Double world champion Fernando Alonso hopes to get his McLaren
career off to a winning start on Sunday in an Australian Grand Prix
that is far more than just a season-opener.
Formula One is also entering what promises to be a fascinating
new era after the retirement last October of Ferrari's seven-time
world champion Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in
the history of the sport.
Alonso has moved from champions Renault to success-starved
McLaren while the man he replaces, super-quick Finnish 'Iceman'
Kimi Raikkonen, has gone to Italian glamor team Ferrari as
successor to the departed German great.
The 25-year-old Spaniard was triumphant in Melbourne last year,
when that race was the third on the calendar, but despite starting
with evident high hopes is refusing to make any predictions this
time.
The landscape has changed considerably.
Apart from the driver merry-go-round, Bridgestone are now sole
tyre suppliers, engine development has been frozen and two of the
top three teams - McLaren and Renault - have rookie drivers making
their debuts.
Pre-season testing times suggest that the balance of power has
changed, with McLaren and Ferrari on the up and Renault losing
ground.
"I'm optimistic and confident that we can have a good result.
But the first race is always different, anything can happen in
Australia," Alonso said in a McLaren pre-season interview.
"We normally see some surprising results, so you never know; you
definitely cannot make any predictions."
Raikkonen and Brazilian Felipe Massa, winner of the season-ender
in his native Sao Paulo last year, should be Alonso's main
rivals.
The Spaniard recognized that the year ahead could be his
toughest yet, with McLaren starting with two new drivers after
failing to win a race last season for the first time in a
decade.
"I think the future will be fantastic for the team, this season
we will try hard to win, but for sure the most challenging season
we will have together is this one," he said.
Melbourne will also see the debut of an exciting new talent in
Briton Lewis Hamilton, the first black Formula One driver, who has
already been tipped as a likely race winner by compatriot and
former champion Damon Hill.
"It is difficult to absorb it and realise that I am going to be
making my Formula One debut," the 22-year-old said.
"My brother and I have always been playing Formula One games on
the computer, and now I am going to be one of the cars in those
games.
"Always at this time of year I have been looking forward to the
first grand prix, getting up early and watching the Australian
Grand Prix, but now I'm actually going to be on the grid," he
added.
"There are so many different emotions but excitement is
definitely the main part. I am just eager to get out there and do
the best possible job."
Renault have Finland's Heikki Kovalainen making his debut
alongside Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, race winner in Melbourne in
2005, but their chances of a third Australian win in a row look
less likely.
BMW Sauber, with Poland's Robert Kubica starting in Australia
for the first time after making his race debut in Hungary last
August, could be contenders, however.
Their hopes of standing on the podium are certainly brighter
than those of home favourite Mark Webber, making his Red Bull debut
after a nightmare year with Williams.
"I hope we can finish the race and try and get some points," he
said. "They are not exactly ambitious goals but that's where we are
right now."
(China Daily via Agencies March 16, 2007)