The 2008 Drivers Preview

Winning the title in his first season in Ferrari colours was the ideal way for Raikkonen to answer those who wondered if he adequately could fill the team's Michael Schumacher-shaped void. It was achieved in style, too - not since James Hunt in 1976 had a champion recovered from such a large points deficit.

He will never have his predecessor's work ethic or ability to invigorate a team, and he remains prone to invisibility when the car is not to his taste, but at his best Raikkonen is a ruthlessly efficient winning machine. With Ferrari looking ominously strong in winter testing, he starts 2008 as favourite.

Massa has proved that he can be a match for Raikkonen, that he can dominate a Grand Prix from pole to the chequered flag, and that he can be a selfless team player when required. What's still not clear is whether he has the final, extra-special ingredient required to be a champion.

The Brazilian established a clear upper hand over his team-mate at first, but it was Raikkonen who strode through to snatch the title - although in fairness to Massa he had the worst luck of the top quartet last year. Nevertheless, with Raikkonen now comfortable in the team, Massa needs to prove himself again in 2008 to avoid slipping into an unofficial number two position.

Last season Heidfeld transformed himself from hard-working but unspectacular points gatherer to valiant, swashbuckling, racer. And even while he was stunning the paddock by snapping at Ferrari and McLaren's heels and pulling off bold outside line moves on the likes of Fernando Alonso, Heidfeld was still bringing the car home and chalking up a seemingly endless string of fourth places.

He easily eclipsed team-mate Robert Kubica too, despite the Pole ending 2006 on such a high. But Kubica seems more at home in the F1.08, so will the tables turn again? With BMW targeting victories this season, the stakes are now even higher in the intra-team battle.

Given that he had mounted the podium in only his third Grand Prix and was now armed with a significantly faster BMW-Sauber, Kubica should have expected to break into the top three on a regular basis in 2007.

But instead it was team-mate Heidfeld who led BMW's charge towards the front, while Kubica - whose driving style proved incompatible with the Bridgestone control tyres - only hit the headlines for his horrific Montreal accident. It could have all been so different however, if his hydraulics hadn't failed just after he took the lead in China.

This year Kubica must recapture the dazzling form he showed in his maiden GPs. He is still likely to be at the vanguard of the next generation of superstars, but he cannot afford another underwhelming year.

The double champion let himself down in 2007 - both with some unseemly off-track behaviour and several races when he was at best anonymous, and at worst erratic. Such flaws were rarely in evidence during his Renault years, and his return to the scene of his greatest triumphs was little surprise.

Alonso and Renault bring out the best in each other, and although the team have lost a little lustre since 2006, they have every chance of getting back on top given time. Remember that amid the petulance and errors at McLaren last season, Alonso still took four wins - including the season's finest victory at the Nurburgring - and came within a point of a third consecutive title. He remains one of the all-time greats and should thrive in his new (old) surroundings.

According to a popular theory, because Piquet ran Hamilton close in GP2, and Hamilton severely rattled Alonso at McLaren, Piquet is set to similarly destabilise the Spaniard in 2008.

However, such a scenario is unlikely. The less-experienced Hamilton ultimately beat Piquet by 12 points in GP2 and was widely regarded as the stronger F1 prospect, and Renault knows Alonso too well to risk allowing an upstart 'number two' to ruffle its talismanic champion.

But don't expect Piquet to be totally overshadowed. Flavio Briatore rates him highly, and his season of testing has left him very well-prepared. He doesn't lack determination either - being keen to both emerge from his triple champion father's shadow, and send a message to the other F1 teams who snubbed him during his formative seasons.

As Williams regained respectability last year, so Rosberg really blossomed as an F1 driver. The errors and inconsistencies of his rookie season were banished, but the blistering speed remained, and he stepped up to team leader status with aplomb after Webber's departure. McLaren was wise to target him during the winter.

Rosberg's commitment to leading Williams back to the top rather than taking the easier option of leaving for a current title contender is admirable, and hopefully he will be rewarded with podiums at least this season. Winter testing suggests that Williams are on the up, and Rosberg - one of the most feisty racers on the grid - won't waste any opportunities that come his way.

