With the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix only a week apart and no real opportunity for much development, it was no real surprise to see that the performance of the teams in Sepang was more or less as it was in the season opener.
Winter testing showed that the Brawn, Red Bull, Williams and Toyota cars would be at the forefront. However, some of the big outfits were saying (and praying) that ‘these teams might just be running underweight and going for what will be their only chance of glory - in pre-season. When the chips are down at the first GP in Australia we will be back on top’. How wrong they were.
The first race is always a reality check for everyone. The track in Melbourne is a bit different as it is a temporary circuit and while you still need a good car to be quick, Malaysia is a real race track requiring good aerodynamic and mechanical balance - here things got a little bit tighter for the Brawn team but their depth of experience saw them through to a second pole position and a second well deserved, if very wet, win.
The switch over in performance between the Brawn and McLaren teams is quite incredible and just goes to show all the others what is possible. The other teams I have mentioned above have the speed; they just need to get it all together on race day and in reality any one of them can win.
The following teams now know where they stand and for some it is perilously close to the cliff edge;
BMW are knocking on the door but just need to be a bit more aggressive during the practice sessions - they seem to leave themselves too much to do when it comes to qualifying and because of this never quite get the maximum out of the car.
Renault need to find a bit of overall speed. They are basically a one-car team and unlike a good bottle of French wine, Nelson Piquet doesn’t seem to be improving with keeping, Fernando Alonso gives it his all when he has the opportunity but if they don’t improve soon it won’t be long before he starts using up all of his energy looking for another drive for 2010.
McLaren have not been at the races. Looking at their real performance in pure speed terms their cars are about 11th to 14th overall, which is not really where you would expect to see a team with all the glitz and glamour that they have at their disposal. And with this saga of not being completely truthful with the Stewards in Australia hanging over them it is going to be tough times down in Woking.
Ferrari - they are going from bad to worse, their reliability over the last couple of seasons has been questionable and instead of it getting better it seems to have gotten worse. That combined with an overall lack of performance and inability to make any form of good decision on the pit wall means that the dominant team over the turn of the century has turned into an Italian Grande Casino.
Toro Rosso and Force India... Well, they have just got to keep plugging on. Toro Rosso should have the equipment to do as good a job as Red Bull but Force India are on their own and need to go back to the drawing board to set about a development plan, it needs to be comprehensive as they have quite a bit to find.