The German Grand Prix final results can be reduced to a single event that shaped the finishing order of the race.

Timo Glock's suspension failure in the last corner of the circuit produced a big crash and brought the safety car on the track while grouping the cars together. Only a handful of cars did not went to the pits while the safety car was on the track. Among them, race leader Lewis Hamilton and Nelson Piquet Jr. who went to the pits only a single lap before the incident.

At the restart, only a few of us were aware that Piquet was on a single stop strategy. The strategy worked like a charm for the rookie driver who led the race with only a few laps to go. But Hamilton's car was too good for the competition. The British driver took back the lead by overtaking Piquet Jr. rather easily.

Piquet Jr. finished in second place and offered Renault their first podium finish of the season. The combination of a great strategy and a bit of luck helped the young Brazilian driver.

For Ferrari, it is a race to forget. Felipe Massa did okay all day long and brought in some valuable points with a third place. For Kimi Raikkonen, it was a different story. The defending champion struggled all weekend long and finished in sixth position.

German Grand prix top ten finish:

Winner: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2-Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault) +5.5 seconds
3-Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +9.3 seconds
4-Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) +9.8 seconds
5-Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) +12.4 seconds
6-Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +14.4 seconds
7-Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) +22.6 seconds
8-Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) +33.2 seconds
9-Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +37.1 seconds
10-Nico Rosberg (Williams) +37.6 seconds

Drivers championship after 10/18 races:

1-Lewis Hamilton 58 points
2-Felipe Massa 54 points
3-Kimi Raikkonen 51 points
4-Robert Kubica 48 points
5-Nick Heidfeld 41 points
6-Heikki Kovalainen 28 points
7-Jarno Trulli 20 points
8-Mark Webber 18 points
9-Fernando Alonso 13 points
10-Rubens Barrichello 11 points
11-Nelson Piquet Jr 10 points
12-Nico Rosberg 8 points
13-Kazuki Nakajima 8 points
14-David Coulthard 6 points
15-Sebastian Vettel 6 points
16-Timo Glock 5 points
17-Jenson Button 3 points
18-Sebastien Bourdais 2 points

Constructors championship:

1-Ferrari 105 points
2-BMW-Sauber 89 points
3-McLaren 86 points
4-Toyota 25 points
5-Red Bull 24 points
6-Renault 23 points
7-Williams 16 points
8-Honda 14 points
9-Toro Rosso 8 points

(Picture: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren.)

If you haven’t read the first part of my team reports, including the top five teams, then follow this link.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/38267-the-top-five-teams-in-formula-one-part-1-of-team-reports

Renault

It doesn’t take a lot of time for things to drastically change in Formula 1, and Renault are proof of that. At this point in 2006, Renault had already won six races. So far in 2008, Renault have registered just six points finishes. That’s a huge dip in performance. So why has this happened?

I would trace it all the way back to the German GP in 2006, when Mass Dampers were banned. Renault relied on this system more than any other team at the time. When they were banned, Renault really suffered, and lost a chunk of performance.

Also, since F1 has moved back to a single tyre supplier, Renault have gone onto the back foot even more, as their car was made for the Michelin tyres (the sole tyre supplier is Bridgestone).

Perhaps another reason why Renault won titles in 2005 and 2006 was because of slip-ups from their rivals. Ferrari weren’t on the ball in 2005, and McLaren were unreliable. In 2006, McLaren didn’t produce a winning car. Ferrari were quick, but mistakes and unreliability struck at the wrong time. Renault still did brilliantly well to win these two championships, but there were certainly other factors that helped them.

Onto this season’s story, basically Renault just haven’t been able to make up enough ground from last season to compete with McLaren and Ferrari. If anything, they have slipped back even further.

In 2007, Renault were the clear fourth best team. At the moment, they have been sucked in even more by the midfield pack and find themselves in a lowly seventh position.

Alonso has worked hard to make the team competitive again, but a driver as good as him isn’t God-like and can’t perform miracles with an uncompetitive car. No driver can.

Having said that, Alonso has maybe pushed a bit too hard for results that aren’t possible. Instead of just getting those valuable points that the team needs to be in a reasonable position, he has tried to get a podium or win and this has resulted in the team earning fewer points.

For example, in Monte Carlo Alonso was scruffy and made a couple of silly errors. In Montreal, Alonso made an error whilst following Heidfeld. These were two opportunities for big points that Renault missed out on.

Renault could have earnt themselves a better result at Silverstone but made the mistake of staying out on inters before the heavy mid-race shower. So that makes three races where big points were lost.

There are not many seasons where that many points for the midfield teams present themselves this early on. Renault could be higher in the table by now because in normal race circumstances they only have the pace for one or two points maximum.

Another big problem has been Piquet Jr.’s difficult start to F1. He has struggled to adapt spectacularly and has been lacking confidence. He has rarely been a feature in the top 10 shootout in qualifying and has only scored two points. This poor form means that Renault have effectively been a one-car team every weekend.

On the bright side, there does seem to some speed in the car. Renault got nowhere near a front-row starting slot last season, yet Alonso achieved that in Barcelona. Unfortunately, he suffered a reliability failure which again was another opportunity missed by Renault.

The car is definitely fast enough for points when the team and drivers put their minds to it. In the second half of the season, they need to be realistic and just score solid points so they don’t end up embarrassing themselves in the second half of the season.

The other factor to consider like all the teams in these reviews is the 2009 regulation changes. This could be the opportunity for Renault to get back in the ball game and put recent errors and missed opportunities behind them. They definitely have the right people.

Will Renault ever make it back to championship challengers again? I have my doubts about it.

Summary: Renault have slipped off form dramatically in the past 18 months for a number of reasons. They need to regroup and do a damage limitations job in the second half of the season to halt the alarming slide going into 2009.

Williams

During the pre-season, things looked very promising for Williams. After a much more promising 2007 campaign where they finished fourth in the championship ahead of big teams such as Toyota, Red Bull and Honda, there was much promise going into this season that they could improve further.

The Williams team seemed rather bullish about their prospects and were even targeting the top 3 in the championship.

As pre-season testing started, these targets were actually starting to look realistic. Although McLaren and Ferrari were dominating all the tests, most experts had Williams down as the third fastest car going into the season.

Going into Australia it looked like Williams might fulfill this prediction. Nico Rosberg qualified seventh, and in the race, he drove brilliantly to third place. Not only that, but their race pace was only 0.5 off the winning car.

In the upcoming races, Melbourne proved to be a false dawn. In Malaysia, the car struggled terribly and the team struggled again in Spain. Since Melbourne, points have either come through races of attrition, tough conditions such as Monaco or Silverstone, or by just taking the last point, which Rosberg did well to achieve in Bahrain and Turkey.

The harsh reality is that Williams lack the firepower of the teams around them. McLaren and Ferrari just have far better resources and finance. The grid is now full of manufacturers, meaning that even the midfield teams are very powerful, ambitious and difficult to beat.

Over the first half of the season, the teams around them have simply had the resources to develop their cars quicker. Renault, Red Bull and Toyota have all overtaken Williams in terms of raw speed. Williams are now at the back of the midfield train.

Occasionally, Williams have upset the odds, such as Rosberg qualifying fifth in Canada, but unfortunately the opportunity wasn’t taken on that occasion.

Nakajima’s signing was criticized by many in F1, the main motivation behind his signing was for sponsorship. So it was effectively a pay driver arrangement which goes further to demonstrate the lean times Williams are now going through.

At times he has been a knight in shining armour for the team. In races, he has been surprisingly competitive and has taken every opportunity there has been for points. This along, with Rosberg’s podium in Melbourne, are the only two reasons why Williams aren’t next to bottom in the championship table.

