Vettel claimed he was unaware his late pass of Hamilton nearly decided the title race in Massa's favor. (LAT photo) » More Photos

BMW-Sauber: B / The revelation of the first half of the season was young Robert Kubica, as he joined the ranks of first-time winners and even led the standings for a brief time before a late-season swoon. Where did their pace go, and could they be more consistent contenders in 2009?

Toro Roso: B / Over-achievers of the year as the Sebastians (Vettel and Bourdais) showed remarkable performance in the final half of the season with Ferrari power. Vettel gave a spectacular preview of his future, becoming the youngest pole winner and race victor in F1 history with rain-drenched brilliance at Monza.

Renault: B- / Two wins late in the year salvaged what had been a mediocre season, but Fernando Alonso’s speed and tenacity is a marvel to watch each race. Nelson Piquet Jr. never seemed to find his stride and underperformed at best.

Toyota: C / Finished on a high note with Jarno Trulli on the front row at the season finale and Timo Glock showing rapid pace at times. For the rumored level of Toyota’s investment in the team, should have performed better.

Red Bull: C- / Consistently out-paced by their smaller sister team, Mark Webber and Coulthard seemed to be in too many shunts for such experienced drivers.

Williams: D+ / Only rare glimpses of speed from the once all-conquering Williams team. Nico Rosberg and Kazu Nakajima both showed occasional flashes, but needed to be more consistently near the pointy end of the field.

Honda: D / Beautiful-looking cars but “least performance per dollar” invested. Hard to believe Honda could be anything but displeased with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello combining to finishing ninth in the constructors’ rankings.

Force India: D- / Zero points through the season must be agonizing for the small team. Perhaps switching to Mercedes power will help the team achieve more in 2009.

Super Aguri: “F” for finished or “D” for defunct.

Forget the politics and hair-brained leadership of the series. Here’s hoping 2009 continues to see ever-tightening fields and continued Formula One excitement.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Jade Gurss is the owner of fingerprint, inc., a sports publicity company. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, including what is believed to be the biggest-selling motorsports book in American publishing history (Driver #8 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.). His two decades of publicity and marketing experience involves nearly every category of motorsports, including nine innovative seasons as NASCAR publicist for the Budweiser brand and Earnhardt Jr. His blog can be seen at: http://fingerprint.typepad.com


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