Every year is different in F1, so how does 2008 stand out in terms of what’s new and what we’ve seen the last of?

The new: what happened for the first time

• Champion: Hamilton won, but only just. Again when the crunch came, he wasn’t up to the job and it’s only thanks to Glock’s problem (or, if the conspiracies are true, lack of a problem) that he didn’t lose out for the second year in a row.
• Race winners: Kubica and BMW; Vettel and Toro Rosso; Kovalainen. In a sport where it’s pretty much expected that two or perhaps three teams are competative in any year, this time we had five of the eleven teams (more on this later) and seven drivers winning races. Not bad.
• Tracks: Valencia and Singapore. Two new street circuits graced the calendar this year. Valencia was an exercise in tedium, not looking that glamorous and the racing was the most processional of the year. Singapore was a stunning spectacle for the in-car shots, but somehow the wider angles didn’t look too different from any other race; racing-wise it was most memorable for Alonso’s unexpected win.
• Drivers: Sebastian Bourdais, Timo Glock. Both of whom struggled at times during the year, but Glock clearly had the better time and has secured a place next year.

The old: we said goodbye to…

• Team: Super Aguri. After two years and four races, money troubles finally got the better of the Honda B-team that daddy abandoned when his preferred child had more teething problems. In a year when Prodrive were supposed to come in and give a full quota of 12 teams, we dropped back to just 10. With the new, aggressive cash-saving methods the FIA are suggesting (standard engines being one) maybe they can make a comeback with a possible return of customer cars.
• Tracks: As it stands, Canada is off the calendar and France had pulled out due to budgeting reasons. I’ll miss Canada, the races were usually guaranteed to be interesting.
• Grooved tyres and fancy body-work: 2009 cars will look very different to the current ones. No four grooves in the dry tyres, no chimneys and other aerodynamic pieces and much smaller rear wings. How much difference to the racing this will make remains to be seen, but will hopefully juggle the performances of the teams.
• Drivers: Coulthard’s last race (all one corner of it) was a damp squib on an impressive career, and F1 will seem very strange with him not in it. There may well other retirements, the most likely being Rubens Barichello, who inherits Coulthard’s dubious crown of being F1’s oldest participant.