Getting the best team looks like a tough balancing act. The best components cost the most money, and a race-winning car only scores half the points of a race-winning driver. So what's worth having? Here's my take...

An early favourite for the title is Ferrari. Massa and Alonso feature six times in all here (three times each) but the Ferrari car not once. Alonso is reckoned to be the more complete driver and a better prospect for the Scuderia going forward, but Massa has outqualified him for round one, which suggests there is plenty of fight left in the Brazilian - and he's slightly cheaper, too. Both drivers are likely to be finishing high up the order on a regular basis, so big points are on offer for the teams who have chosen them.

Mercedes' drivers have also been picked six times between them (three times each). It's advantage Rosberg going into the race tomorrow but is Schumacher a total waste of money? Probably not. He's near the pace if not on it and we can expect to see him in the points very often, so he should provide a reasonable return on investment. The Mercedes car has been selected twice - an expensive buy but worth it if both drivers can finish all of the races; they're both reliable behind the wheel so this should not be a problem.

McLaren has both of the most recent world champions this year but it's unlikely that any fantasy team manager could afford the pair. It's smooth vs aggressive there and selection in this league must come down to which way is better. Hamilton has been chosen four times and Button twice - maybe Hamilton's superior performance in qualifying for the first race was predicted early on, but Button might manage the car better in the race. Both are likely to be high finishers throughout the year so the McLaren car is quite a safe bet, if a little expensive.

Red Bull had the best car at the end of last season but that is not reflected in people's choices this year. The car doesn't feature once and the drivers a paltry three times between them. If qualifying for Bahrain is taken as our yardstick then Vettel could be the man to have in 2010 - but Webber shouldn't be discounted too early on, and could be a cheaper alternative still capable of getting important results. If the reliability is there then the car should finish well every time - but niggles last year set a low benchmark for reliability in the new season.

Theories abound that for all the bright yellow on the car, the Renault is this year's dark horse; it might be the easiest on its tyres and the most fuel-efficient, so it should be lighter at the start of the grand prix and faster at the end. Nobody has chosen the Renault or second driver Vitaly Petrov, but Robert Kubica features twice and lines up in the top ten for the opening race, so he could come into play at some stage and could be a useful driver to have across the length of the season. Hopefully the unusual characteristics of this car will bring excitement to the races.

Toro Rosso had a great baseline with last year's Newey-designed car and look to have some useful kit once again - but can the inexperienced driver pairing produce results? Alguersuari has been nominated twice, while Buemi and the car itself have been selected once each. If the car is good enough then these drivers should improve to show it during the season, but they have to be outside bets for good points early on. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, and that's exactly the situation for the team that has bought the new Toro Rosso machine rather than the Red Bull.

Williams has an interesting blend of youth and experience in 2010 and both Barrichello and Hulkenberg have proved popular. Both drivers have been selected nine times each and the car four times. Two Formula HUGS teams have both Williams drivers and the car, which could be fruitful should all three components reach the end of the race, with that five-point bonus on offer for constructors which have two cars classified in the official results. But the drivers will have to deliver in the races to improve on what might often be mid-grid qualifying slots.

Improvements at Force India have made the car a popular choice, with five teams opting to use it. Sutil and Liuzzi have been snapped up just three times between them, though. This suggests a lack of faith in the pilots, but to get any points for the car, teams in Formula HUGS will require both drivers to stick to the black stuff. It's hard to tell whether Force India is perceived as a safe bet or not, as neither driver has proved popular so far in the team selection process. Monitor this team - the drivers could become useful, even lucrative, as the season develops.

Kobayashi has been chosen four times and the Sauber car six, suggesting both have some credibility. But the qualifying pace of the Swiss cars was largely disappointing today, so it's hard to know whether these bargain buys will pay off. Kobayashi seems every inch the fighter on-track and in two starts has finished twice - will he be level-headed enough to climb the order without crashing? Some consolation for those who picked the car is that Pedro de la Rosa is certainly a safe pair of hands, and nobody else has picked him to drive for their team, so nobody else will benefit from his efforts.

After qualifying for the season opener it's first blood to Virgin Racing, with Timo Glock the quickest of all the new teams' drivers. He has been picked four times to team-mate Lucas di Grassi's eight, but the German is the more likely to provide value for money by fighting his way into the points. The car itself has been picked seven times but it's hard to predict whether it might make the pace of its rivals and give its drivers a chance of getting any reward. To get points even for just making an overtake, first the car has to be quick enough to enable Glock and di Grassi to do it.

