F1 Season Opener

Photo by Camilo S.B.

Well boys and girl, Mike is truly stoked today as the opener of the 2009 F1 season is this weekend. Being a west coast guy, the timezones work out so the start of the race is 10:30 at night local time. Bonus! Hopefully I'll have a few friends over to watch it live while downing some Fosters oil cans. Have I mentioned that I am stoked?

This year will be fascinating for me. The slicks are back, the aero is way different, and the cars now run kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS), giving them a 'boost' when they need it. The front wings are huge to hopefully keep the front tires planted better when following another car, hopefully promoting a little more passing.

I say 'a little' more passing because I don't want the move cheapened. NASCAR has a thousand passes in a race... whoop-de-doo! I pass a thousand cars in my commute to work every day, It's only slightly less thrilling than NASCARs passing. How thrilling would Mike Hakkinen's pass of Schumacher at Spa been if it was one of a hundred? Or Lewis taking Kimi at the same track last year?

[sidebar] It is utter crap that LH's win at Spa was taken away from him because of cutting that corner. Sure he came out on the straightaway ahead of Kimi, but he let him by... Hell, he crossed over behind him before he took the next corner. How is that an advantage? The only advantage he gained is that he didn't end both their races buy trying to make it stick in the first.

My prediction for this year? Brawn GP will jump up to a top tier team this year, maybe even bettering McLaren. The best thing that happened for Ross, Rubens, and Jenson was for Honda to drop out F1. So instead of running the dog of a Honda engine, they were able to get a Mercedes, which happened to do alright last year... I think that they will at least go head to head with the BMW and Renaults, picking up some podiums and hopefully a few wins.

Ferrari will probably take both titles this year, hopefully Kimi comes back alive this year, I can't stand Massa. That is like picking the Patriots to win the Super Bowl in years past, a safe bet, but it makes it even more fun when they fall.

I think the new rules will tighten up the pack a bunch and we all win with that.

Here is my uneducated guess on how the constructors championship will end up...

1. Ferrari
2. McLaren
3. Brawn GP
4. Renault
5. BMW
6. Williams
   
7. Toyota
8. Red Bull
9. Toro Rosso
10. Force India

I would not be surprised if this list was flipped at the end of the year so don't take that to Vegas... I think we are in for an exciting year!