Unwarranted Invite

Just when we thought we were seeing the beginning of the end of the Spygate affair, Luca di Montezemolo comes out with another prod towards McLaren. We really didn’t need one of the childish jabs from the Ferrari boss especially given that after months the fans were getting to the end of the tunnel. McLaren owned up in admitting that things had gone farther than they claimed to know. The FIA in turn cleared their 08 car and more or less began to wind down the Spygate affair.

For him to come out and offer the photocopy employee that alerted about Couglain’s shenigans to come over to Italy shortly after the aforementioned just seemed to be nothing more than one more swift kick aimed at McLaren. It reminds me of the petty gamesmanship that we saw around Spa when even Hamilton got involved in some of it. Ferrari have been vindicated from their point of view so why not just keep the head down and focus on 2008 and be the bigger ‘man’ so to speak.

Thats it for 2007. We have much to look forward to in 2008 with car launches in early January before the work towards the new season begins in earnest. Bring on Melbourne. Hope you all have a happy and safe New Year.

The Good, the Bad and the Racing

Over the last few days we’ve seen the two faces of McLaren. The good in the signing of Heikki Kovalainen to partner Hamilton. The fact that Heikki was left out in the cold at Renault was eye catching, given how he outpaced Fisichella for the majority of the year. One of the rumours going around is that Heikki was dropped because he was considered too fast for Alonso who is out to avoid a 2007 repeat. He must not remember that Piquet Junior did finish second to Hamilton in GP2 and I doubt he will be keen to lie down given the opportunity.

With the freedom of Kovalainen, he was the obvious choice for the second McLaren seat. I’m sure fans of the Finn were getting a little worried that de la Rosa, with his Spanish connections to many sponsors who joined because of Alonso would get the nod. Nice to see McLaren do the right thing and bring in a top driver who will hopefully push Hamilton and bring the most out of both drivers.

Of course we saw the bad of McLaren over the weekend as well with an admission (finally) over the Stepney-gate issue. A statement claimed that dissemination (in English – transmitting) of Ferrari data went deeper than originally though. They have stopped development on three parts that could be potentially linked back to Ferrari data. It makes the FIA’s decision to wait till February to clear the McLaren 2008 car more prudent now. It’s possible the FIA stewards found something and have given McLaren an opportunity to rectify the problem.

The statement has led to calls for the head of Ron Dennis. Personally, I would be happy if this was the end of someone who whinges anytime his team got beaten. End of the day the buck stops with him. He staked his reputation on his team been clean and playing by the rules and the statement appears to be nothing but an admission of guilt. Will he survive this? Time will tell. Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of this spy fiasco once and for all so we can go racing clean again.

Race of Champions was on this weekend in Wembley – an event I unfortunately missed due to television issues. That was a shame because I was looking forward to the crème of racing talent going at it, especially to see Schumacher racing again for fun. If the go-kart racing in Brazil was anything to go by it would’ve been a treat. Funny thing I noted was that the Brits were selling up the prospect of Hamilton been there to race Schumacher months back. But come the event there wasn’t a peep and no Hamilton, out because of a sponsorship commitment or something similar. After all the chat about the prospect of him been there one would think they would bother to say ‘oh, he actually isn’t coming – maybe next year.’ Should be able to catch a highlights show of it somewhere.

Speaking of Schumacher, it would appear he has found a part-time hobby as a taxi driver. Running late for a plane the champ took over from the taxi driver and drove to the airport. Bloody hilarious that and decent of him to give a generous tip. The taxi driver will have a story to tell his kids. That been said, how proud of his own driving can he be when he had to give up the seat? This is one of the stories that are a bit surreal. It’s the sort of story you would think ‘I wonder what they a racing driver would do in such a situation’ and it was just great to see Schumi take the bull by the horns.

To-mato, To-mat-o

After a few weeks of relative silence in the F1 world we finally got some action both on and off the track the past week.

Spygate round two ended up with a result that has baffled many with Renault guilty but not penalised for it. This response has set many raging bias towards McLaren. Interestingly enough people seem to forget that McLaren were guilty but not penalised on the first hearing as well. Still the fact that Renault got away without penalty just adds more fuel to the fire. It’s just added to the ire of fans who claim that the FIA give Ferrari a different set of rules to the rest of the field.

The FIA aren’t making any friends right now especially with issuing a writ against Brundle for his piece in the Times. So I suppose I should be careful what I say here in case they try to lamp me up as well for expressing an opinion based on the facts put forward!
McLaren won’t have their car designs looked over till February which again is another strange decision. Why can’t the FIA delegates decide now looking at the blueprints that would be different come February when the car is built? It just once more puts questions marks over 2008 which we all hoped were to be left behind after this year’s politics.

Elsewhere Alonso finally decided to rejoin Renault, no doubt having waited to see if the team was going to be penalised over Spygate II. The choice of Nelson Piquet Junior as his team-mate I predicted at the start of the year, but not at the expense of Heikki. With more and more noise been made about de la Rosa for that second McLaren seat – due to his Spanish ties and his inability to cause Hamilton any problems – it could mean the talented Finn is going to spend a year off the grid. This is something I find baffling especially given some people that will make grid next year that really shouldn’t.

On the topic of drivers seeking seats, Ralf seems suitably unimpressed of the Force India after finishing slowest of those in the shoot-out for the second seat. Not long after the test he announced he wasn’t going to peruse the seat in what seems like salvage some pride attempt. Shame it came after he chose to drive the car and not before.

In another interesting decision by the FIA, they have released the 2009 and 2010 calendars for the WRC. With 24 events on their books all events are now only going to be bi-yearly. While it’s great to see Ireland with a place it’s an odd way to go towards the future, especially when it means that long standing events like Monte-Carlo, Britain, Finland are going to only happen once every two years. While a series should be all for expanding, it should also remember the foundations that it was built on.

Rally Ireland; F1 Transfers; Nascar Finale

What a historic weekend for Irish motorsport with our first ever World Rally Championship event.

It was a great success to boot! I would’ve loved to have gone out to the West to watch it. Alright, in fairness I would’ve loved to gone out and took part but we don’t always get what we want. I’ve always felt from years of travelling our back roads that we would make a great staging for a rally event and finally the dreams of many came to fruition. Of course, with someone as savvy as Eddie Jordan involved at the helm of an operation any plan can get done! Watching it on television as the next best thing and we got a fantastic event. It’s a shame that we appear to be only on the calendar bi-yearly though. That been said, given that most motorsport is heading towards Asia for new events it makes the achievements of the Rally Ireland team all the more impressive.

I have to give a massive amount of credit to Michael Lyster who headed up the RTE programming. While it didn’t show as much action as I would’ve liked, for a presenter who is usually associated with Gaelic and hurling here he did a brilliant job and at no time looked out of his depth when talking about motorsport. The same can’t be said for the droning of Peter Collins in the actual live commentary. One of those from the old RTE F1 commentary team that would give James Allen a run for his money in terms of poor ability to convey excitement in the sport. Oh the painful memories of having to watch an F1 race with them behind the mike.

In F1 news – McLaren’s appeal came to nought as many expected. At this stage to change the champion would have been nothing short of farcical. McLaren’s already tattered reputation took another couple of dings from it. They have spent weeks claiming that they were not appealing for the title but their lawyers were looking for the disqualification of the BMW and Williams. Wonderful PR disaster there for the team. At least it is all over now and that we can finally look forward to 2008!
Timo Glock has been confirmed as Toyota driver after the contracts board ruled on it. This will be Glock’s second stab at F1 after a brief stint with Jordan where he scored a point on his debut. After a stint in Champ Cars and GP2 will only make him stronger. At the very least he should keep Trulli on his toes! Today Briatore says that Alonso is 60% certain to be in a Renault. That must mean there is a 40% chance of a sabbatical given there is no currently free seats.

I have to admit I’m a bit surprised that some teams didn’t wait for him to make his call. I expected the market to revolve around him and that empty McLaren seat. It could be down to an early decision to join Renault which has only been delayed by the current spy allegations against the former world champions. With each passing day it looks like we have seen the last of Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella with only the Force India/Spyker seats open. Neither appears to have been invited to test for the team with a raft of younger drivers been given a shot in recent tests.

Over Stateside and Jimmie Johnson has successfully defended his Nextel Cup in the season final against team mate (and owner mind you) Jeff Gordon. I’m really hoping to have some way to watch NASCAR next season live and not have to resort to watching a flash page update every lap. Juan Montoya secured the Rookie of the Year award in the series. Montoya has come along way since his departure from F1 and say what you want about US racing, it is in no way easy to make the transition that he made. Next year will be another acid test for him. It’s one thing to win on a road coarse but if he wants to be taken seriously he’ll need to start racking up those oval wins.

Quick Weekly Digest

So much has gone on in the last week and I’m finally back after graduation exploits (codename for hangover!) So here is the digest of what’s gone on since I last posted.

