By Sam Cooper
March 11 2007

With the Melbourne Grand Prix just under a week away, co publisher Sam Cooper talks about all the teams last minute preparations and in his view, who has the best chance of winning the 2007 Australian Grand Prix next weekends grand prix.

With all the top teams Such as: Scudera Ferrari, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Honda Racing F1, BMW Sauber F1 and not to forget ING Renault F1

These are the teams that we all expect to do well this season, with possibly surprises coming from Williams and Red Bull.

What about the other teams like Scudera Torro Rosso, Super Aguri and Spyker?

All these teams lack is the major manufacture money, except Torro Rosso, which get there money from Red Bull; which as you can imagine uses the bulk of its F1 money for its own team Red Bull.

So, what will happen to these small teams?

If nothing is done to assist them then they may fall behind and disappear into the F1 graveyard of bankrupt and failed teams of yesteryear.

Anyway back to the exciting 2007 season! It’s hard to predict who will be the best this year, as testing times can be misleading.

ING Renault.

The ING Renault team are suffering from the exit of their superstar driver Fernando Alonso, but do they have a secret weapon of their new colour scheme that can practically blind anyone that looks at it (a possible hint of black and white TV sales rocketing). What next for the team? Their driver line up looks unproven to say the least, with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and rookie Hekki Kovalainen leading the team. Saying that they do have a first-class team behind their drivers to lead them to a possible world championship win without Fernando.

Scudera Ferrari.

Ferrari stand to have a good crack at the whip this year, they are missing the man who led them to their success in the early to mid 2000's. Michael Schumacher’s absence from the team leads a pair of huge shoes for Kimi Räikkönen to fill, with race winner Felipe Massa with a team to lead, but with the car's reliability as good as a wood burning stove, and the car's pace looking supreme; Ferrari have got to be one of the teams that have got a lot to prove.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

With the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team they have a brand new driver combination since 1996 when they hired David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. With the team not having a Adrian Newey type figure they still look impressive in testing. Although they failed to get a win in 2006, it will make the Woking team more than ever determined to get back on top in 2007, with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton with the team, they look to be in an excellent position to score wins and the championship possibly, if they can get their reliability sorted. McLaren are my favourite for 2007 glory.

Honda F1 Racing Team

The Honda team haven’t actually been keeping their promises over the past few years to its millions of followers that support them all over the world. Honda have been known to go extremely fast in testing and then not perform at the start of the season –except in 2004 when they scored a number of podiums and came close to winning. In 2006 the team saw their first win, and with the teams loyal test driver Anthony Davidson and their main technical director Geoff Willis’s departures it has sent shockwaves through the entire team. Can Honda prove their critics wrong? Will they be able to achieve their goals as world champions with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello or will they claw back points at the end of the season, as they did back in 2005 and 2006.

Bmw Sauber

The Bmw Sauber team have a hard yeah ahead of them, they beat their expectations in 2006 and they are expected to do the same in 2007 will be a hard thing to do. Many of the press and fans are expecting the team to finish on the podium constantly and perhaps the odd win in 2007. German Nick Heidfeld and Polish superstar Robert Kubica are frantically perusing their first win, with the new acquisition of Albert 2, their dream could easily turn from dream to reality this season.

Panasonic Toyota F1

“The car in front is a Toyota” That is the message that STR, Spyker and Super Aguri will be seeing, or maybe the odd Ferrari and McLaren will see when their lapping Toyota at just about every grand prix. The Future doesn’t look good for Toyota.

Red Bull Renault

Red Bull racing have gained some significant people over the past twelve months with them all coming into play this year. The team abandoned their 2006 challenger early in the season in hope to maximise their chances of winning the 2007 championship, maximising the chances of drivers Mark Webber, who has been newly acquired from Williams, and the experienced Scotsman David to try and get Red Bulls first win, they achieved their first podium last year. Can they achieve their goals or will they fail like Jaguar did?

Williams Grand Prix

Williams Grand Prix has been around for a while, and with disappointing 2006 season behind them. Williams are surely wanting more in 2007. Fans of Williams will be glad to know that the team have found significant aero gains over the winter months this is showing up in testing, however saying this Melbourne will be the ultimate challenge, for a team with an enormous amount of racing experience. The teams two drivers Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz will be wanting to get on the podium more than once this season.

Scudera Torro Rosso

There have been many reports of Scudera Torro Rosso using Sister company Red Bulls RB3 and renaming it as the STR02, however from pictures this appears not to be the case. You can see some similarities between the two cars but they are significant differences. One difference is that the RB3 is much more sculptured around the back; with more flicks and downforce gaining fins, at the back of the car. Saying that though I suspect the main chassis (that protects the driver) is the same as the RB3. This excellent chassis along with drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed leading the team to what could be a hand full of points.

Spyker F1

Spyker have got a tough year on their hands in 2007, with this the teams first full year in F1. The team face an uphill struggle as they lack experience in the F1 field. However Chief Technical Director Mike Gascoyne brings decades of worth of experience and technical knowledge to the team, however I doubt that this will be enough. Drivers Christian Albers and Adrian Sutil will be wanting to beat more than Torro Rosso and Super Aguri, with suggestions of a B car will be launched within the next few months hints that Spyker are deeply disappointed with their current challenger are becoming clear.

Super Aguri F1

Who could forget Super Aguri, the team that managed to crack their way into the top ten at the last grand prix last season, with Honda’s backing and new sponsors they have earned over the winter. They stand a chance of beating bigger teams like STR and Spyker, if the other teams have a bad race then it is possible that Super Aguri could be gifted a few points. With suggestions that they will be using an updated version of last years Honda chassis (the RA106) the team is going from strength to strength. Drivers Anthony Davidson and Tacuma Sato are looking for a lot of good finishes and possibly a handful of points.

So with the preview over all we can do is wait for OZ as you read this the cars and various parts are being checked and shipped by air and sea. The cars will be arriving in Melbourne on Monday or Tuesday, throughout Wednesday and Thursday the cars will be set up and will start to look more like F1 cars, for Fridays practice sessions.

The long wait is over F1 is finally GO GO GO!