Friday, 16th March 2007 at 3:39 pm

Lewis Hamilton’s chance to shine

It’s a shaken up Formula 1 season that begins this weekend: the defending champion has witched teams, the greatest driver ever has quit the sport, and perhaps most intriguingly, two new faces have joined the drivers’ championship. Heikki Kovalainen has joined Renault’s driving team, after a long time working with them; and England’s Lewis Hamilton is raising hopes amongst McLaren fans around the world.

Hamilton in particular has attracted a great deal of interest, on the back of some standout performances en route to winning the GP2 title last year. Brash, confident, and clearly oozing talent, Ron Dennis has an electric talent at his disposal - but can that talent translate into Grand Prix success? The Austrian Grand Prix will give us our first taste of life post-Schumacher, and a feel for how Alonso is gelling with his new drive - and a look at Hamilton and Kovalainen in the big time. F1 fans are buzzing; bring on Austria.