“Kimi [Raikkonen] was just not able to maintain last year's performance. Added to this was the fact that Felipe improved very much and was able to put himself into the number one driver position. At a certain point it became very clear that Kimi would have to support Felipe to get the drivers' championship. As to whether this is a sign of burn-out, I cannot tell.

“Heikki Kovalainen showed some very strong moments this year, and he also improved his performance and consistency. He is a perfect wingman for Lewis. At Ferrari it is always the case that the team concentrates on the more promising driver, and then when you have two strong drivers – as they had this season – you will be able to get the constructors' world championship.”

Another squad in the battle for constructors' laurels for much of the campaign was BMW-Sauber but, following Robert Kubica's breakthrough victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal, the momentum seemed to slip, to the point that come season's end the Munich and Hinwil-based concern had been indisputably overtaken by a resurgent Renault – and particularly the Régie's talisman driver and former double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso – as F1's third force.

“BMW-Sauber had a very strong package at some races,” Lauda mused, “and were able to translate the performance and reliability of the car – combined with their drivers' skills – into results on the racetrack, but you could also see that they were unable to do this on tracks where their car showed a weakness in pace.

“Overall, though, you can see that they are on the right path in their development, and they can probably be as strong, or even stronger next season. I do not think that they had a problem with their sudden success, as the team has a very high grade of experienced personnel and they should easily be able to cope with success.

“For Renault it was probably a wrong direction of development, which always takes half of the season to correct as there are so many factors that have to be fixed once you go wrong. What we have seen there is that they must have found the mistake and, together with Fernando's driving qualities, they were able to win again.”

Toyota spent much of the year looking odds-on for fourth spot in the constructors' battle themselves, and though the big-budget Japanese manufacturer and drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock produced consistently solid performances throughout, the team could not match Renault's improvement and ultimately fell back into the clutches of Scuderia Toro Rosso, for whom Italian Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel proved to be one of the stand-out drivers of the season, fairly embarrassing 'parent' outfit Red Bull Racing.

“Both drivers did a good job this year,” Lauda remarked of Toyota, “and Timo Glock was able to improve his learning curve and translate this onto the racetrack. The team itself now has to prove that they are able to maintain this performance and be able to score more points and some podiums next season.

“Congratulation to Gerhard [Berger] and the team (STR) – they did a fantastic job. Sebastian was able to finish races without any mistakes and was constantly pushing to get the most out of his car. This is what it takes to be a world champion – and this is what got him to the top spot of the podium in Monza.

“It is very important for him now to get into a car that is able to win more races – frequently. With his departure to Red Bull Racing he will face a new challenge, as the team has to prove that they are able to give him a competitive car. For sure he is now on the radar to achieve a world championship sometime in the future.