Williams didn’t do that brilliantly in the first half of 2007. It was the second half of the season where they scored the majority of their points. If they are going to get something out of this season, they are going to have to do that again.

They want to concentrate mainly on 2009, and that is the right thing for them to be doing, but they won’t want to be embarrassed this season.

In my personal opinion, I think Frank Williams and Patrick Head should have let BMW buy a bigger stake in the team rather than staying completely independent. Having a lot of support from a big manufacturer is the only way an independent is going to have a chance in F1 in this current climate.

I think Frank and Patrick still want to run the team like it is the 1980s, but we are in the 2000s now and a lot has changed. BMW have done a great job at Sauber, so Williams may regret the decision.

All those championships that Williams used to win seem like a lifetime ago.

Summary: Williams looked as if they had made a big leap forward but have started to sink again almost immediately. Williams should be regretting not letting BMW have a further stake in the team. That chance has passed now, so they must focus as much as they can on 2009 without suffering an embarrassing final position in 2008. These are very tough times for Williams indeed.

 

Honda

Last season was a complete disaster for Honda. The car was a complete nightmare to drive and hated by their drivers. It was a huge step backwards for the team.

In 2006, Honda were making progress, and then the Japanese board sacked their most talented engineer (Geoff Willis, who is now alongside Newey at Red Bull). They then completely started from scratch in 2007 and lost all the time and progress they gained on the 2006 car. In 2007, Honda scored only six points in comparison to 86 points in 2006.

Something had to be done for 2008 to stop the rot. So what has Honda done exactly? First, they brought in star technical director Ross Brawn as team boss, along with other technical appointments throughout the aero department. This is a wise move, considering that 80 percent of F1 development is aero related.

Ex-Honda boss Nick Fry is still joint owner of the team but now just works on the commercial side, where his expertise lies. Ross Brawn is in charged of everything relating to the car and the racing.

He takes a much more hands-on approach than most F1 team bosses these days, who tend to spend all their time doing paperwork in their offices away from where the car is being designed and built. Nothing like the Colin Chapman days. Ross knows exactly what is going on in his team (the same can’t be said of Ron Dennis last season, can it).

So what improvement have these changes brought to the team? Ross Brawn came into the team too late to have too much say on the current car. In its first test the car looked dreadful but over the winter with Brawn’s help, the team found more than a second’s worth of aero performance.

The car is now a lot more stable and doesn’t apply downforce as aggressively as the last car. More importantly, it was far more drivable. In Australia, Rubens and Jenson were 10th and 12th on the grid, compared to 14^th and 16^th in 2007. It was already clear that a huge improvement had already been made under the Brawn era.

The fact that Ross Brawn wants to concentrate almost solely on 2009, and I am reliably informed they have up to four wind tunnels working on next season’s car, hasn’t stopped this season from being an improvement.

Honda have scored 14 points so far this season. That’s six more than double the whole of last season. Honda even got a podium at Silverstone with Barrichello, with a stroke of tactical genius in the wet race from the man on the pit wall. Where were we used to seeing that every race?

Despite the improvements, it is still a long way off where Honda should be but whilst mainly focusing on 2009 (the right thing for them to do) and how far behind they were last season they are right to be upbeat. This will end up being another disappointing season, but if they can go on a run of successful seasons from 2009 onwards then the team won’t mind.

After the mistakes and slip-ups in the past couple of seasons, Honda now find themselves with a very bright future. That in itself is a good achievement for the team as long the Japanese directors let the men they have hired wave their magic without interference.

Summary: Honda have admitted errors and have gone about correcting them in the best possible by bringing in the right people and changing the staff structure. They realize now success won’t be instant, but improvements have already been made.

Torro Rosso

The Torro Rosso team currently faces an uncertain future as they have been put up for sale by big Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz and due to the customer car rules, as the team use Red Bull’s cars. The main difference being that the design of the car is slightly different in order to accommodate a Ferrari engine rather than a Renault engine.

Overall this season, they are doing a decent job. Up to the Monaco GP, they decided to stick with last season’s challenger, as it was a car which they knew back to front and could setup easily. This seemed to work in their favour early on as Vettel qualified in the top 10 in the first race in Australia. The car seemed to match those of their sister team in terms of raw pace.

As the races started coming thick and fast, the team with their old car started slipping back very quickly and struggling to get out of the first qualifying session.

The team were hoping to launch the new car in time for the Spanish or Turkish GP, but a crash during the big test in Spain meant that the launch was delayed due to a lack of spare parts.

Since the car was launched for the Monaco GP, they have pushed on and made good progress. Vettel made the most of it in Monaco and finished in a brilliant fifth position. He added to that with eighth in Montreal. Their one-lap pace is also now improving.

In the last race at Silverstone, Bourdais qualified 13^th, and Vettel qualified in the top 10 for the first time since Melbourne. The team are are very close to their sister team and maybe even being a little bit faster at times even in Vettel’s hands.

So far this season they have seven points, almost matching the points tally from the whole of last season. So in a very competitive season, Torro Rosso have fared quite well; but I have to admit I am very conscious of giving this team too much praise due to the fact that they are effectively a customer team and not building their own car.

On the other hand, I can praise Vettel for how good a job he is doing this season and proving that he could be a potential star in the future. Bourdais hasn’t done as good a job but hasn’t been as far off Vettel’s pace, as many suggested he would be. There is only a matter of tenths between them.

I predict more points finishes for this team in the second half of the season.

Summary: Torro Rosso have shown some impressive speed at times this season and are getting faster race by race. More points finishes are likely, but the achievement will be somewhat undermined by the fact that they are effectively a customer team.

Force India

It was very sad to lose the Jordan name a few years ago and even sadder to see the bad jobs that Midland and Spyker made of the team before promptly selling up.

However, there is renewed hope for the team under the name of Force India and charismatic and very ambitious boss Vijay Mallya. You can tell he is much more serious about making a success of the team, as opposed to the bosses under the previous two names.

The team now have some high-profile names amongst their staff including experienced technical director Mike Gascoyne (who incidentally worked at Jordan in the 90s) and Mark Smith from Red Bull. The team have now extended their facilities, including a brand new aero lab facility.

Has this new-look team brought more success? In terms of performance, there has definitely been a noticeable difference. When you look at times alone, Force India have actually made a bigger leap in performance than anybody else on the grid.

Last season, the team were on average 2.0 to 2.5 seconds off pole position. Currently, they are around 1.3 to 1.5 seconds off pole position. So that is an improvement of around 1.2 seconds. That is extremely impressive.

Unfortunately, because F1 is so fiercely competitive in this modern era, that still isn’t enough to remove them from the back of the grid despite their best efforts. They have also failed to get out of the first stage of qualifying all season long.

In Monaco, they had a huge chance of picking up a very solid haul of points in the rain. Adrian Sutil drove from the back of the grid and was up to fourthplace until he was cruelly taken away thanks to Kimi Raikkonen, who lost control of his car coming out of the tunnel.

So overall, things are looking a lot more positive for the ex-Jordan squad and despite the fact this hasn’t brought them more points the improvements are there to be seen.

If they can continue to improve at the rate they have been since the end of last season they could well string a couple of results towards the end of the season and surprise in 2009. The whole of India is behind the team, that is certain.

Summary: This team is finally in a stable condition and in the right hands. Fast progress is being made and the team have the potential to improve further.

