The wait over: This week the 2008 Formula One season will kick off with the Australian Grad Prix in Melbourne (and next week we will be in Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix).

The first season I can remember as a racing-mad boy was 1972, so I am on my way to my 37th. F1 season! I had only just celebrated my 20th. birthday when I started my career as a photojournalist in 1982 and as I have told you in previous “diaries”, it was only meant to be a short break from my law studies. 27 years later I am still involved in this fascinating business, and I have just realised that I can celebrate 200 Grands Prix in a row in Malaysia - I haven´t missed a Grand Prix since the 1997 Australian Grand Prix (in total I think I am close to 400 Grand Prix - but who is counting?). I guess it is too late to consider a career in law...

When you read this, I will probably be on my way to Melbourne. It is a 12 hour flight from Copenhagen to Singapore and then a “short” “hop” of seven hours down to Melbourne.

With a population of 3,4 million, Melbourne is Australia´s second-largest city (after Sydney). It is the capital of the State of Victoria and it is situated at the eastern end of Australia´s south coast. Melbourne has always been the “sport capital” of Australia and hosted the 1956 Olympics. Tennis´ Australian Open also has its home in city, which also hosts the Melbourne Cup horse race. And then there is the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The first Australian Grand Prix was held in Adelaide in 1985 but the race moved to Melbourne´s Albert Park in 1996.

Albert Park is a temporary street circuit but it is much faster than the street circuit in Monte Carlo. OK - there are several “stop-and-go” sections with slow corners but there are also long straights - on no fewer then five occasions per lap the cars will be close to 300 km/h!

With the many slow corners, traction and braking stability are important in Albert Park. The combination of long, fast straights and slow, narrow corners means that brakes and brake cooling are vital - the Australian Grand Prix is second only to Canada´s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal when it come to braking loads.

In the last couple of months I have written several season previews for various magazine. And several editors have asked me the same question: “And who wins in 2008?”

From what I have seen in testing, I am fairly confident that Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes will once again fight for the World Championship. But behind them will be an even more exciting battle between several teams: BMW, Renault, Red Bull-Renault, Williams-Toyota and Panasonic Toyota Racing seems to be extremely close at the moment. When I talked to Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Jarno Trulli at the launch of the TF108, he was very modest in his expectations for the 2008 season, but having developed the car during testing, he is more optimistic. “I wouldn´t be shocked if we turn out to be the surprise of the year,” he said last week to Gazetta dello Sport.

Panasonic Toyota Racing fighting for third place in the Constructors´ World Champion? We will know a lot more after Friday´s practice in Albert Park.

The 2008 Formula 1 season has finally started. When the red light at the end of the pit-lane turned green this morning at exactly 10.00 Australian time, BMW team-mates Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were first away; slowly followed by the rest of the 22 drivers who make up the 2008 F1 field.

Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were competitive for most of the day and they were in the top-10 in both sessions, ending the day with Jarno seventh and Timo tenth. Still, Jarno was not too happy; complaining about lack of balance in his TF108. Not a bad sign: If he can set consistent top-10 times in a car he feels is unbalanced - just wait and see what Jarno can do tomorrow in qualifying (when the Panasonic Toyota Racing engineers have hopefully solved the balance problems).

Both Jarno and Timo have been busy in the days leading up to Australian Grand Prix. On Monday Timo took part in a PR event with three-time Australian rally champion Neal Bates on a specially designed course in Werribee Park; just west of Melbourne. After some advice from Bates, Timo was let loose in the rally champion´s Super 2000 Toyota Auris; clearly enjoying himself. Even after the guests had left, the young German continued in the Auris, impressing the rally team with his spectacular sideways driving.

The following day Timo visited Toyota Racing Development (TRD) and tried the new, supercharged TRD Hilux, which he has been using as his “company car” all week. The German then finished his busy PR schedule at the Moorebin Oval, where local players told him about the spectacular Australian Rules football. All in a day´s work, I suppose...

On Wednesday Jarno went back to his roots. The ex-kart World Champion officially opened Melbourne´s newest attraction, the Albert Park Go Kart Circuit with a series of laps in one of his own Trulli karts. His best lap time is now used as the benchmark for ambitious spectators to beat over the course of the Grand Prix weekend. Later, Jarno told a group of Australian journalists about his vineyard in Italy, where he produces some great red and white wines.

But it is not just the drivers who have had a busy time leading up to the Australian Grand Prix. Since I arrived here on Wednesday night I have been flat-out; moving from one press function to another: Yesterday started with a Ferrari press conference in Argyle Square, which was immediately followed by McLaren-Mercedes´ traditional preseason lunch at the Stokehouse in St. Kilda beach. And then we had the official press conference in the media centre with KImi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

And it didn´t stop there: The Australian Grand Prix weekend is one of the busiest of the year and I really have to stop this diary now: One hour from now, Red Bull have their 2008 Season Opener Party in the Melbourne Docklands!

I will be back tomorrow with more news from behind the scenes here in Melbourne!

We are ready for the first race of the 2008 Formula One season. After an exciting qualifying session Lewis Hamilton took pole position and he will have Robert Kubica alongside him on the first row when the red lights go off tomorrow at 15.30 local time here in Melbourne.

Panasonic Toyota Racing confirmed their strong form with Jarno Trulli qualifying sixth. His team-mate Timo Glock produced ninth fastest time, but a gearbox change cost him five grid places. Late on Saturday poor Timo was further penalised; this time for “impeding another driver during qualifying”. This meant Timo was sent another five places “south” on the grid, and he will now line up 19th. for his official Panasonic Toyota Racing debut.

Yesterday Timo took part in the official FIA press conference here in Melbourne together with the other newcomers Sebastian Bourdais and Nelson Piquet.

To begin with, Timo was asked about the preseason test programme, which saw Panasonic Toyota Racing fastest of all in one of the last test sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“It was Jarno who did the quickest time in Barcelona,” Timo said. “And I actually had quite a lot of problems - the tyres did not work but Jarno had it a lot easier. BUT - overall the test was really positive with the long runs for Jarno. We had just a little too many problems on my car but in the end when I started back in the car today it felt much better than the last test in Barcelona.”

Timo is happy to have an experienced driver like Jarno as team-mate in his first full F1-season: “For me it is perfect because I can just look at what the other guy is doing and I can learn quite a lot from Jarno. He is really good in setting up the car and being really quick for one lap and it is good to have such a guy on your side.”

And then came the 50.000 Dollars question: Who will win the 2008 World Championship? To begin with, Timo took the question seriously: “We have to wait and see how the first race goes. You never know who will be on the top but I don't know at the moment. We will see after the first race or two and then we will see which direction it goes.”

But then he realised Nelson Piquet Jr was sitting next to him, and Timo added: “I would say Nelson takes the title!”

The Renault driver immediately returned the compliment: “I was going to say Timo!”

It is not likely that Timo takes the title - not yet, anyway. But there are good chances that Jarno will score some points tomorrow!

This year, you will be able to read about the races on other parts of the website, but I will be back in a few days time with my preview of next week´s Malaysian Grand Prix.