The Formula 1 world championship is back! The mighty fast machines are @ Australia, some +11 hours far from GMT Time [Portugal + UK]. The sun is shinning, the audiences are rising, and there are so many changes that casual viewers will have trouble identifying their favorite drivers and even their favorite cars!!

The "1st division" teams didn't change much, as both MacLaren and Ferrari are playing with the same sponsors and the same drivers, except for the #2 Ferrari, where Eddie Irvine - who had a brilliant 1999 championship and did achieve the vice world champion title - got the sack... and was replaced by Rubens Barrichello, a promising brazilian talent, who is finally given a chance to fight for victory.

While MacLaren and Ferrari didn't change must, just check some of the most obvious changes:

Williams is now on white, powered by BMW, with Ralph Schumacher and a 20 year old Button, who somehow managed not to crash the car and score a very reasonable #21 place, just ahead of Mazzacane, another debutante. I am NOT being ironic: the #21 place only has a 3.2 seconds gap to Mika Hakkinen, the pole man. While 3.2 seconds is certainly a lot of time on F1 terms, we must notice that Button has no F1 experience... I think he really did perform great.

Bar, with Villeneuve and Zonta, now races on white. It is a shame to loose their last season's dual decor, but that is what we are going to get.

Prost Racing remains one of the most beautiful cars on track, still blue, thanks to the Galoises sponsorship. The Prost now has a strong www.yahoo.com presence, on its sides. Jarno Trulli and Olivier Panis are gone; Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld are in! This is a complete driver renewal, using last year's F3000 champion [Heidfeld], and F1's most experienced driver [Alesi].

Heidfeld scored #15, with 1:33:024, better than Alesi's #17 / 1:33:197. I was expecting a better performance from the team in general, and from Alesi in particular. No complaints about Heidfeld; I think he did a superb job - again, he is doing his 1st race!

Jaguar is a new team, born from Stewart Racing. They race with Jarno Trulli and Eddie Irvine, and I think they will be 2000's BIG surprise! I believe they will WIN races very soon! Both cars are less than 1 second behind the MacLarens and the Ferraris, plus its drivers are very competitive and close to each other, separated by only 1/10 second...

Arrows and Minardi are more than 2 seconds faster than in 1999, and this sure is impressive.

Overall, F1 looks completely new and much more interesting. Don't miss the race!