After a sleepy three months, F1 seems to be quickly shaking itself awake at the Albert Park. The first race of a season always throws up a lot of questions.In 2008, those would be: Can Lewis Hamilton, who chucked it away in his rookie year, win the championship this time around? Will we see another really close season (just to freshen memories, the last one went down to the final race, and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari pipped Fernando Alonso and Hamilton to the title)? How will the drivers and teams adapt to the new regulations (tyre changes are back, traction control is out and all teams will be using a standardised electronic control unit that might just end up making the midfield battle a lot closer)? And does water really drain clockwise in the southern hemisphere?The short answers are: No; Probably not; At least the drivers seem very excited about having fewer driving aids; and yes, it really does.Hamilton and Raikkonen were fastest in free practice on Friday, Ferrari finishing on top in the morning run and McLaren doing the honours in the evening session. Unanimous opinion around here seems to be that these two teams are competing at a different level altogether. And while logically that should give Hamilton a fair crack at the title, it’s hard not to think that he’s blown his best chance. The Ferraris had started poorly last season, but improved as they went along. If Ferrari starts the season strong, and it does seem that they have, they will only get better.Alonso’s return to Renault, meanwhile, was fairly quiet — the double world champion finished 6th and 13th in the two sessions.As for Force India updates, India’s flag wasn’t among the 10 that fluttered wildly in windy conditions, causing a certain amount of excitement — had the organisers slipped up? Coming soon after such a tumultuous cricket tour — racism and all — here was a chance to fire up another controversy. A bit of research later, we figured out that the flags were for drivers’ nationalities.
