Why would you want to watch a sport that just involves “driving around in circles for a couple of hours on a Sunday burning our precious reserves of fossil fuel”? 

That's the view of Formula 1 held by several people I know but, while I can see their point that lapping a circuit 60 times may not be the best use of petrol, it is far from the whole story.

With the complete overhaul of the technical regulations this year, the cars are now more efficient than ever, using new turbocharged 1.6 litre power units with energy recovery systems. These convert energy usually wasted under braking into electrical energy, to provide a boost when required. As a result, the cars may use up to 60% less than was used previously. But while it's great that these motors are less wasteful than last year’s 2.4 litre V8s, the most important thing is that they are similar to the engines being developed for the next generation of eveyday road cars. So thanks to the geniuses working in F1, many of whom are Cambridge alumni, you too will soon also be able to get more power from less fuel, and more fun from less money spent.

Interesting as it is, however, few people watch the sport purely for the technology. Fortunately, this season is also looking especially exciting for those of us who aren’t engineers. The cars have less grip than last year, but have much more grunt out of the corners. This makes them harder to control, even for the 22 best drivers in the world.  This, added to the unknown quantity of the new power units, should make grand prix far more unpredictable.  I doubt I’ll be sitting down on a Sunday afternoon expecting to see a certain German wagging his finger at me in a couple of hours.  in fact, I'll be very surprised if someone manages to win 3 races in a row this year, let alone the 9 Vettel managed in 2013. The championship may well go down to the final race, and might well do so even if the ridiculous idea to award double points at the Abu Dhabi finale hadn’t been implemented.

There are also new circuits to look forward to, with the addition of a race in Russia in October around the Winter Olympics venue, and the return of the Austrian Grand Prix in June after an 11 year layoff. The Red Bull Ring, as the Austrian circuit is now known, has always provided great racing, but it is Sochi that I am most excited about, even if holding a race around Olympic buildings doesn’t sound that exciting. A Russian Grand Prix has been discussed for years and now we finally have one, with a track layout that should offer overtaking opportunities. There's even a Russian driver, rookie Daniil Kvyat in a Toro Rosso, for the home crowd to cheer.

Kvyat isn't the only new driver, with Kevin Magnussen joining a resurgent McLaren and fellow Scandinavian Marcus Ericsson in at Caterham. Magnussen in particular impressed in the lower categories, so it will be interesting to see whether he can match McLaren’s last rookie driver (a certain Lewis Hamilton) by beating a world champion team-mate in his first season.

Last week's Melbourne Grand Prix was therefore the culmination of months of anticipation. No-one was surprised when Hamilton was fastest in qualifying; his team, Mercedes, had looked on top of the new rules throughout pre-season testing.  However, his retirement, and that of Vettel (driving a Red Bull) left Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes to take a comfortable win. Daniel Ricciardo, replacing the retired Mark Webber at Red Bull, took a popular 2nd place in front of his home fans, only to be disqualified for exceeding he stipulated fuel floe rate. Magnussen showed some early promise, completing the podium on his debut. Kvyat also impressed , becoming the youngest ever points scorer aged just 19. The next race, in Malaysia on 30th March, looks finely poised.

Without doubt, the rest of the season will be fascinating; there is far more to F1 this season than just driving in circles, and with the new hybrid technology F1 has never been more relevant to the real world.