Sebastian Loeb won for the second successive rally and extended his Championship lead and Former F1 WDC Kimi Raikkonen scored his first ever WRC points!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
However the Rally was contreversial because of tactics employed by Both Citroen and Ford.
Latvala in the Ford Dominated Day 1 and led by over 30 seconds but having to go first out on the second day meant he had to sweep the roads which would cost him a lot of time.Ogier was 2nd after Day 1 and Loeb 3rd with Petter Solberg slowing right down in order to get good position for day 2 and was 4th with Mikko Hirvonen 5th,Dani Sordo also slowed to get a good road position and was 6th overall,Kimi was 10th overall after Day 1.
Then drama on the first stage of Day 2 championship contender Mikko Hirvonen crashed out of the Rally and even at this early stage he has a lot of ground to make up.
As Day 2 went on Loeb caught Latvala and passed him and pulled out a big lead from Ogier and Latvala.
Henning Solberg was running well in 6th until a puncture which dropped him down the order and Kimi gained another place.
Day 3 Ogier dropped down after 8 min time penalties and dropped him behind Kimi but overtook Kimi and finished 6th in the end.Loeb Cruised to victory with Latvala 2nd and Petter Solberg 3rd.
Overall
1.Loeb
2.Latvala +35.8
3.P Solberg +1:11.8
4.Sordo +1:49.3
5.Wilson +8:24.3
6.Ogier +10:26.4
7.Villagra +11:28.0
8.Kimi +12:31.0
9.H Solberg +14:08.6
10.Pons +18:33.9
Championship Standings
1.Loeb 68 points
2.Latvala 43
3.Hirvonen 37
4.P Solberg 35
5.Ogier 33
6.Sordo 24
7.H Solberg 18
8.Wilson 16
9.Villagra 12
10.Pons 5
12.Kimi 4

In his second race for Mclaren Jenson Button drove to a dominant victory after a thrilling Australian GP in Melbourne with Robert Kubica an excellent 2nd in the Renault and Felipe Massa 3rd for Ferrari.
A dramatic start Vettel got a good start,with Felipe Massa having an excellent start jumping from 5th to 2nd,with Robert Kubica jumping from 9th to 4th and Alonso in the other Ferrari was hit by Jenson Button and Alonso spun and Schumacher on his outside had front wing damage after he made contact with the Ferrari of Alonso.There was a nasty accident on the 1st lap,Kobayashi front wing for the not first time this weekend fell off and then crashed into Hulkenberg and Buemi,thankfully all 3 were ok.
On lap 7 Button made a brave call by going on to dry tyres and it looked like it was a mistake as he went off in turn 3 but then he started setting fastest sector times and laps and then everyone starting coming in but with the Red Bulls 1st and 2nd Webber had to wait an extra lap which dropped him back to 6th after also running wide in Turn 1 which let Massa through,after everyone made there stops and change to dry tyres Vettel led from Button and Kubica.
Alonso by lap 15 had climbed back up to 8th and then a lap later Webber passed Massa in turn 1 and when both went wide Hamilton went round the outside of Webber who then tried to keep ahead but outbraked himself and ended up into the gravel and Webber returned to the track in 8th.
Then on lap 22 Massa briefly lost the rear of the car and Hamilton then overtook Felipe,Fernando had a go in turn 3 but ran wide and Webber overtook him.
Then on lap 26 Vettel retired after a brake failure which sent him into the gravel and cost him victory.
A lap later Hamilton passed Rosberg round the outside to go 3rd.Webber 2 laps later passed Massa to go 5th.
Then within in the space of a few laps Webber,Hamilton and Rosberg all pitted for a new set of tyres while the other guys at the front did not.
On lap 37 Hamilton ran wide Webber passed but ran slightly wide himself and Hamilton got back past.
Hamilton and Webber then traded fastest laps and they began to catch Kubica and the 2 Ferraris at the rate of 2 seconds a lap and by lap 49 they had caught the Ferraris up.
On lap 53 Barrichello passed De La Rosa for 9th place,2 laps later Schumacher finally got passed Alguersuari and then near the end passed De La Rosa for 10th and Alguersuari also got through.