Promoting Toyota protege Nakajima to a race seat certainly helps Williams' engine bill, but this team is too ambitious and demanding to sign a driver purely for his financial benefits. They believe Nakajima showed enough pace during his season of number three duties to earn his place on the F1 grid.

Indeed there is little doubt about Nakajima's raw speed. At present he is something of a rough diamond however - as suggested by his impressive but untidy F1 debut in Brazil last year. His junior career was also a tale of great promise punctuated by errors and collisions. But if Williams can curb Nakajima's wayward streak and harness his clear potential then he could be Japan's next big star.

After treading water in 2006 waiting for Adrian Newey's influence to take effect, Red Bull made real progress last season and gave Coulthard a chance to return to the top five on occasion. As he enters his 15th year of F1, the Scot boasts abundant experience and a healthy sense of realism, while still being capable of scything through the field like a rookie with a point to prove, or sneaking an underperforming car into Q3.

Coulthard has been a real asset to Red Bull in its formative seasons, and it is pleasing that he is still around as the team's work starts to bear fruit. He may never add to his 13 GP wins, but podiums must be possible this year.

Webber has been stuck on the cusp of great achievements for too many years now, yet every big opportunity seems to vanish amid misfortune and disappointment. His first season with Red Bull did not bring the success that he hoped for - the team clearly moved forward only to squander many results with poor reliability, a scenario that Webber is all too accustomed to.

But if RBR's winter focus on durability pays off, then this could be Webber's overdue breakthrough year. He remains a fine qualifier and wet weather racer - victory in Japan was a genuinely possibility until he was harpooned by Vettel - and after so many years of frustration, his determination is second to none.

Trulli ended winter testing fastest of all at Barcelona, but don't expect that to translate into a challenge for victory in Australia. Even if Toyota's promises of progress come true, they still have a lot of ground to make up.

Should they underwhelm again, then Trulli's long career looks set to fizzle out in crushingly mediocre fashion, stuck in a rut of amazing qualifying performances that are inevitably followed by race day misery.

After having the edge on Ralf Schumacher in recent years, the arrival of Timo Glock presents a new challenge for Trulli this season, but the indications from testing are that the veteran Italian is far more in tune with the TF108 than the GP2 champion at present.

The latest GP2 champion to graduate to F1 has taken a far more meandering path to the top than predecessors Rosberg and Hamilton, and looks set to face a tougher struggle to establish himself having joined Toyota's faltering programme for his return, three years after a brief Jordan stint.

But Glock is not expecting instant success, and hopes he can play a pivotal role in finally getting Toyota to the forefront in F1 - however long it takes. As his time with Jordan (and with Rocketsports in Champ Car) amply demonstrated, the German is quite happy to hustle the wheels off a less-than-rapid car, which could prove useful given Toyota's recent form.

Until Toro Rosso threw him a lifeline, it seemed Bourdais had missed his F1 chance - which would have been unjust on the basis of his Formula Three and Formula 3000 title successes, let along his subsequent utter domination of what turned out to be Champ Car's swansong.

He has been careful to reiterate that in F1 terms he is very much a rookie and will still have much to learn in his early races. But he has already readjusted his sights and readily accepted that he is moving from a situation where he almost took victory for granted, to one where a top ten finish will be a fine achievement. Bourdais is overdue his F1 chance, and is determined to make the most of it.

Vettel packed an extraordinary amount of incident into his first eight Grands Prix - from the highs of his record-breaking debut point for BMW at Indianapolis to the agony of throwing away a podium and potentially costing Red Bull a victory in Japan. But amid the ups and downs, the young German's talent was always obvious.

Toro Rosso ended last year strongly, and running a modified '07 chassis initially could pay early dividends. With Bourdais still finding his feet, Vettel should be the man who benefits. Previous Red Bull proteges' F1 careers have proved fleeting, but so far Vettel looks a better long-term prospect than his predecessors. This season will be crucial, however.

After a truly hideous 2007, the only way is up for Button - although evidence from testing suggests that Honda have not made enough progress over the winter to regain respectability this season. At least with Ross Brawn installed at the team there is more hope for the longer-term future, but Button can ill-afford another season in the midfield.

