Following the retirement of the legend that was Michael Schumacher, Formula One was left with a big gap to fill.

It would be similar to Tiger Woods not competing in golf or Roger Federer at tennis. These dominant stars are needed by there respective sports for competitive and financial reasons.
When Woods or Federer contest the last day of a tournament the revenue generated from television companies far exceeds that when they are not present. This extra money eventually permeates down to the sport so it is in the governing bodies’ interests to have such superstars.
In addition it gives every competitor a benchmark to be compared with and consequently the spectator also. Schumacher provided this in abundance for Formula One and it is going to be interesting to see how the sport copes with his absence. The main advantage it has is that Fernando Alsonso had lowered his and Ferraris colours for the past two seasons thus diminishing his awe of invincibility.
Whilst the German was still perceived as the man to beat, other younger drivers with progressing teams behind them were beginning to have significant impact on race weekends. Motor racing also has a history of having to deal with the loss of its main attraction such as the tragic death of Ayton Senna.
Then it was Schumacher himself who became the new Champion and now it is left to a new breed led by Alonso and Raikkonen to step in the breech.
The British media has been giving motor racing particular attention this year as there are four British drivers, not least Jenson Button and the new recruit to the Formula One ranks, Lewis Hamilton taking part. Securing a drive for McClaren has assured the latter driver of regular points and podium positions. Very rarely does such a first season novice get a drive in such a prominent team.
Third place in the Australian Grand Prix underlines this point while Button’s 15th place is likely to be repeated on several occasions in what will probably turn out to be a very frustrating year for him and his Honda team.
He had been predicting that this season would be tough one and his analysis following Sydney that they had a “rubbish race” and “there was massive under steer - I pitted early because the car was so bad” really does not bode well.
Hamilton, meanwhile, had a fantastic race and was only caught for second place by team mate Alonso at the last round of pit stops.
It is this rivalry that will be the real assessment of the English driver’s season.
How he fares against the World Champion who has the same car will be the key indicator to how good this young man will be.
Raikkonen on the other hand has moved to Ferrari and will be settling into his new team over the coming months.
Widely respected as a great speed driver he will offer something completely different to the Italian set up.
Schumacher would pay constant attention to every detail, a control freak, but the Finn will just turn up and drive the car as fast as he can. He did this to great effect on Sunday winning the grand Prix from start to finish. His early position as favourite for the season has been clearly underlined.
If McClaren cannot close the gap on its Ferrari counterparts Raikkonen may get his biggest challenge from Team mate Filipe Massa who has showed real talent behind the wheel. It was only because of problems in qualifying and the fact that he had to start at the back of the grid that meant we could not witness an early battle between the two.
It is the fact that both of the main contenders have changed team that will postpone the verdict as to whether either of them is truly able to take over the Schumacher mantle.
Initially it will be the comparisons with their respective team mates that should give a better indication of how much better they both are than the rest of the field.
It will be a fascinating aspect to this season’s events and the next Grand Prix in Malaysia and Bahrain will give us some early indications of the battle ahead.
It is Massa that might be the fly in the ointment and it is Harrison who might gain lots of the headlines but eventually one of the two main contenders will gain the all important dominance.
The two people most interested in this battle will be Bernie Eccleston and Max Mosely who will be hoping that one of them achieves superstar status in order to keep the sponsors and television companies handing over the money that is the lifeblood of this particular sport.

Watching the wheels
Patrick Cummings in England