Schumacher is back – with a bang! Like anyone, I was chomping at the bit to see how Schumacher would be lap time wise against the rest one year after the last driving an F1 car in anger. The result – fastest laps on both days so far and back where he belongs. Ahh the nostalgia.

Hamilton’s decision to move, as with anything in British tabloids have people talking. So what if he is joining the cadre of sports people in Switzerland for avoiding the public eye and tax reasons. He earned every penny this year and like everyone wants to protect what he earned! There are very few drivers these days that live in their own country so why is there a need to jump on his back for it when so many do the same?

Renault are up on spy charges. Ever get the feeling that the floodgates on such accusations have opened up and we are in for a witch-hunt? Be interesting to see how it plays out or better yet if there is consistency in the FIA ruling. I would say this whole issue is likely to be the reason Alonso hasn’t signed yet either, maybe fearing a reduced budget to develop the car for next year.

Nakajima has secured the second Williams seat. A bit of a surprise as many expected Luizzi to be in the running or Piquet Junior if the Renault musical chairs saw him been left out in the cold. The Japanese did a decent job at Brazil and obviously shows potential aside from the one-off to warrant a drive – or is it a slash in the cost of Toyota engines that maybe swayed the team in the end.

Honda have scored a sizeable coup by signing Ross Brawn especially when it seemed a dead cert he would be back with Ferrari. It could turn out to be a fruitful relationship (yes excuse the bad pun). It would seem Button wasn’t even in the know given his quit ultimatum a day before the announcement.

Finally the final race of the NASCAR season is this weekend with Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon going head to head for the Nextel Cup. Of course with no way to watch it I’ll be following it online as best as possible – no way to watch a race that! One would have to feel bad if Gordon doesn’t win the title given his massive 400 odd point gap he had before going into the Chase format. If he loses the title it could lead to changes to offer someone who gets in that sort of position gets a bonus, similar to that offered to drivers who win a race before the Chase begins.

Till next time and hopefully a bit more active now!

Alonso Looks Towards New Pastures

So it’s been a while! Starting a new job and the end of season lull until last week have meant I haven’t been up to date as I would’ve liked. Never the less back I am!

Alonso is out of McLaren. Well not like it wasn’t expected. Of course they are playing the happy façade faces that it was mutual termination and that things were not as bad as it appeared. Actually on second thought, mutual termination is probably the right word for it. McLaren wanted him out and Alonso wanted out which makes both sides happy.

Neither camp is willing to rush into their next move leaving the media to have a field day over who ends up where. McLaren and Alonso have the luxury of controlling the market. Nobody is going to put their John Hancock on a contract until the aforementioned decide their paths. It gives both of them an opportunity to, at the very least attempt to make the right move without rushing into things.

The Iceman Taketh

Alls I can say is what a race!

It all seemed set for either McLaren to take the title and Kimi pops up and takes the title by a point from the McLaren pair. The most unlikely of scenarios to have played out in a race that was edge of the seat stuff from start to finish.

So the question rages on did the right man win the title. Well the points total tells you that it was for any naysayers. Alonso didn’t seem at the races at all and Hamilton received the mechanical jinx we have seen become synonymous with McLaren over the past few years. His tactics for the first lap were strange given his position. Like in China he raced for position and wasn’t thinking of the championship. He was lucky these days there are more run-off areas than gravel traps if a car runs off. His charge through the field was good to watch, but hardly groundbreaking.

His change from a two to a three stop didn’t work. I don’t agree with Ron Dennis in his statement that they gained 10 seconds from it. He was running on the skirts of the top 10 on his first stop. Why the decision to go onto a three stop was a little baffling. Had it worked, it would’ve rated with the times that Schumacher had the ability to make an extra stop turn into a great result.

Personally I’m not a fan of the whole ‘give way to the championship leader barging through’ that many of the lower ends of the grid showed. In fairness, only the BMW’s looked like they came to race and not give way, which is the way it should be. Kubica not showing any mercy to Alonso, albeit on a different strategy was good to see. Hamilton’s overtaking move on Rubens, well it was risky. Like Italy though I reckon he would’ve been in the wrong had the Honda driver turned in on him. He did come from too far back and was lucky that a Rubens sighted him.

Kimi Raikkonen – World Champion. It’s been long overdue for the Finn who from the moment he stepped into a Formula One car has shown brilliance behind the wheel. After a first half of the season struggle he really rebounded well. Of course we have to wait for the courts to decide if it will stand over the appeal. After all the talk of ending the championship on the track the fans once more have to wait for a court to decide how things end up. It is shambolic that we are in that situation. While Alonso’s ‘I’d be ashamed if the championship was won in this way’ comments but fair juice to Hamilton coming out to say he wouldn’t want to win the title by appeal. He is a true racer and without a shadow of a doubt a future world champion.

Another season done, well, not officially till the McLaren appeal is heard. We’ve had a great season of racing mashed with ugly politics. Opinions over the year are likely to be the talking point over many a drinking session in pubs around the world.

Good, bad or indifferent the 2007 season will be one long remembered.

Calm Before The Storm

Just less than 24 hours till the season comes to an end. As expected we have all three rivals up on the front two rows what will make to be an interesting race.

Many seemed to be caught off guard with the rising temperatures on track but by the end of the session it was status quo amongst the grid with the exception of Webber sticking his Red Bull in front of the BMW pair. Likely to see him peel off into the pits early on.

Yet another session was ruined on ITV by the ignorance of James Allen. It’s easy to see why he has earned the nickname ‘The Cock’ in many fan forums. While we were shown scenes of Hamilton’s final lap (note to James, the yellow bopping of the helmet into screen is a pretty good indicator that it was Lewis) which showed his second sector that he raved about and then turned around and complained that we hadn’t seen it. As per usual with Allen’s inept commentary skills I found myself cursing once more at the television.
This was followed up by Blundell’s claims that we had seen Hamilton’s best ever qualifying lap. I’d personally wait till tomorrow evening and see how much longer he runs than Massa before judging the lap. I had to laugh hard at Blundell’s claims that he was sure that Hamilton had more fuel on board. If memory serves me correct Blundell is hardly the best one to be judging fuel loads as I recall seeing him run out of fuel when at the front of a Champ Car race back in his US racing stint.

Reading up after it, a French journo gave Lewis a harsh time for not giving Kimi the easiest of ways by. I don’t think he obstructed Kimi at all. Well okay, if he really wanted to he could’ve slowed up more prior to turn three when he came out into Kimi’s final run. While he didn’t hold the Finn up, having a car there as we have seen time and time again can draw ones concentration which may be the reason for Kimi’s scruffy corner. But he didn’t do it intentional and didn’t impede him. Fair juice to Lewis for actually apologising to Kimi for it though. From a journalistic point of view it’s great to see someone not be pampered in their questions towards him. I am getting well sick of the British easy pampering propaganda questions we get from ITV.

On the note of the tire infringement, good job by the stewards. While some might have been braying for a penalty, it wasn’t his fault in the slightest. A team mistake, albeit uncharacteristic of McLaren. I’m sure they and Lewis will be happy to have the mistake out of the way now and have no issues come the race. Naturally the fact that both Button and Sato did it was easily dismissed and it was all about that Hamilton had done it. Wonder how Button likes not having the glaring spotlight on him. Must be a breath of fresh air that he can breathe some now.

So predictions for tomorrow – Lewis looks in a very handy position to take the title. I would be concerned for his ‘I want to win the race’ to take the title. It cost him at China. But I completely respect the Ricky Bobby like mentality ‘If you ain’t first, you’re last’ view to it. (If you haven’t seen Talladega Nights, shame on you.)
Alonso is already talking himself down. Seems every day he has something new to whinge about. Such a defeatist attitude. Many of talked about how he has the experience but I have to say ‘where is it?’ In both his title run-in’s he was in front. When you look at both his title runs Alonso was nearly always in front. He hasn’t been in the position of chasing a world title so his experience doesn’t really count for much.
Kimi is the rank outsider with nothing to lose in this situation. While I’d like to see him in win it’s going to take the McLaren’s having car issues (or the pair going wheel to wheel – that would be a sight) if he is to win. The best realistically Ferrari can hope for is a strong finish to the year.

But hey, it ain’t over till the chequered flag comes down on it. As Murray used to say, anything can happen in Formula One and it usually does. England expected to qualify for Euro 08 and failed on Wednesday and they lost the Rugby World Cup tonight against South Africa. It’s up to Hamilton to try to salvage something from the self-proclaimed ‘greatest week in British sporting history’.

Let’s hope we get a good race and send off to F1 2007. We have our finale to be fought on the track between three excellent drivers. Nothing more left to do than wait for the red lights to go out.

Just One Of Those Days

Ever get the feeling that something is going to happen?

