Brawn F1

Formula 1 is going through perhaps the strangest period in the last 50 years this off-season.  With the massive rule changes starting this year, no one is sure which car will be quickest.  While it’s usually Ferrari and McLaren on top, some of the teams bypassed potential success last year in order to concentrate and this year’s design.  The point is, it’s more difficult to make predictions now than ever.  But I’m going to try.  My title contenders are:  Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfield, Lewis Hamilton, and (I’m writing this just to prevent future embarrassment) Jenson Button.  Since Ferrari is always strong, I like Kimi as my title favorite.  I think Felipe Massa will be crap this year — he’s always struggled without a lot of rear-end grip and that’s exactly the problem the new regulations force.  Alonso is a great driver, maybe the best, and with everything up in the air he’s always going to be a safe bet.  I feel like BMW is going to do even better this year than last, and I think either of their drivers are capable.  McLaren has been really struggling in testing thus far and so I’m not too keen on Lewis to repeat.  Generally testing times mean little but this year the combination of new technical regulations and limited testing times make me think that the teams were trying harder than usual — no one was sandbagging to hide their performance.  I could be wrong.  If I’m not, Jenson Button at Brawn F1 may be the favorite.  Ross Brawn bought Honda’s program after the manufactorer decided to get out of the sport.  They spent no time last year developing the 2008 car and concentrated entirely on the ’09.  Thus, when Rubens and Jenson went testing, they’ve been up to a second faster than the next closest car.  Provided any of that stays consistant, Brawn could actually be a contender.