The saying, “There’s no place like home” might be an overused cliche’ but it’s true nonetheless. I’ve been away from the keyboard for several weeks thanks to a fantastic trek across parts of Europe - all in the name of motor sports. Life is good and yes, I do consider myself very fortunate. I’ll write at length about some parts of the journey: Goodwood; Brooklands and the Nurburgring, in the coming weeks. Currently I’m working on some other writing projects and trying to catch up on a lot of errands that have been neglected in my absence.

One thing I would like to make mention of is a new location to check out some of my Formula 1 writing. I’ve begun writing for a website based in Vancouver, Canada called Suite101. Under their sports section you can find me busily churning out articles. Currently I’m putting together a short series on the current group of Formula 1 Constructors - a short of Coles notes to get people up to speed on who the players are in F1 and how they got there. I hope you’ll check it out. You can find my work here.

It looks like a bit has happened since I’ve been gone and warrants a mention. Lewis seems to be building some momentum as we get into the second half of the season. While there was a brief log jam in the drivers championship, I suspect it might become a bit of a one-horse race if Ferrari can’t turn it around.

Also, Max got his day in court and while he might feel vindicated, he should still put the sport ahead of his galactic-sized ego. We all know he won’t. In fact, I’ll go so far as to speculate that he won’t step down in October of 2009 as he promised. He’ll either stay on because ‘people’ have begged him to or he’ll shift into a newly created position where he will continue his political machinations from the shadows. Autocrats never die, they just become more autocratic.

And, finally, there’s the Kimi Raikonnen retirement watch. A lot of ink is being wasted speculating on his impending curtain call. Despite his sub-par performances, I don’t think the Kimster is ready to walk away from all that Ferrari money just yet. But, if he does, you can be sure he’ll leave the decision until the last minute and keep the driver market simmering if not boiling.

That’s all for now, but regular posts will resume shortly.

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A year ago BMW driver Robert Kubica sat in the wreckage of his car awaiting an airlift to hospital. Today he stood atop the podium, winner of the Canadian Grand Prix. What a difference a year makes.

Kubica has threatened to win several times this season but the overall pace of the McLaren and Ferrari cars has denied BMW and left the team looking to take advantage of a mistake from their rivals. Today, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton handed them just such an opportunity on a silver platter.

When the safety car was deployed on lap 18 so Adrian Sutil’s car could be removed, the front runners all pitted for fuel and tires. Hamilton, who had led from the start, found himself third when exiting his pit box. In his eagerness to catch up he failed to see the red light at the end of the pit lane that instructs drivers to wait until the safety car has passed before proceeding. He slammed into the back of the stationary Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Both drivers were unable to continue.

The melee left Kubica in a great position to win if he could avoid any drama for the rest of the race. Fortunately for Kubica, his only real threat on the track was teammate Nick Heidfeld who was operating on a different fuel strategy.

Predictably, the safety car jumbled the field, putting several faster cars behind slower drivers but both BMW drivers were able to take advantage. Heidfeld stormed off into the lead, able to pit and rejoin the race ahead of his teammate with help from slower cars positioned between them on the track.

Kubica, driving with a lighter fuel load and able to find a faster ultimate pace around the Montreal track jumped past his teammate during his second pit stop. Once the stops were completed by all the drivers, Kubica moved up to first, followed by his teammate to complete a perfect 1-2 finish for BMW.

The race proved to be an opportunity for midfield teams as well. With so many front runners failing to finish, the smaller teams doggedly fought to the flag to the delight of the fans. Red Bull, Toyota, Honda and Torro Rosso all walked away with unexpected spoils.

BMW scored their first win in style with a strong 1-2 finish which catapulted them into second place in the Constructors Championship, three points behind Ferrari. Kubica now finds himself in the lead of the driver’s standings with a third of the season completed.

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Once more, the Canadian Grand Prix produces an historic race and an incredibly unpredictable result.