That’s what happened this morning when I awoke to my phone ringing. I had taken the decision to sleep the live race out after a late Saturday night. Looking at the caller ID it read ‘Dad’. Right there I knew something was up. Groggily I picked up the phone and he asked if I was watching the race. I knew then it was going to be one of those days.

As long as I’ve been watching Formula One, there has never been a time that someone would ask my view on a race that I haven’t seen. Nearly always I watch them live even at the small hours of the morning for the race across the globe. I’ve never liked the idea of watching replays. There is always a cheat complex to it that you can just check up the results if you get bored or if you tape the race that you can skip through the boring parts. Something just feels wrong about watching a race that is already completed. It’s why I hate the idea of watching NASCAR five days after I know the results. It just feels wrong.

Within the family there is an unspoken rule that you never talk about the race if you have seen it. This was the extremely rare case that I was the one who missed the race so in receiving the call I knew something had happened. He denied it of course but I knew something was going to be up.

Of course in hindsight it would have been well worth waking up for it! Years have gone by where we pine for a wet race and in the space of two weeks we have a pair of them. The weather always shakes things up.
There were some crazy decisions from McLaren, Hamilton or both. They didn't seem to want to put the blame on one side. This was not a team or driver who wanted to win the championship by any means today. It was a team that wanted to win the championship by winning. Of course I think if any of us were in his boots, we would like to win it by a win.

But that doesn't mean that it has to be done the fairytale way. Hamilton should of thought 'damage control' and drive for a championship. He didn't need to race Raikkonen but he did. The racer in me says 'that's great, don't give it up' but I'm sure it hardly helped the condition of his tires. Brundle called the situation on his tires about a lap or so before we actually saw the issues with the rear. The smart move would've been to pull him and like I said damage control.

Hamilton is more than a good enough racer to make up a deficit on track. But they held out and it cost them. Second time this season that we have seen tactics messed up at McLaren. Reminds me back to the race at the Nurburgring which ironically, was Hamilton's only other DNF this season.

It was good to see the positive attitude from him after the race and it was a really nice touch for him to go into the team and thank them for the job they did in the garage. Like he said, he can still do it. Still be tough to bet against him. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from it in Brazil with the added pressure of fighting for the title. To correct the constantly bias James Allen, Hamilton needs more than a third place finish if Alonso wins as the Spaniard would take it on race wins if they are on equal points if he wins. The Eurosport website had a nifty list of what permutations the trio need to become champion which is located here.

Three drivers go into Brazil looking for the title, the first time since 1986. That season saw Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost challenging for the title. Will we be treated to the same sort of finale as then? We will find out in a couple of weeks.

Team Talk

Heading into what is looking more and more likely to be a title deciding race in the morning we have yet more fighting words from within the McLaren camp. For a team that is so often a recluse, keeping things within the team this year is shocking.

As I expected Hamilton was brought up for his antics at Fiji but nothing was done about it. As I said before I didn’t agree with some his driving behind the pace car and was completely against the Kubica penalty. At best that was a racing incident. Both took different lines and they make it sound like Kubica intentional nailed him. In those sorts of conditions how can you really say that?!

I have to say I’m extremely disappointed in his childish ‘I’ll quit’ threats if he was penalised. A case of throwing the toys out of the pram. He needs to get some thick skin and learn this is how life goes when you are at the top of the mountain. Every champion at some stage has had their driving style discredited. Heck Schumacher was questioned left, right and centre at times. Never heard him or any others threaten to walk away. If I was to pin-point the chink in Hamilton’s armour, it’s his PR related skills. Better to have it there than on the track where he has been impeccable.

On the other side of the garage there are more war of words between Alonso and McLaren. I seriously wonder how he will last there next year if he doesn’t leave. Whatever claims about both sides been professional, I don’t think there is a way for there to be a professional relationship on either side of the fence. It’s akin to living in your ex-wife’s house after you have divorced. Every little small thing is setting them off.

I question what words were used when Alonso signed his contract. Granted he is a double world champion. Granted he has brought allot to the team. However his comments at time about his self-importance only choose to alienate him further and further. The more people talk the more it seems he might end up staying at the team which only further puts Alonso in an isolated position. It’s a much changed Alonso from last year. He hasn’t taken too been outside of his comfort zone at all well. When some people are rattled, we see the best of them. Others just get ragged and that is where we see Alonso at the moment. As a champion he is respected and for all these jabs at Schumacher for his ‘antics’, Alonso is colouring himself as no different with his egotistical and arrogant attitude towards his team.

He needs to drop the defeatist attitude he has had all weekend when he first claimed the race was over when Hamilton wasn’t reprimanded for his Fiji driving and then again pining his hopes on rain. I would fully expect Alonso, despite the gap to come out fighting. Take heart from Schumacher’s last stand at Interlargos last year.

Fiji Madness

Fiji is best known in motorsport circles for the climax of the 1976 F1 title hunt where torrential rain saw Lauda pull out of the race and James Hunt soldiering on to do enough to win the title. The 2007 Fiji race may very well be looked upon as a similar turning point to where the title will end up.

Hamilton’s victory and Alonso’s no score puts the Brit in a fantastic position to wrap up the title in China at the weekend. Hamilton’s race was one of two half’s though. At times his wet weather running was fantastic in keeping it on the island. However his antics behind the safety car showed why he is still a rookie. ITV once more showed their discrediting bias at the start claiming the run up to the line as he tried to keep Alonso behind him as ‘gamesmanship’.

The hypocrite James Allen should remember his words two weeks ago where he had no issue in chastising Alonso for holding his line after the first corner at Spa. Tit for tat it was racing with two men fighting for the title. If only the commentators could see things through the same light would be something. Hamilton’s conduct at times behind the safety car was suspect though. I’m betting that it’s bound to be brought up. In those sorts of conditions his stop-start methods had danger screaming all over them.

The Ferrari tyre issue was unacceptable for a team that has always held the highest of standards. Allegedly they didn’t get the e-mails but how did the rest of the team is a bit suspect. Of course that didn’t stop James Allen insinuating that Ferrari was pushing the envelope on the rules. But like I’ve maintained before, anything that might dent the golden boy gets easy critique. Still, Ferrari’s tactics for the race were extremely poor and it’s not the first time this season that a poor race strategy has ruined Ferrari’s day. The fans of the red team must be licking their lips about the idea of Ross Brawn coming back next year.

After the race Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo came out and stated that Hamilton should thank Ferrari if he wins the title. It was a petty and unwarranted remark. Though that been said Hamilton had been quite mouthy at Monza and Spa about the whole issue so again it was a case of tit for tat. We don’t really need the sort of petty snide remarks that are more suited to brainless wannabe celebrities.

Props have to go to Heikki Kovalainen for a fantastic drive to Renaults for podium. Jenson Button was impressive without a front wing and only seemed to fade into oblivion after he put it back on. Honda should take note. A pity about poor Vettel who was having a great day till he ran into the back of his team-mate. Raikkonen at times showed his race craft with some fantastic overtaking moves in the wet. Oh if only Ferrari could get the race strategy right as original stated.

Congrats for Sutil and Spyker and their first point pending the Torro Rosso appeal. Since the B-Spec car has come Sutil finally has the platform to show skills. With Ralf leaving Toyota he is odds-on favourite for the drive. Probably only has newly crowned GP2 Champ Timo Glock as competition for it.

Sunday could and probably will see Hamilton crowned as champion. He needs to outscore Alonso by at least three points which is very likely to happen. On average Lewis has not lost more than at that amount over the season with his consistent runs. Despite my criticisms of McLaren and the shameful bias in the media towards Hamilton he is a deserving champion. Lewis has driving impeccably at times during the season and has taken to F1 like a duck to water. Even after all the scandals you can’t not praise him for his performances. Of course it means we have to put up with the Ryder, Blundell and Allen suck up show in overdrive but at least having Martin Brundle around means there is some sense of actual proper journalistic commentary offered on race days.

Catching Up

So back to Formula One related bits! Been a bit quiet on reporting on that front. A mix of reading aplenty on a number of topics and been a little bit worse for wear!

The FIA did in fact release the full documents regarding the Spy-gate hearings. Been meaning to get around to reading them all. It's on the 'to-do' list! Hopefully I'll get the time and plenty of Headex tablets to go through it all with a fine tooth comb to see how it really went down.
I'm not going to touch on the decisions made and the penalties handed down. They have been done to death. Everyone has their view on it and at this stage, has probably let it be known!

McLaren got penalised. They accepted it. Too harsh? Too lenient? Just right? Well everyone has their view. Mosley hasn't been too shy in lashing out at those casting them, quite rightly, at those who haven't view the situation as a whole. That's why I've been careful to put my view down. His comments on Jackie Stewart, well, it will be interesting to see how they play out. Calling him a 'half wit' and taking a pop at his dress ethic. Interesting attack from Mosley. We haven't heard the last between these two!

