Update on the 2008 F1 Season

With the first three flyaway races of the F1 season complete, now is a good time to have a look at which teams are making their way to the top or dropping to the back. The European Season will be starting in Spain later this month and teams are certainly making good use of the small break between now and then to test their vehicles and improve their chances of winning. A look at some of the top F1 teams will give fans an idea of what to expect for the season.

The Japanese team Super Aguri is ranked only eleven – a remarkable feat when you consider what they have overcome this season to get there. The team only managed to race the first three races of the season, so they are not as prepared as a lot of other teams are. In addition to this they have a shortage of spares, but despite this, they have managed to have both of the team’s cars make it over the finish line on two occasions. This is a rare feat that only four other teams have managed to get right. While they seem to be climbing the ranks, it appears that the team will still suffer further setbacks. Their practice laps have been restricted and they will not be able to make it to the Barcelona test. Only time will tell how Super Aguri will perform during the 2008 season.

Force India has surprised many with its progress thus far and the team has made it to 10th place. At the beginning of the season they said their aim was to avoid the back row of the starting grid and they certainly seem to be doing quite well for themselves. Honda’s team has taken 9th place despite a terrible start to the 2008 season. Despite not gaining any points in three of the races, they have slowly started to climb back to the top mainly due to the good engineering that has enabled them to maintain a good qualifying pace.

Seventh place is taken by Toro Rosso which has been struggling quite a bit this year. Accidents have resulted in the team receiving three DNFs and the Ferrari team has also been having car problems that resulted in Bourdais’ car expiring three laps from home. Despite this, he scored two points and the team is slowly climbing back to the top. The Red Bull team is just ahead of their junior team at seventh place. They too have been struggling with accidents, which have caused a setback. However the initial problems faced by the team seem to have been overcome and now the team’s drivers seem to be racing more consistently.

Renault is sitting at 6th but they seem confident that they will soon catch up and quickly climb the ladder again. Only time will tell how these different teams fare during the European leg of this year’s F1 racing season.