Hail Alonso - Ferrari have a new hero

So the first race of 2010 is over, what did we learn? Well, already it looks like being a three division series. with the newcomers - Lotus, Virgin and Hispania occupying the bottom division. The Mid Division looks like comprising Sauber, Williams, Renault, Torro Rosso and Force India. Division 1 holds no surprises and is made up of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Alsonso was a little lucky to bring the race home for Ferrari as Vettel had looked the man from pole to lap 33 when a duff spark plug screwed his race. We can expect to see Red Bull and Ferrari slugging it out over the next few races whilst McLaren and Mercedes pull out all the stops to close the gap. It was also an interesting race for team head-to-head challenges. Alonso seems to have put Massa in his place, whilst Hamilton did a good job over Button. Rosberg may think he's got on top of Schumi but he should be aware that Schumi had the faster laps yesterday. Schumi may be a little rusty but he is getting back on pace - and he did hold off the reigning World Champion! It will be interesting to see what happens in the next race or two. Oh - and people don't seem to like the lack of refuelling!

F1 Testing Tease

So how much can we tell from pre-season testing? Last year the final two test sessions in Barcelona and Jerez gave a fair clue to the first race. Generally speaking, those at the top of the testing performed best in the race. Brawn, Toyota, Renault and Williams all performed well in testing and on race day in Melbourne. On the other hand, Ferrari and Sauber disappointed. If 2010 follows test form then we should be looking at Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull - but don't rule out Williams or Sauber. So take your pick! The true test will be Sunday's race in Bahrain. The ban on refuelling will mean that qualifying will show us which cars run quick on a low fuel load but only the race will tell us how good a car is over the full fuel range. Bring it on. I hate the off-season.