Formula 1 heads to New Golden Era

Lewis Hamilton won this year’s Drivers Championship in fanatic fashion, passing Timo Glock when he was on the penultimate corner of the last lap to claim the title by a point. Sheer breath-taking stuff but the 2008 season had me excited for one main reason: the fact that Formula 1 is about to embark on a new golden era.
There are so many new decent drivers making a name, and the next ten years of the sport will be the most exciting yet.
The 2007 season showed the sheer competitiveness between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton battling it out for the championship before the squabbling allowed Kimi Raikkonen to take the glory and the Championship.
The 2008 season showed Felipe Massa and Hamilton having to battle it out on the last race at Brazil that provided a thrilling end.
Throughout the season, we had three new winners McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, and BMW’s Robert Kubica at Hungary, Italy, and Canada respectively.
Alonso reminded everyone that he is not dead in the water as the former champion won at Singapore and Japan ousting the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s to take the chequered flag with a Renault.
He won back-to-back championships with Renault back in 2005 and 2006 before his ill fate season with McLaren and next year Renault will be more competitive as they look to close the gap.
The 27 year old has the determination and the talent to win another title yet.
Kubica had a fantastic start to the season before eventually fading in the final races. His win at Canada was partly down to luck, when Hamilton stupidly crashed into the back of Raikkonen, but that should not prevent any negative credibility.
His second placed finishes at Malaysia, Monaco and Japan and other podium finishes at Bahrain and Valencia showed much dedication and prominent signs of a future world champion.
Vettel joined the sport this year and had an astonishing season in a Toro Rosso where the team was not expected to do well. The win at Italy was a high point and a fourth spot finish in Brazil certainly showed his credentials as he made Hamilton undoubtedly sweat. He had fantastic pace and his ability should not be ignored.
His promotion to the Red Bull team to fill Davis Coulthard’s position has been granted and utterly deserved.
After the first four races where he suffered retirements in each one, he started to look like a competitor. Fifth place finishes in Monaco, Belgium, and Singapore were hugely creditable.
Kovalainen had a relatively poor season compared to the potential he promised after his successful debut season with Renault in 2007.
In 2008, his highlights were his win in Hungry and achieving pole at Silverstone by a mile. He only achieved two other podiums throughout the season with a second spot at Italy and Malaysia.
Next season, where he will play a massive second fiddle to Hamilton, Kovalainen will be under pressure to perform but he needs to, to make sure off his seat in the future.
Massa, 27, and Raikkonen, 29, may not be as young as the others may be, but both will have a huge say for a few years yet.
Jenson Button 28 has the promise of a decent car for next year, it may be competitive, and he could possibly add to his solitary win at Hungry in 2006.
The next ten years will be huge and there are hopes to emulate other keenly contest throughout the years.
Alberto Ascari and Juan Manuel Fangio during the fifties were huge rivals.
The Jim Clark, Graham Hill, and John Surtees British dominance in the early sixties was fondly remembered as thy contested for the title the best of British.
Perhaps the most famous rivalries came from the Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, and Ayrton Senna era, and with Nigel Mansell supplying more strong rivalry in the latter part, it was the best level of competitiveness yet.
You even had seven-time champion Michael Schumacher trying to oust Damon Hill.
Not until now, you have so many talented drivers ready to battle it out for the championship.
We can only wait in anticipation.