The 2016 Formula One season is here. Came around fast didn't it? A shortened F1 winter testing season is completed. So who's looking strong ahead of racing hostilities commencing? Ferrari's looking strong, but can they challenge recent benchmarks Mercedes? You know what? Let's not go there. Testing is just that. Testing! Any true indication of speed won't come until 6pm on the Saturday of the Australian GP after the first qualifying session of the season.
    Excitement and anticipation levels for spectators build over the final countdown to any GP. They reach unbearable heights as the cars strain to be unleashed during the warm up lap followed by lights out and the run into Turn 1. The other contingent of a GP weekend which is compulsive viewing for punters is qualifying. 2016 sees a reworking of the popular elimination style qualifying session. 3 qualifying periods remain, but now Q1 runs for 16 min with the slowest car eliminated after 7 min, then another car eliminated every subsequent 90 sec until 15 cars are left. Q2 runs for 15 min with the slowest out after 6 min, then a car every 90 sec until 8 cars remain. The 14 min Q3 sees the slowest out after 5 min, then another car eliminated every 90 seconds until we have a pole winner. An expansion of the existing qualifying, but will the fans embrace it? Will this force the teams to run as many qualifying laps as time allows? Fans will certainly enjoy seeing as many cars as possible all punching out qualifying laps. However, if weather conditions remain stable, as the track evolves with more rubber going down, have we lost the strategic element when track conditions are at their optimum of a late qualifying charge to steal pole?
    The other intriguing change for 2016 is tyre supplier Pirelli making three dry weather compounds available to the teams over a GP weekend. Out of the 13 sets available, two are mandated for the race with one mandatory to use. One set of the softest of the three compounds is mandated for Q3 only. The teams are free to choose whichever compounds they want to make up their 13 sets. This allows much more flexibility amongst the teams, with some teams including Mercedes splitting their tyre choices between their drivers. Does this help combat processional racing?
    We'll see at the Australian Grand Prix. See you at Albert Park. Ciao....    

    Many of you will no doubt be aware of how much we love to speculate. However, we're going to stick our neck out and make a prediction. Bold, irresponsible, unsubstantiated you may ask. After all, what do we know? All valid, worthy comments.
    We've just returned from Australian motorsport's amazing season opening Bathurst 12 Hour for GT-3 spec cars at the majestic, yet daunting Mt Panorama. Top end exotic marques like Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and McLaren blasting around Mt Panorama in a once around the clock marathon of speed, strategy and endurance. 
    One of the drivers that thoroughly impressed us was V8 Supercar ace, Shane van Gisbergen. Part of the winning team in the gorgeous McLaren 650S, SVG set a few benchmarks over the Bathurst weekend. Bear in mind the GT-3 spec cars improve by at least 1 sec.a lap each year, SVG achieved a record 2.01.2 to claim pole, and a race lap record of 2.01.5. How long before the GT-3's bust the 2 minute mark? Sure the McLaren was the package to have, but it wasn't the only McLaren on circuit. Here's a kid at just 26 dwarfing the best endurance drivers Europe and Japan has to offer, fellow V8 Supercar drivers, as well as a host of ex-F1 drivers. 
    Whether it's GT racing, drifting, or dragging an opportune result out of a V8 Supercar, SVG seems to excel. Hardly surprising when his pedigree includes racing ATV's on Moto X tracks, Quarter Midgets on oval speedways, karting and winning the 2006 NZ Formula Ford Championship. His obvious car control in a number of disciplines earned him a V8 Supercar debut at just 17. In recent years, SVG has dovetailed his V8 Supercar career with GT endurance racing, including entering the prestigious Daytona 24 Hour, whilst making guest appearances in the Australian Drifting Series. A true racing professional.
    Now for 2016 he's joined the front running Red Bull Racing team for the forthcoming V8 Supercar season. A top drive at last. Will SVG be able to harry his team mates, the illustrious Craig Lowndes and 6-time champ Jamie Whincup? Both Lowndes and Whincup must be hungry for success after being beaten by PRA's Mark Winterbottom in 2015.
    So, to throw the cat amongst the pidgeons, our prediction is this. Shane van Gisbergen will win the 2016 V8 Supercar championship. We'll find out come November. Ciao....  
    

