I hope the opening race of the 2008 Formula One season is a sign of things to come as it is probably the best Grand Prix I’ve seen since Fuji last year. Melbourne is nearly always a pretty crazy race, but this year’s was chaotic and in a good way. There was plenty of action and you can clearly see that the removal of driver aids has made a difference. I wanted to do a pre-season list of predictions as my second blog entry, but due to delays registering my domain (thanks 123-Reg ) I was unable to put the site up until yesterday. So here is my delayed list of predictions alongside my conclusions from the opening round.

Ferrari and McLaren - Both Ferrari and McLaren claimed to have improved in areas that made them slower in specific races. Despite this, I expected Ferrari to take Melbourne easily as I judged that no amount of improvement from McLaren could close the kind of gap Ferrari showed at Melbourne last year.

With Massa driving worse than the rookies and Raikkonen driving with the desperation you would have expected Brazil last year, it is hard to tell, but I think McLaren may have the quicker car. This is probably the least of Ferrari’s troubles though going into Malaysia, as three out of four Ferrari engines failed to finish. To make matters worst, they were the only engine related retirements in what was a very hot race.

On the other end of the scale, McLaren appear to be in excellent form. Hamilton looks set for his first title if he can continue to drive as well as he did at Melbourne and Kovalainen will also do well in years to come - providing he can keep his fingers away from the pit limiter. It was a real shame that he did that as it was a nice and clean move on Alonso. Maybe he just wanted to have another go?

BMW - I went into this season expecting a poor performance from BMW. Throughout testing Heidfeld and Kubica were complaining about balance problems and the times reflected it. I was quite surprised to see Kubica on the front row and it was a shame his race was ruined through no fault of his own. However if the BMWs remain that quick then he’ll have plenty of other chances.

Williams - Williams looked strong in testing and Rosberg proved it in the race. He drove a solid race and I think there is a chance for more podiums from both him and Williams. Nakajima was a little disappointing. He looked quick in testing but seemed slow at Melbourne. As if being slow wasn’t enough he looks set to be as crazy as all the other Japanese drivers we’ve had in recent years. I’ll reserve judgement until after Malaysia, but he may need one of those yellow flashing lights attached to his car in future.

Renault - Having spent the 2006 GP2 championship fighting wheel to wheel with Hamilton, I expected great things of Piquet Jnr. It is probably the biggest disappointment so far for me. He did very poorly in qualifying and didn’t really excel in the race. I hope he can improve. I think talk of a Renault resurgence is premature based on Alonso’s fourth place. He did well in a poor car, but failed to make a big impression like many other drivers. I think after Malaysia it may be a bit clearer as to where Renault and Alonso are.

Toyota - I was expecting the usual from them (we’re going to win, year of consolidation, win next year, etc) but was instead treated to what appears to be a much improved Toyota. Both drivers did well over the weekend, notably Glock who was doing brilliantly until his accident. He drove better than Massa, that’s “for sure”. If Toyota can continue on this level maybe, just maybe, they will be looking at race wins within the next two years.

Red Bull Racing - Winter testing looked like Red Bull, and in particular Mark Webber, were going to have a really good season. I am still undecided on where they are after Melbourne. Coulthard is as consistent as he always has been and would have been up for points if Massa hadn’t have tried that over-optimistic move on him. Webber was definitely the quicker of the two in winter testing but didn’t get much of a chance to show at Melbourne. Hopefully Red Bull have a better race in Malaysia.

Toro Rosso - Considering they are still driving last year’s car, I think Toro Rosso did extremely well. Didn’t see much from Vettel in the race but he was strong in qualifying. Bourdais was the exact opposite. He was very impressive and up in fourth until the Ferrari engine failed him. I hope he sticks at Formula One and gets a drive with one of the better teams.

Honda - Probably the biggest surprise was Honda, especially Barrichello’s race performance. Until the team and himself stuffed it up that is. They really have no-one else to blame and it’s a shame as Barrichello was on for a good result. I’ll have to wait until Malaysia to see where Button is at, but I expect him to do well with his smooth driving style. All in all, I think Honda will be looking at points again.

Super Aguri - I didn’t expect much from them after their limited winter testing and was right to do so. Sato had a fairly good, if not lucky race, considering how awful the car was in qualifying. I think it is safe to say that they will continue to struggle.

Force India - I thought they would be a little quicker than they are, but still an improvement over last year. Didn’t get much of an idea from the race but qualifying shows a definite improvement. Malaysia will hopefully reveal more.

Overall - I think the removal of driver aids shows and is a definite improvement. First impression is that it has made the racing a lot closer and has made it possible for good drivers in poor cars to still do well. I hope it continues like this in Malaysia and we don’t return to qualifying (and sometimes race results) that are basically a team-by-team list of the drivers.

Roll on Malaysia.