In the 2008 Formula One season there are five drivers on the grid facing their first full season at the top flight of motorsport. Here is a quick review of how they've done so far:

Nelson Piquet (BRA) Renault

• Average Qual. Pos: 13
• Starts: 9
• Poles: 0
• Wins: 0
• Podiums: 0
• Points: 2 

It has been a disappointing and frustrating season thus far for young Nelsinho Piquet. Thrust into the limelight this season by Flavio Briatore, many tipped the young Brazilian to rattle the cage of Fernando Alonso, having finished as runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2006 GP2 season and having had a full season of testing last year.

But he has struggled from the start of '08, struggling at most races to get out of Q1 and, on some occasions, struggling to see the chequered flag at the end of the race.

To be fair, young Nelson hasn't been shouting his head off blaming others. He kept his head down and got on with it, and it does seem to have done the trick.

In France he made Q3 for the first time, and followed this with a good run during the race where he scored his first F1 points, ahead of teammate Alonso. He will be hoping this will be the turnaround he needs to keep his seat in F1 next season. 

Marks out of 10: 4

 

Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams Toyota

• Average Qual. Pos: 14
• Starts: 9
• Poles: 0
• Wins: 0
• Podiums: 0
• Points: 8 

Kazuki has surprised many during his maiden season in F1. He made his F1 debut at the final race last year, finishing 10th. Like fellow rookie Piquet, he has his father's reputation to live up to, but he has done a solid if not spectacular job so far, scoring points in four different races and matching teammate Rosberg for both pace and points.

Still, he has had the odd erratic moment, as to be expected of a rookie. They have been few and far between, and Kazuki will be looking to establish himself over the next few races to prove he has earned his seat on talent alone and not on his nationality at the insistence of engine supplier Toyota.

Marks out of 10: 6 

Timo Glock (GER) Toyota

• Average Qual. Pos: 12
• Starts: 9
• Poles: 0
• Wins: 0
• Podiums: 0
• Points: 5 

One of the three "rookies" to have raced in F1 before this season, Glock came into 2008 possibly facing more expectations than any other rookie except Bourdais. As the reigning GP2 champion, he has had a lot to live up to after the performances of the past GP2 champions in F1—Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

And to be fair Glock hasn't been too bad. Five points at this stage of his first season isn't a bad return, it's just that in comparison to teammate Trulli he has had a bad season. He has been out-performed and Timo knows that he will have to raise his game to prove that he is better than his predecessor at Toyota, Ralf Schumacher.

Marks out of 10: 5

Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso

• Average Qual. Pos: 16
• Starts: 9
• Poles: 0
• Wins: 0
• Podiums: 0
• Points: 2 

The reigning ChampCar champion came into F1 with a lot of expectations on his shoulders. France's first full-time F1 driver in four years knew how hard it would be, having tested for STR on several occasions before. And in comparison to his teammate he has struggled.

Despite a promising first race in which he joined an elite group to score points on his F1 debut, he has never looked to be troubling the point scorers. Four retirements from nine races could be expected from a rookie, but with his experience some have been saying he should do better. Seb has the talent to prove his doubters wrong.

Marks out of 10: 4 

Sebastian Vettel (GER) Toro Rosso

• Average Qual. Pos: 14
• Starts: 9
• Poles: 0
• Wins: 0
• Podiums: 0
• Points: 5 

After a sensational finish to last season, Vettel and the team had high hopes going into '08. But at the start of the year it didn't look too good, with Seb recording four successive retirements at the first four races.

Lately, however, he has come around, scoring points in two successive races and qualifying strongly. He has probably been the most impressive of the rookies so far, and with tracks coming up that he has raced before, expect a strong showing from young Vettel towards the end of the season.

Marks out of 10: 7  

When it came down to writing an article on which driver's potential hadn't been filled, I had a lot of drivers to choose from.

The list includes Jean Alesi, Gilles Villeneuve, Stirling Moss, Chris Amon, John Watson, Ronnie Petersen, Giancarlo Fisichella, Riccardo Patrese, Juan Pablo Montoya, Peter Collins and Francois Cevert.

After much thinking, I decided to go for a driver who had his time in the limelight cruelly taken away from him.

Olivier Panis was a driver who stood out for many during his time racing in the lower formulae in France. After winning several kart championships, he graduated into Formula Renault in 1987 and took the title there in 1989.

He moved up to French F3 in 1990 with a best championship finish of second in 1991. For 1992, he graduated in the F1 feeder series of Formula 3000, and continuing the trend of two seasons in a series, he claimed the championship after a great season-long battle in 1993.  After taking the title, it was a natural step to move up to the world of Formula 1, and he signed with the Ligier Renault team for 1994.

For many, he was the new French hope, with Alain Prost retiring at the end of 1993. Prost had claimed a fourth world title, and the other French drivers in the field were on lower-ranked teams.

Olivier had a solid if not spectacular start to his F1 career, finishing his first six races with a best finish of seventh in Spain before recording his first F1 DNF at his home race in France.

But in Germany a spate of retirements, where 11 cars failed to finish the first lap, gave Olivier the chance to score his first F1 points—a chance he wasn't going to miss.

A number of other retirements for the leading drivers left Olivier in second place at the finish behind Gerhard Berger. Despite only scoring another three points all season, France had a new hero to watch out for, one who drove a French car with a French engine. It was a possible match made in heaven for Les Bleus.   But for 1995, it was all changed. Out had gone the Renault engine to Benetton, and in had come Mugen-Honda engines.

It was a much stronger year for Olivier, as he began scoring regular points and out-scoring the second Ligier, which was shared between Aguri Suzuki and Martin Brundle.

He scored fourth at both Canada and Britain, and at the season-ending race in Australia it once again came good. Despite finishing two laps behind race-winner Damon Hill, Olivier managed to score another second place ahead of Gianni Morbadelli in the Arrows, despite his engine failing over the last few laps.

It left Olivier going into 1996 full of optimism, and a sixth place in Brazil got him one point over the first five rounds.  But everything was to change for him at Monaco. Having qualified 14th, the best Olivier could probably hope for on the narrow streets was for retirements in front of him to claim a point or two.

But on race day, the heavens opened and left the track soaked for the race, giving Olivier reason for optimism. On the first lap, both Verstappen and Schumacher crashed into the carrier promoting Olivier two places, and further retirements from Katayma, Barrichello and Diniz elevated Panis further.

After 10 laps, following a string of retirements and some good manoevres from Olivier, he found himself in fourth behind Eddie Irvine in the Ferrari. After several laps of frustration behind Irvine, he forced his way past at Lowes Hairpin and into fourth place.

Then Damon Hill retired with an engine failure and Jean Alesi with a gearbox problem, leaving Oliver leading the race with David Coulthard in second and Johnny Herbert third.

With the race hitting the two-hour limit, only 75 laps were run and Olivier had claimed a popular win—his first in F1 and Ligier's first since 1981. He only scored two more points for the rest of the season, but the breakthrough had been made.  For 1997, Alain Prost had bought over the team, and Olivier started the season with fourth place at the season opener in Melbourne. Then he finished third at the next race in Brazil, before challenging Jacques Villeneuve for victory in Argentina before a throttle problem caused his retirement.

An impressive fourth in the wet at Monaco, followed by an equally impressive second place at the following race in Spain, left Olivier sitting in third in the championship behind the big two of Schumacher and Villeneuve.   But then his season, and his career, took a turn for the very worst in Montreal. Having qualified 10th, he was involved in a first-corner altercation with McLaren's Mika Haikkinen, resulting in a lost front wing and a trip to the pits.

After exiting the pits, Olivier once again showed just how good he and the car was that year by coming through the field and managing to climb from 20th to 11th before having to pit with a vibration problem.

