This has been a pretty disasterous start to the season for the two teams most people fancied to be up there challenging for the championship.

Prior to the season commencing, I heard McLaren say (boast?) that they had been working on this car for the last 18 months which would make you think that it would be pretty good.  It hasn’t been.

Ferrari were the first team I heard say that last season had affected their concentration on this new season - their reasoning being that they had to continue trying to develop last year’s car right up until the very last race, thereby eating into resources which should really have left last year’s car behind and turned their attention to the new challenger.

It’s been a long time coming, but the first Grand Prix of the 2009 season is almost upon us.

This is the first race in an awfully long time where I won’t be automatically supporting David Coulthard following his retirement at the end of last season.

It begs the question as to who I should follow this time round - or in fact is it really necessary to follow anyone in particular?

I feel I should be writing about the upcoming final GP of the season in Brazil, but I’m not sure what there is left to say to be honest.

Looking at the bare facts, Lewis Hamilton is in the same position as last year with a 7 point lead heading into this final race but in actual fact it’s all different.

Firstly, last year he had had a much larger lead in previous races which had dwindled away due to huge mistakes on the part of Hamilton and his team whereas this year he has actually increased his lead on the way to this race.  That must put him in a much better place mentally.

Formula 1, the supposed pinnacle of motorsport and technical excellence is in danger of becoming a shambles.

Not only do we have a governing body in the FIA who do nothing to dispell the notion that they are corrupt and happy to fix the championships, we also have a couple of teams and drivers who are doing everything in their power to not win either championship.

The Spanish Grand Prix is done and dusted, and it was a strange race with lots of retirements. Kimi Raikkonen is of course the big winner in terms of extending his lead at the top of the Drivers Championship, and his team have now taken control at the top of the Constructors table thanks to another one-two finish. Whether their current dominance can last remains to be seen, but at the moment it would appear they have a bit in reserve should McLaren or BMW bring the fight to them.