The conversation regarding the way F1 works has been going on since the season began and it is fabulous. Today, Alex Andronov addresses the direction he might like F1 to go in.

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the future of F1 since the Bahrain Grand Prix fizzled out faster than it took Flavio Briatore to change team manager at Fulham. Just recently we've found Mr C suggesting that he'd rather have seen tyre changes disappear than fuel changes and of course I think we're all still digesting Steven Roy's epic treatise on the future of the sport.

I, of course, like all sofa based fans of the sport, have my own pet theory on what might be done to fix it. And it's pretty simple... honest.

I would like to suggest that from next season the drivers have three pedals, accelerate, brake and clutch. They have a gear stick. And they use their steering wheel to... ummm steer. No fuel maps, no flappy gear paddles, no flappy front flap paddles either for that matter. The only button I would give them is push to talk on their radio.

Now you might say, "hold on, I want my cars to be the ultimate driving experience". Well why haven't they got traction control? Why haven't they got CVT? Why haven't they got bits of the car being operated from Woking?

We have to make compromises in the car design to enable the driver to show how good they are. We need to enable the drivers, while under pressure, to make mistakes. If you took all of this out of the car and paired it with a new simplified standard ECU you would know people weren't slipping driver aids back in.

You could have a racing series where the drivers sit by the side of the track playing a computer game which could be being replicated on the track by machines. But I don't think that's where we want to be. So now you agree with me we may as well start by getting the most out of the person we all agree can't be removed.

Getting rid of these driver aids would, I honestly believe, vastly improve the amount of overtaking moves per race as the drivers will make more mistakes per lap.

We went to the moon with computers simpler than the ones controlling current F1 cars. So don't tell me this idea is counter to the idea of F1 cars being rocket ships.

Everyone expects chaos from the Australian Grand Prix, but I think this one surpassed even the wildest of expectations. Throw in a bit of rain, some over-eager drivers, and plenty of overtaking, and you've got the ingredients for a great race.

We'll update this post when the Fantasy Racers scores are available, but let us know how you got on.

Don't forget to select your drivers for Australia before the 5pm UK time deadline. Unless you are using Strategy 2, like me, in which case you keep the same drivers throughout. Let us know who you're going for and why, and we'll review everything after the event. For now, I will hand over to Gavin to tell you how his team is shaping up.

Hello there.

First of all, if you are having trouble making your picks, then check out my analysis and form guide for Bahrain. Regarding that race, the RubberGoat Racing System did not have a very good day out - it was soundly beaten by its bitter rivals from Trinidad (the Samsite Squad).

It seems that those who chose a fixed budget and picked good drivers had a distinct advantage - the top 10 teams in the league all chose the fixed strategy.

For RubberGoat Racing (the main team, on a flexible budget), my strategy is to pick the drivers with the highest PPM (points per million). The team had a rrrrubbish day out, ranked only 218th in the league. Therefore, after poor performances for the money they are worth, I have swapped Button, Kobayashi and Hülkenberg for Vettel and Hamilton. Alonso keeps his place from last time.

For Loyal Goats (also on a PPM strategy but on a fixed budget), I have picked a wide spread of drivers I hope will perform well this season. Therefore, my line-up is Alonso, Button, Barrichello and Vettel. This team was my best performing last time (23rd).

For RubberGoat Rich List, which is a flexible team, I have just picked expensive drivers who I think will do well. Therefore I stuck with Alonso and Vettel and changed out Hamilton for Rosberg, just to mix things up and not make it identical to the main team. The Rich list placed 59th last time.

Scuderia Capra Gomma is my fixed strategy team based on the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers. They placed 320th last time, as three of its drivers had a bad day (Vettel carried the team). The line-up is Vettel, Webber, Alguersuari and Buemi.

Finally, RubberGoat Rookies is a fixed strategy team using all the rookie drivers – Senna, Chandhok, Kobayashi, di Grassi, Hülkenberg and Petrov. It’s my only team that maxes out the 6-driver limit, but performed really poorly (446th in the league). To illustrate how bad the rookies did, two drivers scored minus points and the whole team only 106 – which is less than Jenson Button scored in the competition.

RubberGoat hopes that its line-up changes in the Premier team make a big difference, and that not many surprises happen this weekend!

So that’s a summary of the RubberGoat Racing System strategy – remember to make your picks before the cut off, and be sure to check my blog after the race for a full roundup of all the Fantasy Racers action.

Fantasy Racers – because F1 is more interesting off the track this year.

