However, if last year they managed to cope without Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn, this year they won't even have Brawn to consult in emergencies and they won't have the organisational guiding hand of Jean Todt on race weekends, as Stefano Domenicali takes the reigns of the racing operation. There are no signs that that will pose any major difficulties, but it is an unknown factor should any crises arise or if Ferrari need to respond quickly should McLaren or anyone else steal an advantage.

On the driving front, Kimi Raikkonen also begins the season as favourite to successfully defend his world title. Not only will he have the confidence that a championship generates, but he is now familiar with the team and with the Bridgestones and he won't have that lull that set him back in the first third of last year. The question is whether Felipe Massa can lift his game to sustain a title challenge and win races other than from starting on pole, but one suspects he won't quite have Raikkonen's relentlessness.

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An inherent aerodynamic and balance issue has set them back, forcing them to try solutions such as those bizarre viking horns on the nosecone, and rendering their testing performances inconsistent. Internally the team are still talking up the goal of that first win, and rivals remain wary of Munich's potential, but for the moment they seem to suffering second-album syndrome. Having reached lofty heights that they were not accustomed to, the challenge is to maintain the standard rather than surpassing it.

One feels that all this will be of little import to Nick Heidfeld, who is best at maximising situations and racking up points. He will extract the most out of what the car can do. If it will only score points, he'll do just that; if it has the speed to win, he could challenge. But the pressure is on for Robert Kubica. He didn't have an atrocious 2007, but he was generally outpaced by his team-mate. If he is to remain with Hamilton, Kovalainen and Rosberg at the forefront of the next generation, he will need to match and beat Heidfeld.

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And so they look poised to remain around half a second or more off the leading pace, with no wins on the foreseeable horizon and they may have to scrap hard against BMW, Williams and Red Bull for podiums. This will pose a big test for Alonso - what will the reduced potential for victory but the better team dynamics do for his own motivation? Given how much his performances last year - some of them brilliant - were driven by anger, a more comfortable environment and a results letdown presents a tempting risk.

That is, of course, unless Nelson Piquet Jnr succeeds in ruffling his feathers in the same way Hamilton did. Except that whereas the typical Piquet personality can be a real pain, despite talking the talk Nelsinho doesn't appear to be quite on the pace in testing and may be a few tenths off Alonso for a while. The opposite of Hamilton, if you like. And even if Piquet does start having an impact on team dynamics, Flavio Briatore is wily enough to manage things infinitely better than Ron Dennis did.

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They aren't awash with cash but their funding is healthy enough, and there is no indication that Toyota is anything less than fully supportive as Williams' engine partner. All this bodes well for Nico Rosberg, who emerged as a real team leader last year and looks like sustaining his upward surge. As long as he and his team can sort out their Q3 strategy, which they didn't always get right in 2007, in order to fully utilise the speed of the car, then regular podiums should be the aim.

The German will be helped by having Kazuki Nakajima in the other car. Yes he is a Toyota-influenced signing. But yes he actually is rapid, as fast as Sato or Katayama at their best, and yes he appears to have a steady head on young shoulders, being well-guided by his F1 father Satoru. He has the potential to be a regular points-scorer this year, and that will suit Williams just fine. That's because, no he won't be able to trouble Rosberg consistently, and Nico can focus solely on getting his own job done.

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With the old school Williams technical duo of Adrian Newey and Geoff Willis on board, there is once again huge potential from a much better starting platform than last year, and Red Bull could surprise. The biggest question mark, obviously, is whether the persistent search for pace continues to come at the cost of reliability, which hurt them badly in 2007. The one area where they were weakest last year - the gearbox - is the one they have to make last four races in a row this year...

The signs so far on the reliability front are positive, but no-one can really be sure until it is tested in race weekend conditions. David Coulthard still offers a wise head, experience and solidity, but last year showed that that might not be enough any more. He hasn't shown a touch of extra spark for a long time. But as for Mark Webber, the Aussie is desperate to get his hands on a reliably and consistently competitive car. If everything falls into place, 2008 might just be that year, and a haul of up to 25 points could beckon.

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The normally commonsense Italian has been coming out with protestations that Honda or Ralf Schumacher at their most outlandish would be proud of, saying that Toyota will be best of the rest and nipping at Ferrari and McLaren's heels. Meanwhile, new driver Timo Glock, last year's GP2 champion following on from Hamilton and Rosberg no less, has generally been at the bottom of the timesheets, and been quoted as saying that Toyota might need to go backwards first, and for punters not to expect too much.

So where does the truth lie? Glock is probably lowering expectations to keep the pressure off, which given Toyota's track record is probably an intelligent thing to do. Trulli may also have a point - the new car is far more in tune with current thinking than older models, and Toyota certainly has the budget and manpower. But they will have to overcome BMW, Williams, Renault and Red Bull, which is a big ask, and so the reality is that Toyota will most likely be found - surprise, surprise - in the middle once again.