Lotus will have a battle on their hands with Virgin tomorrow. Trulli has been picked twice, Kovalainen once and the Lotus car five times. Trulli's ace-up-the-sleeve is his qualifying pace, which might make it possible for him to create an advantage over the other new teams' drivers before the race has even begun - but you get points for overtaking in this game, and Trulli is unlikely to be doing much of that. The Virgin/Lotus car tandem has been selected twice, which is questionable; surely this is just to allow the purchase of good drivers? Surely these unproven cars will struggle to score at all?

Finally, Hispania Racing. Bruno Senna is a popular candidate among the drivers, with his name appearing on seven separate team sheets. Karun Chandhok, far from the least popular driver, has been chosen once, presumably to enable the buying of Button and Schumacher in this case. Two teams have the Hispania car in their line-ups, but the vehicle is virtually untested and reliability is expected to be poor. It seems fair to say that the car has no positive value in Formula HUGS and the loss of points it will cause a team cannot be offset entirely by the buying of more capable cars and pilots.

If the "big eight" drivers are Button, Hamilton, Schumacher, Rosberg, Vettel, Webber, Massa and Alonso then only one team (Vulkan Racing) has no "star" driver, while four teams (Team Pole, Quikcurl, Pleb F1 and Tafys) have two each. No driver combination is used more than once and no car combination is used more than twice. Only Pedro de la Rosa for the drivers and three cars (Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault) don't feature at all. Mike's Blue Steel Racing only has three wheels on its wagon (get another driver, Mike!).

An EGM of the Formula HUGS Council, held at The Gardener's Arms, confirmed the late entry of Kartbreaker, which will join the league at the Australian Grand Prix.

ROUND ONE - Bahrain.



Driver Of The Day: Fernando Alonso (27).
Car Of The Race: Ferrari (27.5).

A great first race for Flash Racing, with Fernando Alonso bagging points enough to put the team top of the league. Nice Hulkenberg was aggressive but luckless during the Bahrain Grand Prix but we can expect more from him in future. Alguersuari had a pretty good race and brought home eight points, but di Grassi retired and scored zero. The McLaren car did as expected and won points - including the bonus for having both drivers finish - but the Virgin car was lacklustre and, though cheap, currently looks like a waste of money.

Blue Steel Racing, despite only having three drivers, did very well to claim sixth after round one. Barrichello, Hamilton, McLaren and Lotus all gained points during the grand prix. Lotus looks like the safest bet of the new teams. It is cheap and cheerful but if Trulli and Kovalainen can finish consistently then they will always fetch points. Senna might have looked a good bet on paper, but his car is poor and it could be a long time before he is able to make any impact on the F1 world.

Tafys (Welsh for 'What were you thinking?!') had a bad race, only scoring 21pts. It seems a lot went into the purchase of Button and Schumacher - neither of whom could beat their team-mates, and that because of this the team could only afford the uninspiring Chandhok, di Grassi, Hispania and Sauber components. Although Sauber looked promising in the tests this did not translate into solid race performance, and both cars ultimately retired from the grand prix. Button and Schumacher cannot carry this team.

Jackson Automobile had a similarly dismal time. On paper the team looks capable with a blend of top class and solid drivers. Who could have seen a Lewis Hamilton team being bottom of the league so soon? It must be that Hulkenberg underperformed and will improve and that, the car willing, Kobayashi will likewise get better - but Timo Glock, hampered by a slow Virgin, could struggle. Car-wise it looks a bad selection on the basis of what we have seen. The Virgins and Saubers proved unreliable and to avoid a revamp Jackson Automobile will have to hope everyone improves next time.

ROUND TWO - Australia.



Driver Of The Day: Jenson Button (28).
Car Of The Race: McLaren (22.5).

Jenson's Lady was the first team to use its bonus round earlier today. Button's faultless strategic call, coupled to the mistakes made by his rivals, netted him a grand haul for the squad. Barrichello was again on hand to bolster the points tally but Glock and Trulli brought nothing to the party. The Williams car earned a paltry four points. The team scored 80 which, in reality, will likely not be the best bonus score we see. The team will have to make changes to its line-up and fast if it is to keep its place atop the league table. As their fuel tanks are too small, my advice would be to ditch the Virgin cars.

The Handsome Chaps has made a great start to the season. Last year it was largely disappointing but the present line-up is working wonders. The McLaren car was best in show today and Felipe Massa was one of the highest-scoring drivers in the race. Heikki Kovalainen looks an inspired choice as he fetched nine points from the grand prix. This is the second team to edge past the 100pts mark but three of its components - Virgin, Senna and new signing Hulkenberg - are yet to score. With Barrichello still in the side The Chaps would have been equal on points with the league leader.

Super Jon Racing might now be rueing the decision to sack Kubica for Liuzzi after his luckless Bahrain Grand Prix, because the Pole fought hard today for second place and netted 27pts in Formula HUGS. Liuzzi did a first rate job - a good thing for the other four teams who drafted him in - but this team has lost out terrifically. How embarrassing. The McLaren car does, however, appear to be doing the business. Rosberg netted some useful points and the Hispania car picked up a point as well. Hulkenberg scored nothing, which could wreck his Formula HUGS popularity.