Following this stop he was once again at the back, but once again Olivier came storming through the field and had got up to seventh by lap 51 when it all went wrong.

Coming out of Turn 4, Olivier was entering the fast sweeping Turn 5 when he lost the back end of the car—strange given that this section was easily flat out.

He clipped the inside wall before sliding across the track into the tyres on the outside of the sweep, destroying the front of his car and bringing out the red flags.

It was later revealed that he had suffered suspension failure having clipped a wall a few laps earlier, and the result was two broken legs and three months of healing and rehabilitation.  It was a bitter blow to both team and driver, who had been making huge progress over the season. Olivier missed seven races due to injury, being replaced by future team-mate Jarno Trulli, and returned at the Nurburgring to score a point on his return.

But it was obvious that he wasn't the driver he was before the crash. He had a 12-inch pin inserted into each leg after the breaks and didn't get these removed until the 1998-99 off-season, by which time he had completed the 1998 season without a point.

1999 proved to be not much better, and he was replaced by Jean Alesi for the 2000 season. After spending 2000 testing for McLaren, a year in which he revived his reputation, Olivier drove for two seasons with BAR before finishing his F1 career with Toyota, finally retiring in 2004.   He was never the same after his crash in Montreal. Before that he had shown real promise, and had, in the minds of the French, became a natural replacement for Alain Prost.

He still remains the last French driver to win an F1 Grand Prix, but when Olivier's career is looked back on, many will say that his competitive F1 career ended in that tyre barrier at Turn 5 in Montreal.

In Formula One, the most important man you have to beat is your teammate. He is the only man with equal machinery, so it is very easy to make a straight comparison.

Winning or losing against your teammate can change the perceptions of your performance to pundits and fans. Very often, how drivers fare against their teammate can make or break their careers.

This can lead to some very tense driver rivalries, as we have seen with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at McLaren. Neither of them wanted to be the driver that finished second whilst watching their teammate gets the awards and plaudits at the end of the season.

When a driver gets heavily beaten by his teammate, it can lead to his confidence and soul being completely destroyed. Remember the difference between Sato and Ide in Super Aguri’s first season; the sheer difference between the pair ended Ide’s career after just four races in 2006.

It is very important, particularly for rookies, not to be beaten badly by their teammates in their first season. Beating their teammates can also launch them to stardom, as we saw with Lewis Hamilton last season.

So far, a lot of the inter-team rivalries haven’t gone the way that a lot of pundits and fans were expecting.

Qualifying is the best way to compare the speed between two drivers; it proves how fast a driver you are. The stats for how often a driver has finished ahead of his teammate can be a bit deceiving at times, as one of the drivers in the team may have retired whilst racing ahead of their teammate which is obviously bad luck, as opposed to being slower than your teammate.

However, here are all the stats you need, along with my reviews on each teammate war, and who has come out on top in each team.

Ferrari

• Qualifying
• Raikkonen            4            Massa              5

• Fastest Lap
• Raikkonen            8            Massa              1

• Race
• Raikkonen            4            Massa              5

• Points
• Raikkonen            48            Massa              48

Coming into the season, most people expected Massa to flounder without Traction Control. Raikkonen, fresh from being a world champion, would be able to dominate his teammate and take the team lead with ease.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t happened that way. Massa has made Raikkonen’s life very difficult.

There isn’t much separating the pair. In qualifying, Massa definitely has the edge. He is an expert at qualifying and can pull a lap out of the bag when its least expected in any conditions.

Massa’s average grid position is 3.2, compared with Raikkonen’s 3.9 which prove Massa’s edge over a single lap.

In races, Massa has been good as well. On tracks where he performs well, he makes Raikkonen look average. On tracks where Raikkonen excels, Massa has closed the gap and looks a lot more mature and a more in-depth driver than in previous seasons.

However, both drivers have made mistakes in equal measure. Massa spun five times in the British GP, and Raikkonen lost control of his car in Monte Carlo and made a string of errors in Melbourne.

When Massa makes a big mistake, he still struggles to recover. Raikkonen may have made a few errors in Silverstone, but he still managed to get something out of the race.

I think Raikkonen was perhaps expecting it to be easier this season. He has probably been a bit surprised by Massa’s form and perhaps hasn’t had his eye on the ball all the time.

Massa, meanwhile, has matured and become better on tracks and conditions where he has struggled before. Beating Raikkonen to pole in Monaco and performing better in the wet race was a huge breakthrough for Felipe Massa.

The comparative performances of the two Ferrari drivers here shocked a lot of the F1 paddock.

This is the hardest team to decide who has the edge. Both have had highlights and made errors. Overall, Massa has the edge, not only due to his better stats but the fact that he has upped his game this season when everyone expected a Raikkonen whitewash.

Raikkonen has looked a little bit too laid back at times so far and needs to dig deeper to beat his teammate overall at the end of the season. I think Massa has performed at his best more than Raikkonen, and this has been the deciding battle in this teammate war so far.

War winner: Massa is the winner by the thickness of a piece of paper, but Raikkonen is lurking and could easily stamp some authority in the second half of the season.

McLaren

• Qualifying:
• Hamilton            6            Kovalainen       3

• Fastest Lap
• Hamilton            5            Kovalainen       4

• Race
• Hamilton            5            Kovalainen       4

• Points
• Hamilton            48          Kovalainen       24

Due to Kovalainen’s bad luck, it looks like Hamilton has been really giving Heikki a good beating. However, Heikki isn’t that far off Hamilton’s pace.

In average grid position terms, Hamilton is 4.7 to Heikki’s 5.1. That is only a difference of 0.4.

The only track where Heikki was a lot slower in comparison to Lewis in qualifying was in Montreal, where Lewis was 1.2 seconds faster. Everywhere else it has been quite close.

Kovalainen has even managed to beat Lewis on a few occasions. Kovalainen took a very impressive pole in Silverstone by eight tenths over Lewis.

In Turkey, Kovalainen got onto the front row ahead of Hamilton, who was starting on a very light load.

It’s very clear that Heikki has the speed, but there has been some cruel luck (Australia, Monaco and Canada), and maybe Heikki has not being as aggressive as he needs to be.

If Heikki had had a clearer run at times and more luck he could have been giving Lewis a very hard time. I think in the dry, Heikki would have won at Silverstone. If he hadn't broken his front wing on the first lap in Turkey, he had a great chance of winning there, too.

With Hamilton’s difficulties outside of the car this season, he may be very glad that Heikki hasn’t gotten the results he deserves. However, when Hamilton performs at his best, he has more than enough in his locker to stay ahead of Kovalainen.

Lewis was far better in the rain at Silverstone than Heikki. In the first race of the season, Lewis was able to drive away easily from Kovalainen when the pair were leading the race 1-2.

When Hamilton isn’t on the ball, Kovalainen has certainly shown that he has the potential to match and even exceed Hamilton’s pace. However, he does need a few more tenths to really take the game to Lewis and compete for the championship alongside him next season.

War Winner: It looks convincing for Hamilton, but Kovalainen’s bad luck skews that verdict slightly. Heikki is closer to Hamilton than he looks.

BMW Sauber

• Qualifying
• Heidfeld            1            Kubica             8

• Fastest Lap
• Heidfeld            5            Kubica             4

• Race
• Heidfeld            2            Kubica             7

• Points
• Heidfeld            36          Kubica             46

So far this season, Kubica has stepped out of Heidfeld’s shadow and is acting as team leader. Kubica has become a faster, fitter and more consistent driver who doesn’t make many mistakes.

Kubica is a new man this season. He has been very impressive in qualifying.

