2008 F1 Season

So it seems like the 2008 Formula 1 season is going to be very interesting. Last minute jumping around of drivers leaves the line up pretty different from this year. Alonso just signed a $50,000,000 per year agreement with Renault of all teams (considering their dismal performance this year). He got a good deal though, at $50M per year, he will be the highest paid F1 driver. He is going to make more than Kimi Raikkonen in 2008. Apart from that, Alonso is going to get minimal sponsor commitments and an exit clause that will basically allow him to leave when ever he wants.

So, it looks like McLaren might end up with Heikki Kovalainen, who in my honest opinion has great talent, but hasn't had the right machine until now. We all know by now that Hamilton has the talent, it is going to be very interesting to see what Kovalainen can do with the same car.

This means that Renault is going to have Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. (Nelsinho). NP Jr. has been considered to be a great talent for a while now and with one year of testing with Renault behind him, he could be a great challenge to Alonso (are we going to see another rookie challenge the once 2 time champion??) One thing Renault is going to have is a good driver line up, what they can do with their new car (R28) is another story and one that we will have to wait till end of January to find out.

Ferrari meanwhile is going to retain its pretty successful line up and with good reason. Lets just hope that they start off next year in the same form they ended this year, and hopefully, we will see a repeat of last years Australian Grandprix!

So all this brings me to one question, if I am still going to be in Dubai when next season starts, where should I go (if I decide to do so and can afford it)? My choices are and the respective r/t flight tickets;

Melbourne - $1,300
Kuala Lumpur - $800
Bahrain - $700
Istanbul - $500!

Seems like a pretty easy decision based on the cost of the flight ticket alone, but the later in the year it gets, the less likely I will be in Dubai... thereby making it very difficult to be able to make a decision. If I wait to find out whether I will be here or not, the tickets are probably going to get more and more expensive.

I am stuck with a conundrum.