Generic Racing Team was the big loser today. Although Kartbreaker's score looks pathetic against fellow debutant Team Ego's, GRT only managed a disastrous 16.5pts - barely more than the 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi scored on his own. Vettel, Hulkenberg and di Grassi all failed to score, and Sutil's failure to finish put paid to the wisdom of buying the Force India cars to replace the Saubers. Rubens Barrichello did the best job for the team - and he only scored eight! With Vettel back on song things might pick up, but he is driving a seemingly unreliable car, which makes his being chosen rather questionable.

ROUND THREE - Malaysia.



Driver Of The Day: Sebastian Vettel (27).
Car Of The Race: Red Bull (27.5).

I'll Be The Walrus had a race good enough to leapfrog two other teams in the points. Felipe Massa's impressive haul of 23pts was complemented by the luck of perennial stragglers Senna and di Grassi, who both finished the race after inheriting positions from less fortunate drivers, paving the way for something of a points bonanza. The Mercedes and Lotus cars brought in just eight points between them, but it is an assured start from last season's league victor. An additional ten points would have been good enough for the league lead, so it's still tight at the top.

Team Pole impressed with a points score only slightly lower than the resurgent Generic Racing Team's own effort. The car choice remains uninspiring and hardly helped at all but this does at least facilitate the buying of good drivers. Vettel, Rosberg, Alguersuari and Hulkenberg all scored for the team, though Hulkenberg did drop several positions during the race. The team has leaped a handy five places up the order and is just 16pts shy of the other female-owned team with its bonus race still to come in Germany. This team could feature regularly in the top ten.

Kartbreaker's low-key start to the season continued today after only 15pts went on the board in Malaysia. The two-cars-at-the-finish bonus kicked in for Williams and Barrichello scored four, but Trulli could only manage a point in the end while Schumacher and Liuzzi flunked out of contention early on. There is probably someone out there of better value than Jarno Trulli, and the same could probably be said of Michael Schumacher. Liuzzi has been drafted into six teams since the Bahrain GP and Kartbreaker was just one of the unlucky ones to suffer when he retired.

273 Kelvin H-Two-O is suffering badly as the season gathers momentum. Second after round one, the team dropped to 10th last time and is now mired in 18th. Although unlucky to see Alonso retire late in the race, Sutil, Trulli and Hulkenberg had not done enough to stop the squad running aground (and Sutil, with 11, was the team's top scorer). A lot of retirements appear to have upset the apple cart this weekend, but even with four classified drivers it looks as though 273 has fallen off the wagon. Blue Steel Racing now leads the way - can this outfit bounce back?

ROUND FOUR - China.



Driver Of The Day: Jenson Button (29).
Car Of The Race: McLaren (27.5).

Blame Tom Tundles enjoyed the best score of the day after its bonus race at the Chinese Grand Prix. The unchanged line-up of Barrichello, Glock Senna and Webber, together with the Mercedes and Virgin cars, produced a score of 70pts. This is ten points shy of Jenson's Lady's bonus score from round two, but still places the team eighth after a poor-scoring round generally. Can the team hold on to a place in the top ten? Overall the squad looks weak, so I would suggest not. Congratulations on a fine effort, though.

Phil's Bangers endured almost the most miserable afternoon. Save for Kartbreaker's terrible effort, Phil's team did the worst of all, with just 20.5pts on the board this time. Felipe Massa is the shining light in this team but he struggled badly in the conditions. After being overtaken by his team-mate in a devilish move entering the pitlane, he floundered, scoring just seven points in the end. The Sauber cars both failed to finish, further highlighting their inadequacy for any FHUGS team.

Vulkan Racing holds on to a place in the top ten despite a poor showing in China. A disastrous score of 31.5pts was, however, only the seventh-worst score from this round, and only Vitantonio Liuzzi failed to score. Had things gone better for Alguersuari and Barrichello, the points total for this team could have been very different. Robert Kubica was once again on fine form (no other team uses the Pole) but even he managed to be outclassed in the points stakes by rookie team-mate Vitaly Petrov. A bad day for Vulkan Racing but there is plenty of promise within.

Fourth in the standings is Team Motivator, plenty of points clear of both teams which have now used bonus rounds. This team's score was the third-highest on the day, and the presence of both the McLaren car and Fernando Alonso can't have hurt its chances. All top five teams are using the McLaren car, and Team Motivator shares drivers Lucas di Grassi and Alonso with chief podium rival Flash Racing. This is a strong side overall but it will have to beware Flash Racing's Japanese GP bonus - one of the last of the season.