With the opening round of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship set to take place in just over one week's time, Christian Klien has taken the opportunity to examine the performance of the teams which the Honda Racing F1 Team will have to challenge in order to win races this season.
"This is my first season with the Honda Racing F1 Team and already I can see the fantastic effort that is going in to this programme. We have great people, a new car with good potential and a lot of positive developments in the pipeline. It's also good to look at the competition that we have to beat in order to achieve our goals."
With many people, tipping Ferrari's Felipe Massa to become a surprise winner in this year's World Championship, Christian means that Kimi Raikkonen will in fact prove the tougher competitor when the season starts;
"A lot of people have been pushing Massa quite hard but I think that when the racing starts Raikkonen will have the race pace when it matters most. Over 70 laps he will be fast, consistent and get the most out of the used tyres. This will be important. It is one thing to set times in testing, but it's when the racing starts that Kimi will push 100% all the time. There is no doubt that the Ferrari seems to be the quickest car at the moment, maybe as much as 0.3s and 0.5s per lap on longer runs. Their first lap performance is probably not that much better than the other competitive teams, but it's their consistency that make them difficult to beat. We have to remember that Ferrari has 8 years experience with Bridgestone, so they know exactly how to set the car up to suit these tyres, and that's an advantage for sure."
While Ferrari appears to be the front running team in pre-season testing, Christian believes McLaren is also highly competitive and that reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso will be on the pace straight away, while team mate Lewis Hamilton has to show he can handle the pressure of racing in F1.
"I think Alonso has had no difficulty getting used to working with the McLaren team and he'll be able to challenge strongly right from the start of the season. The McLaren is quick, but also very reliable, which will be a good point in the early races. As for Lewis Hamilton, he has had a lot of time in the car - probably the most testing any driver has done this winter - but now he has to show how well he can perform under the pressure of race weekend conditions. That's not as easy as people think for a young driver. I was 21 when I started racing in Formula One, Hamilton is 22, so I know the pressures that come with reaching the top of the sport at this age."
Having won the World Championship in 2005 and 2006, Renault F1 comes into this season with Giancarlo Fisichella stepping up to the role of lead driver, supported by rookie Heikki Kovalainen. Christian believes this is Fisichella's best, chance to win the World Championship.
"The Renault is fast over 1 lap but they appear to be struggling on longer runs. The team has won the World Championship for the past two years, so there is a lot of expectation surrounding them. Heikki will be quick from the start. He is used to the team, he has done a lot of testing with them and he has good natural speed. He will be 26 this year, two years older than me, so he has age and maturity as well as experience of racing on his side, but now he has to perform for a top team in F1 there will be some pressure. For Fisichella I think this is his chance to win the World Championship in a top team. With Fernando gone he has the opportunity to be the team leader. He is a fast driver, now he has to show that he can put a season together."
Of the remaining teams which Christian and his Honda colleagues have to watch this year, he feels BMW is the most likely to produce a surprise.
"BMW is a good team and they have been consistently strong in winter testing. In my opinion this is a team which will surprise everyone at times this season. They were pretty good last season already, and this year they seem to have made another step forward."
Christian arrived in Melbourne, where he will support the Honda Racing F1 Team race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, in his new role as reserve driver. It promises to be a busy week, but Christian is really most interested to see what happens on the track. With winter testing over, the action begins!
