It’s a sad fact that there are five teams in this category but all of these teams are facing the possibility of single digit points tallies at the end of the season and frankly, that makes them pretenders. Amazingly, only one team can claim they don’t have the cash to develop a winning car and that’s Super Aguri. It’s a miracle they even made it to Australia but that’s a story for another time.

So, without further fanfare and because first practice is only a few hours away, here are my thoughts and predictions on the 2008 pretenders of F1.

Toyota - How a team can spend half a billion dollars (500,000,000.00 - would you look at those zeros!) year after year and accomplish nothing staggers the mind. Toyota might have deserved to be in the previous group I reviewed but frankly, there’s no reason to think that some of their recent testing times were anything other than publicity grabs. Until this team unshackles itself from the corporate boardroom in Japan it will continue to under perform. Not signing either Ross Brawn as Team Principle or Fernando Alonso - even for a season - was yet another missed opportunity. Verdict: Mega money to spend but just more mediocre results to show for it.

Honda - Apparently the hole that Honda fell into last year was deeper than anyone thought. Again, a racing team cannot be run from the boardroom in Japan. Honda installed a completely unqualified technical director in 2006 and sent a top designer packing. It made no sense but the results were devastating - from contenders to joke in one season. Hopefully with Brawn at the helm and an on-form Button behind the wheel they can turn the corner mid-season. The struggle back to the front is going to be a character builder for everyone in the team. Verdict: More upheaval expected within the design team and few trips to the final qualifying session until near the end of the year.

Scuderia Torro Rosso - The Red Bull juniors are still a driver development team running second hand cars. Bravo for giving Sebastian Bourdais a much overdue F1 drive. Whether either driver will have a breakout year is open to debate though most of the paddock seem to think that the other Sebastian - Vettel, is the real deal. The team have adequate funding but the development of the car will come only after it’s been proven with the Red Bull Racing Squad. Verdict: With the quality of teams ahead of them, I expect them in the barriers more often than the points.

Force India - This team chews up and spits out millionaire owners like a bad monster movie. Jordan - Midland - Spyker and now Force India - the name changing never stops! The team have had some moments in testing but I can remember when Prost looked like title contenders in winter testing only to go broke before the year was over. The driver pairing looks interesting if a bit optimistic. Giancarlo Fisichella has a reputation for doing big things when expectations are low and after his last three seasons with Renault expectations are definitely low. Adrian Sutil still seems a little wild but if he can get the better of Fisi then he’ll be on to bigger and better things. Verdict: No better results this year than what you would have expected from Midland or Spyker in the past.

Super Aguri - What high hopes everyone had for the little team of super friends. Now, bought out by a conglomerate of investors, one has to wonder if Super Aguri will be the next Jordan-Midland-Spyker-Force India. It’s quite obvious that it is not possible to enter F1 without serious corporate backing. Aguri have done almost zero development work on their 2008 car - in fact, it’s safe to say that all their efforts were put into surviving, not finding another tenth of a second. Whether the name or the team remain for long is open to debate and that’s a pity. Verdict: The year will be summed up in one word for the team and its fans - ‘disappointment.’

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I’m still on a bit of a high from the Jackie Stewart book signing last week and my inspired investigations into the Scot’s career tell the tale of a man who left the sport at exactly the right moment - at the pinnacle of success and in one piece. With his third world championship secured and with the death of his teammate and friend, Francois Cevert, at Watkins Glen fresh in his mind, Jackie retired from F1. That decision cemented Stewart as a legend in the sport.

Fast forward to the present and the announcement from Force India (the latest incarnation of Jordan F1) that they have signed Giancarlo Fisichella for two years. If ever there was someone in the sport today who should consider how helpful retirement would be to their reputation, its Fisichella.

While the Italian driver was at Minardi, Jordan, Bennetton, Jordan (again) and Sauber, people claimed Fisi was a champion in waiting who just needed a winning car. Pundits rated him amongst the top three racers in the sport. Of course, he finally landed a winning car in 2005 and 2006. So what happened? Well, Fisichella managed to win one race each year. Meanwhile, his teammate won 14 races and 2 world championships. By all accounts a pretty underwhelming performance.

So at 35, Fisichella has raced in twelve seasons of F1 - 196 races (nearly twice as many as Stewart -99) and is looking forward to another two years of racing at the very back of the grid. To what end? What will another two years of making up the numbers and touring around in circles provide? Instinctively I can say there won’t be wins or even podiums and there won’t be anymore talk of, “if only…” from the pundits.

What there will be is one more driver who believes he is entitled to his place in F1 and will stubbornly stay in the sport, only to deprive some young and talented rookie from starting his career. I believe everyone should get a chance at the brass ring and now Fisi has had his and missed. Its time to get off the merry-go-round that is F1 and give a youngster a chance.

Giancarlo, your contemporaries have moved on, voluntarily or not, and its time you did the same.

Really.

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