Always cool to hear another person's into F1
, it's an amazing sport.
You're coming in with 2 races left to the season - China next weekend, and Brazil the weekend of Halloween. I'd suggest checking them out as it'll make for some great racing.
The big players are obviously Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes.
For whatever their reasons, people seem to gravitate to one of the two. Not saying people don't like other teams/drivers. But, when asked between those two, most fans know exactly where their loyalty lies.
Rather then me cut and paste the info, I'll give you the links.
Wikipedia on F1
Sure it'll be slightly biased by whomever wrote the entry, but Wiki is a great way for getting general info on the sport, constructors, and drivers.
Wiki 2008 F1 Season
Formula 1 official site
The official F1 site. Great source for photos, interviews, race times, and everything else.
Planet F1 news
IMO a decent independent news site for F1. You can tell they're a UK based site though, and their bias towards Hamilton shows through.