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Beginning the year with last season's car means a well-known package which is reliable and holds few mysteries for the team. The early races could thus present the team with a terrific opportunity to sneak into the points, but it may get harder from there given how tight the midfield is going to be. Sebastian Vettel, who gave the team a much-needed lift once he joined them in the last third of 2007, looks set to continue maturing as a driver and developing his considerable talent away from the spotlight.

That is because a lot of attention will be on how Sebastien Bourdais fares. The four-time Champ Car champion finally gets his F1 opportunity, which some say is long overdue. But the Frenchman has his doubters, fuelled by the lack of quality in Champ Cars over the past few years, by the example of Michael Andretti and Alex Zanardi, and by the fact that he is yet to set the track alight at the wheel of a Grand Prix car. Time will tell, but don't be surprised if he can only match Vettel without beating the young German.

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Nick Fry and co rang in the backroom changes throughout last year, the most significant of which was to bring in Brawn, but the new team was gelled too late to have an effect on this year's car. The RA108 still looks Neanderthal and bulky, and the word is that the amount of ballast they are using is proof of fundamental weight distribution issues. With radical changes for 2009 and the potential for starting with a clean slate, Brawn looks to have made the decision to give this season up before it's started.

That could be a brave call from a man who knows how to get the job done because it means that, while they will work their hardest to improve this year's animal, they are resigning themselves to another year of pain. Which means Button's talent may continue to be wasted, while Rubens Barrichello may spend another year drifting in anonymity. For a man who will become the most experienced F1 driver of all time this year, that could be the death knell. We'd be surprised if Honda score more than 10 points in '08.

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Results-wise, the signs are hardly encouraging. They haven't tested seriously since December excepting a brief run at Jerez in February. They'll either use last year's car which by now is horribly outdated, or they'll use a version of that pile of junk known as the Honda RA107 - no-one really knows. They have only just confirmed Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson. They have sold their soul to some crew called the Magma Group, and have done a deal with Honda to have its support continue.

But the finer, long term detail of neither agreement seems set in stone. Apart from simply being in F1 this year there isn't much else for Taku or Anthony to look forward to. This is Andrea Moda-esque mayhem and disorganisation which is completely at odds with the clinical example of all the other teams in pit lane. It is disastrous for the team's on-track prospects this year, but it's a throwback to less sterile bygone days, and who doesn't love a battler?

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There are obvious limitations to what a team can do with a concept that's getting long in the tooth, but doing a lot with a little is Mike Gascoyne's forte and he already seems to have extracted some extra speed from the white and gold-liveried car. Likewise, although he did sadly little for Renault, Giancarlo Fisichella has the knack of being able to lift a middling machine above its station, as he often did with Jordan in 2003 and Sauber in 2004.

Fisi will have to do that and nibble at the midfield, maybe pick up the occasional point, if he is to avoid the retirement home. He'll also need to do that to keep Adrian Sutil at bay because, so long as he keeps the car on the track which he should do more of in his second season, the German is very quick. But with a name like Force India, but two Italians in the driving line-up (including tester Tonio Liuzzi) plus a German, and an Italian engine, there's not a single Indian in sight. Disappointing.

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Particularly in the rear half of the car McLaren has taken an aggressive developmental approach this year, and it's the continued pace of development that had the team leading both of last year's championships for most of the season. Lewis Hamilton is showing no psychological effects of last year's Greg Norman-esque choke, and is the man most likely to stop Raikkonen from retaining the title. He can now afford to focus on his driving rather than playing mind games with his team-mate.

That is not to say that Heikki Kovalainen will be a pushover. Far from it - the Finn impressed greatly in the second half of 2007, and McLaren works well with Finns. It's just that Heikki will race Lewis on the track rather than in the garages, although one expects Hamilton to have the upper hand. But McLaren will need to be careful nonetheless. Both their drivers are veterans of one season only, and rumours are that Ron Dennis is on his way out. Could inexperience be a factor in McLaren's season?

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Toyota could be in the mix as well if Trulli is right about their potential, which could make for a regular log-jam of ten to fourteen cars per race scrapping over the eight points-paying positions. It will probably take attrition for Toro Rosso and Force India to break into the points, but with old cars they may just do it. Honda's challenge is to avoid further embarrassment and get into the midfield at least, while Super Aguri's battle is simply to start, and then survive, the season.

REJECTS IN 2008:

BMW's viking nose and Red Bull's engine cover fin - aesthetics continue to nosedive.

Nelson Piquet Jnr's attitude.

Toyota's publicocrap.

Honda - what's with that livery this year?

The Indianness of Force India.

Super Aguri.

Bernie's continuing attempts to force Australia to become a night race.

Dare we say it - Sebastien Bourdais?