As I see it

"When assessing the performance of the teams so far, I think you have to start with Ferrari. They had less disruption over the winter months than, say, McLaren – and it shows. In my view, McLaren were certainly interrupted in their preparations by the so-called 'spying affair'.

Driver-wise, I think Ferrari are best equipped. Kimi Raikkonen has already accumulated a lot of experience, while Felipe Massa is probably as good a natural talent as there is around right now.

Although he is still guilty of peak as valleys in his performance from time to time, I thought his performance in Bahrain was incredibly polished. I saw a very mature mind working in a very competitive fashion, with obviously a very good car below him.

As for McLaren, they're still next in line, and expectations will remain high for the rest of the season because of the number of quality people they have – none more so than Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis is unquestionably the most polished all-rounder who's ever arrived in Formula One. Not only because of his skills inside the cockpit, but also because of his understanding of the commercial aspect of the sport, and his skills in dealing with big business and the media.

However, it's not unusual for a racing driver to have a very good first season and a not so good second season. It's seldom possible to identify specifically why that happens – perhaps the driver thinks he is more experienced than he actually is. He thinks he knows what to do and, as a result, he thinks he's going to have a bumper year. Seldom does it happen.

Lewis could prove me wrong but the early part of the season hasn't suggested that yet.

Heikki Kovalainen is bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Coming in, he could almost have a 'Lewis Hamilton season', and I expect him to win at least one Grand Prix.

The most impressive turnaround of any team over the winter period, and over the first three races of the season, has undoubtedly been by BMW Sauber. Not only have they done well in individual races, they've also led the constructors' World Championship – albeit after just three races.

BMW have the impressive Robert Kubica, and they have Nick Heidfeld – one of the most experience drivers in the business today. He's got a good head on him, he's got the car and he's ready to win a Grand Prix.

The RBS-supported AT&T Williams team had a tremendous performance with Nico Rosberg's honest third-place finish in Australia. I hope they can now bring themselves back from what was a relatively disappointing time in Malaysia and Bahrain – they desperately need some more positives.

Whether Kazuki Nakajima's got what it takes, the jury's still out. His race pace is good but there is no good in saying he's as fast as Nico if he can't achieve better qualifying positions and have a chance of being a points collector.

Nico needs to have a number two driver who's going to push him. He needs a strong competitor within his own team and I'm not sure whether Nakajima is that person. I think he can be good, but when it comes to qualifying he does seem to struggle. It's mind management; it's about keeping cool and being able to achieve as fast a lap in qualifying as you've been able to do in practice and testing. Of course, that's something many drivers have been unable to do.

Of the other teams, Renault have not proved themselves to be particularly adept. Technology-wise, their car looks as if it handles quite well but it doesn't seem to have the power. For me, they've been the biggest disappointment of the teams so far.

Alonso is still, in my opinion, as good a driver as he's always been but I think his mind-management was damaged last year by his inability to deal with his problems with Lewis Hamilton. We'll need to see if he can come back from that.

At Red Bull, David Coulthard still has what it takes to drive extremely well with the experience and knowledge he has – fantastic.

Toyota have actually shown performance in the last couple of races beyond people's expectations, and Jarno Trulli has driven very well – as has Timo Glock.

However, they're still waiting for things to happen at Honda. Although I still rate Jenson Button, there have always been drivers historically who, for whatever reason, never quite got the job done. Despite his skills, Button, I fear, might fall into that category."

Sir Jackie Stewart