Is this an exclusive video for the latest Formula 1 game, out in October 2009 and developed by Codemasters? I'm not sure.

This development footage certainly does look exciting, and I am looking forward to playing an F1 game on the XBox 360:

• Bonus point for fastest lap
• Bonus point for pole position
• Touring Car style races and reversed grid
• 2 more points for first place
• Drivers' Championship based on wins

Brazillian GP Odds

Sebastian Vettel produced the drive of his life to maintain his Pole Position and win comfortably over second place Kovalainen, who looked visibly subdued after his lacklustre race.

A race that was wet throughout, started by the Safety Car was one of the most eventful of the season, with Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen trying to push up through the grid, but both failed to make any impact.

Vettel’s win makes him the youngest ever winner of a Formula 1 race, beating the previous record holder Fernando Alonso, who won his first race aged 22.

F1 Statistics after 11 races

Having just these drivers in your predictions for every race would have scored 28 points so far.

With an unpredictable Valencia street race in 2 weeks (a previously unraced circuit), scoring maximum points is getting vital in the closing stages of this 2008/09 F1 Season. With 7 races remaining, there is a maximum 154 points up for grabs, so there is everything to play for.

Looking at the previous statistics, it is rare that one driver replicates his position the next race, so making weekly predictions could improve your points for these last races. The closing time as ever is at 10pm on the Friday before the race weekend.

Round 10 of the Formula 1 takes place at Hockenheim in Germany, which was missing from the calendar last year

According to Jenson Button, speaking in 2006, the medium and slow corners do make the tyres work hard, which may play into Ferrari’s hands, as they are the team who seem to be able to limit their tyre wear the best.

In 2006, the last time the F1 drivers drove at Hockenheim it was a Ferrari 1-2, with Michael Schumacher just winning over Felipe Massa; Kimi Räikkönen gained Pole Position, and finished third, followed by Jenson Button, although it is doubtful that the Honda will be able to keep that kind of pace this year.

This will be the first time many of the rookies race at Hockenheim in F1 cars, but according to Lewis Hamilton, it is a fairly simple track to get accustomed to, so we shouldn’t see too many driver errors.

The French Grand Prix has been held at Magny-Cours since 1991, with rumours being that it will be replaced by a Paris street race in 2009. With a redesign in 2003, it remains a flat circuit, with little overtaking opportunities, apart from the Adelaide hairpin; a first gear tight hairpin, which can be attacked hard.

The weather predicts showers on Saturday, and as has been proven at Monaco, races can change dramatically on the weather conditions, so there may be a chance that it will be unlike the uneventful races of previous years.

In 2006, Schumacher clinched his 8^th win at Magny-Cours, a Formula One record which still stands today.

Ferrari have won the last 7/10 races at Magny-Cours, and this has been partly down to their notoriously longer wheelbase, which suits tracks like this more than slower cornered tracks, such as Monaco. The F2007 had a longer wheelbase than its current F1 car, and whilst Ferrari has shortened the length, McLaren have increased theirs this season, but with an ever-improving BMW team, the race predictions are hard to call.

Last year, Räikkönen won, making himself a major title contender, after Hamilton struggled to keep up with the pace of the F2007. There were 5 retirements last year, most memorably from Albers, who memorably drove away whilst still being connected to the fuel rig.

The McLarens look strong this weekend again at Monaco, and statistics show this is not unusual.

The Monaco Grand Prix is always the event most drivers and spectators look forward to. Its winding, street circuit makes for exciting driving, and although one of the worst circuits for overtaking, it has produced some memorable racing.

With no run offs, and the absence of traction control, it could be an even more eventful race than last year, not forgetting McLarens actions at Monaco last year.

Both Fernando Alonso and David Coulthard are the most successful drivers racing this weekend, both winning twice at Monaco; Coulthard in 2000 and 2002 with McLaren, and Alonso in 2006 and 2007 with Renault and McLaren.

It is predominantly a McLaren dominated race (winning 14 times in total), with 2005 and 2007 being a Q1 to P1 for the team, with Raikonnen and Alonso both qualifying on pole and going on to win for them. The stats also show that whoever qualifies on Pole usually wins.

With new tarmac on the start / finish straight, and a soft compound used, the start race toward the first corner should provide some wheel to wheel action.

