Looking on the F1 Bright Side

After watching the fascinating and enthralling qualifying session at the Sepang Circuit, I am certain that F1 2009 is going to be a classic season.

The technical changes have worked brilliantly.

KERS seems to be a most uncertain benefit, and the sight of Kimi Raikonnen leaping from a smoke-filled Ferrari cockpit must add further doubt to its permanence in F1.

Setting aside the KERS curse, however, things look very rosey. The old elite of the sport have been chased from their palaces and sent down the grid to reside in the slums. How long they stay in the tar-paper shacks remains to be seen, for they will certainly intend a resurgence.

In Australia we saw a feast of overtaking action, precisely what the aero changes were intended to give us. In previous seasons the processional nature of F1 has justified the criticism that the sport had become boring.

Hopefuly we are now entering a golden age of on-track action, and long may it last.

It might have been expected that the giants of the sport would have most easily adapted to the new regulations, but that has not been the case, and in consequence we have seen some reversals of fortune.

Old hounds like Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barichello, whom perhaps we had thought were ready for euthanasia, are running with their tails up, enjoying the chase. The lost cause of Jenson Button's career has been revived, and all those who had written him off (me!) can surely now be glad they were wrong, and smile with him.

Brawn GP have been the racing story of the season so far, but team performances are so closely spaced it seems unlikely that they will be allowed to become tedious. For a dedicated Tifosi it may be hard to not see a scarlet-clad driver on the podium, and hard-core McLaren fans may be equally distressed.

But for anyone who likes to see open and unpredictable racing, the sun has come out, and this it the time to enjoy F1 at its best.

My Top Three Drivers To Watch

Robert Kubica, who has been a favourite menacing presence in F1, still does not seem to have a car quite up to his ability, but even so he must be a frightening sight in a driver's mirrors, and a very depressing dot in the distance for Nick Heidfeld.

In the Williams team, Nico Rosberg impresses me hugely, and they are lucky to have him.

I will score zero points for originality by picking Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. He is racing excitement personified, and the team have done a sufficiently good job with the car to probably ensure we see him compete for podiums.

He did not deliver in Australia, but the Sepang race could be very interesting for him. Who wants to see Seb Vettel carve his way through the field on a wet track? I do!

F1 2009; Luvvly jubbly, bring it on.