    formulafrontrow.com is turning 4 years old. Wow, how time has flown. When we celebrate our birthday we like to inform you of what events we hope to attend in the upcoming year. So here goes....
    February 6-7 - Bathurst 12 Hour at Mt Panorama featuring GT and supported by Radical Australia Cup.
    March 17-20 - Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne, featuring Formula One, and ably supported by V8 Supercars, Australian GT and Porsche Carrera Cup.
    March 25-27 - Bathurst Motor Festival at Mt Panorama featuring the inaugural Bathurst 6 Hour Enduro for Production Cars.
    April 16 - Rotax Pro Tour at Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway.
    April 17 - MX Nationals at Appin.
    April 30-May 1 - Porsche Rennsport Festival at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Porsche Carrera Cup.
    June 11-12 - Retro Speedfest at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring historic F1 cars.
    June 19 - East Coast MX Series at Mt Kembla, Wollongong.
    July 2-3 - Shannons Nationals at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Formula 3.
    August 27-28 - Sydney Motorsport Park Supersprint featuring V8 Supercars.
    October 23 - TAG Super Series at Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway.
    November 12-13 - Shannons Nationals at Sydney Motorsport Park featuring Formula 3.
    November 26-27 - Sydney 500 at Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit featuring V8 Supercars.
    This is just for starters and is subject to change. One thing we haven't yet been able to ascertain is the dates for when the big boys of drag racing, the ANDRA series, descends on Sydney Dragway. The traditional months are May and November. If anyone knows please inform us via the "Comment" icon.
    
    Mucho grazie to all our friends and surfers. Your support is greatly appreciated. Think we better buy some more batteries for the Nikons. 
                                                    See you trackside....
    
    
    

    Finally, finally, finally Frosty has done it. 2015 has a new V8 Supercar champion and his name is Mark Winterbottom. Ford fans can rejoice. It's a celebratory time of year, so it's only fitting we offer our kudos to the Prodrive Racing Australia driver now sporting the coveted #1. 
    Mark Winterbottom won 10 Australian kart championships, 25 state kart championships and was crowned Australian Formula A Kart Champ (Rotax 125CC class) in 2001. He also debuted in Victorian Formula Ford in 2001. Winning the Ford Kart Stars Scholarship Championship earned him a Ford supported drive in Australian Formula Ford for 2002, of which he finished 2nd to Jamie Whincup. 2003 saw Frosty move into V8's via the development series, winning the championship on debut. Courtesy of Larkham Motor Sport, Frosty stepped up to the main V8 Supercar game for 2004 and 2005. 2006-2014 saw Frosty driving for the Ford factory backed Ford Performance Racing with mixed results leaving him tantalisingly close to championship glory. Despite winning the signature event, the Bathurst 1000 in 2013, he'd finished 3rd five times and runner up once in the championship. Mark Winterbottom was always there or thereabouts. With Ford involvement diminishing, FPR morphed into Prodrive Racing Australia for 2015, producing the pace setting Falcon FG X and the rest as they say, is history. 
    Congratulations to Mark Winterbottom on finally reaching the pinnacle of Australian motorsport. Question is, can he back it up? This time next year, will we be celebrating a back-to-back champion? The back half of 2015 saw Jamie Whincup and Red Bull virtually back to their title winning best. That new car for Whincup since the start of the enduros worked a treat didn't it?. Don't forget, one of the most talented and versatile drivers on the grid, Shane van Gisbergen, will be piloting a Red Bull in 2016. We better leave the speculating for another time. When's Adelaide? Well done Frosty. 

    Best wishes to all our friends for the New Year. Thanks for your support. See you at the track in 2016....      
    