He was responsible for Honda's few glimpses of success in 2007 and even if the new car brings more disappointment, he will still do heroic things with it whenever rain falls. But with only one win to show for eight years in F1, Button deserves better than to have to wait for a downpour to give him a chance to show his potential.

Barrichello is on the brink of breaking Riccardo Patrese's record and becoming the longest-serving driver in F1 history. On Honda's current form, it may be the only thing he has to celebrate all season.

Even in his rookie year at a very cash-strapped Jordan team Barrichello managed to break into the points, but that proved impossible with the recalcitrant 2007 Honda.

Although the veteran Brazilian would occasionally cope better with the wayward car than team-mate Button, it was the latter who had the edge whenever it was vaguely competitive. This is a trend that Barrichello needs to reverse this year.

Honda was supposed to be his big chance for independent success after too long in Schumacher's shadow - at present it looks like it will just be a particularly depressing way to end an F1 career.

Super Aguri's winter of uncertainty is set to cost the team all the momentum they built during their breakthrough 2007 season - which is a real shame for Sato, who proved to be one of the heroes of last year as he led his archetypal underdog team to some unexpected points.

Too inconsistent to hold down a top-line drive, Sato's optimistic and aggressive style is ideal for a squad like Super Aguri, who thrive on the possibility of pulling off an unlikely upset. But with the team starting 2008 in a very parlous state, even Sato's never-say-die attitude may not be enough to get them near the points again.

Having finally got his overdue F1 racing chance in 2007, Davidson spent much of the winter wondering if that opportunity was going to be snatched away from him again as Super Aguri struggled for survival. He remains more vulnerable than Honda protege Sato should any new owner or investor wish to install their own choice of driver.

Which is a shame, because Davidson did more than enough last year to prove that he deserved his place on the grid. Only misfortunes - including a bizarre brush with a beaver in Canada - prevented him from emulating Sato's points-scoring feats, and he often had the edge on his team-mate. Hopefully he will be able to continue that intra-team battle in 2008.

Sutil made quite an impact in his rookie year - both in the sense of impressing the paddock with his driving, and by crashing into a lot of things. In his defence, the young German had to wring the Spyker's neck to get himself noticed, for the car's default level was firmly back of the grid. Forcing it beyond its natural limits was his only option.

With more resources and a brighter future at the renamed Force India squad, it should be easier to impress in 2008. Sutil's challenge now is to prove he is the right man for team owner Vijay Mallya's ambitious plans - and that will mean cutting down on the crashes without losing his eye-catching speed.

At first glance Fisichella's move to the team that beat only the penalised McLaren in last year's standings seems like a desperate method of postponing retirement. But it could be an ideal choice for the Italian, whose finest hours have come when leading a small team to against-the-odds results.

He impressed in adversity early in 2007 as Renault dropped off the pace, only to then fade away as team-mate Kovalainen asserted himself. Now paired with another ambitious young star in Sutil, Fisichella must avoid a repeat of that scenario. If he can stay ahead of the German and lead Force India into the points, those who wrote him off at Renault may have cause to reconsider their criticisms.

Allowing the 2007 title to slip through his fingers at least proved that Hamilton was only human - a fact often in doubt as he dismissed his inexperience to set a very lofty new benchmark for rookie season achievements.

Last year whatever he accomplished was an impressive bonus, for no-one anticipated he would come anywhere near the title at the first attempt.

But this year there is massive pressure of expectation, for logically having come within one point of the championship with zero F1 experience, now he has a season behind him he should saunter to the title he so narrowly missed out on. That's exactly what Hamilton is aiming to do, but he isn't underestimating the scale of his task.

Had he not been able to walk straight into a highly-competitive McLaren seat, Kovalainen's unceremonious ejection from Renault would have been regarded as a travesty, for the Finn delivered a fine rookie season in difficult circumstances. He recovered superbly from initial blips to overshadow team-mate Fisichella and more than prove he belonged in F1.

Taking on Hamilton at McLaren is a whole new challenge, but at least he should get race-winning machinery. Kovalainen reckons he is much better prepared for 2008 than he was for his debut year, and while he has no intention of emulating Alonso's war with his team-mate, neither does the genial Finn intend to let Hamilton become undisputed McLaren number one.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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