From it we did learn more about the degradation of the Alonso-Dennis relationship. How bad things have gotten between the pair is truly shocking. Actually I'm surprised Dennis hasn't sacked him yet. He has a record of been a no bull sort of guy. Case in point, look at Montoya. Fernando must have one hefty severance payout if he was to be ditched. If you are not even on talking terms with your boss, well, you're as good as done.

McLaren promise that each driver will be treated equally throughout the title run-in. Though if Alonso's car just happens to fall to pieces in the final three I think you will hear shouts of a conspiracy.
Expect the bitter divorce over the next few months.

Where he goes is the key to the driver market. Most of the talk says Renault but this week has seen rumours of a move to Ferrari. The move logically makes sense. Alonso wants to win races and championships. Ferrari is the only team apart from McLaren that can offer that for sure in 2008. What I don't get is how he thinks he will get a better deal. Alonso's issue at McLaren stems from not getting the coveted 'number one' status at the team. Can he expect that at Ferrari? Somehow I don't think Kimi Raikkonen is going to let him have it. He would come in on equal footing which could lead to same issues again.

So all roads appear to lead to Renault. A homecoming for Alonso. While they have struggled in 2008 a return for Alonso would not be all that bad. The team has the foundations that won two world titles and by now will know how to work out most of the kinks that have lead to a struggle this year. But can they provide him with a title contender. That is a question that remains unanswered and will weigh on Alonso's mind.

Speaking of Renault, Fisichella's attempt to force the teams hand to announce their driver line-up failed. The Italian talked big for a number of weeks before Monza that he expected an announcement of his re-signing by then. Italy has come and gone. Now Renault has said that they won't announce anything until Alonso finds his home. Nothing less than what I expected. Fisichella knows he is on borrowed time. Over the past months he has been blown away, regardless of his excuses, by Kovalainen. Heikki is almost a dead cert at this stage for one of the seats. Fisichella's failing form will put him danger of losing his seat regardless of where Alonso ends up.

In an unrelated F1 news topic, congrats to Casey Stoner for winning the MotoGP title. The Aussie takes the title in only his second season and secured the first championship for Ducati and Bridgestone. Stoner has been fantastic, if sometimes mouthy during the season. Not quite as bad as Rossi who spent altogether too much time whinging that he couldn't get the 'custom-made for the conditions' tires from Michelin on the Saturday morning after Friday practice. Yes, that's not fair at all is it Michelin riders. It's a shame that, like past seasons in Formula One there is more talk about tires than there is about the performance of those involved.

All The Eights

Yesterday came the much anticipated announcement of what number and sponsors would grace Dale Earnhardt’s car for 2008. Anything to do with DJR’s move to Hendricks’s has followed a tidal wave of media attention and yesterday was no different.

He failed to agree a deal to bring his coveted number ‘8’ from DEI. The old adage of never work with family, or at least step-family rings through over that whole issue! That the moving on his long time sponsors Bud meant that it was all change on the outside and allot of getting used to for the Junior Nation. As many have pointed out, tattoo parlours will be busy in the close-season.

Numbers were thrown around with the only guarantee that an ‘8’ would be in it. We learned yesterday that he will adorn the ‘88’, which had been acquired from current owners Robert Yates Racing. The next best choice of number. Along with the new number it was announced that Mountain Dew and its energy brand Amp, along with the National Guard will sponsor the new 88. Both schemes were presented to the media yesterday.

This just gives you an idea of the impact that Junior has over there. To draw comparisons, think Beckham. The press conference was televised as well as shown on the NASCAR website. Within half an hour of the announcement the website already had as section set up to buy the new 88 merchandise. Before the night was out the first pictures of the gear were up. Talk about quick work. Reminds me so much of the Beckham move. Who would seriously think we would see LA Galaxy jerseys over here for sale, let alone people buying them. (Still haven’t figured that one out). Given the style of the font, I wonder whether HMS will have a new one for next season. The 88 font is very similiar to that found on the 18 Joe Gibbs cars. Usually amongst the big teams they tend to carry the same font through. This one is completely different to that carried by the current four HMS cars. However it could be a simple case of Junior having his own style.

Never has a move in motorsport generated this sort of hype and attention. Now that all the pieces are settling into place there is little left for Junior to do than wait for 2008 and let his skills in the stock car take centre stage.

Back To Business

After all the ruckus mid-week it was back to one of the world’s greatest track to race! Ahh Spa, such an awesome circuit. Even the on-board stuff looks amazing. Allegedly this was a ‘boring’ race according to ITV-Sport. Granted it wasn’t a classic, but ironic that a Hamilton win isn’t classed as boring eh?

The first half of the lap was worth the watch. Alonso showed no mercy to his team-mate. It was surprising to hear Hamilton whinge about it and claiming that Alonso tried to take him off track. This is all coming from the guy who has ruthlessly cut across people on a start line. He needs to learn that you have to give as good as you get. It was tough by Alonso, but what do you expect at this stage in the championship? To lie over and say ‘there you go have the position’. Alonso had the racing line, stayed on the racing line through the first corner. Side by side towards Eau Rouge. That was balls from both of them. If it’s anything to go by then the clashes between the pair of them when they are on the track are going to be well worth the watch from here on out. Neither is going to give each other any quarter.

Raikkonen just... jusssst stays in the hunt. It isn’t easy for him and realistically has to haul in five plus points on both McLaren’s over the final three. Given McLaren’s awesome reliability it’s not going to be easy in the slightest from him. But like I said before, the way the pair are looking it’s possible they could run each other off the road before the end of the season!

Honourably mention of the weekend goes to Adrian Sutil who showed the race craft that many knew he had with the revised Spyker, albeit on a different strategy, mixing it in the midfield. Things are looking up! Also to Clint Bowyer in NASCAR, with the Texan getting his first career victory at a great time as the Nextel Cup enters the 10 race Chase for the title. Good time to break the winless duck! Eyebrow of the weekend has to go to Alex ‘The Hoff’ Hoffmann in MotoGP, who decided midway through the race he didn’t have the motivation to fight for 15^th place. He’s out of a job today.

McRae Dies in Helicopter Crash

It's a sad day in the motorsport and rally world with the death of Colin McRae. The former WRC champion died when his helicopter crashed near his estate.

McRae is the most successful British rally driver having won the title with Subaru before later driving for Ford and Citroen. While he's been out of full-time WRC ride for a number of years he did return for a one-off drive replacing the injured Leob last season and competed in the Paris-Dakar rally. McRae is also well-known for his input into the successful series of computer rally games that bore his name.

He will be missed. Thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Spy-gate

The long drawn out Spy-gate issue came to a head yesterday, with McLaren been found guilty, stripped off all their constructor points for 2007 and fined a whopping $100 million. Dayum.

I’m going to look at this at a different angle and not going to go into the ‘Who’s right, who’s wrong’ talk. Why? Because every F1 forum in the world is doing that right now and unfortunately, most are just arguing for their team and not willing to listen to reason. How can we, the public seriously make a judgement on this when we don’t know the facts? As a journalist I was thought to gather all the facts before forming an opinion on something. We can’t do that because everything was decided behind closed doors and left us simply with a breach of a certain rule line that is as transparent as a double glazed window.

Of course it hasn’t stopped the public, the fans, and the media from taking sides. Everyone is getting involved in it, even the legends. But why people are forming opinions without all the facts is a bit ignorant eh? It’s such a shame that we will never know all the facts. It would help to vindicate any arguments in the public eye. Perhaps this will happen given the size of the public uproar.

This brings me to the punishment. Is it harsh? Well if they did do something wrong – the point’s deduction is merited. The fine? $100 million! When you add in driver wages, loss of prize money and the like that number will nearly double. I would expect this to be cut down under appeal if they do ala Turkey’s fine last year. 100 mill does seem extremely harsh though. It does bring into question why the drivers got away scant free however. If McLaren are guilty of using the documents, then surely its drivers benefited from it all? Maybe the extraordinary money fine was given in place of leaving the drivers alone.

I would question Hamilton’s decision to be there. Up until last week the drivers had more or less kept a low profile on the whole issue. Which was correct. They stayed away from the politics – up until Hamilton opened his mouth last weekend at Monza. Allot of people were making a ruckus yesterday at Alonso’s no show in Paris, preferring to stay and prepare for the race. What was the problem with this? His job is to race the car. Not play politics. Hamilton’s appearance yesterday was unnecessary in my view. Maybe his reasoning for his appearance was a set of mind games on his part, to show his undying allegiance to McLaren given further impression of Alonso’s distance from them. Judging by some of the articles and the media reaction, it worked well.

So into the season run-in. Whatever happens it’s a tainted season. No doubt people will be bitching left, right and centre from here on in. The lines have been drawn and amongst the fans, there is a deep level of hatred towards those they feel got the shaft.

What A Race!

Nope, ain’t talking about the Italian Grand Prix. Not really going to mention it much. It was an alright race with nothing too amazing, apart from the end of Massa’s title run, Kimi trying to put the cat amongst the pigeons with a one stop and good move by Hamilton (though in fairness, if Kimi had turned in then Hamilton would’ve been in the wrong from coming back from so far.)

