As the Formula One season approaches at full throttle, testing times give us a guide to the form so far. The broad-brush picture is that Ferrari and McLaren are still out in front, with Ferrari appearing to have a small but reducing advantage. Kimi Raikkonen has about 0.1sec in hand over teammate Felipe Massa, who in turn seems to be on much the same pace as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.

It will take a year for the spying dramas to wash through the McLaren team, but Ferrari have continuity and evolution of personnel on their side, as well as plenty of experience with the standard-issue Bridgestone tyres. It all points to an epic title fight between the two teams, with Hamilton in the thick of it.

Raikkonen is the logical favourite. The Ferrari car seems more driver-friendly, and with a championship under his belt, he seems happy, fast and motivated. Massa has a lot to prove and on his day he is capable of taking the fight to his teammate. On tracks such as Istanbul’s he looks almost unbeatable.

McLaren’s new signing, Kovalainen, is good enough to keep Hamilton honest, but over a season I would expect the Briton to win that in-team battle.

Despite the banning of traction control and other electronic driver aids, the cars are even faster, such is the progress on all fronts. The part of the 2008 regulation changes I am most looking forward to is the fully manual starts, putting a core skill back in the hands of the driver. There will be more place changes down to the first corner, hopefully mixing things up a little from the grid order. And without the safety net of traction control, in slippery conditions, with worn tyres, or in heavy combat, we will see the drivers making more mistakes.

After the big two there is a gap of about 0.3sec per lap. Last year this was the sole territory of BMW, but it appears they have slightly fallen back into the pack and are under pressure from Williams, Renault and Red Bull. The BMW drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, have both been saying the new car is unpredictable. Kubica’s aggressive style may suit it better.

Williams seem to have made the biggest gains during the winter. It was imperative to retain Nico Rosberg despite strong overtures from McLaren. His rookie teammate, Kazuki Nakajima, looks quick, but expect him to be a little wild initially. The team will focus on Rosberg for the glory.

Renault are part of this chasing subgroup. They can never be discounted, especially with Fernando Alonso back on board. He has not forgotten how to be a brilliant F1 driver just because of his difficult season at McLaren, but Renault may be wary that he is using them as a stepping stone to Ferrari. His rookie teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr, doesn’t yet appear to be the same threat that Hamilton was last season.

The new Red Bull isn’t the competitive leap the team had been hoping for, but it does appear vastly more reliable. Couple that with their wily driver lineup of David Coulthard and Mark Webber, and you would fancy them to be around to take advantage on those crazy days where there are lots of incidents.

Toro Rosso are beginning the season with what is in effect the same car they ran last year. During testing they raised some eyebrows. There is something inherently exciting about this small team and its driver lineup of Sebastian Vettel and Sebast-ien Bourdais. Vettel looks to have the upper hand, but either of them might be taking some bigger-team scalps.

Toyota are firmly in the midfield mix, but there’s nothing to suggest that they are going to make their sorely needed competitive breakthrough. Expect Jarno Trulli to be terrific on his day, but he is not somebody who will transcend an average car, while Timo Glock has much to prove.

Honda have been painfully slow during the tests. The ingredients are all there for this team, which was victorious 18 months ago, but it is going to take new recruit Ross Brawn time to make the souffle rise, maybe as long as three years. That, I’m afraid, is time that neither Jenson Button nor Rubens Barrichello can afford. There will be frustrations to manage.

Force India is the name of the former Jordan/Midland/Spyker team under the new ownership of Vijay Mallya, a petrol-head with an impressive business track record. The team’s prospects are bound up in the emergence of India as an economic force, so they look good. Giancarlo Fisichella has made an intriguing signing there late in his career, mirroring the move Coulthard made to Red Bull a few years ago.

That leaves only Super Aguri. It is not even certain that they will be on the Melbourne grid. They have faced adversity since day one, but critically no longer have the full backing of Honda. It looks ominous.

Great news as far as I’m concerned are the two new street circuits in Singapore and Valencia, the former hosting F1’s first nighttime race. I am sure this will be the beginning of a whole new dimension for F1.