Then drama with 2 laps to go Hamilton tried to passed Alonso round the outside but Webber outbraked himself and Hit Hamilton,Webber lost his front wing and Hamilton lost just 1 place when it could have been so much worse.
Result
1.Button 1:33:36.531
2.Kubica +12.0
3.Massa +14.4
4.Alonso +16.3
5.Rosberg +16.6
6.Hamilton +29.8
7.Liuzzi +59.8
8.Barrichello +1:00.5
9.Webber +1:07.3
10.Schumacher +1:09.3
11.Alguersuari +1:11.3
12.De La Rosa +1:14.0
13.Kovalainen +2 laps
14.Chandhok +5 laps
Retired
Glock 41 laps
Di Grassi 26 laps
Vettel 25 laps
Sutil 9 laps
Petrov 9 laps
Senna 4 laps
Buemi 1 lap
Kobayashi 1 lap
Hulkenberg 1 lap
Trulli 0 laps
Drivers Championship standings
1.Alonso 37
2.Massa 33
3.Button 31
4.Hamilton 23
5.Rosberg 20
6.Kubica 18
7.Vettel 12
8.Schumacher 9
9.Liuzzi 8
10.Webber 6
11.Barrichello 5
Constructors standings
1.Ferrari 70
2.Mclaren 54
3.Mercedes GP 29
4.Renault 18
5.Red Bull 18
6.Force India 8
7.Williams 5

German Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull took his 2nd successive pole of the season in Melbourne,Home Favourite Mark Webber was second in the sister Red Bull,with Championship leader Fernando Alonso 3rd for Ferrari but there was a big shock Lewis Hamilton failed to make Q3 and starts 11th.
Q1:The 2 Virgins,2 Lotus’ and the 2 HRT’s not surpris with Vitaly Petrov also getting knocked out in the Renault which was a surprise after he showed good pace yesterday in practice.Vettel was Fastest,Rosberg 2nd and Button 3rd
Q2:Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in this session,saying he couldn’t get heat into his tyres and could only finish 11th 0.062 behind Robert Kubica which meant he just made it into Q3.Both Toro Rossos,both Saubers were knocked out,Liuzzi was knocked out in the Force India and Hulkenberg was knocked out in the Williams.
Q3:Vettel took pole with a great lap but almost lost it in the last 3 corners with a few mistakes with Webber just over a tenth behind his teammate with Alonso less than a tenth behind Webber.
Jenson Button pulled out a good lap to be 4th ahead of Felipe Massa who was 7 tenths slower than teammate Alonso in Q3,it looks like Massa is going to struggle to keep with Alonso this season.
Nico Rosberg again outqualifed Schumi with the 2 Mercedes drivers 6th and 7th separted by just 0.043,Rosberg was not happy felt there was more in the car but Schumi was satisfied.
Barrichello was 8th for Williams a 3 place improvement from Bahrain,Kubica was 9th for Renault and Sutil 10th for Force India,Kubica will be hoping Sutil doesn’t hit him again like he did in turn 2 in Bahrain.
Times Q1 Q2 Q3
1.Vettel 1:24.774 1:24.096 1:23.919
2.Webber 1:25.286 1:24.276 1:24.035
3.Alonso 1:25.082 1:24.335 1:24.111
4.Button 1:24.897 1:24.531 1:24.675
5.Massa 1:25.548 1:25.010 1:24.837
6.Rosberg 1:24.788 1:24.788 1:24.884
7.Schumacher 1:25.351 1:24.871 1:24.927
8.Barrichello 1:25.702 1:25.085 1:25.217
9.Kubica 1:25.588 1:25.122 1:25.372
10.Sutil 1:25.504 1:25.046 1:26.036
11.Hamilton 1:25.046 1:25.184
12.Buemi 1:26.061 1:25.638
13.Liuzzi 1:26.170 1:25.743
14.De La Rosa 1:26.089 1:25.747
15.Hulkenberg 1:25.866 1:25.748
16.Kobayashi 1:26.251 1:25.777
17.Alguersuari 1:26.095 1:26.089
18.Petrov 1:26.471
19.Kovalainen 1:28.797
20.Trulli 1:29.111
21.Glock 1:29.592
22.Di Grassi 1:30.185
23.Senna 1:30.526
24.Chandhok 1:30.613

Fernando Alonso won the Bahrain GP in his first race for Ferrari ahead of Felipe Massa his teammate and Lewis Hamilton in 3rd after a very dreadfully boring race in Bahrain.
Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel finished 4th after leading for most of the race after a exhaust problem which meant he lost engine power and Alonso,Massa and Hamilton just cruised past him.At the start everyone got away cleanly with Alonso passing Massa in turn 2,further back there was contact between Kubica in the Renault and Sutil in the Force India which dropped them right to the back.
Then on Lap 2 Karun Chandhok in the Hispana making his F1 Debut crashed out.
Then soon after Lucas Di Grassi making his debut in the Virgin retired with a problem and later Timo Glock also retired while both Lotus drivers got to the finish.Both Saubers also retired with hydraulic problems for both drivers and near the end the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Buemi retired and Petrov of Renault also retired.
In the first stint Vettel was comfortably pulling away and built up a 5 second lead over Alonso with Massa a further 3 seconds back with Lewis Hamilton been held up by Nico Rosberg.
After the 1st and only pitstops of the race Alonso began to close in on Vettel and got the gap down to 1 second but then Alonso had to drop back because his engine was heating up but then Vettel on lap 33 began to slow and on the next lap Alonso passed him and then a lap later Massa passed him and then a few laps later Hamilton passed him too,Alonso then drove away from Felipe setting the fastest lap in the process.
So after the Bahrain GP ferrari are clearly the teamto beat in Australia,Alonso’s fastest lap was over a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton who was best of the rest in terms of fastest laps.
Red Bull have the 2nd quickest car but again reliabilty cost them again today with Vettel like it did in 09,Mclaren’s qualifying pace was not very good but race pace was more encouraging. 
Here is what some oftop the guys had to say from BBC.
Vettel:”It’s a pity what could we do?Overall it’s a positive.We were one of the quickest,we had very good control of the race and were on top in the strategy.Everything was running smoothly.Luckily we could continue and finish fourth but we should have won really.It seemed to kind of recover at the end but it cost us a lot.The points are still important”.
Alonso:”I had some pace in the pocket at that time of the race but I was just managing my tyres.I was waiting for the time to attack,maybe for the last 10 laps but suddenly vettel had a car problem and we had a chance to overtake him a little earlier than expected.He was very quick on the soft tyres and I could not follow him,but on the hard tyres we were better.it’s a special day for me,coming back to the podium is always special and it’s even more special with Ferrari.We did nothing today,only won the first grand prix but it’s a good start.I’m very optimistic for the rest of the season”.
Massa:”I didn’t have a good start and I lost an important position in the first corner.The race was perfect for me,the car was perfect and we worried about the fuel consumption,so I started to save fuel and there was nothing to do anymore.I was lucky Vettel had his problem.
Hamilton:”I had quite a good race but I lost a bit of ground at turn 4 and Rosberg got past me.I was held up behind him for the first half of the race,I was much faster but it’s very difficult to follow here while trying to look after your tyres.If I was ahead of him I may have been able to follow the train Ferrari were creating.It’s more than we expected this weekend and we need to continue to push to keep up with Ferrari”. 
Results
Fastest lap:Alonso 1:58.287
1.Alonso 1:39:20.396
2.Massa +16.0
3.Hamilton +23.1
4.Vettel +38.75.Rosberg +40.2
6.Schumacher +44.1
7.Button +45.2
8.Webber +46.3
9.Liuzzi +53.0
10.Barrichello +1:02.489
11.Kubica +1:09.093
12.Sutil +1:22.958
13.Alguersuari +1:32.656
14.Hulkenberg +1 lap
15.Kovalainen +2 laps
16.Buemi +3 laps
17.Trulli +3 laps
Drivers who retired
De la Rosa 28 laps
Senna 18 laps
Glock 17 laps
Petrov 14 laps
Kobayashi 11 laps
Di Grassi 3 laps
Chandhok 2 laps
Championship Standings (Drivers)
1.Alonso 25 points
2.Massa 18
3.Hamilton 15
4.Vettel 12
5.Rosberg 10
6.Schumacher 8
7.Button 6
8.Webber 4
9.Liuzzi 2
10.Barrichello 1
Constructors 1.Ferrari 43 points
2.Mclaren 21
3.Mercedes GP 18
4.Red Bull Racing 16
5.Force India 2
6.Williams 1

Q1:No surprises in 1,the slowest 6 the 2 Hispanas of Chandhok and Senna,2 Lotus’ Trulli and Kovalainen,2 Virgins Glock and Di Grassi and Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari.The Virgin team landed the first blow against Lotus with Glock beating Trulli.Alonso was quickest after Q1 with Vettel 2nd and Sutil 3rd.
