If you’re reading this blog then you probably have watched Top Gear before, even if you’re not an avid watcher like me.  You may well then be happy to know that the series, after a nice break, has returned back to our televisions tonight to appear on BBC 2 at 8PM.  Get it bookmarked/Sky +’ed or whatever else you want to do, then come back and read the rest of this.

This one, as per usual, is set up to be a ‘cracker’.  In the first of this new series, Jeremy, Richard and James will give us top tips on how to lower your fuel consumption – something that should be genuinely useful given today’s climate.  The Stig is back as well (thank God, I thought we may have lost him) – this time he’s behind the wheel of a Ferrari F430 Scuderia – apparently one of Jezza’s favourite cars ever.

James is going to introduce the new character of the show; the one who we’ve heard is ‘a bit like The Stig yet not The Stig’.  This person isn’t going to replace anyone you’ll be glad to hear, but what role they will play remains to be seen.  Perhaps they’ll be the ones shouting “POWWWWER!” around the track due to a certain Mr Clarkson having a bad back?

The three will also be dicking about with police cars and the format of the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car has changed; it sounds like for the better.  Make sure that you tune in, this certainly sounds like something that you don’t want to miss.

Lewis Hamilton, the Great British hopeful who missed out on becoming one of F1’s youngest ever champions by an incredible one point last year has managed to clinch pole position for this year’s Grand Prix in Australia. This is the seventh pole of his F1 career and should provide an excellent start for the young driver.

Hamilton’s McLaren team mate Heikki Kovalainen (a Finn who previously drove for Renault F1 in 2007) will feature in row two of the grid alongside Felipe Massa - the now Ferrari driver. This should be quite useful for tactical plays between the team-mates, always useful for the early races.

Kimi Raikkonen (not my favourite driver, but someone I have a lot of respect for the skill of unlike Fernando Alonso, who is now the driver for Renault and places at 12th place) has placed all the way down the field to 16th after he came to halt in the pit lane during the qualifier.

Due to the new F1 rule set (something I’ll cover in another post), Raikkonen was not allowed to participate in the second session even if his car was ready to go, due to the help he received from mechanics in the pit lane.

So, how does the grid line up for the first race of the season overall? Well here are the times from every qualifying racer:

Times
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.714
02. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:26.869
03. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.079
04. Massa Ferrari 1:27.178
05. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.236
06. Trulli Toyota 1:28.527
07. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:28.687
08. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:29.041
09. Glock Toyota 1:29.593
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time
11. Barrichello Honda 1:26.173
12. Alonso Renault 1:26.188
13. Button Honda 1:26.259
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:26.413
15. Webber Red Bull-Renault No times
16. Raikkonen Ferrari No time
17. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:27.207
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.446
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:27.859
20. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.208
21. Piquet Renault 1:28.330
22. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.059

Of course, I’d love to see Lewis Hamilton take the win. He seems to be a genuinely nice guy and if his performance on Top Gear is anything to go by, he’s even faster than the mighty Stig. As Anthony Davidson has been on television I’d love to see him win a point in the Super Aguri-Honda car - he’s been claimed to be one of the better drivers on the grid and only a weaker car has slowed him down. I can’t wait to see the season start - it’s sure to be a very strong one this year.