2008 is on! Sorry for the delay!

I have been busy lately but I am back to keep you updated on the start to the scuderia’s 2008 season. The prancing horse had a terrible time in Australia losing both cars to mechanical failures but Kimi did manage to pick up 1 point due to a DQ given to Rubens Barrichello.

Malaysia was much better seeing Kimi taking his first victory of the season, and a very dominating one for that matter. We lost a potential 1-2 finish when Massa ran wide on one turn and damaged his car while running into the gravel.

Felipe Massa took a determined and much-needed victory at Bahrain yesterday to kick-start his season ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and the two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld in a race that had plenty of early action. Raikkonen takes the lead of the drivers' championship after Lewis Hamilton failed to score.

Robert Kubica lined up on pole for the first time ahead of Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen but the Pole's glory was short-lived as Felipe Massa clean beat him off the line to take the lead in turn one. There was action behind though as Hamilton slipped down to tenth and Kovalainen challenged Kimi Raikkonen for third throughout the first three corners, eventually yielding to the Ferrari.

As Massa kept his nose clean at the front, Lewis Hamilton found himself behind former team mate Fernando Alonso and clipped the rear of the Renault, destroying his front wing. Hamilton pitted at the end of lap three, rejoining at the back of the field just as Kimi Raikkonen blasted past Robert Kubica in turn one to set up a Ferrari one-two.

Here are the updated standings for the first 3 races:

• 19 Kimi Raikkonen
• 16 Nick Heidfeld
• 14 Heikki Kovalainen
• 14 Robert Kubica
• 14 Lewis Hamilton
• 10 Felipe Massa
• 8 Jarno Trulli

• 30 BMW Sauber F1
• 29 Scuderia Ferrari
• 28 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
• 10 AT & T Williams F1 Toyota
• 8 Panasonic Toyota Racing
• 6 ING Renault F1
• 4 Red Bull Racing Renault
• 2 Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari

Ferrari define Schumacher's role

Michael Schumacher says he and Ferrari have finally decided what his role at the Italian squad will be following his retirement from racing.

The seven-time world champion, who stopped racing at the end of 2006, will be in charge of developing cars for Gestione Sportiva - Ferrari's motor racing division.

Schumacher has tested for Ferrari a few times since he retired, and the German says he will do it again in order to help the Italian squad with their new F1 car.

"It took us a bit of time to establish, but now my role inside Ferrari is clear: we had to understand where my presence would be most useful," Schumacher was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I deal with the development of the car inside Gestione Sportiva.

"We haven't yet scheduled the days when I'll drive the car, nothing's decided. We'll evaluate depending on the situations: if the team need me to, I'd like to drive, but not too often.

"The F2008? The car is promising, but it is not yet in its definitive configuration. To give a more grounded opinion we'll have to see what our rivals have done."

F2008 Launched

The F2008 is the fifty fourth single-seater built by Ferrari specifically to take part in the Formula 1 World Championship. The design, codenamed internally as the 659, represents the Scuderia's interpretation of the regulations in force in 2008. A major new element of these is the introduction of a new electronic system to be used by all teams, known as SECU (Standard Electronic Control Unit).