Kubica’s average qualifying position is 4.2, whereas as Heidfeld’s is 7.8. That is a difference of 3.6. The BMW is comfortably a Top Six car, which is slightly slower than the McLaren and the Ferrari.

Kubica’s average grid slot is very impressive, showing that he has been able to mix with faster cars. In Heidfeld’s case, 7.8 shows that he hasn’t always been able to qualify the car where it ought to be on the grid.

Heidfeld’s biggest problem has been warming up the tyres in order to deliver a great qualifying lap.

In races, Kubica has had the advantage due to qualifying better and got the team’s first win at the expense of Heidfeld.

However, despite Kubica receiving all of the plaudits, Heidfeld has quietly been doing a decent job in races. Despite being battered, he is only 10 points behind Kubica in the championship.

In the two races where Kubica got no points (Australia and Britain), Nick got second on both occasions.

Nick appears to be solving his problems and getting his confidence back. He could end up surprising people and closing in on Kubica later on in the season.

This would be a turn up for the books, considering the superstar praise Kubica has been receiving and the flak Heidfeld inevitably has had to take.

War Winner: Kubica but not by as much as it seems. Just look at the championship table for proof of that.

Toyota

• Qualifying
• Trulli                 7            Glock               2

• Fastest Lap
• Trulli                 8            Glock               1

• Race
• Trulli                 6            Glock               3

• Points
• Trulli                 20          Glock               5

Not everyone in F1 rates Trulli highly, so coming into F1, GP2 champion Glock’s task was to beat Trulli to have any chance or progressing further in F1. So far, he has been utterly thrashed by Trulli.

In qualifying, the Toyota is good enough to be in the top 10. Whilst Trulli has done this on regular occasions, Glock hasn’t.

At times, the difference between their grid positions has been quite vast. In Australia Glock qualified 18^th, and Trulli was in sixth.

In Turkey, Glock qualified 15^th and Trulli eighth. A lot of Glock’s GP2 success last season was built on good qualifying performances, so to be beaten so badly by another qualifying expert is very damaging for him at the moment.

His trump card isn’t anywhere near enough for him against Trulli. In his championship winning year, he qualified on the front row in six of the 11 events, including four pole positions.

In F1, you race where you qualify. As it is so difficult to overtake, Trulli has always had the big advantage in races, with Glock not being able to catch up with him.

The only track where Glock has beaten Trulli in a straight fight is in Canada; incidentally the only track he performed well at in his short time with Jordan in 2004.

Apart from that, Glock has been no match for Trulli. Unless Glock can turn this around, his F1 career will be over. No other team will be interested in a driver being dominated by Trulli on the same team.

In Glock’s defence, Trulli has been inspired this season but that doesn’t stop the fact that Glock should be far closer to him.

With the driver talent about nowadays, Glock may well end up back in GP2 and staying there. You can’t see many signs of Glock improving at the moment.

War Winner: Trulli by miles. Glock will struggle to get a second season in F1 at this rate.

Red Bull

• Qualifying
• Coulthard            1            Webber           8

• Fastest Lap
• Coulthard            3            Webber           6

• Race
• Coulthard            2            Webber           7

• Points
• Coulthard            6            Webber           18

DC suffers a similar problem to Glock in that he has a teammate who is extremely quick over a single lap. This gives Webber the advantage when it comes to races.

Webber has been able to qualify at the front of the midfield regularly this season whereas DC is often in the middle of the midfield, where it is very easy to get bogged down and involved in incidents.

Webber has pulled off a consistent run of points finishes this season. In fact, he has managed six points finishes in a row this season. DC, on the other hand, has been involved in incidents. In clean races, he has had three finishes in ninth place.

Those three races show that he can race very well from lower positions; but when you start between 10^th and 20^th, it’s very hard to push into the top eight.

If you start in the top eight, which the Red Bull car is capable of, then getting the points is easier. DC isn’t fast enough in qualifying to achieve this same record and get the most out of his Red Bull like Webber can.

Webber has used his qualifying card to convincingly beat DC this season. Webber’s average grid slot is 7.9 and DC’s is 12.2, which proves the theory.

Having said that, DC has actually been in the top 10 more this season than this time last season but still can’t hope to match Webber’s qualifying standards.

Webber has stayed out of trouble and gotten the job done. DC has had a lot of bad luck, and things haven’t fallen for him. F1 is a very unforgiving business, and at the end of the day, it’s a results business. It is Webber that has gotten the results.

In Canada, DC showed how good a racer he is when the circumstances fall for him and nothing goes against him. DC will look back on a lot of successful seasons when he retires. Sadly for him, and for me as a DC fan, this isn’t looking like one of them.

War Winner- Despite bad luck, DC is solid, but Webber has simply been by far the more consistent spectacular performer. He is looking more like a top line driver race by race. DC just can’t match him.

Renault

• Qualifying
• Alonso             9            Piquet Jr.        0

• Fastest Lap
• Alonso             8            Piquet Jr.        1

• Race
• Alonso             8            Piquet Jr.        1

• Points             
• Alonso             13          Piquet Jr.        2

This is the teammate war with the biggest gap in performance. Whilst Alonso has been trying his hardest to get every tenth there is out of this season’s off pace Renault, Piquet Jr. has been having a nightmare, struggling to adapt to F1.

Piquet Jr. has never beaten Alonso in qualifying, and the average grid slots tell the story. Alonso’s average grid slot is 6.3 and Pique's is a very poor 13.6. That is quite a difference.

Alonso has only failed to qualify in the top 10 once this season, Piquet has only made it in three times out of nine.

In races, Piquet Jr. has been poor and made errors. Alonso has picked some points up, although he has made mistakes too in good points position. So at least points wise, the gap between the two isn’t massive so far.

If Piquet Jr. doesn’t get closer soon, his career will be in huge trouble. The last man you want as your teammate when you are struggling is Fernando Alonso.

At least Piquet Jr. is showing a few signs of improvement. He capitalized on an error by Alonso to finish ahead of him in France. In qualifying for the British GP, he was only a few tenths slower and in the top 10.

If Piquet Jnr can continue to show some improvement after early humiliation, he stands a chance of getting his early F1 career out of the red danger zone and get another chance next season. However, he can’t afford any more mistakes or slow weekends.

Alonso does need to keep his distance and stay ahead of Piquet. After Piquet’s first half of the season, a lot of potential new suitors for Alonso would raise their eyebrows if Piquet starts closing the gap down to Alonso.

War Winner: Alonso has practically blasted Piquet Jr. with a cannonball, but he needs to be careful he doesn’t relax and let Piquet send it back.

Williams

• Qualifying
• Rosberg            7            Nakajima        2

• Fastest Lap
• Rosberg            6            Nakajima        3

• Race
• Rosberg            5            Nakajima        4

• Points
• Rosberg            8            Nakajima        8

This one is quite intriguing.

A lot of people were perhaps a bit disappointed that Williams took on Nakajima, as he didn’t perform consistently in GP2. Certainly the prediction most seen was that Rosberg would blow Nakajima completely out of the water.

This isn’t completely true. Nakajima has taken a lot of F1 personnel by surprise.

In qualifying, Rosberg has definitely shown he is the driver with more pace. Rosberg has been in the top 10 shootout four times this season, whereas Nakajima has never made it that far.

Rosberg’s average grid position is 11.9 and Nakajima’s is 14.9. Nakajima’s one-lap pace hasn’t been strong, but he isn’t as far back as a few other drivers in comparison to their teammate, i.e., Glock, Piquet Jr. and Coulthard.