No, what I’m going to talk about is the IRL season finale at Chicagoland. What a race. Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon have three points between goings into the race. It’s a close race with a pack of six cars up front until yellows come into play leaving the two title chasers on their own. The last thirty, forty laps were amazing with the cars dicing amongst those who were not on the same strategy.

It all comes down the last three laps with Franchitti trying to find a way by. Dixon looked to have it. Last lap halfway around Dixon runs out of fuel. Franchitti is champion. What a way to end it. It was a great race to watch. Any one of about six to ten cars at one stage had a chance of winning. Fantastic battling. F1 could learn, at the very least from the way the broadcasting is done. If there is action across the track the US coverage has split screens. Why don’t we have them in F1? It would make watching close dices without having to complain about not seeing the action. The same has to go with pit radios. Right now we get the diluted radio streams about a lap or two after they were said. In the final part of the race we had live radio streams from the spotters. All of it made this race all the more enjoyable.

For sure I’ll be giving the IRL coverage allot more notice come next season.

Goin' Truckin'

Little more than a year after he was ejected from Formula One, Jacque Villeneuve appears to have found his new home – NASCAR. There he will join a familiar face with Juan Montoya.

Those that have seen him test the Craftsman Truck claim that he has done impressive as he begins his steep learning curve with the hope of been on the Sprint Cup circuit next year for Bill Davis Racing. His capture for some will say that NASCAR is now able to attract big name drivers. The likes of Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Junior have also been linked with moves to stock cars from the Indy Racing League. But those with the sharper eye will see that NASCAR is only receiving these drivers who are, let’s be fair, and are in the twilight of their career. An article that really hit me on this was by David Caraviello, one of the man good journalists on NASCAR.com (ITV Sport should take note on how these writers are able to stay unbiast). ‘They’ll come to NASCAR, but only as a final option’ is a great read on the topic if you get the time.

JV’s move conjures memories of his time in F1. Many claim him to be a great success, a driver with real balls. Sure he had his moments but I don’t agree with the assessment that many treat with him. When he entered F1 in 1996 he arrived in the best car. There were no challengers outside of his team-mate Damon Hill and the pair duly fought it out for the title. In 1997 again Villeneuve had the car advantage and like any good driver, took it and secured his world title.

But what about after that? When he found himself in a sub-standard Williams he was banished from the top step of the podium. A foolhardy move to BAR saw him wallow in midfield for the rest of days, the spark many claimed he brought seemingly extinguished. His career achievements were all but complete after 1997. His final race win was at the Nurburgring in 1997, his final podium in 2001 before been first ousted in 2003 before a brief fling return from late-2004 till mid-2006.

For a driver much heralded his lasting mark on the sport is similar to NASCAR refugee Juan Montoya - in fits and spurts where his ability to make a few overtaking moves overshadowed a career wrought with failing to live up to his full potential. How he will fair in NASCAR will be interesting to watch, especially how the sport takes to him.

The Next US Import

Come next season we will see a new face on the grid in the guise of Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais. For those of you not familiar with Bourdais a small refresher course. A former F3000 (now GP2) champion, he failed to find a contract in Formula One despite testing for Renault. Like Montoya before him, he made the jump to Champ Car where he has been extremely successful. Three titles already with a fourth on its way he has been the class of the field in recent years over in the States.

Bourdais will be an interesting one to watch. He's a long time out of the hot seat in terms of European competition. That been said, he's doing alright at the tests he ran with for Toro Rosso.

People will point to history been against him. Zanardi flopped. Da Matta wasn't much better and Montoya, despite winning races never delivered to the full expectation. Villeneuve was the last successful US racing export in recent times.

An advantage for Bourdais is that these days, Champ Car is all about road courses. None of that oval stuff that the others had a mix of in their experience.

Of course a point in his favour people will point out 'Hey, he's been the most successful Champ Car driver of recent times so he should do well.' We must remember that compared to the past, it's a substandard competition, so he shows up more. In recent years there has been a migration of the top drivers and teams to IRL leaving nothing more than a carcass of a series that was once top-notch. US racers make up the minority in the league and drivers with pre-dominantly European pedigree fill the ranks.

Will he, won't he. I think he has more of a chance than those who have tried recently. If Toro Rosso give him a decent platform to work with then he could buck the trend.

Blowing Out Smoke

Ahh the European Union. Sometimes they do something of interest; other times they stick their noses where it doesn't really belong.

This been the case with the EU health commissioner, Markos Kyprianou. He's unhappy with Ferrari's rather nifty bypass of the law and that Monaco, Bahrain and China allow tobacco sponsorship. Okay, someone please send this guy a map because last time I checked, Bahrain and China were outside of the EU. Tectonic plates haven't shifted overnight! He went on to say that F1 drivers "can become role models. So the young people watch these people with tobacco signs on their chest and the wrong message goes out."

Okay, I don't know about the rest of you guys - but I never bought cigarettes because Ferrari sponsored them, not to mention I ain't on the Vodafone network because they sponsor McLaren, have an urge to do more for the environment because of Honda or drink Red Bull simply because it's on four F1 cars.

Ferrari and Marlboro had planned to get around it for quite a while before the ban came in place. The barcode is synonymous with Marlboro since they have always covered up their name with it, even back to the McLaren days.

I remember when the talk first begun there was even rumours that to ensure everyone new the car was sponsored by Marlboro was that Ferrari would just run with an un-sponsored red car with Marlboro essentially paying for every sponsor spot on the car. Of course it never came to it. Many expected Vodafone to replace Marlboro then, but they left for McLaren instead. If you are stupid enough, then well...

But yeah, today's F1 drivers can't smoke (at least not regularly!) Ain't like the days of James Hunt & company so how can they be joined at the hip with these sponsors.

Anyway, don’t governments make a shed load on ciggie taxes?

Turkish Delight?

Ferrari out of the reckoning? Not yet after Sunday’s race. Massa leading home a Ferrari one-two brings the pair back into contention, especially with Hamilton’s late tire blow.

Heading into the final stretch of the championship sees Massa 15 points of the top with Raikkonen a further point back. How much longer can Ferrari keep them on equal terms? That is the question that will be raging in the coming weeks. Both sides have their arguments. Unlike the last number of years we have four drivers competing for the title and this is due in part to the ‘no team orders’ from both McLaren and Ferrari – something that both can be applauded for.

I doubt this will last as things get tight. The difficult thing in Ferrari’s case is how evenly matched their drivers are. Neither has been consistent in their challenge. Turkey marked only their second 1-2 finish of the year. Usually it’s a case of one been strong while the other has an off weekend. Contrasts in the past where the might of the Ferrari machine has been behind Schumacher. Devil’s advocate can say looking at the success that Ferrari had with this formula (the odd controversy not withstanding) compared with the situation now that the old system had its merits.

If Ferrari loses the championship, especially by a small margin, questions will be asked.

Getting Dirty

Cleaner than clean. At least that’s what the British press want people to believe about Lewis Hamilton. While his performances on the track have been something to behold, his antics show all the signs of a man believing his own hype.

Of course when you have the entire British media building him up to be the messiah of British motorsport (a mantle ripped from another pretender who has failed to live up to media expectation – Jenson Button) hardly helps. His actions at Hungary were ones he should be rightly ashamed of. Eddie Irvine yesterday was highly critical of the young charge and it is one of the few times I agree with the loud-mouth Ulsterman.

Contrary to all the talk of Alonso been in the wrong, it was Hamilton who was the one who caused the entire ruckus from qualifying. His decision to blatantly disregard team orders was what fuelled Alonso’s need to exact revenge. Does that mean he was totally justified to do what he did? No, but that in no way excuses Hamilton’s petulant behaviour. Allegedly, Hamilton went on a tirade on the radio, even cursing. That would be interesting to hear but of course the chances are slim to nothing I bet. The media no doubt are on his side, with the Steve Ryder trying to pass off his childishness with saying that he had a right to look out for number one. Complete hypocrisy. Alonso looked out for number one later in the session and they were highly critical of it. The double standards reek from it.

As the season moves on the aura of purity continues to fall apart around Hamilton. How much longer the British media can keep pushing it down our throats however will last for a good deal longer I bet.

Team Fireworks

Usually Hungary (contrary to the ever declining ITV Sport commentary team) is a snore bore of a race. This one really was no different with all the sparks happening on Saturday.

I would hate to be Ron Dennis at this time, trying to manage the egos in his team. Yeah that’s right, I said egos. Not ego. Allot of people have been quick to rap Alonso on forums, but its time for people to realize that Hamilton’s ego is just as big. He broke team orders. Maybe I should repeat that because obviously some people only see what they want to see and with Hamilton, they like to pretend he’s perfect. (I point back to the ‘monkey’ comment at Monaco that was also swept under the carpet.)