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The Bahrain Grand Prix is over and the teams are heading back to Europe where the ‘real’ season will start in earnest in three weeks. The action on the track was nowhere near the excitement that goes on in Max Mosley’s bedroom but it still provided a few things worth pondering. After three rounds of the 2008 season, here are five points to consider.

1. The British press still have a beef with Fernando Alonso - Of course Lewis Hamilton would collide with Alonso! Or, if you believe some suggestions in the British Press - Fernando gave Lewis a bit of the old brake business. Come on! There was nothing to it but a racing mistake from a sophomore driver. Hamilton was flustered by a bad start, got anxious and hit a fuel-heavy Fernando in the rear - both drivers suffered as a result in the race. The countless suggestion from James Allen and Martin Brundle during the broadcast that it might have been more sinister than that was a desperate attempt at drumming up some drama that was nowhere to be seen in the race. Shame on you ITV!

2. BMW are derailing McLaren’s championship plans - The Scuderia must not know what to think when they look over their shoulders these days - the silver cars aren’t there! BMW are definitely on the move but the team from Hinwil don’t have the experience to challenge Ferrari for the title. McLaren are the team that everyone was expecting to take the fight to Ferrari - problem is, they seem to be stuck behind BMW!

3. Ferrari are running away with the season - The wunderkid from Stevenage seems to have come in contact with some Kryptonyte this season and is unable to take the fight to Ferrari. In a near repeat of last season’s closing races, Hamilton has squandered a 10 point lead in the championship and now trails Kimi Raikkonen by four points. If McLaren can’t find the pace to get around BMW and into a position to attack Ferrari, the season is all but settled. We’ll only have to wait for Jean Todt to mastermind one of his famous coin tosses to see which Ferrari driver will win the championship.

4. David Coulthard is racing his last season - Someone get this guy bigger mirrors! What can you say, the boil has come off this guy - the fire in the belly is gone along with his peripheral vision. There are a 1000 drivers who would kill to be in that Red Bull RB4 and they’re not going to have to wait much longer.

5. Renault are going backwards faster than the R28 can go forwards - Fourth, eighth, tenth - anyone else see the trend here? Renault are in need of some major upgrades on the car if they want to avoid being swallowed up by Red Bull, Toyota and Williams. Alonso has been driving well and that’s worth a few tenths but they need to find a second quickly which is unheard of in F1. If the rumors are true, and there are performance clauses in Fernando’s contract that let him leave if they aren’t competitive, then Renault have a crisis on their hands.

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The team’s have endured back to back races in tough (hot) conditions and while some people feel the real season won’t start until the Spanish Grand Prix, I think a few things are coming to the fore that will provide the theme of this season’s championship.

1. BMW are the fly in the ointment for Ferrari and McLaren. If either of the top two teams stumble during a race this season, they won’t just fall behind their main rivals - odds are they’ll fall behind BMW as well. With BMW able to match the pace of McLaren and showing better reliability than Ferrari, the damage from a bad weekend will be greater than what either team faced last year. Unlike 2007, the front runners are now looking over their shoulders.

2. Toyota weren’t grandstanding! I can say it - I was wrong. I honestly thought that Toyota were going to be nowhere this season but happily the team with megabucks have proven me, and many others wrong. We never really got to see Trulli’s ultimate pace in Melbourne but in Malaysia, he put in a strong qualifying performance and followed it up with a determined run to fourth, holding off a late charging Lewis Hamilton. Toyota aren’t quite with BMW yet but they seem to have the measure of Red Bull and Williams. As a qualifying specialist, Trulli should not be underestimated and he might wreck the race plans of more than one driver this season.

3 . Massa is looking hopeless. Wow, can it get any worse for Felipe Massa? Two races, two unforced and very amateurish driving errors. Worse, the second ‘off’ cost him an assured second place. I haven’t even brought up the silly crash with David Coulthard in Australia. F1 claims it has the best drivers in the world so you would expect that lapping the track would be fairly easy stuff. Apparently not for Massa who is looking more and more uncomfortable in a world without traction control. He’s 14 points behind Hamilton after two races and can already kiss his title shot goodbye. If he doesn’t improve, Ferrari will not be able to hold onto the Constructor’s Title.

