It's the time of year when all the pundits trot out their tired old predictions for the upcoming year. So, not wanting to follow the path of everyone else, I will unfold my 'feelings' on what will happen this year. They're not 'predictions', understand.

Ferrari will win everything. Again. Michael Schumacher shows no signs of tiring or retiring. His motivation still seems to be its usual 100%. Rubens Barrichello will pick up an occasional scrap thrown from the pit wall. Hopefully they won't do anything to, once again, bring the sport into disrepute. Even if the other teams have raised their own performance, it's still tough to compete with a championship winning team that has all the same personnel in place, a tyre optimized to it's chassis and it's own private test tracks.

The best of the rest will probably be McLaren. Led by the most exciting driver pairing in years, the paragons of F1 culture and business should be ready for a comeback year, still stinging from last year's half season of embarrassment. Ron Dennis will string together innumerable nouns and verbs to say things that could have been boiled down to a 5 word sentence, but it will be his ability to keep Juan Pablo Montoya calm, focused and away from fast food joints, and convince Kimi Raikkonen to let it all hang out only on track that could have them winning and contending.

As for Renault, this is probably Ol' Flav's last year at the sharp end. There have been plenty of hints that it will be his last, so he'll want to go out a winner, sailing into the sunset to knock up whatever supermodel suits his fancy. As for the drivers, both need a big year. Fernando Alonso has plenty of promise, but aside from a couple of sparkles, hasn't come on as the saviour he was predicted to be. The same has been said of Giancarlo Fisichella. This is Fisi's last best chance to prove he's as good as everyone claims. He has usually been at the wrong team at the wrong time. For Fisi's sake, hopefully Renault will have their act together for a serious run at 2nd place. It would be very nice to see him chalk up a couple of legitimate wins and stop his talk about joining Ferrari.

For Williams, this is the year of the great unknown, although I'd hesitate to call it a rebuilding year. Mark Webber is poised to become either the next Alan Jones or the next Alessandro Zanardi. His mental outlook, preparation, and commitment remind me of a certain current World Champion. He appears to be focused only on Formula One. I believe he's the real deal, but a few people said the same about Nick Heidfeld. Plucked from the edge of obscurity, Nick has the chance to regain his 'Quick' and deliver on some of the promise that was thrust upon him when he was the young McLaren wonder boy. A lot of races have gone beneath the chequered flag since he beat Montoya in F3000, but this is his first chance to be competitive. It would be a coup for Sir Frank if Nick were neck and neck with his teammate near the top of the grid. This is the first full year for Sam Michael as Technical Director, having been appointed last season. It's a sign that Sir Frank and Patrick Head aren't afraid of change to keep the team moving forward.

It's put up or shut up time for BAR. Having been bought out by Honda, it will be interesting to see if David Richards had as much to do with BAR's success as he thought. The new tyre and engine regulations will also expose Takuma Sato as a contender or pretender. While few now doubt Jenson Button's ability and maturity, Sato may be exposed as a driver with more balls than brains, with previous years' rules and technical regulations allowing him to drive, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. If Sato shows the ability to keep his head and manage his tyres and engines, he could beat Button to the top step of the podium. It's all dependent on Ferrari not winning and Honda's ability to keep an engine together for 2 race weekends.