Monday has returned and we're at the start of a brand new week. Mr C wasn't feeling too well yesterday, so we decided not to do an F1 Debrief show - there wasn't an enormous amount of news to cover anyways. I blame the over-excitement of the Crashed Ice thing, but he suggests otherwise. Nevertheless, here are some of the things we've been talking about this weekend:

• Yesterday we started our mission to review all the driver and team websites for the 2010 season, with the first six completed. Mr C and I both review the sites, with his focus more on the technical side of things, including mobile devices and load times, whilst I just gush about whether they have Twitter accounts and photos on the site. We'll be posting these throughout the week so let us know your thoughts on the sites we have reviewed.
• Giggles Radio has reached the letter H already, and the replay for Sunday's night show is up on the site with the playlist available as well. It's always worth a listen if you have time, as the mixture of great music and Giggles rather amusing links between the songs makes the hours just fly by.
• Finally, we're keen to be more positive about F1 after the Bahrain weekend, and as Australia is coming up, we looked at ten reasons why F1 in Aus won't suck. I hope you can add to our list of reasons in the comments, it's almost like the F1 Happy Place but for a specific race instead.

That should do it for now. I hope your Monday is going okay, and as always, I will see you in the comments.

The first race of the year means the finishing order is exactly equal to the championship order, and it's the best possible start for Alonso and Massa.

Fantasy Racers is back and this time it's blog-only! We're not going to be talking about it in the show as the rule changes make it just that little bit too wordy for a short podcast section. However, it's taking pride of place on the blog and this is where you come in. I have selected Strategy 2, which is the option to not change your drivers but have a higher starting budget. Therefore, I will run out of things to say about my team very quickly. I want you to tell me about your team, who you're choosing and why. Email your thoughts to christine@sidepodcast.com and I will publish them in the next reminder thread.

For now, though, we have a league this year called Panda Racing 2010. You can get more information on joining up on this post, and please do! We'd love to have you. My team is called Chief Operating Panda, for obvious reasons. As mentioned above, I'm sticking with the same drivers throughout so my choice was important. I've gone with:

• Fernando Alonso
• Lewis Hamilton
• Sebastian Vettel
• Lucas di Grassi

I think I've got a good mix of championship potential and deliciousness. Who are you going for?

I had a message from Simon, part of which we read out in the latest debrief and part of it I saved for this post, as it related to his Fantasy Racers. Here are his thoughts:

I went for the 45m version, as my internet access is sporadic at best and therefore may not be able to change this during the season. My team is: Kamui, Lewis, The Hulk, Rubens, Kubica.

My reasons: I thought Kamui's performances in the last two races in 2009 were outstanding, the most exciting F1 debut since Lewis. Following the yawnfest that was the arrival of Buemi, Bourdais, Speed etc. etc. it was great to see a young driver with almost no F1 testing drive that well. I am delighted that he secured a drive following the demise of Toyota - so he was a must, my first name on the list.

Then Lewis, because it would be churlish to not have the man who will win the world championship in your fantasy team. Next Nico. I have been very impressed with his performances during pre-season testing and I also have a hunch, or is it just a hope (I miss the good old days of Hill etc.), that Williams will be competitive this year.

This left me with 17m to spend. So I had two choices: get one more top driver (would have been Vettel - I couldn't bring myself to pick someone in a red car!) and then have 5m left - not enough to get another, so wasted money, or get two 'best of the rest ' drivers. Rubens, for the Williams reason mentioned above, and because Rubens came to F1 around the same time I did and I have always liked him. Kubica, because well, I definitely think he fits into the category. Not the best but not the worst.

Fab stuff from Simon. Don't forget you can send me your team decisions: christine@sidepodcast.com. I also want to point you in the direction of Lukeh's blog post about his team Amazini Barresistancello. That one is definitely worth a read.

Also, don't forget to take part in the SofaF1 championship this year, as Alex has worked hard on creating a very interactive page for selections. F1 Wolf has a great predictions game going, and check out Pat's post for other worthy games.

This week, I've been very impressed with Mark Webber, particularly after his debut onto the rankings last time around - with a minus score. The Australian not only updated his website, making full use of YouTube, but he also jumped headfirst into the Twitter-universe. Already he has used the word "arvo" and therefore I am awarding him plenty of plus points.

I also took several suggestions this week, as I hadn't managed to keep an eye on what everyone was up to. Hopefully I've credited everyone involved and there are links underneath the table to all the required supporting evidence.

