It is the season...

It's almost Bahrain time! Remember how long the off-season seemed back in November? After the last race, and when even the Race of Champions was over and there was practically zero F1-related action, everyone started playing guess-the-2010-grid. I'm actually quite glad I didn't write my predictions down. Let's just say I was certain Button would stay with his fairytale team and Kimi would move to McLaren to show Lewis who the boss is.

Instead, we got Team Britain and the return of Michael Schumacher. Really? Has everyone forgotten how boring F1 was when he was cheating his way through championship after championship?

But let's not judge before we see. He might have finally learnt to only park his car in his garage rather on the track.

And there are plenty of other reasons to be excited about the new season. Testing has been pretty hard to judge but it looks like no less than four teams (Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes) are going to be challenging for wins, while Sauber and Williams are looking pretty nice to me too. And then, a lot of teammate battles that could be quite unpredictable: Lewis or Jenson? Alonso or Massa? Webber or Vettel? And Rosberg finally gets a teammate who will probably score more than zero points (although it would be quite funny if he didn't....)!

So, to make it a bit more exciting, here are my predictions for this season:

• Constructors' Championship: Heart says Red Bull but a little voice in my head is screaming Ferrari. I'm going for Red Bull because I believe in Adrian Newey (and hope the Renault engine won't let them down).
• Drivers' Championship: Alonso is looking good but he will probably find himself a scandal to get involved with and he might get a bit distracted. Brit boys will probably be too busy trying to change the aerodynamics with their knees to see the next corner coming up. Schumi will crash trying to take Vettel out. I'll go for Vettel.
• Top Rookie: Although I'm sure Kobayashi will give us some entertaining action, I think The Hulk will impress us more, especially in a car set up by Barrichello.
• Worst Old Team: Hard to tell really, but Renault isn't looking great at the moment and I'm not sure if The Grumpy Pole can do as well as Alonso could in a bad car. 
• Top New Team: Lotus. Surely.
• Worst New Team: Spoilt for choice. USF1 won't make it on the grid unless they merge with Stefan GP in which case I back the Toyota car to beat the Campos (probably still non-existent) car. Campos it is then. I feel bad for Bruno Senna.
• Hamilton vs. Button: Hamilton. But I think it will be quite close.
• Massa vs. Alonso: Alonso. And I think it will get ugly.
• Vettel vs. Webber: Vettel.
• Rosberg vs. Schumacher: Schumacher (with some help from his old friend Ross). 

I am looking forward to having all these (apart from the RBR/Vettel ones!) proven wrong by an exciting and unpredictable season. What are your predictions for 2010? Let me know in the comments!

And if you like predicting, you can take part in some of the numerous F1 prediction games on the web. I particularly like the F1 Badger's Fantasy GP and the games on F1 Fanatic and F1 Wolf. Which ones are you playing on?