The racing comparison is the really interesting part. Nakajima has shown himself to be a solid racer who doesn't make too many mistakes. He has also taken his opportunities when they have come.

He has finished in the points four times to Nico’s three. In the wet conditions in Monaco, Nakajima stayed out of trouble and impressed in seventh place, whilst Nico made a big error and crashed heavily.

In Spain, Nakajima made the most of the rate of attrition and got a couple of points, too. In the treacherous conditions in Silverstone, he did a better job than Rosberg and won another point.

Rosberg is still the faster driver, but in races Nico hasn’t always got the job done and has made a few errors. The Williams isn’t that quick this season, but Nakajima is showing that he is sometimes a match for Rosberg.

When a chance for points comes along, he has taken them. Rosberg hasn’t.

Last season, Rosberg was very convincing against Wurz, but he was a weak teammate. Maybe that made Rosberg look better than he actually is.

This season, Nakajima is proving a tough challenge, and Nico hasn’t been convincing enough to suggest he is one of the top drivers in F1.

I wonder whether he regrets being so committed to Williams when there was a seat with his name on it at McLaren. Will the chance come again?

Rosberg needs to start beating Nakajima more convincingly in the second half the season so he doesn’t disappear off the radar of the top teams. Nakajima has performed above expectations and is securing his place on the F1 grid.

War Winner: Rosberg is currently the quicker driver, but it’s a little too close for comfort, which is raising eyebrows.

Honda

• Qualifying
• Button              4            Barrichello       5

• Fastest Lap
• Button              4            Barrichello       5

• Race
• Button              3            Barrichello       6

• Points
• Button              3            Barrichello       11

These are two drivers in very different situations. Barrichello is fighting for his place on the team, whereas Button feels confident his seat is safe for next season and his mind is probably already on 2009.

When you compare the performances so far, I think the above statement really shows. Button ought to be beating Barrichello comfortably to stake his claim as one of F1’s best drivers, but he isn’t.

If anything, Barrichello has clearly been the better Honda driver. In average grid position, Rubens has the edge. Jenson Button has averaged at 13.6, whereas Rubens is ahead at 13.1.

Montreal is the greatest example of how well Rubens has driven. He qualified ninth, whereas Button couldn’t get out of the first qualifying session.

In races, Rubens has driven very well, too, and has an even bigger edge here points wise. In races where you would expect Jenson to get good points, he has made errors and it’s been Rubens instead who has taken the initiative.

In both this season’s wet races, where you would expect Jenson to excel, he has made a mistake, and Rubens has taken nine points out of those two races alone.

Barrichello also finished seventh in the crazy Canada race, where Button finished only 11^th. Rubens should have finished even higher in that race but slipped towards the end.

Barrichello has made more of the equipment and opportunities than Jenson has. Rubens has overall been faultless but Button has made a few critical errors and hasn’t got it together.

If anything, Barrichello is more deserving to stay in the team next season than Button is. Button is showing signs that for this season he is lacking a bit of motivation and perhaps he is taking his place in the team for granted. He needs to up his game considerably.

War Winner: Barrichello has gotten more results for the Honda team and is extracting more from the car than Button. There is life in the old dog yet.

Torro Rosso

• Qualifying
• Bourdais            4            Vettel               5

• Fastest Lap
• Bourdais            4            Vettel               5

• Race
• Bourdais            4            Vettel               5

• Points
• Bourdais            2            Vettel               5

This was a very highly anticipated team war coming into the season: A multiple champion in America against a very highly rated young rookie.

A lot of hype surrounded Vettel’s performances so far this season, but he hasn’t completely dominated Bourdais as you can see from the stats above.

The average qualifying slot for Vettel has been 14.8 and 16.1 for Bourdais. This suggests that Saturdays, Vettel does indeed have an edge, but not as decisive as we have seen in other teams further up the grid.

Vettel hasn’t obliterated Bourdais as all the F1 pundits have been suggesting.

What has really separated Vettel from Bourdais is that Vettel has shown more moments of star quality, whilst Bourdais has been solid and within the limits offered by his Torro Rosso, but just not spectacularly.

Vettel has been in the top 10 shootout twice this season and scored points in the difficult conditions in Monaco (whilst Bourdais hit the barrier) and again in the difficult Montreal conditions.

It’s these occasions that have made Vettel one for the future, despite the fact he has had a few anonymous weekends and numerous collisions.

Bourdais on the other hand is a driver just fighting for his rights just to stay in the team for another season.

Bourdais needs to up his game in order for people to start taking him seriously. He simply has to take some of the hype away from Vettel and take some praise for himself.

Despite not being dominated by Vettel, as shown by the stats above, a couple of Vettel’s performances are making it appear like he is being dominated.

War Winner: Vettel is definitely ahead of Bourdais overall, but a couple of great results has made him seem further ahead of Bourdais than he actually is.

Force India

• Qualifying
• Fisichella            6            Sutil                  3

• Fastest Lap
• Fisichella            6            Sutil                  3

• Race
• Fisichella            6            Sutil                  3

• Points
• Fisichella            0            Sutil                  0

This is a very interesting battle so far. Sutil received a lot of praise for his performances last season and was touted as a future talent.

However most people ignored the fact that he was against very weak teammates in Albers, Winkelhock, and Yamamoto.

Fisichella may have struggled at Renault, but he is always good in slower machinery where he is able to punch above his weight. So far, Sutil hasn’t been driving very well, and Fisichella has made the most of the car.

In qualifying up to Turkey, the average time difference has been around 0.5 to 0.6 seconds in favour of Fisichella. That is a lot of time to be losing to a teammate. This period really damaged Sutil.

However, after a great wet race in Monaco where Sutil showed his talent in the rain, he was running in fourth until being punted out by Raikkonen.

This race has been enough to get people talking about Sutil again and seeing that there is talent there. Since then, Sutil has been level in terms of time with Fisi and has started to get his confidence back.

Over the next few races, he must stay ahead of Fisichella more often to save his chances in his F1 career.

Even if he doesn’t manage that, pundits will remember his drive in Monaco and this may be a saving grace for him even if he doesn’t deserve it. It may prove to be the most important performance of his career.

War Winner: Fisichella has been considerably faster than Sutil for most of the season and made him seem like less of a talent than people had perhaps previously thought. Monaco seemed to influence people otherwise and may be Sutil’s passport to staying in F1.

Ever since the Open Mic on “What do you consider being a sport?” there have been quite a few debates regarding the validity of certain games being referred to as “sport.”

Most of these have revolved around motor racing and golf.

And being a part of the cricketing world, I can add the T20 to this list.

Before I begin, this is not a late entry for the Open Mic. Rather, just a point of view regarding the whole debate itself, since the dust seems to have settled on it.

What prompted this article was a piece on the popular Cricinfo.com blog titled Different Strokes.

The piece titled “Just not cricket” by Michael Jeh, is yet another wailing against the advent of T20, which is, as the title puts quite plainly, “not cricket,” or in the broader perspective, “not sport.”

In my opinion, sport is whatever that gets the adrenaline flowing.

Therefore, the topic becomes subjective, as different things get the juices flowing in different personalities.

Even chess can be considered a sport for the avid fan who gets excited at the prospect of watching Gary Kasparov playing again!

This is where I would like to make my point.

Every sport is enjoyable by anybody. It just boils down to which base you are at!

Like every relationship, I suppose even the relationship one shares with a sport needs to have bases.

At the beginning, there is the complete disdain.

Lines like “That’s not sport” or “it’s a game for the brutes” or “it’s for slowpokes” are the ones one would most often associate with a sport you don’t really prefer.

Like golf, or Test cricket, or if you are a fan of the latter two, rugby or T20!

