Two races in and it’s hard to really assess how this season is going to pan out given that the two races have led to six different people on the podium, but already there are some clear winners and losers among the teams.

This is how I think the teams have faired in the season openers:

Ferrari :  Last year’s champions, but they are going to struggle to retain the title if they carry on as they are.  Uncharacteristic mechanical failures have resulted in a lot of the drivers’ time being spent off the track.  The drivers haven’t covered themselves in glory either, with both falling off the track in Melbourne before Massa repeated the mistake in Malaysia.

…get used to xenon headlights?

I’ve had them on two cars now and during that time I’ve lost count of how many people have flashed their lights at me thinking I’ve had my lights on main beam when they’ve actually been dipped!

There must be thousands of cars out there which have xenons fitted now, so why aren’t people used to seeing them about?  I know they annoy some people but to be honest I’ve never met a car with them and felt my sight was impaired by the xenons being too bright - the other good thing with them is that they are self-levelling so you don’t have that annoying thing where some people have their halogen lights pointing up too high and dazzle you.

I bet this guy had trouble keeping his dinner down during this…

And this must be the weirdest rally crash ever - bad enough crashing out when racing hard, but between stages is a bit much!

From a spectator’s point of view is Alonso joining Renault a good thing in the grand scheme of things?

It’s not an easy question to answer.

What it guarantees (hopefully, barring unforseen circumstances) is that the three best drivers are all going to be at different teams for the next year at least.

Unlike this year where Alonso and Hamilton were both at McLaren, next season will see Hamilton remain at McLaren, Alonso at Renault and Kimi at Ferrari.  Throw a BMW driver or two into the mix and perhaps a Red Bull and it sounds like it could be a good year of racing!

It seems Fernando Alonso is being backed into a corner slightly over where he will be driving next season.

Assuming there is to be no contract breaking going on, then where can he go?

There has been much speculation on this which I won’t go over again, but basically he seems to have a realistic choice between Renault and Toyota - between a team who were once great and could believably be great again, and a team who has loads of money, but are unlikely to be great anytime soon.

There is also a vacant seat at McLaren, but that’s hardly a likely option!