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And Alonso has set the fastest time at the tests with a 1:18:343.........

Jim,

Yes it is a challenging race for sure but the last thing we want to see are races ruined at the first corner. Every driver gets his share of bad luck I know but if we have 5 ir 6 cars pitting for front wings at every race, it will start to be more luck than skill and do we really want to see the safety car deployed at every race ?
Robert Kubica has been voicing his concern about this everytime it is brought up and in his last interview with BMW he said "I’ve got used to the larger front wing now. The tricky thing about it is that you can’t see its outer edges from the cockpit because they are hidden by the front wheels. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the first corner at the Australian Grand Prix. I can imagine that we will see a lot more damaged front wings than in the past when things get tight"

A side note regarding engines, indeed they should be all very reliable by now and with the new rule allowing 8 engines per driver per season, teams won't have to risk racing the same engine on consecutive demanding tracks. Having said that, it was interesting reading a comment from Rubens Barrichello on comparing the Mercedes engine and the Honda engine: "Just the driveability of the engine is a dream. Finally, when I accelerate, I have the feeling of knowing what to expect. The power is wonderfully manageable and predictable."
(not sure if that is also addressed at sponsors )

I am not implying that the Renault engine is similar to the Honda engine, in fact I think given the Renault engine's impressive record in the past that it has to be one of the best out there.

Julian, Red Bull first signed up for Ferrari engines but then switched to Renault engines when Red Bull bought Minardi and named it Toro Rosso and passed the Ferrari engine to them.
It was only last year that it became apparant that the Renault was underpowered as a result of the engine freeze and the differing interpretations of what was allowed and what wasn't. This issue has been now resolved and Renault have been allowed to make minor modifications to their engines to be on par with the others.

Yes Ed, and I said at the time that I didn't think a ferrari customer engine had ever beaten a Ferrari, and I expected that to stay the case. I believe that, initially at least the Renault engineers with RB engines went their own way with development, I imagine now tho' that they are all standard issue.

Alright so everyone seems to be discounting the Renault. I think many will be surprised. For sure they have managed to improve the car and the time Alonso set yesterday is proof that they are going to be quick.

BMW Sauber will be very strong then Ferrari but it will be close

The order in my view will be:

Renault (Alonso )
BMW Sauber
Ferrari
Toyota
McLaren
Red Bull & Renault (Piquet )
Brawn
Toro Rosso
Williams
Force India

And I fear most from Hamilton's starts especially as he will be starting from around the 5th row
He'll eventually learn though
And we wonder, will we start hearing murmurs about him looking for a different team .... Renault perhaps

Brawn GP are unlikely to have been showing off for sponsors and therefore will be quite some margin ahead of their nearest rivals. The Red Bull looked like a really fast car when it was debuted, however it was flattered by the appallingly tardy McLaren. When tested against a more representitive field it did not shine, nor has its alter ego the Torro Rosso. The Ferrari may be a very competitive car and its drivers just going through the motions but on the form it has shown it would have difficulty subduing the BMW's and the Toyota's.

Jenson and Ruben's should be duking it out for the title, however there is a spanner in the works. And that is the new scoring system, which may well work against them late in the season. A team that is focused on one driver winning as many gp's as possible early or even late in the season has a fundamental and dare I say unfair advantage.