    You alight from the train. As you travel up the escalators from the subway, that distinctive engine note reverberates off the buildings and pavilions that guard the circuit. Upon hitting the surface, another change up the 6 speed sequential gearbox just whacks your eardrums. The circuit's narrow. The punters are close to the action. The cars flirt with the intimidating walls. There's no mistaking it. V8 Supercars are on track at the Sydney 500.
    For a few seasons now the Sydney 500 has played host to the V8 Supercars season finale. However, fans' response to the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit has been mixed. Many love the closeness of racing and unpredictability that comes with a narrow street circuit. The cars ride the kerbs and are frequently up on two wheels. The indoor paddock is unique and allows fans unprecedented access to the teams as they prepare the cars. The flipside is that despite fans being close to the action, the viewing is not good. They cannot access all parts of the circuit. Many decree the circuit uninspiring that consequentially only allows processional racing. Punter numbers were definitely down at this year's event.
    The contract for the Sydney 500 has another year to run, but at the time of writing, no contract extension had been agreed upon. Will 2016 be the Sydney 500's finale? Does the Sydney Olympic Street Circuit have a future in V8 Supercars? Would you prefer to see another circuit accept the mantle of showcasing Australia's premier motorsport category's season ending decider?
    Congratulations to Mark Winterbottom in winning his first V8 Supercar championship. 

    Best wishes to all our friends for the Christmas season. Cheers....
      

    Come this Sunday evening, what stories will the unforgiving confines of the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit be able to tell? The finale of the 2015 V8 Supercars championship will be played out at the Sydney 500. Two 125km races on Saturday and a 250km feature race on Sunday will decree this year's champion. 
    Prodrive Racing Australia's Mark Winterbottom has lead the championship throughout the season and takes a 179 point advantage over Red Bull Racing's Craig Lowndes with 300 points on offer this weekend.
    The Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit rewards cars with excellent brakes and robust suspension, as the ability to stop at the end of the numerous straights and aggressively ride the kerbs is paramount. Check out V8 Supercars at their two-wheeled best at the Turns 2, 3 and 4 chicane. The narrow circuit and ever present walls place an extra emphasis on qualifying well. Staying out front and hopefully avoiding any potential carnage to achieve a favourable result is key for the two title protagonists. Frosty has been there or thereabouts in recent years and would be ecstatic to win his first championship. Lowndsey would also dearly love to attain the double of a Bathurst 1000 victory and championship victory in the same season for the first time since way back in 1996.  
    As much as we love speculating over possible scenarios, in this case there's no point. Whether it's the racing or the weather, this event is always unpredictable. But let's just say a DNF could prove disastrous to Frosty and open a door for Lowndes. 
    See you out there and don't forget the Nikon. Cheers....  

    If ever you wanted a glowing endorsement for Formula One, just head south of the border, down Mexico way. F1 made a triumphant return to Mexico for the first time since 1992, and the fans embraced it in droves. The packed grandstands were out of their seats during the formation lap, cheered during the warm up lap, went ballistic when local hero Force India's Sergio Perez overtook rivals in the stadium section and adopted winner Mercedes' Nico Rosberg as one of their own. Their unabated enthusiasm translated well across the television medium. 
    Recent years F1 has expanded its horizons into new countries, but if you were ever considering an overseas trip to attend a race, wouldn't you want to attend the venues bristling with atmosphere? The knowledgeable Silverstone crowd, the parochial Ferrari fans at Monza, the glamour of Monaco, the party vibe of Brazil, the opening European race in Spain, the hugely popular Austrian GP, the carnival in Canada, sun drenched Australia, and the Japanese cheering well, everything. Don't you think the celebratory nature of the Mexican fans did more to promote F1 to the greater world than any advertising or marketing exercise could ever hope to achieve? Made you wish you were there, right? Bodes well for their longevity as opposed to half empty grandstands at circuits that drop off the calendar within a few years of joining. 
    Come March next year, we'll be heading south of the border, down Melbourne way. Ciao....  

    Once again criticism questioning the Australian Formula One Grand Prix's viability has risen its ugly head, and once again we'll rebuke it. The figures are out, with the Victorian government shelling out a reputed record $62m to stage the F1 season opener. Are they justified in spending that much of the taxpayers hard earned?
    Despite viewing figures dwindling due to the shift to Pay TV, Formula One is still the most watched sport worldwide outside of the summer Olympics and World Cup soccer. Those events are every four years, whereas F1 is on average every two weeks between March and November every year. Popularity equals exposure. F1 showcases Melbourne and Australia for that matter to the world. The great land Down Under translates to an attractive tourist destination for overseas patrons, even when F1 is not in town.
    During GP week in Melbourne, the restaurants are full, the bars are full, the cafes are full, the night clubs are full, the motels are all full, the transport industry benefits, and guess what? We're all spending money. Doesn't the Victorian government collect taxes from that? Don't these venues need to employ more staff to cater for the demand? The point is, the benefit fiscally, economically and socially is surely immeasurable. Besides, do you think the government would continue to throw money into staging the F1 GP if it was akin to ditching it in the Albert Park lake? Remember the contract was just renewed. The benefits both directly and indirectly are surely tangible.
   See you at Albert Park in 2016....  

