Formula 1 success is not so much down to Lewis Hamilton as the car he drives

This weekend sees the return to our screens of the Formula One Grand Prix season. This time it's race number five - and Turkey is the host. All the media will concentrate on the continuing battle between Ferrari and McLaren for the constructors' championship and the Britsh media will, of course, focus on their new Formula One hero Lewis Hamilton. The youngster has had a good start to the 2008 season. An easy winner in Australia, Hamilton struggled in the next two races before returning to some kind of form two weeks ago in Spain when finishing a creditable third and regaining his place on the podium - a place he was used to occupying for most of his rookie season. Now, with a little more pressure on his shoulders, I feel Hamilton can have another very consistent year and push Kimi Raikkonen all the way to the finish.

Istabul is going to be a big race. The Ferraris have begun to dominate the races since Australia and with the track being to the particular liking of Felipe Massa, a previous winner here, their domination looks set to continue. But in Spain there was a glimmer of hope for Hamilton as the McLaren looked to be more competitive against its rival - especially teammate Heikki Kovaleinen, who had a great race before crashing out spectacularly.

If the McLaren engineers can get the car in supreme condition, then Hamilton can definitely challenge for both a victory in Turkey and a return to the top of the rankings over the next couple of races. So much depends on the cars these days and often the driving skills of the F1 stars comes second to race-car superiority.

Of course, experience counts for a lot, too, and Hamilton is still building on his, though a full season last year will give the young Brit confidence that he was successful on most of these tracks last season and can be again. Raikkonen, though, is far more experienced and if his Ferrari continues to speed off on the qualifying laps and get that pole position, then Hamilton may struggle to catch his great rival.