by Rob Wilkins
ITV F1's Martin Brundle has predicted that
Lewis Hamilton will be a 'contender from the start' this year, even though it is his first year at the pinnacle of the sport.
Speaking to
Crash.net Radio at the launch of the new Playstation 3
Formula One game, Brundle added that while Hamilton will have off-days this season, he should be able to get some very solid results, given he is competing with Team McLaren-Mercedes.
"Lewis will be fast and he will shine, but he will make mistakes. He is bound too, as different weather conditions or other things catch him out. But generally speaking, with the car he has got underneath him, I think he will be a contender right from the beginning," he confirmed.
Asked about the coming season more generally, which gets underway in two weeks time, with the Australian Grand Prix, Martin said that currently its difficult to know precisely who will be at the top, although
Ferrari and
McLaren definitely look good.
"It is looking like a close season. It does appear, on long runs though that Ferrari in particular and McLaren in general, have a very strong car, much stronger than the rest," he continued. "
BMW Sauber is looking good by the sounds of it too.
"But it is really difficult to read as ever, because you only get a snap shot at the end of the day of a load of best lap times and they have got all day to put those times in."
As for who is the favourite to win in 2007, Brundle revealed that F1 tsar,
Bernie Ecclestone is tipping
Felipe Massa to be a major contender - something that was reinforced even more this week, after the Brazilian topped the times in his Ferrari F2007 three days in succession at the Bahrain International Circuit.
"I asked Bernie Ecclestone recently who he thought was the favourite for the year and he said: ‘Massa would be one of them'. I thought he was kind of tongue-in-cheek, but he wasn't at all.