Q2:Sauber struggling for pace in Bahrain both knocked out,as were the 2 Williams Drivers,Liuzzi for Force India,Buemi for Toro Rosso and Petrov for Renault with Jenson Button scraping through after struggling for raw pace.Vettel was fastest in Q2 from Alonso and Webber.
Q3:Again Vettel delivered under pressure with a great lap and took pole with Massa comfortably beating his teammate Alonso with Hamilton 4th but over 1 second off the pace.Michael Schumacher was 7th on his return 3 tenths of Rosberg and was slower than Rosberg in all 3 sessions.Kubica and Sutil had a good qualifying and were 9th and 10th fastest.
So tomorrow Red Bull of Vettel and Ferrari’s I expect will pull away from the rest but of course with a full fuel load they have to conserve the tyres and listening to BBC they believe Ferrari will be able to conserve there tyres better than the Red Bull but it’s gonna be very close.Whoever can conserve there tyres and of course who has the speed.
Lewis after qualifying on BBC ”I was surprised with that result,We generally don’t have the same pace as the Red Bulls and the Ferraris so I was really surprised where I came though.We simply lack the downforce and we are losing nearly a second in the middle sector.I hope tomorrow we can just either keep that position or take one more tomorrow”.
Rosberg ”I was going for pole but we just didn’t have the speed”.
1.Vettel 1:54.101
2.Massa 1:54.242
3.Alonso 1:54.608
4.Hamilton 1:55.217
5.Rosberg 1:55.241
6.Webber 1:55.284
7.Schumacher 1:55.524
8.Button 1:55.672
9.Kubica 1:55.885
10.Sutil 1:56.309
Knocked out in Q2
11.Barrichello 1:55.330
12.Liuzzi 1:55.653
13.Hulkenberg 1:55.857
14.De La Rosa 1:56.237
15.Buemi 1:56.265
16.Kobayashi 1:56.270
17.Petrov 1:56.619
Knocked out In Q1
18.Alguersuari 1:57.071
19.Glock 1:59.728
20.Trulli 1:59.852
21.Kovalainen 2:00.313
22.Di Grassi 2:00.587
23.Senna 2:03.240
24.Chandhok 2:04.904

Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes was fastest in 2nd practice in his Mercedes again showing that we have to wait until qualifying to see who has the quickest car,Rosberg was 8th this morning,Lewis Hamilton was 2nd with Michael Schumacher 3rd after been 10th this morning,Button was 4th fastest in the other Mclaren and  Sebastian Vettel 5th for Red Bull.
The Ferrari’s were 7th and 9th,most teams concentrated on longish runs and the quick times were early in the session.
If I was having a good guess I would say Ferrari have the quickest car with Mclaren and Red Bull not far behind.
1.Rosberg 1:55.409 23 laps
2.Hamilton 1:55.854 22
3.Schumacher 1:55.903 23
4.Button 1:56.076 28
5.Vettel 1:56.459 18
6.Hulkenberg 1:56.501 26
7.Massa 1:56.555 30
8.Petrov 1:56.750 26
9.Alonso 1:57.140 25
10.De la Rosa 1:57.255 24
11.Kobayashi 1:57.352 27
12.Sutil 1:57.361 29
13.Barrichello 1:57.452 21
14.Liuzzi 1:57.833 29
15.Kubica 1:58.155 29
16.Alguersuari 1:59.799 31
17.Webber 2:00.444 12
18.Kovalainen 2:00.873 23
19.Trulli 2:00.990 14
20.Glock 2:02.037 3
21.Di Grassi 2:02.188 21
22.Senna 2:06.968 17
23.Buemi no time 1
24.Chandhok no time 0Here’s what the front drivers had to say,quotes from www.f1.com
Nico:”we improved over the course of the day but it didn’t feel great initially with the new track,lower downforce and the conditions were very sandy this morning.So we had a few balance issues to work on but it came together in the afternoon.There are still areas where we can improve but we have a good comparison with the tyre compounds and on long the long runs.overall we’ve learnt a great lot today so it’s a positive start to the weekend”.