Vettel will be lucky to score points again this week, because as well as his poor performances, he is having to drop 5 places due to an unscheduled gearbox change, following Scuderia Torro Rossos ST3 launch. Bourdais does not get a penalty because of his retirement in Turkey.

Highlights of the Monaco practices are avaliable on ITVs F1 Site, as it a TV guide.

weekend with the Spanish GP. As ever, the prediction deadline ends at

10pm Friday, 25th April.

With the arrival of the European Grand Prix to Spanish shores this year,

Spain will host two races in 2008. Before the new Valencia street

circuit makes headlines in August, however, there is this weekend’s

Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya to look forward to.

The Circuit de Catalunya has been a test circuit over the winter, and

last week, so expect a competitive race, as manufacturers will be

sporting slightly revised aero packages no doubt.

Last year Felipe Massa won, also qualifying on P1 ahead of Kimi, who

qualified P3. McLaren had a solid 2-3 with Hamilton and Alonso

qualifying P4 and P2 respectably. Alex Wurz retired first last year,

along with another 7 who recorded a DNF.

There were some impressive teams and drivers, and some who seemed to under perform. Here is a short breakdown:

Winners

BMW: Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld seems to have a really good car under them, as they produced blisteringly fast hot laps, and Kubica would have been on Pole, were it not for loosing around 2-3 tenths running wide and showing perfect car control on the power slide. Nick Heidfeld performed slightly less than Kubica, but still managed a 5^th place.

Honda: Many people had discounted Honda before this season started, however after finding 1 second a lap in pre season tests, the team performed well and just managed to get placed outside the Top 10. Things look promising again, as Ross Brawn had stated that he plans to roll out many more aero upgrades.

Toyota: Jarno Trulli, and Timo Glock managed a respectable 6^th and 9^th place, and although their race pace has sometimes not mirrored the qualifying, they looked very convincing.

Losers

Renault: It seems Nelson Piquet found his first F1 race difficult, as he was placed a lowly 21^st and Alonso managed 12^th. It seems that Renault have lost their way after the back-to-back championship season wins.

Ferrari: After a strange strategy, which involved waiting until the very last minutes of Q3 to bring their drivers out, Kimi then had a problem in Q2, where, after producing his fastest 2 sectors, a fuel pressure problem hampered his chances, and he had to limp back to the pits, where he was pushed back to the garage from the mechanics, meaning he could not go back out again.

Massa was slightly slower than the McLarens’, however their race pace ensures that Massa should be looking for a podium place for the Sunday race.

Qualifying places are below:

1.  HAMILTON       McLaren
2.  KUBICA         BMW

3.  KOVALAINEN     McLaren

4.  MASSA          Ferrari

5.  HEIDFELD       BMW

6.  TRULLI         Toyota

7.  ROSBERG        Williams

8.  COULTHARD      Red Bull

9.  VETTEL         Toro Rosso

10. BARRICHELLO    Honda

11. ALONSO         Renault

12. BUTTON         Honda

13. NAKAJIMA       Williams

14. WEBBER         Red Bull

15. RAIKKONEN      Ferrari

16. FISCHELLA      Force India

17. BOURDAIS       Toro Rosso

18. SUTIL          Force India
19. GLOCK          Toyota*

20. SATO           Super Aguri

21. PIQUET         Renault
22. DAVIDSON       Super Aguri

If Honda needs to be back at their 2006 success, with Jenson picking up his first win in Hungary in the wet I think they need another 1 or 2 years with Ross Brawn at the helm, as he stated at the launch, he didn’t have as much input in this car as he would like.

To be honest, all Honda needed to have done was to make a consistent car this season, and they can improve on last years. The RA107 was very unpredictable, in the wet, the dry, fast and slow circuits, but down force was its major problem last year, stated to have been a badly calibrated wind tunnel.

With BMW’s success, it would be unlikely for Honda to gain the 3^rd Constructors place in this decade, but Renaults decline last year hints that Honda maybe able to fit into that 4^th place by 2009 if all goes well. However, major achievements need to be made, as the solid ‘middle teams’ or Williams and Red Bull don’t appear to be wavering any time soon.