4. Ferrari have a serious reliability issue. I’m not sure of the count but…let’s see, in Australia we had Kimi’s engine expire, Felipe’s engine expire and Sebastian’s engine explode. Interestingly, in Australia Adrian Sutil’s Ferrari powered Force India had ‘hydraulics’ problems and again in Malaysia. It wouldn’t be so suspicious if Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari powered Torro Rosso didn’t also fail because of hydraulics in Malaysia. So in all, six Ferrari powered cars have failed to finish for mechanical reasons in two races. That’s a 50% failure rate. Even in the dark days before Schumacher at Ferrari, the team wasn’t this bad, was it? With engine homologation looming, now is not the time for problems.

5. Alonso is showing a champion’s character. Fernando put in a scrappy race in Australia and between the retirements of those in front of him and the bizarre pit-limiter mistake from Heikki Kovaleinen that slowed his car right after passing Alonso, the Renault driver was lucky to steal fourth place. Still, unlike most, he tamed the Australian circuit without the aid of traction control. In Malaysia, he put in a hard fought race, dispatching David Coulthard and harassing Mark Webber relentlessly at the end of the race for the reward of a single point. There have been many former champions who just switch off and fade as soon as they aren’t fighting for wins (Hill, Hunt, Scheckter) but Alonso is not one of them. He flogged a pretty awful car around the track with sublime control. He seems at ease at Renault and back on the form that marked him as one of the most complete drivers in F1 - past or present. I’m happy he’s back to normal.

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It’s several hours after the Australian Grand Prix has ended and I’m still pretty sure that I saw a motor race! I saw some scrappy racing, some cars getting sideways in the corners and some huge crashes so probably yes, it was a motor race! Other than the crashes - some of which should definitely have been avoided by the so-called, “best drivers in the world,” I really liked what I saw. I’m also pretty damn glad that the season has started, I couldn’t have waited much longer.

Looking back over the results and thinking back on my overall impression of the first race of the year, here are some things I think we can all be thankful for from the Australian Grand Prix.

1. Ferrari didn’t dominate like winter testing suggested. Despite all the evidence that Ferrari were going to run away from everyone early in the season, they fell apart - very vintage, pre-Shumacher Ferrari. Both drivers were particularly ragged in the race and the single point Kimi picked up was definitely not deserved. They need to regroup for next week.

2. The FIA got the traction control ban spot on. I hate saying the FIA got something right, but the standardized ECU with no traction control and no engine braking is doing the job of separating the good from the great. There are a half-dozen drivers who probably hate the new ultra-touchy cars and think it’s unsafe but then, there are 1000 hungry drivers out there who want a chance to be a grand prix driver so get over it and start driving like you belong in Formula 1!

3. Sportsmanship. It was nice to see Lewis Hamilton being genuinely happy for Nico Rosberg after the race. Nico was clearly excited to be on the podium (his first trip there) and it’s fitting that after the checkered flag drops, the drivers can celebrate the accomplishments of one another. A great post-race feed from Australia let fans see a different side of F1. After the politics and machinations of 2007, it was refreshing.

4 . Honda, Red Bull, Toyota and Torro Rosso are all faster than expected. I really expected all of these teams to be quite a ways back from the chasing pack of BMW, Williams, Red Bull and Renault and yet, there they were, mixing it up in qualifying. If the first corner melee had been avoided, there might have been far fewer points to take home for Renault, Ferrari and Williams. It bodes well for those fans who like to see drivers scrapping for every point.

5. Three drivers, three different teams on the podium. It was a bit fortunate that McLaren didn’t walk to a 1-2 finish but it’s a sign of a competitive grid when three teams can stand on the podium. Sadly, Ferrari and McLaren will occupy the top placings on most days but with a bit more Melbourne style chaos at the start of the races, fans might see some unfamiliar faces holding up the trophies.

Let’s hope Malaysia gives us more of this brave, new Formula 1.

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