Red lights are off down under

As the shadow of the cancelled F1™ Bahrain grand prix finally passes, excitement has been quietly growing for this weekend’s season opener in Australia. With five world champions in the pot, a host of new rules, the horror of Robert Kubica’s career threatening rally crash and two teams squabbling over a name, this season is shaping up to be a Hollywood blockbuster. And that’s before the cars have even lined up on the grid.

It seems the ever eccentric Bernie Ecclestone thinks that a line-up containing Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and the sport’s youngest ever champion, Sebastian Vettel isn’t enough of a selling point. This year the technical bar has been raised, with a new set of challenges to disrupt the established hierarchy, including driver-adjustable rear wings, the return of the Kers power-boost system and a change of tyre supplier.

But in what can sometimes be a technical sport for the average fan, Pirelli have come to the rescue with the tyres at least and introduced a tyre colour coding scheme to identify what type of tyre each car is using.

F1™ is in a rare position. Like no other elite sport, its worldwide footprint gives sponsors access to a multitude of countries and cultures across the world on an annual basis. But despite this, it and its sponsors social media presence lags behind other elite events. No matter the budget, social media can be the great leveller for brands to engage with fans across multiple markets. . Perhaps in what is set to be a groundbreaking season on the track will be mirrored off it with some innovative campaigns from F1™ and furthermore it will make more than a pit-stop in social media..

Finally, our predictions. F1 predictions for the season are normally a minefield of possibility in the post-Schumacher age and this year is no different, or is it? From the outset, Red Bull and Vettel will be the combination to beat, but should they see the promising test lap times of former F1™ hero Michael Schumacher as anything to fear? Or maybe his main concern will be a trip down memory lane to face old rival and big F1™ hope, Paul di Resta. With the McLaren car looking red hot in the first practice session, we’re backing the British boys to bring it home. In the words of the great Murray Walker, anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does.