Michael:”we worked very well this afternoon after having a few issues with the balance this morning.The car felt much better in the second session although i’m a little rusty on one lap runs and need to get back into the routine.On the long runs the car felt good and once you get into the rhythm,it feels very natural.I’m happy with our work today and feeling ready for the weekend”.
Lewis:”Out on track it’s been very hot so tyre degradation of both compounds has been very high,but I think the degradation is something we can handle you build it into your driving style and moderate the approach to each lap.Still it’s difficult to know what laptime to target when you’re on a long run.Our car feels very heavy with a high fuel load,it doesn’t want to stop under braking but through the high speed corners it feels quite well balanced.We still don’t really have a full understanding of where all the teams are because everyone was running different fuel loads”.
Jenson:”Today has shown us that looking after the rear tyres is difficult here,especially on the softer compound.So you find yourself driving with a lot of oversteer through the stint.The new section of the track is very bumpy.We are still working on our set up and that’s not something you can really do on a tyre back to back programme and the tracks so busy.We know where the car is now and we know where we want it to be so there’s work to be done this evening to improve things overnight.I think we did an okay job today and we can be reasonably happy with the performance of the car although we know there are areas we still need to work on.
Vettel:”So,the first day of the race.Unfortuantely we didn’t get a lot of running today.The track was still green this morning so everyone was just checking there cars.In the second practice I had to have my brakes changed.I would have liked more track time,but it’s not christmas time and we’re not given things for free.We have a lot of work to do,but we know where we need to improve,so we will work on that.
Webber:”Not such a good day and not enough mileage.We missed out a bit this afternoon.I had a gearbox problem,so the team made a precautionary stop with the car which ended P2 early.We’ll have to regroup and get what we can out of today,we’ll be focusing on qualifying in tomorrow’s practice.We still learnt some stuff today and Seb looked at the tyres.You can already see that it’s going to be bloody competitive this year,it’s going to be a good fight out there.
Massa:”We worked a lot on finding the right balance on the car in race trim and on comparing the two types of tyre,running with various fuel loads,although never going for a quick time.I’m quite happy with what we have seen today,even if it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how competitive we are compared to the others.
Alonso:”A slightly different friday to usual for me,as it was the first one with my new team.From what we could see,the indications we got from testing have been confirmed,with four teams that you describe as favourites,although there could yet be a few surprises,Force India for example.The new track is not bad,it is fun,even if there there a few too many bumps”.   

Practice 1:F1 is back with the first practice session of the year with Force India’s German driver Adrian Sutil fastest,Fernando Alonso was second for ferrari 0.183 off the German drivers time,with Robert Kubica 3rd for Renault,Felipe Massa was 4th for Ferrari and Jenson Button 5th for Mclaren just ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The two Red Bulls were 9th and 13th with Webber being quicker and Nico Rosberg was quicker than Michael Schumacher with them in 8th and 10 positions.
Times Free Practice 1
1.Adrian Sutil 1:56.583 18 laps
2.Fernando Alonso 1:56.766 18
3.Robert Kubica 1:57.041 19
4.Felipe Massa 1:57.055 19
5.Jenson Button 1:57.068 19
6.Lewis Hamilton 1:57.163 19
7.Vitantonio Liuzzi 1:57.194 19
8.Nico Rosberg 1:57.199 15
9.Mark Webber 1:57.255 17
10.Michael Schumacher 1:57.662 16
11.Jaime Alguersuari 1:57.722 18
12.Nico Hulkenberg 1:57.894 20
13.Sebastian Vettel 1:57.943 17
14.Sebastian Buemi 1:58.399 13
15.Rubens Barrichello 1:58.782 11
16.Vitaly Petrov 1:58.880 13
17.Pedro De La Rosa 2:00.250 18
18.Kamui Kobayashi 2:01.388 11
19.Timo Glock 2:03.680 8
20.Heikki Kovalainen 2:03.848 21
21.Jarno Trulli 2:03.970 15
22.Lucas Di Grassi no time 2
23.Bruno Senna no time 3
24.Karun Chandhok no time

So after a long break the F1 season starts this weekend with the Bahrain GP,replacing the Australian GP as the first race of the year.
