imagine most of the top teams are sand bagging, with Ferrari being an exception. From Massa's interview and body language it looks like Ferrari still have a long way to go. As you say the McLaren and Red Bull drivers look to be really happy with this years cars. You know what happend the last time Jenson had a glint in his eye from the pre season testing, JB 2012 champion....

I really hope we have a close season this year with it going down to the final race, oh and Boreain stays off the calendar for another year at least. Even Renault (Lotus) seem to be making positive noises, if Kimi gets back up to speed quickly and the car is good he will give the front runners something to think about.

I havn't seen any interviews from Mercedes but you would really hope they have a good car this year considering they started working on it early on last season.

Hard to tell anything meanigfull from pre season testing though so who knows what will happen when the cars get unleashed at Melbourne, only five more weeks to go.

Ferrari has now publically admitted it's not happy with performance yet. Plus am sure Alonso would have blasted a few sub-1.20min laps in front of his home crowd if he could have done. 

And yes, the McLaren looks tasty- mind you, the Red Bull, with its special 'driver cooling' hole (ahem; nice one Newey) is ominously fast, too. 

Also great to have Kimi back.

Roll on Melbourne 

Mind you, Alonso has done fastest lap of testing so far this morning: 1:18.877...

Indeed - seems the Ferrari prefers the softer tyres (as it did all last season!)

Don't forget, Mercedes has been using last year's car for the Jerez test. The '12 car won't appear 'til the next test session 'cos the team wants to stretch the design phase.

IMO, Vettel's body language suggests Red Bull's lost much advantage due to the blown diffuser ban, but the car will be competitive. And to paraphrase Jim Royle: "Driver-cooling duct? My ****!"

But it's all looking promising, so far: competitve Red Bulls, McLarens, 'Loti' - and a fired-up Kimi. That'll do