In a team like McLaren you don’t have an ego. That is why Montoya got the sack. McLaren are a team that values the constructors and teamwork over the individual and right now, they only have two individuals in the team. Hamilton’s excuse that he was worried about letting Kimi through was weak at best. This is a track that is often labelled as the ‘Monaco without barriers’ with only one clear line and hard to overtake. Now we have Hamilton claiming there was no way he could have let Alonso by without letting Kimi through? Pretty poor excuse Lewis.

Does that excuse Alonso’s actions later on the session? Not really but it was funny to watch! It was disappointing to see the stewards get in the middle of what is a team problem. I would have loved to see Alonso versus Hamilton into the first corner yesterday. Especially given how the relationship is between the pair. The decision ruined a good race with Alonso unable to get up front. Given that it was McLaren’s Mickey Mousing that caused all of this both drivers should’ve gotten penalized and not just one.

Neither can rely on each other and with Ferrari almost out of the title picture now it is going to be a tense run-in. It will be interesting to watch.

Spy Games

Okay – Can someone answer this for me. McLaren are deemed guilty of being in possession of documents that belonged to Ferrari, but do not get any sort of penalty. McLaren claim that they did not know about the documents and they didn’t have any of the pieces on the car but, think about it this way – if you trespass in someone’s house but don’t actually steal anything, you still get charged with trespassing and get done for it.

So why did McLaren get away with it?

This is what baffles me. It really does. They would not have been called up on it if there wasn’t enough evidence. The whole thing was a waste of time with not charging them. What is the point with a ‘we know you are guilty but if we find anything else that incriminates you further, then maybe we will give you penalties.’ It’s hard to believe McLaren’s ‘we know nothing stance’ especially since they were allegedly told to appeal certain elements of the Ferrari car earlier in the season. Hard to try to pick and choose what they want to have fed to them. Was it by chance that McLaren's car advantage seemed to all but disappear when the whole 'Spy-gate' scandal broke around the French grand prix. I've joked in company that the reason for Ferrari making up the distance was down to McLaren removing any Ferrari inspired pieces off their car but hey! Maybe it did happen like that. Food for thought.

Ferrari have appealed, well – to be more precise the Italian motorsport body have and in this appeal Ferrari will be able to lay their case out in more detail than was allowed in the first meeting. This could shed more light on things and at the very least, help bring an end to this whole spy scandal. While I would hate to see the championship affected by it, rules are there for a reason. If you break them one must be prepared to feel the pain for it.

It's raining, it's pouring...

...but the old man is certainly not snoring! When Mother Nature intervenes it really provides for a great race and the Nurburgring was no different. In a matter of minutes a dry track became a lake, which sparked memories of the constantly changing conditions we have seen in the past at Spa.

The weekend was an eventful one for Hamilton. The car smashed up in qualifying after a mechanical problem, he took full advantage of the wide first corner to make up ground before been caught by the BMW’s. When the rain fell he joined a plethora of drivers in the first corner parking lot. It was a great presence of mind for him to keep the motor running but I’m of the opinion he shouldn’t have been carried back onto the track. In any other race he would have been out. There was no way he could have gotten out of the kitty litter. He was extremely fortunate to be carried out and allowed to keep running again.

Once back out on track and receiving the ‘Lucky Dog’ (for those of you unfamiliar with the term, this is where the lapped car is allowed to pass the safety car line and rejoin at the end of the lead lap) they blow it – I say ‘they’ because it has remained unclear if it was a team, driver or a combination which made the call – to bring him in and put him on slicks. Gutsy? Maybe. Perhaps he believed his own hype of his greatness and felt he could thread on water like Schumacher or Senna could. He was wrong.

So for the first time he is off the podium. A new experience for him. All credit to him that he comes out and says he has learned allot from the race. Hamilton will learn more from the bad days than the good ones.

Now he has to deal with the incoming threat of Alonso on Massa who both capitalized on his misfortune. Harsh words between the pair after the race was interesting to see, of course it would have been nice to actually hear what they were saying! Alonso firstly accused Massa of trying to take him off deliberately. It didn’t look nothing like that and reckon it was heat of the moment. Like I said in previously Alonso needs to learn to take it as much as he gives it.

Would The Real Kimi Raikkonen Please Stand Up?!

“Paging Kimi Raikkonen. Would the real Kimi Raikkonen please step forward and show your talent.”

Something along those lines must of been the call the Finn got as he boarded the plane home from North America. Since his return from a lacklustre pair of races – or to be more precise a lacklustre season so far, the Iceman seems to have finally found his feet in Ferrari.

At France and then in England we bore witness to the Kimi of old. The racer, the fighter, the Iceman. It begs to question where the real Kimi Raikkonen has been all season. After a dominant victory in the season opening Australian grand prix at Melbourne Kimi has been a ghost stuck in the shadows of Felipe Massa. Questions were rightly asked of his commitment and his drive, especially when he chose to storm out of the Ferrari garage when things went awry at Spain and then at Monaco. This was the man charged with replacing Michael Schumacher.

Now with the return to Europe we finally see the Kimi Raikkonen that drove balls to the walls in a McLaren for victory, even if it resulted in the car breaking down. This was the man that Ferrari coveted to replace Schumacher. This was what we expected from the Finn.

Why has it taken so long for him to become settled? I expected him to struggle at first to find his feet at Ferrari given that Massa was already snug in the team. But the depth of his struggles has been surprising. His rise in form coincides with the re-emergence of Kubica and Alonso to the performance levels expected. The paddock talk has been that the three of them have struggled to adapt to the new Bridgestone compound. After half a season they seem to have finally gotten to grips with how to use them allowing them to challenge their team-mates on a more consistent basis. Raikkonen more so still has a long way to go in adapting his style to turn his raw speed into consistent results. Looking at the reliability of the McLaren’s compared to the Ferrari this year against last year it would appear that Raikkonen’s ‘bad luck’ with reliability has carried over.

Perhaps it is more than ‘bad luck’. McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh commented that he felt Raikkonen drove too aggressively which led to the high amount of reliability issues. His run of reliability woes in the Ferrari lends credence to these comments. Raikkonen will need to learn to adapt if he is finally unlock the potential we all know is there.

Hamilton's First

It was only a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ Hamilton was going to win his first race. And like when you are waiting for a bus, when the first comes a few more come after it in succession. In Hamilton’s case he followed up his victory in the action packed Canadian grand prix with victory at Indy a week later.

Straight out of the box it was easy to see that Lewis had taking to Formula One like a duck to water. He’s given his world champion team-mate the run-around on a number of occasions earlier in the year and seeing him on the top step was only going to be a matter of time. When all those around him in Canada lost their head, he kept his. Like the parting of the Red Sea, as all those around him fell to pieces with silly mistakes, such as Massa running the red light at the end of the pit lane along with unavoidable instances of needing to pit when the pit lane was closed for Alonso – all that was required of Hamilton was to keep it on the island (literally) and bring the car home. Heidfeld’s BMW and Wurz’s Williams produced two great drives but were never going to challenge the McLaren for raw pace. At this stage in the season the front two teams are still a long way ahead in terms of race pace.

In a race full of incident we were witness to the strength of today’s Formula One crash test procedures. Robert Kubica was a passenger in a massive shunt heading down to the hairpin that saw him like a ping pong ball across the track, narrowly missing the parked Torro Rosso and everyone else before coming to a rest. Despite original statements claiming broken bones the Pole got away with just a concussion and a sprain. A fine example of how far car safety has come. His desire to jump straight back in and go driving a week later at Indy was admirable even though he had to sit it out on medical grounds. A safe bet given Indy’s history with high speed crashes, something Ralf Schumacher can attest to.

Media Bias? Never!

If there was ever a chance to show blatantly how the English media is willing to cover up the mistakes of their national drivers we certainly saw it on the Monaco grid.

British sensation Lewis Hamilton gets interviewed on his front row start on the advantages off avoiding not been stuck in the middle-to-end of the pack and having to deal with the added burden of traffic. Track position is vital at Monaco in its cramped state, with little to know overtaking chances at the Principality. Hamilton then comments that the back markers at the tail end of the grid were ‘monkeys’. That’s right – monkeys. Am I the only one who finds this a racist remark? If anything it is nothing short of offensive. Yet he gets away it. The British commentary team sweep it under the carpet like it never happened and don’t mentioning it again to ensure the pristine reputation of the driver.

This begs the question of what would have happened if anyone else had made that comment. Especially with Hamilton been the first black driver in Formula One. They would have been all over them by tying the comment ‘monkey’ to Hamilton’s skin colour – since history has littered with the term been associated with dark skinned individuals.

I’m disappointed in the youngster for his comparison but more so in the media for failing to latch onto it and highlighting it more.

Weekend Of Whingers

So there went another weekend of sport and a bunch of whingers and complainers arose - and they ain't even called 'Jose' (Mourinho for you non football watchers)!