    McLaren are enduring, to say the least, a rather arduous 2015 Formula One campaign. Here's one of F1's grandee teams, who have won numerous driver's and constructor's championships, currently struggling to evade the Qualifying 1 cutoff and languishing towards the bottom of the constructor's championship. Dark days indeed. 
    From 1995-2014 McLaren utilised Mercedes engine power. Now the other powerplant providers in F1, namely Ferrari and Renault, are widely considered to be not up to the calibre of the current Mercedes powerplant, as evidenced by the works Mercedes team currently dominating the championship. Would McLaren be challenging for the championship if they'd stayed with Mercedes? Could McLaren be sure Mercedes were providing the latest spec powerplant with which to achieve their championship aspirations? Their ethos, according to McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, is "We exist to win". Therefore, in their quest to quench their championship thirst, McLaren adopted Honda power for 2015 and beyond. Sound logic, right? Who could ever forget the halcyon days of the McLaren-Honda package back in the late '80s. Couple this with the star driver lineup of the driver still widely considered by many to be the best in F1, two time champ Fernando Alonso, and 2009 champ Jenson Button, and McLaren seem to have all boxes ticked.
    But the on track results are testing McLaren's resolve and the driver's patience. Four double DNF's and currently (pre-Russian GP) second last in the constructor's on 17 points. The car's deficiencies seem to be attributed to, not the chassis or aero, but to the new Honda powerplant. Fernando Alonso's poignant comments over the radio during the recent Japanese GP for the whole world to hear, including Honda's big bosses who were trackside, highlights the frustrations felt by the whole team.
    All interviews with McLaren personnel, including the drivers, state that Honda are making huge strides in understanding the new complex hybrid powerplants, and will be punching at the front of the grid again. But when? Will frustration and impatience get the better of their drivers? Fans want to see McLaren back at the front of the grid. Have McLaren made the correct evaluation concluding that championships in the foreseeable future cannot be won with the current powerplant providers, thus introducing a new combatant by rekindling their relationship with Honda?
    As always, time will tell....
     

    It's always difficult to compare elite sportsmen from different eras, and Formula One is no exception. The circuits have changed, the machinery has progressed technologically, safety vastly improved. With this weekend's F1 night race in Singapore, talk has predominately revolved around Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's F1 statistics and their similarity to the great Ayrton Senna. Whilst a name as evocative as Senna provokes passionate parochialism amongst fans, you cannot deny that the figures possess an uncanny resemblance. 
    Lewis Hamilton missed out on Ayrton Senna's 26 year record of 8 consecutive pole positions by qualifying on the third row of the grid for tonight's Singapore GP. However, other stats deserve mention. Despite the tight confines of the Marina Bay circuit offering little to promote overtaking, if Hamilton is the first to pass the chequered flag tonight, he'll equal Ayrton Senna's record of 41 wins from 161 race starts. At the last GP at Monza, Hamilton had acquired 81 podiums to Ayrton's 80. He's also achieved five consecutive wins compared to Ayrton's four, 25 wins from pole position compared to Ayrton's 29, and 84 front row starts to Ayrton's 87. The rest of the 2015 F1 season seems close to being a mere formality regarding Hamilton winning and therefore equaling Ayrton's record of 3 driver's world championships. Only a remarkable change of fortune would deny Lewis Hamilton emulating his childhood hero later this season.
    So how will Lewis Hamilton be revered when he eventually retires from F1? His win tally (40 wins) is staggering. Equal with current Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, and bettered only by Ayrton Senna (41), Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91). We can only imagine where the final number of victories will rest. Will Lewis be touted as one of the greatest grand prix drivers of all time? And what legacy will Lewis leave? F1 supremo Bernie Eccelstone has often stated that Lewis does more to promote the sport than any of the current crop of drivers and recent champions, and credits him with sparking interest in F1 from the younger generation. The daunting prospect for his rivals is he's only 30 and still has more to achieve in Formula One.
    Ciao....