Ferrari, BMW, Williams, Red Bull, Honda and (presumably) Super Aguri will field the same driver line-up as they did in Brazil last year; apart from Renault, the other teams have only made one change to their pairings. No-one has switched engine or tyre suppliers. Only Honda has made dramatic changes to their back-room staff, but not early enough to have an impact for the start of this season. Only Force India and Super Aguri will have had significant increases or decreases to their financial backing.

The ailing Japanese squad aside, everyone has roughly done the same amount of testing over the break. And, finally, everyone apart from Toyota will be showing up in Melbourne with cars that continue the design philosophy from their predecessors. And so the hierarchy throughout the grid appears to be set already. On one hand, given how close the championship battle at the top turned out to be in 2007, that is not a bad thing; on the other hand, it may mean that the 2008 title is limited to a two-team race once again.

That is not to say that there are no rule changes at all this year, but compared to the much larger upheavals to come in 2009 and beyond, which will affect engines, aerodynamics, tyres, the amount of financial spending et cetera, the lawmakers have set out to maintain a holding pattern for 2008. Of course the most significant difference this year is the introduction of the single electronic control unit, which may have finally succeeded in ridding the sport of that anathema known as traction control.

But, despite some eyebrow-raisingly sissy comments about the supposed dangers this will pose in wet raises, and despite the potential for a few more driver errors to creep into races this season, the reality is that virtually all the drivers have found ways of adapting to life without traction control and launch control and the like without much difficulty. Plus they have all learnt their craft in junior or other categories where such driver aids had not existed anyway.

The other point is that, even though it is a significant change, it imposes a uniformity amongst the teams rather than asking them to find their own solutions to a new regulatory dilemma. And so it will be a surprise if the introduction of the single ECU will have a major bearing on results this year. Likewise, the requirement that teams run the same gearbox for four races only continues down the path of super-reliability, and only Red Bull and Toro Rosso will have needed to be particularly worried about it.

That means those who make it into the top ten will do their Q3 hot laps on the amount of fuel that they want to run the opening stint of the Grand Prix on. They will face the choice of going for grid and track position but having to pit earlier, or sacrificing grid slots in order to run a longer first stint, bearing in mind that he who pits later has the advantage. Expect the top four or five to go for pole and trust that their car speed will overcome the strategic disadvantage; expect the rest to play it safe for the race.

And so Ferrari and McLaren appear to be starting the season with a gap over the rest once again. Williams may have emerged in front of the chasing pack which still also includes BMW, Renault and Red Bull. Toyota with their new design could be a wildcard, whilst Toro Rosso and Force India have the benefit of last year's cars and thus a solid platform. Honda, though, continue to struggle, almost as if to move forward they must first take another step back. And Super Aguri's off-season dramas are well-known.

On the driver front, with Fernando Alonso returning to Renault, we have the prospect of proven front-liners at the helm of three different teams, but it seems like even he can't make a definitive difference to the French team's fortunes. The unknowns lie with the other two complete rookies, Nelson Piquet Jr and Sebastien Bourdais. Observers will be watching to see if the former can pose the same issues for Alonso as Lewis Hamilton did last year, and how the latter will fare after dominating Champ Cars.

Otherwise, it will mainly be a case of seeing if the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton, Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg can also maintain their own personal form from last season, and whether their ambitious team-mates can even up the intra-team battles. Particular focus will be on Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren, and whether he can take the fight up to Hamilton whilst maintaining that traditional unruffling Finnish calm, which McLaren will want after last year's turmoil, the effects of which are still being felt.

The one last point to note about the 2008 season is of course the prospect of F1's first night race, and two new street tracks in Singapore and Valencia which, on paper, look stunning. They continue the shift towards the brave new world of venues that are willing to pay and pay big for the privilege of hosting a Grand Prix, while the sport moves from its heartland to follow the money, ahem, the marketing opportunities. Good circuits or not, good racing or not, the pre-eminence of the almighty dollar is a real worry.