The whinger award goes to current Formula one champion and McLaren driver Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard blew his chance to win in front of the home crowd at Barcelona as he tried a risky move around Massa at the first lap of the race. Massa had the inside line, left the champ out to dry and we see Alonso scuttling across the gravel trap much to disdain of the home crowd. Alonso then turns around and complains that Massa was pulling a risky move? Fernando were you driving the same race we were watching? Just because Felipe cocked up at Sepang in similar circumstances does not mean he is going to let the same thing happened twice.

Talking about 'risky' moves - this is coming from the same guy who did a balls to the walls move on Schumacher at 130R in Suzuka a few years ago! That was risky. This was plain common sense that he thought Massa would cave. The champ got it wrong and paid the price. Common sense would've been to dab the breaks, stop her going across the kitty litter to avoid battering the car, the excuse given by McLaren for why he couldn't challenge (and I use the word 'excuse' here because McLaren always have an excuse for when they get out raced by Ferrari.) The pressure is showing now on Alonso. This is two races in a row he has been beaten by his 'rookie' (again, I'm using this term lightly with Hamilton because he drives like a veteran.) This is what could make or break Alonso's ability to cement himself as a legend many presume him to be. Time will tell.

An honourable mention also goes to Kimi Raikkonen here. His impact at Ferrari has been few and far between as he is getting shown up my Massa. His decision to leave the track early is not the sign of someone who has fully embraced the Ferrari team spirit. Especially when it was noted that over the weekend the returning Schumacher often stayed later in the paddock.

Why You Shouldn't Leave Before The Chequered Flag

While this blog is about Formula One, this one piece of international motorsport news couldn't escape me.

At a recent race in Texas in the NASCAR series there was an accident which involved Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Junior. Both cars limped back to the pits to be repaired. Here is where the similarities end however. Bush went home, with his team later citing a 'miscommunication' for the mix-up. His team stayed on and worked hard to get the car race worthy for the last few laps. They succeeded but found out they were lacking a driver.
Enter Busch's crew chief, a friend of Junior, who asked him if he would be interested in driving the car for the last few laps. Now remember, this is for a different team, a different crew and it would not earn Junior any more points, in fact he would earn Busch's car more points. (NASCAR has a complicated points system I won't go into now!)

Junior said yes. Without hesitation. That's class. He recognized that the crew had worked hard to get the car going and he did them the service of putting it back out on track. Where else in the world of motorsport would we such such sportsmanship? Shame on Busch for his early exit. One must ask why was he in such a hurry to leave? Given the amount of money these drivers earn he could've stayed around. If I was a driver that's what I would've done. Junior stayed and look at the impact he was able to make. It even ties in with the example set by Michael Schumacher in his time where he spent day and night in the Ferrari garage with the mechanics.

The publicity of the lesson is sure to not be lost on Busch though. He won't make the same mistake twice. As for Junior, his actions will only enhance his reputation as a class act and a top bloke in the NASCAR paddock.

Heidfeld Struts His Stuff

Finally Heidfeld has a car that can showcase his talents.

For most the first time they will start rating the German will be this year, after a trio of fourth places. Those with a long term interest in the sport will know that this rise to the front of the grid has been a long time coming for Nick. A former McLaren protege, who battled with Juan Montoya for the F3000 (now GP2) title, he had a strong of middle to low end seats that saw his talent wasted.

The closest Heidfeld came to a front line drive was in his first stint at the Sauber team, when he was overlooked for Mika Hakkinen's vacant McLaren seat for his Sauber team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. While Kimi would go on to challenge for the wins and championships over the next few years, Heidfeld became a nomad, driving for Prost, Sauber, Jordan before moving to Williams and showing up his over hyped team-mate Mark Webber.

His performances and BMW's desire to have a German driver in their outfit saw Nick move back to the Sauber bought outfit. This move has seen Heidfeld finally show his true worth with out driving former world champion Villeneuve on many occasion. The arrival of quick rookie Kubica has seen Heidfeld raise his game this year to beat off the upstart with confident performances this year, including a stunning move on champion Alonso at Bahrain.

With his contract up at the end of the year Toyota are said to be sniffing about. A move I think would be bad for Heidfeld given the sleeping Japanese giant's lack of success since they have come in. BMW's insistence on waiting till the end of the year could force Nick's hand, especially with youngster Vettel vying for his seat. The example made of Villeneuve last year will still be in his mind. To drop Nick would be a bad move on the part of BMW. Kubica has shown he still has alot to learn about Formula One and to lose someone of Nick's experience and race craft would be a sad loss for a team aspiring to take on Ferrari and McLaren as the season goes on and afterwards.

Boy Wonder

What more can be said about the début of Lewis Hamilton. The boy done good. For someone in his first grand prix he held his nerve extremely well against the best in the world. It was a début to remember. I don't think anyone, including himself, could've thought things would go so well. His qualifying effort showed the nerve of a seasoned racer and his race pace compared to his team-mate was even more impressive.

For once in his career, Alonso has a team-mate that can more or less match him. This will be a true test for the man many expect to take Schumacher's mantle as the best driver in the sport. Of course he has to adhere to the first rule of racing - you have to beat your team-mate.

The rise of Hamilton's star coincides with the wane of Button's. He is quickly becoming the forgotten man of British support and their realisation that he isn't good enough to become world champion. One thing to watch will be how the pressure tells on Hamilton, especially when he makes mistakes. The British press are talking him up like he is the next messiah. ITV's commentary crew, one that I used to respect so much has also gone this direction with only Brundle as a credible source to listen to. The likes of James Allen and Mark Blundell, who had the audacity to say that Hamilton's qualifying in one of the best cars in Formula One was comparable to Schumacher's in a poor Jordan in 1991, have the lips firmly pressed on Hamilton's butt cheeks.

That is something that I fear will work against Hamilton having a worldwide support. The over hyping and butt-kissing preformed by the press, which should be unbiased and balanced is a clear drive-off. It's a shame because I think the kid has the potential to go all the way.

Honda Go Green

We've heard for months now about Honda going to come up with a new image for the team that would be green. I don't think anyone expected the results. A satellite shot of the world that has been moulded around the car shape. What a horrid scheme. Honda brought in the PR guru Simon Fuller, better known for managing the Spice Girls. Maybe this is why the Spice Girls went downhill.

It’s when one looks beyond the colour scheme and the foray of Honda attempting to do good for the environment that we truly see the deficiencies. The loss of the tobacco sponsorship at the end of the 2006 season saw Honda lose Lucky Strike, which has been the team’s title sponsor since its original inception as BAR in 1999. The attempted appeasement in an age where green politics are all the rage appears to be nothing but a cover up for Honda’s inability to gain a new title sponsorship while its rivals did. Honda spent in the range of $380 million last year. Hardly pocket money and without a major sponsor the manufacture now shoulders the cost.

2007 Preview - [Part Three]

Now on to the final teams that will take part this season.

Williams

In Nico Rosberg, Williams have one of the stars of the future. At the beginning of last season he showed good promise before the failing car brought him back down to earth. If Williams can give him a good car then expect him to bring home points.

Alexander Wurz has not raced since the 2000 season. That is a long time out of the cockpit. In the meantime he's been testing for McLaren and Williams. To make a comeback after this long and be successful will be quite a story if Wurz can pull it off. The Austrian is highly talented and his return to the cockpit is richly deserved.

After the worst season in their history, Williams have worked hard during the winter to improve - the most notable been the change to Toyota power. The 2007 package so far appears to have made strides and the team sits comfortable in mid-table after the winter tests. Lack of funds and the inability to make the Bahrain test show the limitations the team are already under for the coming year.


Scuderia Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso remain with an unchanged line-up but 2007 is likely to be the last chance Liuzzi and Speed have to impress. This years car looks like a modified version of the A team car, powered by the Ferrari engine. There is no excuses for STR not to make strides up the field. With a number of Red Bull backed drivers waiting for their chance, both drivers must deliver.


Spyker

Another new owner for the former Jordan team this year with the Dutch Spyker team. As was the case with the Midland guise there is a lot of optimism. Albers goes into his third year of Formula One now, his seat security helped by his Dutch ties. In Adrian Sutil they bring a young albeit unknown talent to the table. Despite the hype I expect Spyker to struggle at the tail end of the grid as has become the case from the former race-winning team.


Super Aguri

The Japanese team was one of the highlights of the last season. They went from 5 seconds off the pace in an aged car to hauling themselves up onto the tail end of the grid. With the aid of Honda and their status as a B team will undoubtedly help them make strides in terms of development. Taku Sato has improved from been erratic to a team leader to add to his pace. In Anthony Davidson they have another, like Button who has been overly hyped by the media and must earn his place on the grid. It will be difficult to properly judge Aguri as like STR, they are expected to run a modified customer chassis from their parent company.


