With a decent car Vettel will once again be a huge championship threat

To making the Canucks perennial contenders to guiding the Anaheim Ducks to the Stanley Cup in 2007.That being said there is no reason to suggest that Brian Burke's latest venture, that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, won't just be added to his entire body of work that has been nothing short of brilliant in his time in the league.And if Leafs fans can't find solace in that, well try the fact the guy truly cares about the organization as much as he cares about his own family.That may be the only reason the club has been performing lately, as they are reciprocating those same feelings to Burke with their play on the ice-which as a general manager is really all you can hope for from your players.Let's face it, the Leafs aren't as horrible as their 8-12-7 record suggests, but they are still a work in progress.Though that work is starting to show signs of a push to make the playoffs, as the team has outscored their opponents 9-3 in their last two games, gone 8-5-6 since their horrible start and now sit only six points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.Something, in the parody of the "new" NHL, can be made up in little over a week.All is well in Leafs Nation of late, and it should be, because despite their record they truly have one of the brightest general managers in the league steering their ship.There may be no "I" in team, but their is a "brain" in Brian, and because of that fans in Toronto have nothing to fear. . Most of the big teams have filled their seats, so it's a good time to start thinking about who will win the title next year. There's a pretty good selection of contenders and many of them are in new locations, so it should be an interesting year.Last year, I wrote several articles saying that several different drivers were going to win the 2009 world championship. Sadly, I wrote them all before Brawn had been created, and therefore was wrong about all of them.

This year I'm hoping to get one of them right, so in no particular order, here are several drivers who willdefinitely be the 2010 champion.Driver Number One: Fernando AlonsoAfter two fairly unsuccessful seasons at Renault, Alonso will be desperate to challenge for the title once again. Replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, he is moving to the most successful team of the decade, although you wouldn't know that based on their 2009 challenger.He has only won twice in the last two years, and one of them involved his team fixing the race. Only 26 points came his way in 2009, which is not something a double world champion who's still on top of his game will be proud about. Ferrari will give him the chance to change that, and as long as he doesn't fall out with Stefano Domenicali, Alonso should be fighting for the championship once again.Driver Number Two: Lewis HamiltonWhen McLaren have a half-decent car, Hamilton can get some impressive results out of it. Two wins in 2009 shows his talent, and he outscored everyone else over the final half of the '09 season. Compare that to team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was unable to make the podium all year.Like Ferrari, McLaren shouldn't make the same mistakes twice, and 2010 has to be a lot more successful for them. Lewisdefinitely has the skill, and having been with the team for many years, he should have the upper hand over new team-mate Jenson Button.

His driving did improve over 2009, but the car couldn't prove it with the results.Driver Number Three: Felipe MassaIt's easy to forget that Massa was sitting in 5th in the championship before his accident, and there are many who say he would have won the Hungarian GP. 2010 will be his fifth year with Ferrari, and his driving has got better every year.However, he will not have driven competitively (charity karting doesn't count) for many months, and it won't be clear whether the accident has had an impact on his ability until the first race of the season Personally I think he will be fine. After all, when Michael Schumacher broke his leg he won the next five consecutive titles...Driver Number Four: Sebastian VettelVettel is a future world champion, and it's just a case of guessing 'when' instead of 'if'. He could have won it in 2009 if he hadn't made mistakes, and the car wasn't blowing its engine all the time.Red Bull will need to provide him with a good car again, and it's up to Adrian Newey to prove the '09 car wasn't a fluke. With a decent car, Vettel will once again be a huge championship threat.