Sort It Out: Formula 1 is Back!

Over the past couple of years I've rediscovered my fondness (love seems too strong a word but fondness doesn't sound right either) of Formula 1. Indeed, I'm old enough (and then some) to remember when it was actually called Formula 1 - rather than F1 as now seems the norm, probably thought up by the same people who called the recent BBC drama 'Marple' rather than the conventional 'Miss Marple' (don't get me started on that one).

In 2007 I followed the young rookie driver Lewis Hamilton as he finished runner up in the drivers championship, and last year enjoyed him going one better as he overtook Timo Glock with 5 corners to go on the last lap in the last race to claim the fifth place he needed to win the title.

So, it should be with a huge amount of excitement that I look forward to the start of the 2009 season this Sunday in Melbourne. But it's not.

Two weeks ago - just two weeks before the start of the season - the sport governing body announced that the scoring system would change. Following protests from the teams and public alike the new system haas now been deferred to 2010. Without going into the rights and wrongs of the old and new systems surely this shouldn't be up for debate 14 days before the start of the season.

Now I read that as a result of different interpretations of new technical specifications for the cars themselves, three teams - Williams, Toyota and Brawn - have their car designs under investigation. Should the investigation go against them they would most likely race with the current build until an appeal could be heard - this would likely be in around 10 days meaning any points won this weekend would be subject to review.

What a mess. Surely all of these issues should be sorted months before the start of the season so that everyone - race teams, administrators and public - can enjoy the sport without worrying that everything is going to be undermined by a committee decision (again).

Coverage is back with the BBC - to be fair ITV did a great job despite the advert breaks so they something to live up to - with Qualifying starting on BBC1 at 6am on Saturday with the race itself starting at 7am on Sunday.