1 WHO TO WATCH
The dynamic on and off track between Lewis
Hamilton and Nico Rosberg should be fascinating. We never got to see
them race head to head in Melbourne, we did see it in Malaysia and clearly
it was a very dominant performance from Lewis. He won by more than 17
seconds, which is a big gap to your team-mate in a clean race. Irrespective
of leading the world championship, Nico will have been studying the data
hard to understand the gap. There has always the get out of mental jail card
a driver will play, looking at the different set-up of the cars, but Nico
will be looking for a step forward. Lewis has been saying this week how the
two are friends, but they do not hang out together, so seeing how that
inter-team dynamic unfolds will be intriguing, particularly in the early
part of the season when Mercedes seem to have an advantage.

2 WHERE THE RACE WILL BE WON
It is very much a point and squirt circuit. There are not many high speed
corners, so that will really play to the strengths of those with good power
units, which should bring the Mercedes
cars more to the fore, and will make it harder for Red
Bull compared to Malaysia. Because it is more of a power circuit,
fuel economy should be a bigger factor which may well bring Williams
closer to the front. We saw some good racing last year, but that was mainly
because Mercedes qualified well but struggled in the race. At the moment the
Mercedes is the quickest qualifying car, and the quickest race car.
Overtaking opportunities largely limited to the DRS zone into turn one. The
night race adds another element, but to be honest it does not make much of a
difference to the drivers.

3 THE SUB PLOTS
Ferrari
President Luca di Montezemolo has said he worries drivers are becoming “taxi
drivers”, and he has been in the sport long enough to have the right to give
his opinion. A Ferrari fan survey also showed a good number are unhappy with
the direction the sport has taken. My view is that a sport needs to listen
to its fans, and that you ignore your customers at your peril.

1 WHO TO WATCH
The dynamic on and off track between Lewis
Hamilton and Nico Rosberg should be fascinating. We never got to see
them race head to head in Melbourne, we did see it in Malaysia and clearly
it was a very dominant performance from Lewis. He won by more than 17
seconds, which is a big gap to your team-mate in a clean race. Irrespective
of leading the world championship, Nico will have been studying the data
hard to understand the gap. There has always the get out of mental jail card
a driver will play, looking at the different set-up of the cars, but Nico
will be looking for a step forward. Lewis has been saying this week how the
two are friends, but they do not hang out together, so seeing how that
inter-team dynamic unfolds will be intriguing, particularly in the early
part of the season when Mercedes seem to have an advantage.

2 WHERE THE RACE WILL BE WON
It is very much a point and squirt circuit. There are not many high speed
corners, so that will really play to the strengths of those with good power
units, which should bring the Mercedes
cars more to the fore, and will make it harder for Red
Bull compared to Malaysia. Because it is more of a power circuit,
fuel economy should be a bigger factor which may well bring Williams
closer to the front. We saw some good racing last year, but that was mainly
because Mercedes qualified well but struggled in the race. At the moment the
Mercedes is the quickest qualifying car, and the quickest race car.
Overtaking opportunities largely limited to the DRS zone into turn one. The
night race adds another element, but to be honest it does not make much of a
difference to the drivers.

3 THE SUB PLOTS
Ferrari
President Luca di Montezemolo has said he worries drivers are becoming “taxi
drivers”, and he has been in the sport long enough to have the right to give
his opinion. A Ferrari fan survey also showed a good number are unhappy with
the direction the sport has taken. My view is that a sport needs to listen
to its fans, and that you ignore your customers at your peril.