KEY POINTS:
Michael Schumacher has retired but his name will still echo round the Formula One paddock when the new season roars into life at Melbourne in a couple of weeks' time.
It will be the first time since he drove for Jordan and Benetton in 1991 that the most
dominant figure in the sport's history has not been vying for the front of the grid - and there are some who can't quite believe he won't be back.
Schumacher didn't win the world title in his last two seasons but the man who did, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, has yet to fully emerge from the German's shadow.
Schuey fans will say Alonso beat their hero last season because Renault provided a better car than Ferrari, and that, in 2005, tyres made the difference. The post-Schuey questions to be answered this season include:
* Will Alonso's move from Renault to McLaren-Mercedes bring him a third world title and the team a manufacturers' crown?
* Will Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella show it was the Renault car that was key?
* Kimi Raikkonen has shifted from McLaren-Mercedes to Ferrari. Can the Italian manufacturer show that it wasn't all about Schumacher by producing a car that will give Finland another world champion?
* What about Felipe Massa, who went from Schumacher's one-season backstop to topping the podium when the master faltered?
* Schumacher won his first grand prix in Belgium in his second season in F1. Will any of last season's crop of youngsters make the same breakthrough this year?
* And what about Lewis Hamilton, the darling of the British press, who has raced up the lower rungs of the sport and will be Alonso's teammate at McLaren?
Last season was one of the most exciting in recent years, with Alonso dominating the early exchanges, Schumacher surging back and Renault and the Spaniard clinching their titles in the last race.
Jenson Button, who previously made more headlines for contractual wrangles off the track, finally won a grand prix for Honda. Their great Japanese rivals, Toyota, made some progress but have yet to see real rewards for their massive investment. Unless Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher start delivering victories, Nascar may seem like a good idea.
It was sad to see the once-dominant Williams team languishing in eighth place last season. One of the last of the truly independent teams will have Toyota engines this year and test driver Alex Wurz back in racing mode. Aussie Mark Webber, who has skipped to Red Bull-Renault, describes Williams as "Toyota B".
Testing times are notoriously misleading but consistently good performances suggest that BMW-Sauber are in for a good season with Nick Heidfeld and last year's most impressive rookie, Robert Kubica.
Scrabbling at the back of the field will be Spyker, Super Aguri-Honda and Toro Rosso, with the last two under fire from Sir Frank Williams, who claims they are clones of Honda and Red Bull. This season there will be 17 races, one fewer than in 2006.