Who wins, who loses will soon be decided. All the smokes and mirrors of winter testing will be removed come March 18th at Melbourne. The first race in the post-Schumacher era promises to be interesting.

2007 Preview - [Part Two]

After the big three teams, the 2007 season promises to have a tightly packed midfield battle.

Honda

Jenson Button enters the third year with the Honda works team and still only has the single grand prix win to his name. One has to be careful when listening to commentary about just how good Jenson really is. I have always thought he was overrated beyond belief and still stand by that. Apart from being a ‘smooth’ driver, he hasn’t shown anything that puts him in the leagues of the great. His first win came at a rain affected grand prix and wouldn’t of happened if Mother Nature hadn’t of intervened, so he is still out searching for his first ‘proper’ grand prix victory.

Last year I expected Barrichello to provide Button with good competition but that quickly went down the drain. Rubens suffered from having to deal with a car that was built to suit his team-mate; such was the case he had at Ferrari. At this stage in his career Rubens is quickly becoming a journeyman and I don’t expect to see anything special like last year.

Honda as a team is quickly approaching a crossroads. After years of expectations and show-boating in pre-season which quickly drained away during the year they have struggled so far this year. Whether it’s a case they are sand-bagging to hide their pace or deciding not to show their one lap pace as has been the case in past winters remains to be seen. Their line-up whilst experience is hardly world class. They will have a fight on their hands to hold back BMW.


BMW

Heidfeld had a penchant for being in the right team at the wrong time throughout his career. After promising results early in the career he found himself in the likes of Prost, Jordan and Williams as they fell from grace. Now at BMW he has a car of showcasing his talents. He must deliver however. As was the case with Villeneuve there is another youngster snapping at his heels for his race seat. A failure to perform could see his seat in threat.

The rise of Kubica in the past 12 months is as astonishing at the improvements seen in Massa. He was unknown to the majority of the racing world up until he was chosen as BMW’s reserve driver and it took him only half a season to oust a former world champion out of this race seat. As is the case with all the Friday drivers there performances have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Kubica showed that there is talent behind the raw speed with a podium inside his first three races.

Towards the end of last year BMW were easily the fourth best team. If they carry their testing pace over to the season I expect them to be giving Renault a run for their money, if not McLaren and Ferrari. BMW have always produced a class engine and combined with Sauber’s knowledge in how to put the rest together and a driver partnership that will push each other – expect fireworks.


Toyota

2007 will mark the first year that Ralf will be driving out of his brother’s shadow – at least on the track. Having promised so much earlier in the career, Ralf’s career is on the slide as of late. He is in need of a challenge to bring his top game back much in the way Montoya did when he joined Williams.

Jarno Trulli suffers much like Fisichella. We never know which one we will see on the track. Will it be the racer or the Sunday driver? By raw speed he’s one of the quickest on a single lap. It’s a shame Trulli never realised a race is more than a single lap. I’m sure Toyota wish he could qualify the car and let someone race it.

Toyota entered this season again promising much. Their car was one of the first out and after early promise they have again fallen into the midfield back in testing. As is the case with their NASCAR venture they need to realise that throwing money at the problem wouldn’t solve the problem. Dumping Gascoigne was a mistake. If Toyota is to succeed they need to stop letting the big wigs that have no knowledge of the sport to stop making the decisions.


Red Bull

With Schumacher’s retirement, Coulthard is now the old man of the F1 grid. While he doesn’t show any intention of letting up, I’m sure he will be looking over his shoulder at the abundance of talent that Red Bull has. The talent remains within him to drag that Red Bull up the field if the right car is given to him.

Like Button I think that Mark Webber is overrated. I’ve yet to see anything from him that merits the praise he often gets. He’s also got a big mouth. Webber needs to be more focused on establishing his racing career than taking pot shots at other teams. Interesting how he defines Williams as no more than a Toyota B squad when his own team have attained the label of a Renault B squad. He would do well to check up on things before talking.

The strongest part of the Red Bull package is the arrival of Adrian Newey to the team. In him they might have found the missing link that had denied them success so far. Red Bull must be willing to invest in the car however. In the past two years they have taken the stance to kerb car development in favour of working on next year’s car. If they can set the wheels in motion then they could be a surprise package and move up closer to the top ten.

2007 Preview - [Part One]

With only six weeks to go before the start of the new Formula One season, it is a big jump into the unknown. Gone is the legendary Michael Schumacher, Michelin tires and the biggest shake-up in driver line-up in recent years. It promises to be an exciting year. As winter testing and car launches are coming out thick and fast, it's a good opportunity to evaluate the challengers for the Fernando Alonso's title.

Team-by-Team:

McLaren

McLaren's acquisition of Fernando Alonso from Renault was quite a coup for Ron Dennis this time last year. After the season Mclaren had last year however, Alonso must of been wondering if he had made a poor choice. Juan-Pablo Montoya made a similar move back in 2005, which was over-hyped and produced little result. Alonso's move to McLaren is similar to the one taking by Schumacher back in 1996. If Alonso can return McLaren to their winning ways, he will cement his place in F1 history amongst the legends.

Lewis Hamilton begins his F1 career by entering the lion's den. There will be allot of pressure on the young Brit and it will be interesting to see how he copes. A rookie season alone is enough pressure for one to deal with but to have the world champion as your partner and racing for McLaren only increases it. To their credit, McLaren have groomed Hamilton from early age and having watched his career rise from strength to strength, there is no doubt he can make it on the big stage.

So far in winter testing the new McLaren has looked promising with, both Alonso and Hamilton topping the time sheets at various stages. As always with winter testing these performances have to be considered with a pinch of salt. The real test will be Melbourne on March 18th.


Renault:

If it wasn't for Alonso moving on from Renaul, I believe Giancarlo Fisichella would not still be with the team anymore. I've always rated Fisi' in the highest regard but when the time came that he got a world championship car, he's blown his opportunity. He now runs in the same vein as Jarno Trulli, deciding to show up and race every now and then with a great turn of speed before disappearing back into obscurity.

Heikki Kovalainen is a driver I am excited to see over the coming season. Like Hamilton he enters his rookie team with a top-line team and his mettle will be tested during the season. On his way to the top, Heikki has shown a fantastic racing pedigree and has duked it out with the best. This is the man who beat Schumacher in the International Race of Champions a few years ago. I'm predicting that Heikki will be more of match for Fisichella. He'll put the Italian in the shade similar to how Kimi did to Coulthard in McLaren in 2003.

It's a massive year for Renault as a constructor. They have to prove that there is life after Alonso, much in the same way they had to when in their Benetton guise in the post-Schumacher era. Of the top teams they have the weakest driver line-up with the unreliable Fisichella and the unproven Kovalainen. Renault recently said they would remain in the sport providing they remained competitive which only increases the pressure on the team to be competitive in 2007.


Ferrari

When Felipe Massa was announced as a Ferrari driver last season, it was widely regarded that he was keeping the seat warm for either Raikkonen or Rossi. The way he started the season laid credence to that with a number of shaky performances and excursions off the track. During the mid-season the Brazilian picked up his game and challenged his team-mate on a regular basis. Never before have I seen a driver improve so much during the course of a season, which he capped with two dominant wins at Turkey and Brazil. His improvement no doubt caused Ferrari driver selection headaches as they waited for Schumacher to decide on his future. He starts 2007 as strong favourite for the title. Unlike Raikkonen and Alonso who are settling in to new environments, Massa has the advantage of continuity on his side. If Ferrari carry on their end of season form it could offer Massa the springboard to the world title.

Kimi Raikkonen is finally in a team that should be ability he could only show the odd time in the misfiring McLaren. Since he first graced a Formula car back in 2002 with Sauber, I've tipped him to be world champion. The Iceman's patience has been thoroughly tested with McLaren, who despite collecting a number of wins failed to bring home the ultimate prize because of reliability issues. Now that he has a team around him that is more than capable of delivering him the championship it is up to Kimi to do it on the track come March.

2007 brings major changes to Ferrari. There has been a major upheaval with Ross Brawn going on a sabbatical, leading to a number of internal changes within the Ferrari company. On the driver front they have lost Michael Schumacher which is an immense loss for the team. Despite the changes, Ferrari start as favourites to capture both titles. In Massa and Raikkonen they have the strongest driver line-up and whilst rivals teams have to adjust to Bridgestone tires, Ferrari have a close understanding with the Japanese tire manufacture.
As always it is difficult to judge how competitive they will be come Melbourne as Ferrari conduct most of their tests at Mugello and Fiorano.


That's it for the first part of this 2007 season preview. Keep a look out for the next post as I look at the battle for midfield supremacy.

Warm-Up Lap

Greetings and Welcome all to The Chequered Flag.

On this blog I will be covering the Formula One World Championship from beginning to end over the coming months and offer my views on the impact that they will make.

Whether you agree or disagree with my views, I hope that you take something away from it and at makes you think about it!

Until the next post..