There will be 5 drivers making there debut in Bahrain Lucas di Grassi,Bruno Senna,Nico Hulkenberg,Karun Chandhok and Vitaly Petrov.
The track has been modified in Bahrain this year after the right hander of turn 4 the new part starts from turn 5 to turn 13 it’s a slow section with and then return to the old part which is now turn 14.
There will be 23 turns this year which means there will be just 49 Laps this year due to the track been extended but after seeing pics of the new part there will be no overtaking because it’s pretty much stop start.
So as usual the main overtaking places are turn 1 and turn 4 if you get run through 2 and 3.If they could get run out of the 2nd gear turn 18(used to be turn 9) you could nail them down into 19(used to be 10).With the extension of the track it’s now the longest track in the calendar Spa only bigger.
it’s now 6.3KM long which is 3.914 Miles.
There will be 4 previous winners on the grid the returnee Michael Schumacher,Fernando Alonso,Felipe Massa and Jenson Button.
They will be using the Super Soft and medium tyres in Bahrain.
So the Times for Bahrain Irish/UK Time.
FP1 07.00-08.30
FP2 11.00-12.30
FP3 08.00-09.00
Qualifying 11.00
Race 12.00
So now on to the main part who can win in Bahrain and the prediction game.
There are probably 6 or 7 drivers who could win in Bahrain but after testing it’s very close between Mclaren,Ferrari,Mclaren and you can never rule Michael Schumacher but you just feel the Mercedes is not quick enough.
Yesterday on my blog talked about new refuelling ban so not talking about it again but of course will have to watch out for tyre wear and of course likes to push the tyres very hard like Turkey 07 but I will expect him to be able to conserve them but I think Ferrari is the team to beat and Massa will be the man to beat.
Why you may ask,Massa won in 07 and 08 and seems to like this track and has always done well here apart from last year in the terrible F60,this is one’s of Massa’s strong tracks like Istanbul and will be very hungry to beat his new teammate Alonso and show him that he will have to fight to be NO1 at ferrari.
Vettel,Hamilton and Button will also be right in there round the podium and could also win the GP.
Then after the Top 4 teams there is going to be a good battle for 9th and 10 places the last 2 places for points with I think Force India,Sauber,Williams and maybe Renault and Toro Rosso,with Hispana,Virgin and Lotus at the back of the field well off the pace.
So My Predictions
Drivers Champ:Hamilton
Constructors Champion:Ferrari
Pole:Hamilton
Fastest Lap:Massa
1.Massa
2.Hamilton
3.Vettel
4.Alonso
5.Button
6.Schumi
7.Webber
8.Rosberg
9.Barrichello
10.Sutil
So now on to the prediction Game,every race you will predict race positions 1-10,Pole Position and Fastest lap and of course before this race your World Driver’s Champion for 2010 and Constructors Champion.
So for positions 1-10 for race it will be the same as the race points and if you predicting someone finished 8th but didn’t finish there but finished in the points you will get 1 point.
So Points for 1-10 in race positions-Same as in the real F1
Championship(Driver and Constructors)predictions that are correct-50 points
Fastest Lap-10 points
Pole Position-10 Points
Predicting a points scorer but didn’t finish in the position you predicting but finished in points-1 Point
The pictures are all the podiums in Bahrain from the inaugural race in 2004 to 2009.
If your Interested in the Prediction game leave your predictions here and you will have to make them the thrusday before the race and Championship predictions have to made by tomorrow.
I will include myself for fun only.

Mclaren:The last 2 WDC both from britain,Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will be a strong driver pairing and if testing pace is accurate they have a really good chance of winning the WDC,Button of course moved from Brawn leaving some people wondering why has he moved into Lewis’ team,it’s brave by button but with lewis there since the age of 14 he will have an advantage and I also believe Lewis will comfortably beat Jenson because In 09 Button almost lost the championship after some bad qualifying sessions and then was stuck in traffic for most of the race,had Lewis been in the Brawn he would have sealed the championship earlier and in a terrible Mclaren in the first half of the season he drove brilliantly including a 4th place in Bahrain and then when the Mclaren got up the front he won 2 races in Hungary and Singapore.
