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.