The Observer

In last week's Autosport magazine a panel of journalists, drivers and team personnel gave their answers to what we consider the 'big questions' of Formula One, 2007.

After just one race, we already know some of the answers - and Melbourne gave significant indications of the answers we should expect for the others over the rest of the season.

Australia's Albert Park circuit is well known for being a one-off, it's lakeside track offering challenges to cars and drivers not replicated anywhere else. But this year the general form of pre-season testing was carried over into the first race. There were few genuine surprises in Australia.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park © LAT

So to the questions...

Well, the first one was always going to be answered in Melbourne: who was going to win the race!

Everyone on our panel went for Ferrari, the quickest team of winter testing by some margin. But given Felipe Massa's pace and edge over new teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the Brazilian was the tip for most. But Autosport's Mark Hughes and Steve Cooper read it right. They backed Kimi to turn it on when it really mattered - which he emphatically did.

Massa will recover from his Aussie disappointment, of course, and he will win races this year. But a championship challenge? I just don't see it - never have. All these predictions that he can string it together for the whole season have nothing to back them up from his past, and when he was up against it on Sunday he hardly pulled out a champion's performance. Michael Schumacher, and Kimi for that matter, would have finished higher than sixth.

In fact, Massa's race resembled the driver he most reminds me of: Giancarlo Fisichella, who looked mediocre on his way to fifth.

Question two was 'What will be the biggest talking point of 2007?' Not so easy to answer after just one race, although I'm not giving up on my optimistic answer from last week - a raging battle for the world championship!

Yes, Ferrari had a big advantage in Melbourne. But that's been seen before at Albert Park - and it's one indicator for the rest of the season that might not be true. McLaren will undoubtedly hit back, as perhaps might BMW and possibly Renault. Let's just hope one of them does it soon - before it's to late.

The third question was one I chickened out from answering! Who will be the first big-name firing of the season? Others were more forthcoming.

Nigel Roebuck and mag editor Andrew van de Burgt went for Fisichella and Honda boss Nick Fry respectively. Given what we saw in Australia, either one could still be proved right.

Uninspired Fisi failed to lift a car that was clearly not the quickest beyond its natural level. His old teammate would have managed it.

Jenson Button (Honda RA107) holds off Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri SA07 Honda) © LAT

As for Fry, his team was severely embarrassed. Jenson Button was as admirably loyal in front of the cameras as ever - but he couldn't hide his depression. His team looked lost. The Japanese paymasters will not accept this situation for long and someone will face the axe if things don't change, fairly or not - as Geoff Willis found out last year.

While we're on the subject, let's rattle through the other Honda-related questions. Firstly, will Honda win a race? I think we'll all stick with our answers given last week on this one. No.

The same goes for the 'more points - Jenson or Lewis' question. Little point in wasting (cyber)space on this one.

As for the livery, it was an irrelevance in Oz. All that mattered when it came to the subject of Honda was that they were slower than the Super Aguris.

Now on to a Brit with something to smile about. Will Lewis Hamilton win a race? Olivier Panis reckoned Lewis would be the first firing - then said he didn't rule him out for a win! Perhaps, as an ex-McLaren tester, his first answer was tongue-in-cheek?

My answer to this one was yes, but not before mid-season. It looks like I might have to revise that opinion. But then again, despite the incredible debut performance for which he deserved every word of praise thrown his way this week, Lewis might still be made to wait for that first win.

Yes, he led Alonso for much of the race. But Fernando showed the advantage of his experience as he bided his time, then pounced at the final stops to take second place.

In any sport, they say that finding the extra nth of performance required to make you a winner is the hardest part. This is certainly true in motor racing, and so it will be for Lewis. He will get there, but outpacing Alonso over a whole race distance is a huge task. And that's without even mentioning Kimi and the Ferrari.

Lower down the field, will Red Bull beat Renault on pure pace at any time? Only Mark Hughes was certain of this last week, and the evidence suggests he was right to be. It will probably happen.

I was hugely impressed by Mark Webber in Melbourne. To qualify seventh after the difficult winter he endured was astonishing, one of the few real surprises of the weekend. OK, he didn't maintain that position in the race, but just as he did at Jaguar and Williams, Webber had already lifted a car beyond where it had any right to be.

But I maintain that Renault is still a top team, with drivers good enough to deliver top results - even if championships are beyond them. And don't forget Heikki Kovalainen is better than his ragged weekend suggested, too. Red Bull will have to work hard to beat Renault at any race - but with Webber, they should do it at least once.

Next question: Anthony Davidson or Takuma Sato? Seven of the 10 panellists whose answers were published on this one went for Anthony, and they might be right to do so, it's still too early to tell. But Sato's performance in Melbourne, specifically in qualifying, confirms what we already knew. This guy will be no pushover.

A Bridgestone tyre after the race © LAT

Now to another rising star: Can Kubica win a race? Well, BMW delivered on what they promised during the winter. They've got top-three pace, but not quite enough to beat Ferrari and McLaren right now - and they're struggling with a weakness in the gearbox.

That Nick Heidfeld made it to the finish in a competitive fourth place was excellent, and Kubica would have been ahead of him. So as was said last week, Robert is certainly good enough to win - he just needs a bit of luck.

The next one is a juicy question: Will the end of the tyre war make the racing more exciting? Based on the evidence produced on Sunday, it has to be an emphatic no! What a processional and dull race - at least on TV.

The variable of changing tyre performance was gone, even with the 'artificial' introduction of a mandatory soft tyre for one stint. I hate to be pessimistic, but the first race of this new era has got me worried. Are they all going to be like this?

Now to politics (no, please keep reading!). Will the customer car debate rumble on? As predicted, it was a major talking point in Melbourne and will certainly continue to be. But as Steve Cooper said last week, the debate will change in complexion as the year goes on, as we get closer to 2008 and the official introduction of customer cars. It's a vital issue for F1 and cannot be ignored.

And the biggest disappointment? Red Bull and Toyota were the popular choices last week, but perhaps van de Burgt was on the money again when he said 'the domination of Ferrari'. I accused him of being a pessimist, while knowing deep down that he could be right. Bloody hope he's not.

That leads us neatly to the obvious question we had to ask last week: who will be world champion?

Kimi did everything on Sunday to prove Vitantonio Liuzzi, Christian Horner, Edd Straw, Steve Cooper and Mark Hughes right. I'll keep saying this until I'm blue in the face - I'm staying optimistic that we are in for a fight for the title - but even I have to admit it's looking a tough call for anyone to beat him. Including Alonso.

But I'm going to end positively. We said Schuey couldn't come back from the deficit he faced to Alonso last year, but he did come back and make a fight of it. Fernando is right up there with Schuey. If anyone - and any team - can do it it's Alonso and McLaren.