Prediction:Hamilton to comfortably beat Button with Mclaren fighting for both Championships.
Mercedes:well in the biggest story of the off season 7 time WDC Michael Schumacher returned to F1 and team up again with Ross Brawn and Nico Rosberg joined from Williams.Brawn says both drivers will get equal treatment but I feel he will give Schumacher preferential treatment,I think Schumi will be as quick as he left in 06 cause he has been keeping himself in good shape and I expect him to win races but not the championship,Nico needs to step up this season and win a race,I think he has potiental but this year he needs to show it or he could be another Heidfeld,he did drive some good races last season but in 2010 needs to drive very good races.
Prediction:Schumi to comfortably win this battle and Mercedes for Top 5 in the Constructors.
Red Bull:have kept the same 2 drivers for 2010,German Sebastian Vettel and Aussie Mark Webber.Red bull won there first race in 2009 with Vettel in China and went on to win 4 victories,had Vettel had a reliable car and not made a couple of silly mistakes he would have been WDC,Webber won his first race in 2009 in Germany and then won in Brazil,Vettel hammered Webber in qualifying by 15-2.RBR had the quickest car at the end of last season so they should be right up the front in Bahrain and there pace is testing suggests that.
Prediction:Vettel to beat Webber and RBR will contend for both Championships.
Ferrari:after a disastrous 2009 by there standards they will be looking for a strong 2010,2009 season was saved by Felipe’s good races in first half of the season and Kimi’s in the 2nd half of the season in a very bad car.Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will drive for them this year and will be a very strong driver pairing.Alonso has a point to prove after been beaten by Hamilton in 07 and had a quietish 2 years at Renault so he will be determined to lay down a marker in Bahrain and win his 3rd WDC.Felipe beat Kimi comfortably in 08 and was in 09 before his horrific accident in Hungary,he will also want to lay down a marker to show to everyone he is just as good now as he was before the accident.With 2 drivers very hungary to win a championship and a quick looking car in testing there going to be right in the mix. Prediction:Massa to edge it just and Ferrari contending for both championships.
Renault:After crash-gate which affected them in 09 and nearly quit the sport they are still on the grid for 2010 with Pole Robert Kubica who joined from BMW Sauber and Vitaly Petrov joining F1 and becoming the first F1 driver from Russia.since Alonso’s 2nd WDC in 06 Renault have struggled but with a good driver in Kubica and Petrov coming into F1 and a new team Principal Eric Boullier so should be a nice freshness in the team which should help and there pace in testing was solid.
Prediction:Kubica to beat Petrov and Renault to get points finishes and top 8 in constructors.
Williams:Have gone for youth and experience Signing F1 vetran Rubens Barrichello and German rookie Nico Hulkenberg.Barrichello had a decent 2009,after been well beaten by Button in the first half of 09 he then got going in the 2nd half of 09 winning 2 races at Valencia and Monza and in the end finished 3rd in the WDC.Hulkenberg in my opinion is a future WDC he easily won the A1GP championship and won the GP2 championship last year.Williams had a good 09 with Rosberg scoring regularly.Williams had solid pace in testing.
Prediction:Barrichello to edge it over Nico and both will score points and will be battling with other teams for 5th place in constructors championship.
Toro Rosso:Have Retained Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari for 2010.Buemi finished 2009 strongly finishing 7th in Brazil and 8th in Abu Dhabi while Alguersuari was solid.they had decent pace in testing and should get a couple of points finishes.
Prediction:Buemi to win this battle with them finishing in the Top 10 in the constructors.Force India:will look to step up and been consistently score points after a breakthrough year in 2009 when they got the first pole position with Fisichella in Belgium and went on to finish 2nd in the race with Sutil 4th at Monza.after belgium Fisi went to Ferrari and Liuzzi replaced him and he and Sutil will be driving for Force India in 2010 and showed good pace in testing.
Prediction:Sutil to beat Liuzzi with 5th place in Constructors a possibility.
