Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen knows that the competition between the three leading teams, Ferrari, BMW and McLAren will be hard in Monaco. Raikkonen who finished a disapointing 8th last year in Monaco, is hoping for a clear race this year.

Toro Rosso's STR3 will make it's debut in Monaco grand prix, in the hands of Sebastian Vettel and Sebastian Bourdais. however Sebastian Vettel had to pay a price for that. He is demoted five places down in the grid, in the Monaco grand prix, as the new he will be using a new gearbox in that race.

Kubica's future is still unknown, and it seems like it will remain this way untill summer or may be more. The Pole's contract with BMW team is expiring at the end of the season. However BMW have the option to keep him for one more year, and they can choose to do so or not. But BMW refuses to announce the 2009 season line-up now. Most likely they will announce the drivers for the next season during summer. "We'll announce next year's drivers in the summer," said BMW boss Mario Theissen.

Lewis Hamilton is on his way to become the richest British sportsman, after agree ding to become an ambassador for sporting goods, for brand Reebok. The Brit has already a 5-year contract with McLaren, worth £75 million, and according to sources he is going to sign a contract with Reebok for £10 million for three seasons. This makes him the most well paid sportsman in Britain, as the football star, David Beckham, is rumored to earn £16 million a year.

Leiws Hamilton has told his team not to repeat the same mistakes they did in last year's Monaco race, by holding one driver back and let the other one win. Last year in Monaco Fernando Alonso was in the first place and Lewis Hamilton in the second, claiming that the team told him to step down and let Alonso win. However Hamilton urged his team not to choose their winner this year as well, and continue with the same policy they had up to now , by letting the team's drivers race as equals.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was given the ok by the FIA, to race in the Turkish grand prix after passing the FIA medical test on Thursday. Kovalainen was not sure if he was going to race this weekend due to the concussion he suffered in the Sapnish grand prix. Fortunatelly everything showed that he allright and able to race this weekend in Istambul.

Super Aguri announced its withdrawal from F1. The last race in Barcelona has been the last race for the small Japanese team.

The team had been facing major financial problems after a contract breach with a main sponsor, oil and gas company, SS United, at the end of the last season.