I suppose it all begins with the stars.

You first think about it in a different way when you find something even remotely attractive in it.

The initial spark is always superficial! But in sport, love always seems to strike.

That spark could be a bicycle kick by Huntelaar (been seeing a lot of those, haven’t we?) or a birdie by Tiger. Immediately, we feel like seeing some more moments like them.

That’s where it all begins. It’s like the first meeting. You’re not quite sure what to say. So you try to keep it simple and just go with the flow. And there it grips you.

You find that one thing that you can’t keep out of your mind.

That’s where you associate your attention to that one team, to that one player, and it’s just not the same anymore!

It remains fun only when your chap is doing well. You stop caring about seeing the special moments. The closeness of the contest doesn’t matter if THAT team is playing. It’s winning that matters now!

And now you know it, you have been gripped!

You’re chilling with friends, and one of ‘em quips, “Man, you should’ve seen Van der Sar get sent off yesterday!” and you immediately jump in, “That wasn’t even a foul! We deserved to win!” You realize everyone around you looking at you. You didn’t even like football two weeks ago!

The fanaticism begins. You’re just not a “fan” anymore. It’s just not a sport anymore. The game is all there is.

You follow them for the rest of the season. By now, you know every minute detail.

The position Alonso finished at the Australian GP. (When it had actually happened, you didn’t even know an Australian GP existed!)

Every statistic is known by heart.

You start following everything about Federer.

Newspaper columns, online posts, you join every community dedicated to your team on the web. Your team. No more is it “that boring game.” You no longer “don’t care” about who the latest player on the team is!

The transition is almost complete.

Soon you reach that spiritual level, when you can look at the long run and be happy being part of the journey all this time.

You aren’t sad Federer is retiring.

There will be a better driver at Renault next season, and you can celebrate another victory at Sepang, with a different driver at the podium.

Loyalty takes a whole new meaning.

Basically, the point of all this rambling is, you can enjoy any sport on the planet; all you need to do is lower your guard.

To anybody who says Test cricket is “boring,” drop the cynicism at home, and go for the Fifth Day at Lord’s.

It just takes a little bit of time.

Coming into the Formula One season of 2007, Fernando Alonso expected nothing less than a third consecutive championship, a feat that was only completed by two men: Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher. Going into Melbourne everything was looking great for Alonso. Schumacher was gone, of whom Alonso bested in '06. He was with a new team, McLaren, the team he wanted to race for since his childhood. Alonso was fastest in practice and qualified second on the grid. Also he had the confidence in not having to worry about competition from his teammate, since he was a greenhorn rookie. All was right in the Spaniard's world.

Going into the first turn at Albert Park, however, Alonso's world was violently turned upside down and has never really been set upright even to this day. Alonso was overtaken by his harmless greenhorn teammate. Even though Alonso would finish second, his teammate finished right on the podium with him.

It had to be a fluke, many people were thinking. It was just a one off that would never happen again, perhaps. Even as Alonso took home a dominant victory in Sepang the No. 2 marked car at McLaren finished right behind him in second, tying Peter Arundell's record of consecutive podiums from a debut race that was set in 1964. The next week in Bahrain as Alonso faltered his teammate again finished second, thereby resetting the podium record. Alonso was no longer dealing with some new rookie. He was now dealing with a calculating and aggressive driver who drove like a battle-hardened veteran, not to mention the auto-crazed nation he hailed from. The Briton by the name of Lewis Hamilton had arrived on the Formula One stage by a blitzing storm.

The rest of the 2007 season proved to be a historic one for both Lewis Hamilton and Formula One. It was filled with controversy, treachery, excitement, and drama. The season played out like an action novel all the way to the ending. The hurricane's clouds began to gather at the Monaco Grand Prix, where Alonso won the race and Hamilton placed second, but a disappointed Hamilton stated the team wanted him to guard the rear for Alonso in order for him to take home the victory. Whether or not the accusation was true, Hamilton drove his MP4-22 to victory in Montreal and then followed it up with another win in the United States at Indy.

Hamilton would set the consecutive podium record at nine when it ended at the Nurburgring. Hamilton's streak only ended for two reasons. The first came during the last round of knockout qualifying when his right front tire failed which caused Hamilton to end up in a tire barrier off of the turn 9 and 10 chicane. The second occured during the race which was held under a down pour of rain. Hamilton spun his car off of the track and was helped back onto the track by a crane.

At Hungary, everything started to breakdown between Hamilton and Alonso. The incident in pitlane during qualifying where Alonso denied Hamilton a pitstop and flying lap by staying in the pit box served as a catalyst for everything that would occur later on in the season. Alonso would incur a five grid penalty for the race which bumped Hamilton to P1 and later on to victory. From that point on both the Spaniard and Briton would no longer speak to each other.

Then the so called “Stepneygate” (must we name every scandal after Watergate?) saga began. McLaren fought for its life between the FIA courts and the media. It's almost unbelievable that the two drivers' cooler heads prevailed through all of the pressure of both the FIA and the press. Only one incident occurred on the track and it happened at Spa. After exiting the hairpin turn 1 at the start, Alonso appeared to have run Hamilton off the track which would give Alonso the advantage in the Eau Rouge corner. Hamilton would later come back with a brilliant victory in Japan on a drenched circuit at Fuji. The victory extended Hamilton's championship lead to 12 points and with a victory at Shanghai, the rookie sensation would have secured the championship.

It would not be the case. The Chinese Grand Prix would be a wet one where the drivers started on intermediate tires. Hamilton qualified first and ran the first part of the race flawlessly. During his first pitstop the decision to keep Hamilton on the inters proved to be a fatal one. The rain had stopped and no more rain had fallen. The track dried out quickly and Hamilton was stuck on old intermediate tires that were wearing down to the chords. Kimi Raikkonen took over the lead when Hamilton went wide in a turn. When Hamilton came in for his scheduled stop on lap 31, he veered off into a gravel trap in the pitlane entry. With his car beached and unable to move it out of the sandbox, Hamilton was forced into his first retirement of his career. The event blew the championship wide open between Hamilton, Alonso, and Raikkonen in a showdown in Sao Paulo.

In the only mechanical problem for McLaren during the 2007 season, a gearbox failure plagued Lewis Hamilton in Brazil. He was able to fix the problem, but to no avail. Hamilton finished 7^th and behind race winner Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton lost out the world championship to Raikkonen by an agonizing one point.

All in all, Lewis Hamilton had an absolute superb rookie season. No one has ever done what he has done within their first year. In 17 races, Hamilton secured 4 race victories and 12 podiums. Furthermore he only had two really big mistakes in the entire season; the one at the pitlane entry in China and when he ran off the track at Sao Paulo while trying to race Alonso for position when he should have been conservative by racing for points. Other than that Hamilton's rookie year was brilliant. He is the new star in the post Schumacher era that everyone expects to do well every race. He also has brought the British people back up onto their feet in Formula One as they can now cheer on a victorious winner who has every shot at winning the world championship which as eluded Britain since Damon Hill in 1996.

At the start of the 2008 season in Melbourne, the pressure had mounted on Hamilton to do well and expectations for the 23 year old were set high. Hamilton kindly responded by dominating the Melbourne race. Hamilton fared not so well at Sepang do to a five grid penalty for being slow in the “racing line” after his flying lap during qualifying. At Bahrain it seemed like all of the rookie mistakes he didn't make came down on him hard. Hamilton started out of the grid slow. Trying to make up for lost time Hamilton ran into the back of Alonso's Renault and lost the lower half of his wing. Following too closely behind Alonso Hamilton further ran into the back of the Renault. Hamilton had to pit and the incidents relegated him to a 13^th place finish. Later on in the season Hamilton drove to stunning victories in wet weather at Monaco and Silverstone.