Virgin:first season in F1 with backing from Richard Branson,have brought it a very solid Timo Glock a 3 time podium finisher but in my opinion have taken a big gamble in Lucas Di Grassi and had a crash in testing which lost Virgin vital time during testing.Virgin well off the pace in testing gonna be a long season for them.
Prediction:will be battling to avoid last and Glock to hammer Di Grassi.
Lotus:have returned to the grid in 2010 after a 16 year break last race was OZ 1994.Mike Gascoyne will certainly improve the car after been well off the pace in testing.There drivers will be Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli both 1 time GP winners so have good expereinced drivers which should also help.
Prediction:right near the back,both men seem to do better in qualifying than in the race with Trulli edging it.
Hispania Racing team F1(formally Campos Meta):Bruno Senna finally gets his chance in F1 with the new team and will be very interesting to see how he does in 2010,The 2nd driver will be Karun Chandhok from India don’t know much about him but will also be interesting to see how he gets on.They done no testing before Bahrain so expect them to be pounding the circuit quite a bit during free practice.
Prediction:Senna to come out on top and we’ll find in Bahrain where about’s they will be probably at the back will Lotus and Virgin.
Sauber:Signed De la Rosa and Kobayashi for 2010,Kamui certainly introduced himself in Brazil aggressive defence which turned out to be dangerous after forcing Nakajima off the track and went straight into a barrier.Drove an excellent race in Abu Dhabi finishing 6th after starting 12th.De La Rosa has not raced in F1 since 2006 with Mclaren so may take a couple of races for him to get back up to speed.Sauber had good pace in testing.
Prediction:Kamui to shade it with some points finishes and possibly a contender for 5th in constructors championship.The only really big new rule for 2010 is the ban on Refuelling for the first time since 1993,This means pitstops will be reduced by about 6 seconds if everything goes according to plan and with a full tank of fuel cars will be a few seconds slower than in Qualifying when they barely run any and of course they have to conserve the tyres because of the fuel.will it make the race move interesting and move overtaking?Possibly for 1 or 2 races but then I think processions will start again and with Refuelling there was always a chance something would go wrong.e.g Massa Singapore 08 which cost him The WDC and always added a bit of excitement so I think the FIA have made a mistake by banning refuelling.Also the top 10 on the grid will start the race on the tyres they used in qualifying which gives a slight advantage to guys outside the top 10.
hope you enjoyed reading it.who do you think will win the inter-team battles and the championships?  

Day 1:Petter Solberg after a dissapointing Rally Sweden had a great day,he used his road advantage brilliantly after the guys in front had to clean up the road he took a 15 second lead over Sebastian Ogier and a 27.4 second lead over Loeb,Solberg won 5 Stages with Ogier winning 4.2007 F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen crashed out on Stage 7 after setting some good stage times.
Day 2:Loeb took complete control of the Rally winning all 8 stages on Day 2 to take a huge lead over Solberg 54.1 seconds with Ogier almost 5 seconds back from Petter,big drama on Stage 10 Sordo,Block and Wilson all crashed out.
Day 3:Loeb cruised to victory while Solberg and Ogier had a great battle for 2nd with Solberg snatching it on the final stage,Fords lacked pace all weekend with Hirvonen 4th and Latvala 5th.Loeb:”I’m really happy we had a good drive yesterday”Hirvonen:”It was a very difficult weekend for the whole team,we just didn’t have the speed all weekend”.
Final standings1.Loeb
2.P Solberg +24.2
3.Ogier +25.3
4.Hirvonen +1.47.5
5.Latvala +2.15.1
6.H Solberg +2.48.0
7.Villagra +10.13.4
8.Pons +18.44.4
9.Prokop +19.02.0
10.Araujo +21.32.5
Championship Standings Drivers
1.Loeb 43 points
2.Hirvonen 37
3.Latvala 25
4.Ogier 25
5.P Solberg 20
6.H Solberg 16
7.Sordo 12
8.Wilson 6
9.Villagra 6
10.Ostberg 4
Constructor Standings
1.BP Ford world rally team 67
2.Citroen Total world rally team 55
3.Citroen Junior Team 29
4.Stobart M-Sport Ford rally team 22
5.Munchi’s Ford world rally team 6