This weekend is the opening weekend for the F1 season at Bahrain. It should be a good opening race (Australia had to move due to the Commonwealth games).

We will get to see what the teams have been doing over the winter, if the new V8 engines are still frail due to the 40c temperatures on track. If the tyre manufacturers have made an advancements (all the teams are now seeming to be close to their 2005 times), and possibly the most important question, has the FIA got the V10 restrictions right, or are Torro Rosso going to be at the front!

The practice times are in from free practice 1, with BMW’s Robert Kubica setting the best time of 1:32:170, he was followed by Wurz at 1:32:184 and Raikkonen on 1:33:388. We obviously have no idea what setup and fuel level’s they where running (1:30:252 was the fastest lap last year).

The new qualifying session could throw some surprises, as the final set of teams have to run race fuel, and I welcome the fact that tyres will need changing again (well I am a Toyota supporter, and there on Bridgestone this year).

All in all it’s a new era in F1, the 2.4ltr V8’s will be proved as either a good or bad idea (I will miss the V10 wail though). I look forward to the teams being allowed to share more of their technology (not just the engine’s) with the smaller teams as it will mean a closer racing experience for us the viewers.

F1 2006, Bring it on