Toyota problems need to improve this season and the next, or it was said that they will pull out after 2009 if things do not progress, and hopefully Honda won’t be shamed by its much smaller brother Super Aguri this year, who have managed to pass Honda using fundamentally Honda’s ‘06 car, despite the commendable drives from Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson.

So, in conclusion, will they be more competitive this season? Yes. But there won’t be the huge leap some people are expecting.

Already with tests at Jerez, it appears that Timo Glock has risen to the challenge, being the fastest driver of the day on the 16^th Jan. Sebastien Bourdais has also shown the talent he used to win the Champ Car World Series for 3 successive years, by being fourth fastest on the day, 1/10 sec ahead of Massa.

With Glock in the 2008 TF108 Piquet Jr and Bourdais in the 2007 cars, it will be interesting to see their times with the 2008 cars.

Meanwhile, last years rookies are looking better than ever, with Hamilton showing good form in the MP4-23 alongside team mate Kovalainen. A notable mention must be made to Adrian Sutil as well, as his Force India car produced a 1m21.705s, beating the two Red Bull cars in yesterdays test by almost half a second.

“It’s just that the company is controlled by a competitor, and that’s not a good situation to be in.”

Testing with the new ECU started in Barcelona at the start of December and had continued in Jerez over the Christmas break. Comments from drivers appear to be mixed, but appear to be happy about the change. Felipe Massa has been one of the more outspoken drivers, not in favour of the TC ban. He commented that it would make races more dangerous:

“From a safety point of view I think limitations in the use of electronics is a step backwards.”

However, on a more positive note, drivers from the non-TC GP2 series appear to be in favour of the change, and are looking forward to the results:

Lewis Hamilton:

"Perhaps the better drivers will do a better job, so we will see what happens through the season."

Kazuki Nakajima:

“It’s good for me to have a simpler car because the driving style you need is closer to GP2.”

Including outstanding driver in the wet, Jenson Button:

“It’ll also put more control of the car back in the hands of the driver, which is a good thing, and it should suit my driving style.”

This comes as it seems possible that slicks could make a comeback in F1 again, increasing grip lost by removing TC, allowing more driver involvement in the sport.

Insider sources in an electronics supplier to the F1 series have commented to me that electronics went to such a height in past years, that by using sensors in the circuit, the cars actually could slow themselves down, if telemetry showed that they were going too fast into the corners. Something had to change, and the lack of TC seems to be a welcome move from many F1 fans.

Reading the latest driver line-ups, there are a few in there which seem to be interesting choices. Kazuji Nakajima’s Williams drive for one. After his problems at the very end of last season, not mentioning the pit stop incident (which the crew are still recovering from) it seems that the main reason he got the drive was because of Toyota, Williams engine supplier and offered a financial reward to secure the seat. Incidentally in 1987, Honda wanted Williams to use their engines, but only on the condition that a certain Mr Satoru Nakajima (Kazuki’s Dad) would take a seat. Now, back then they refused, and there still are teams out there which have refused offers like this.

Thanks to the reigniting of the newly-named Force India F1 by Indian Vijay Mallya and a budget of around $100m Force India have said that:

“In the past the team were looking for money, which was the prime motivating factor for the driver line-up. Now that has changed.”

This is great news for the team, especially because of the recent driver tests at Jerez, including newly-released Giancarlo Fisichella, which would be a welcome addition to Adrian Sutil alongside him.

The earning curve in teams last season went from McLaren Mercedes £421m to Spyker’s $36m. Williams were 8^th in the list with $97m and have managed to maximise their funding, based on last seasons results.

The problem is that nowadays, sponsorship and money is so important to the sport, it is vital that all teams can maximise their funding, but it seems that some of the teams have substituted talent for cash, but in the end, it is the results in 2008 that do the talking.

The 2006 Season was relatively good for Honda, netting Button his first and only win in Hungary; whilst finishing fourth overall in the contructors championship.

It has been argued that a misconfigured wind tunnel is the cause for Honda's problems because it has appeared that on low downforce tracks that the RA07 is more competive.

Its also Rubens first 0 point season is his entire career, and the fact that Super Aguri has continued to humilate the Works Honda team by beating them on several occasions, using last years car has only proved to infuriate the Honda Team.

With the appointment of Ross Brauwn; if he can only have half as successful career as he did in Ferrari during 96-07 then this team will be back on track and being up there with the top 4 again.