McLaren start as they mean to go on...

McLaren have emphasised the fact that their win in Australia was a sign of things to come, after filling out the front row of the grid again this weekend. Hamilton repeated his performance of Melbourne qualifying with a blistering lap early in the final session of qualifying, whilst Button was hot on his heels to secure second.

It's great to see Schumacher back up at the front and hopefully this weekend he can make it stick and mix it with the two Brits when the lights go out. Red Bull Racing have found themselves down the order again with Webber fourth and Vettel sixth, split only by the Lotus of Kimi Raikonnen. Red Bull will be striving to show that, (like in Australia) despite the car not having the pace in qualifying, it has considerably more pace in the race. Only time will tell.

It's interesting to note that the qualifying lap times were extremely close with less than half a second separating the top eight drivers. Alonso was almost a second off the eighth place Mercedes of Rosberg, showing the a worrying gulf between the top four teams and the rest of the field. However, four teams closely matched at the front sounds good to me, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race delivering on expectations.

And it's 'GO! GO! GO!'

The 2012 season kicked off in style, beginning with Qualifying. Formula One enthusiasts and fans were immediately assured that the Red Bull Racing dominance is over. It was a little disconcerting to see the hint of a McLaren dominance, but in the same breath it was extremely refreshing to see a Lotus and a Mercedes near the front of the grid aswell.

It seems that the more conventional nose on the McLaren car didn't create a problem for Jenson or Lewis, what with them impressively locking out the entire front row and then Jenson racing away to a storming victory, whilst Lewis traded places with vettel but still managed to claim the third podium place.

The best thing about the Grand Prix was the action all the way down the field and that action couldn't have been appreciated without Sky Sport's great coverage. There didn't appear to be any prejudice in regards to which drivers or teams were focused on during the race. The Sky Sports F1 director even went so far as disregarding Jenson Button's final lap, in favour of showing the exciting fights that were going on throughout the field, right up until the very end.

The continuous coverage and absence of adverts was the same as the BBC's coverage last season but time will tell if the further advantages will be a regular feature of footage on Sky, however so far I am well impressed with Sky's commitment. As for the racing, well after this weekend it promises to be exciting and unpredictable.

Should women be in Formula One?

The announcement that Marussia have employed the female race driver Maria De Villota has sparked the old argument taken up by many F1 fans the world over; why aren't there any female drivers in Formula One?

It's true that in recent years there have been no female drivers gracing the Formula One scene and the sports history there have been fewer than a handful. However, rather than look at this with the presumption that women are actively prevented from driving in Formula One, let's look at this from a simple statistical and factual point of view.

It is a statistical fact that vastly fewer women than men are interested in Formula One and so stands to reason that even less women actually attempt to achieve this goal. Add to this the not so obvious statistical fact that, in any one race season, there are no more than 24 human beings that are good enough to drive the massively challenging, powerful and agile cars. Speaking from personal experience, thousands of people would love to have the skill and stamina to be an F1 driver. Finally, F1 drivers need to be of a certain physical stature and even for some of them (the tall ones like Mark Webber and Justin Wilson) their physique is borderline when it comes to fitting in to a Formula One car; women have a very different body structure entirely. True, the teams could design the cars to fit but, with Formula One the way it is, what team is going to go to the expense?

With all this in mind; skill and ability, body shape and athleticism, and ultimately (arguably most importantly) the actual interest in being involved, then surely it's understandable that female drivers in F1 just doesn't happen. However, theres no prejudiced reason why not and I would love to see Marie De Villota get a first seat drive!

Oi Big Nose!!!

Nobody can fail to notice that this season's F1 cars have quite an unusual and, as many have opined, ugly addition to their nose cones. All of the cars, apart from the Mclaren, have a strange 'step' on the nose cone near the front suspension. The reason for this step is that, at the point where the 'step' appears, the nose must be at a particular height and aerodynamicists have found that having the front half of the nose lower is more beneficial to the movement of air over the front of the car.

At the time of the cars being unveiled there were two very interesting developments. The first one was that the Red Bull Racing car, designed by the genius and often unconventional Adrian Newey, appeared to have a hole in the 'step'. It is currently unclear as to what the hole in the nose cone is for but it is relatively logical to assume that it is there for a purpose and since the car is designed by Newey then it will likely perform that function more than adequately.

The Second development was the shock revelation that the Mclaren does not feature the 'stepped' nose cone at all. I have a theory about this and it is based on previous evidence that Ron Dennis and McLaren are more concerned with aesthetics than they are with actual performance (the McLaren factory was lavishly and expensively designed and built a few years back, the pit crew have to look sharp and trendy, just last season the drivers wore different race overalls designed by fans for each race, etc...). I predict that the McLaren will under perform this season, simply because the designers were encouraged to make the car LOOK good over making the car perform well.

Only time will tell, but my prediction is that Red Bull Racing's unorthodox hole in the nose will make them extremely fast, whilst McLaren's stubborness to forfeit performance over looks will set them back to the middle of the field. As for the other teams, its going to be exciting finding out which ones have made big steps and which have moved backwards. Are the new 'stepped' noses ugly? Its fair to say that there have been numerous innovations, over the years, that have looked a little unusual and out of place, but in time they become familiar and we all forget that we were shocked by them. The same will apply to the new noses, I'm sure.

For fans, what is the significance of pre-season testing?

Of course, nobody can question how important pre-season testing is to a Formula One team. It is completely essential that engineers and designers are able to test the complex and groundbreaking machines that they have spent the last four months meticulously designing and building. They need to be assured that when they put that car on the track for the first race of the season it isn't going to vibrate to pieces through the first corner or one of the wings isn't going to change shape at high speed and lose the car crucial seconds.

Similarly, the drivers want to be sure they are comfortable behind the wheel before they set out on to the track in that all important first qualifying session of the season. Sebastien Vettel doesn't want to be getting in to the car, on Saturday morning of the 17th of March in Melbourne, and find that he can't reach the pedals. So, pre-season testing is unquestionably extremely important to the teams, which brings me back to my original question.

Undoubtedly, as fans, we are all extremely excited as we approach the beginning of the new season and any news about F1 is lapped up as we anticipate the first race. But why can't the media be more honest about what pre-season testing means to us, instead of feeding us meaningless conclusions about how specific teams are looking quick for the new season having posted the fastest time, or how a team we expect to do well is looking slow. The pre-season testing is not a qualifying session, in which the drivers and teams are striving for the fastest time. It is the only chance to try out big things (new parts, different fuel levels, tyre and wing combinations, etc. etc....)

For this reason, it is unfair on fans, that the media draw these meaningless conclusions from incomprehensible circumstances. That's not to say that pre-season testing isn't an exciting chance to see the new cars out on track, in action. To take a look at the new design modifications and regulation aero parts, but lets not kid ourselves that when the pre-season testing is finished we will all know who the big contenders are. The fact is that only the teams know that and they aren't going to let on. So we should watch the pre-season testing for what it is and the media should report it as such.