Not only was 2006 a great
F1 season, but the rich vein of new driving talent which it tapped into holds the prospect of even more great racing from the moment the new season kicks off in Melbourne on 18 March next.
I don't believe anybody could be failed to be highly impressed with the smooth assurance of
Robert Kubica as he steered his
BMW Sauber to an accomplished third place at Monza, or be moved to the very edge of their seats by the obvious promise of
Lewis Hamilton and
Heikki Kovalainen, as well as keeping the faith in
Nico Rosberg, who will be hoping for better things in 2007 after a bruising freshman year in the sport's most senior category.
Yet, perhaps we should be looking a little further up the seniority scale for the biggest surprises. I have to say that the second half of the past season saw both
Jenson Button and
Felipe Massa growing impressively in stature as they finally got a taste of firm success under their belts. It's a meaningless statistic, I know, but Jenson scored more points than anybody else on the starting grid from his Hungarian GP victory through to the end of the season. Nevertheless, as a touchstone for possible future success, it was a promising signal for the 26-year old, who now carries an aura of confidence and star quality about him which certainly wasn't evident prior to that memorable day at the Hungaroring.
It's rather the same for Massa. Okay, so you might think that anybody with half a brain might have stormed to victory at Interlagos. Given the performance edge displayed by the Bridgestone-shod
Ferrari 248 at the Brazilian track, victory in his home grand prix was Felipe's to lose. The paradox here is that it's in such conditions of apparent dominance that drivers can be lulled into stupid mistakes. Massa was under huge pressure, with the spirit of
Ayrton Senna riding alongside him, but he drove an utterly perfect race to become the first Brazilian winner at home since the legendary
McLaren ace in 1993.