Notes:

1. As pointed out to me by MrDavidCameron on Twitter here and here.
2. Lou let me know that Heikki has either had a haircut, or found a way to style his barnet better. Photo evidence here. The amusing conversation between Mike Gascoyne and Heikki Kovalainen, resulted in my favourite tweet of the week.
3. F1 Minute: Rosberg puts Mercedes on top, whilst Schumacher revises his opinion.

Testing is over now, so we might face a quiet week until the drivers start bigging up their chances for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Please keep your eyes peeled for fun and unusual things our boys might be up to. You can leave a comment, email me christine@sidepodcast.com or drop me a note on twitter: @mrschristine. See you next week!

For this week's Thursday Thoughts, Adie of F1 Tailpipe has offered us a fabulous question:

What can F1 do to enhance the experience of fans in attendance at the circuit? Does the ‘exclusivity’ of the sport add to the mystique of F1 in general, or has F1 set itself too far apart from your Average Joe?

For me, the question falls into two distinct parts. I don't mind if F1 is exclusive, and some of the real contact with teams and drivers is reserved for corporate parties and the very rich. However, this can only be the case, if the money generated from such things makes the experience cheaper for everyone else. Feel free to keep drivers on the inside of the circuit, and close off the bridge, but only if I get cheaper ticket prices.

If the money from such corporate exclusivity is simply going into Bernie's pocket, then I'm not interested.

Of course, I also argue that drivers should do the mandatory signing sessions and it's excellent when they make appearances at their team merchandise stands. However, the lack of direct contact is part of what makes F1 so appealing. Even catching a tiny glimpse of your favourite driver is ten times more exciting if you know you're not going to bump into him round every single corner.

This leads nicely onto the second part of my answer. There's something about the elite nature of Formula 1 that keeps it so interesting. If I wanted to see cars up close on a regular basis on a cheap ticket, I could just visit my local circuit and watch some club racing. That's not the point. The point is these machines are special, these drivers are the best (well, some of them), and it is, in a way, a fantasy.

I want events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed to remain something very special. Our overriding impression when we went for the first time was that being so close to the cars in the paddock area was an amazing experience and something we would remember forever. To reduce the barriers at a race would reduce that feeling to a simple 'oh, there are those cars again.'

That's not to say that F1 does everything right, not by a long shot, but I do believe that the exclusivity of F1 is what keeps us all wanting more.

On last weeks F1 Debrief show, we discussed the 2010 launches we've seen so far and scored them out of 10. We will do the same for the remaining launches as well, but the idea has already grown into something else.

After listening to our judgements, Jon suggested that we continue to evaluate things after each race this year and keep track of the scores. It would appear that rankings are a very popular thing to embark upon for the 2010 season, so I thought about it for a while and came up with this idea...

Today I'd like to introduce you to Christine's Rankings - The most in-depth and accurate global driver ranking system ever produced. Probably.

It seems you can lay claim to anything on the internet these days, so I shall be doing just that. I'll be focusing on the drivers taking part in the 2010 season, and will score them after each race based on my own special algorithms and technical formulae. I will also be sharing some of my findings along the way, in an effort to be open and transparent about why some drivers will move up and some will move down.

The best way to explain the rankings is simply to make a start:

As you can see, a lot of the drivers have yet to be scored, because it's still early in the season and we have yet to catch sight of some of them.

Each and every person who takes an F1 car to the track during a Grand Prix weekend this year is up for scrutiny. Marks will be awarded for important matters such as fashion sense, facial hair, looks, and attitude. Bonus points can be gained by friendliness to others, cuteness, and having a sense of humour under pressure.

Clearly I'm going to need help keeping track of such things throughout the year, and if you think I've overlooked a key area of analysis please let me know.

Following on from Journeyer's Thursday Thoughts question this morning, Nathan has already examined the potential candidates in great detail, and come up with his ideal team, which we will share with you now.

Intriguing. I'm trying - very hard - to keep personal bias out of this, and I think I can.

It's almost too difficult in some ways, the idea of having an unlimited budget can warp things somewhat, like football "dream teams", the most successful teams don't necessarily have a star-studded lineup.

My immediate answer to the question was quite simple - the two best drivers in F1 right now, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. However, anyone who had the privilege of seeing the 2007 season will know this didn't play out too well, despite the obvious talents of both. The rivalry was complicated by the political wrangling between the FIA president at the time, Max Mosley, and the McLaren/Ferrari teams, concerning the leaked Ferrari papers which found their way into the McLaren team. It's often difficult to decipher who was to blame and why, and relationships between Alonso and Hamilton fans are still fractious, if slightly more amiable, given that both drivers seem to acknowledge and respect each other's abilities.

Yet the idea of pairing these two behemoths of F1 together is still extremely tempting - Hamilton's raw pace and ballsy attitude combined with his considerable marketability makes him an exciting prospect for every team and fan alike. Meanwhile Alonso's consistent brilliance and ferocity often makes him a force of nature during races, being able to come up with the right strategy calls or delivering a series of perfect laps makes him a very desirable driver to have in any garage, and you get the feeling every team owner on the grid would give their right arm to have him.

So who are the other contenders, realistically? I'll say this now - Schumacher would not be my choice, if I was a team principal. He brings too much baggage with him in terms of his past, and although he would bring considerable experience and a fantastic attitude, he's not one for the future, either.

How about the others then? Massa has proven himself capable of incredible pace at the right times, yet you get the overhanging feeling there are still mistakes within his driving that are liable to surface at any point. For this reason I'm leaving him out, but he would still be a great choice overall. Jenson Button, perhaps? Well, despite being last year's WDC (and yes, he did deserve it), personally I feel a lack of total conviction, perhaps this is just the way he presents himself, but I don't feel the same raw, instinctive desire to win that I do from Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton or even Vettel.

I think there are only two choices left. Of course, it would be nice to have Kimi Raikkonen back in the fold, as a motivated KR of 2005 would no doubt be a contender for a seat. So here we have Vettel and Robert Kubica. Kubica may surprise many, and given that he has only won the single race - somewhat fortunately - he is perhaps the weakest of all the contenders so far. Yet I have a feeling about Kubica. A very special feeling, the same that I feel and see in Alonso, in Hamilton, and in Schumacher. He has the talent, and the pace, no doubt about it, but one questions his ability to drive "around" a bad car, as he struggled considerably in 2009, until he put a fantastic drive in at Interlagos, which impressed many. I don't feel he would be ready in my "dream team" lineup, and he's unlikely to accept a 3rd driver role! But I would definitely be keeping an eye on him for the long term.

So - one person left to look at, Sebastian Vettel. Perhaps along with Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen, one of the quickest drivers around in terms of raw pace. And he's still incredibly young, he's shown great maturity over the past couple of seasons. Yet he makes mistakes, and that cost him his WDC last year. I also question his ability to "make things happen", take a look at 2009 in Turkey, when he had to overtake Button to make his strategy work, his inability to make it happen cost him badly. Of course, it is difficult to overtake in F1, but you get the sense that one of MSC, LH and FA would have made it happen, no matter what. In fact, the previous year, when Hamilton had to do the same, he managed to overtake Felipe Massa to make his strategy work.

So, after what seems like an eternity pondering these things, I feel I've come full circle. Who are really the best drivers in F1 now? Well, of course people have different opinions, but I genuinely believe that Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton occupy the top 2 seats of the table, and if I was a team principal, I would be doing everything within my power to get them. I don't think there would be particular problems between them, provided they solved any on the track. Consistent, fast and marketable. What more can a team owner wish for?

As for my reserve driver, my knowledge of the young drivers in the lower formulae is not great, so I'm going to have to plump for a current F1 driver, and for this task, it's between Rubens Barrichello and Jaime Alguesuari. Barrichello has shown he has pace, the ability to set a car up, and the most experience of any F1 driver ever. Yet he showed in 2009 he still makes mistakes, some of which are reckless and can prove costly.

You may do a double-take at the mention of Jaime. So why have I mentioned him? Hmm. Well, last year, at the age of 19, he showed a lot of promise, in my opinion. Yes, he crashed the car an awful lot. Yes, he did not make full use of the car he was given. But still, during the practice sessions on the radio, we could clearly hear him talking eloquently and articulately to his engineers, explaining calmly and maturely. He took his first "year" easily, just making sure he got used to the car and the team. Consider also that he had absolutely no F1 testing, a ludicrous situation when you think about it, and had only just been in his first season of the World Series by Renault. With some clarity and and objectivity, you can make a case for him to be a very solid long term prospect, and I consider him so. In my team, I would be willing to give him several years worth of development in other series', and hope that testing regulations are loosened slightly to allow him access to more experience. This is the only way his career will work out in the real world, if STR stick with him for several years, to let him blossom.