For every mistake Hamilton makes he is put up on a cross by the media and fans alike, but whenever the 23 year old wins the media and fans exalt him and put him up on a pedestal like nothing ever happened. He is adored by many, but is also maligned by others. The media itself has this creepy obsession with everything that is Lewis Hamilton (no offense, itv). No wonder he lives in the tax haven that is called Switzerland. The media is his own personal watchdog and can be hypocritical at times. Fans are also to blame. They either criticize his mistakes or they ignore them, but when he wins there's dancing in the streets.

The second half of the season is all up in the air. Hamilton is technically the points leader, but he shares it with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa at 48 points each. Can Hamilton win his first championship? Yes he can, though much remains to be seen. Lewis Hamilton is a good driver, but he isn't a great driver yet. This is only his second year in the top tier of motor sport in the entire world. He still has to prove himself and he must push himself extremely hard to do so. The pressure that the media and fans alike put onto him can't be much help either. It must be agreed that the young Briton is under tremendous amounts of pressure to do well from untold millions. Hamilton is like the great Atlas. Instead of holding up the sky, however, Lewis Hamilton must bear everyone's hopes and dreams for him while he also tries to attain his own ambitions. It is a lot just for one man to bear and in the end, that is what he is: a man. Lewis Hamilton is not a race god, he is only human, and all too human in my opinion. And what is the definition to be human? To be human is to be fallible. What will make Hamilton Superman will be his ability to pick up the pieces of his mistakes and create a masterpiece from them and he is fully capable of doing that.

Now it may sound like that I am not a Lewis Hamilton fan. On the contrary, he is my favorite driver on the grid. I even bought the McLaren team shirt for christ sakes! Originally, I was not a fan of his. I thought he was another Roger Federer, just too good at what he does. It was only until the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring did I become a Lewis Hamilton fan. When I saw him take that nasty shunt into the tire barrier, get back into the car the next day, spin out, and still bring the car home in 9^th place, I became a believer. The events that transpired on the wet weekend in Germany proved to me that Hamilton was good and wouldn't be kept down. I myself will pull my hair out sometimes when he makes mistakes, but then I realize that he will make mistakes. He isn't perfect. When he ran off the pitlane entry at Shanghai I jumped out of my chair and screamed, at 4a.m. I might add. Maybe that's what makes many of us true fans. We rejoice when our favorite competitors win and then we crucify them when they blunder. Fans do it a lot and we are all guilty of it, but we shouldn't. Fans must sit down, think, and remember that even though we think they are superheros, they are just like the rest of us. The only difference is that they are filmed doing their jobs and it makes them famous. We must always remember that they are all human and they may actually be more human than the rest of us.

It's controversial, it's provocative. Donington Park's position as post-2010 British Grand Prix host has caused both surprise and horror, yet maybe there are some advantages to this change.

The fans, teams and drivers have been complaining about Silverstone for years. The carparks are muddy, the hotdogs expensive and, since 2003, the racing turgid.

Yet Donington? Personally i've never been there but from what i have seen, it reminds me of Jerez. With sweeping corners and a relatively small infield, it will certainly be a change for Formula One, now populated by Tilke-esque sharp corners.

Silverstone is undoubtedly tops for full throttle acceleration, but what will happen with the post 2009 wing technology removals? Could we see Donington as a place of dramatic overtaking? At the moment it is far too early to speculate, with BTCC and MotoGP not serving as useful examples, yet i can see change being useful to the sport.

A new, testing challenge (in 1993 even Michael Schumacher beached his Benetton in the gravel) awaits the F1 fraternity- even the most biased fan would struggle to suggest that every Silverstone race has been exciting

Bernie has certainly been riled for this recent switch. Even MotoGP has declared Donington as unsuitable for major events, but i am certain that things can be sorted out after two years of committed effort.

To those complaining, just think; would you rather have no British Grand Prix? Maybe confiscating the European Grand Prix from Spain (giving Valencia the race and binning the traditional snore-athon of Catalunya) on account of their abhorrent winter-testing racism and giving the event to Silverstone would placate the fans, along with showing the World that discrimination of any kind has no place.

Spanish Formula One is all but over; unless Fernando Alonso gets his act in gear (rumours are circulating linking him down to Honda), it may be time to give the crown to someone else. Hamilton-mania makes Britain the obvious target.

Donington is close to the East Midlands Airport (and M1), is in a central position, and has proven it can deal with a major Formula One race, albeit one back in 1993. With an increase in infrastructure, and a possible extension, the at present 2.5 mile circuit has the potential to be one of the greats.

Attempting to look positively on this situation, i feel the 2010 British Grand Prix will be what the fans, and of course the organisers,  make of it. All i can say is good luck to them.

After the first 8 GPs (Australia to Magny-Cours) of the F1 season here are my top 10 drivers and the reasons why they are where they are in my list.

 

1. Robert Kubica- Robert Kubica is my number 1 driver because he has been by far the most consistent driver this season, which is what you need to be a champion. It’s the ability to perform well at every event. All the other front running drivers have made mistakes this year and Robert hasn’t, which is why he finds himself in this position.

The only DNF for Kubica wasn’t his fault. He was on for a good result at Melbourne but was tagged by Nakajima behind the safety car. Without that incident he may well still be leading the world championship as I write this article.

Kubica’s record against Heidfeld has been excellent this season. He has beaten Nick in all 8 qualifying sessions this season and has beaten him in every single race apart from in Australia. Kubica is a much fitter man this season and the car seems to suit him perfectly and he is able to extract everything he can and more out of that BMW at the moment.

Kubica looked great from the off this season, almost getting pole in Melbourne, finishing 2^nd in Malaysia, first pole in Bahrain followed by 3^rd in the race. His record has been outstanding so far.

He fully deserves my number 1 spot, it will be difficult to him to stay there because his car may not allow him to, but if others keep making errors like they are doing he has an outside chance of the championship. Its consistency that wins championships these days and he is by far the most consistent driver so far this season. No major shortfalls to speak of.

He is turning himself into a star this season and Ferrari may well come knocking very soon, if they do BMW will find it hard to hang onto Kubica.

2. Felipe Massa- Many presumed that Massa would struggle without traction control and  be unable to keep up with newly crowned team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Some thought 2007 was as good as he could get. In his first two races he proved a lot of these critics correct with 0 points from his first two races but since Bahrain he has turned it around.

He has won 3 races so far this season, which is more than anybody else so far. He won as most people expected in Bahrain and Turkey, tracks he is always good at. But he won them with great style. Simply nobody could challenge him at these races, he drove extremely well. At a track where Massa is at his best Raikkonen simply has no answer for him or anybody else for that matter.

Massa is now also better at tracks he doesn’t like, he got pole position at Monaco and when it rained on race day pundits thought he would be in the barriers straight away but his racing in wet conditions was extremely good and better than Raikkonen who fell back from him and made mistakes. Massa had to fight through the pack in Montreal after a problem in the pit stop. Again something people say Massa isn’t capable of doing but again he proved these people wrong by doing some great moves, most notable when he did both Barrichello and Kovalainen at the hairpin.

Massa is a much more complete and in-depth driver this season and a lot more mature. He is now a serious threat for the title. If it weren’t for those errors in the first two races he would be the clear number 1 but we still can’t forget that Massa is still susceptible to errors. However his head is in much better shape thanks to his race engineer Rob Smedley. Lets see if he could handle the pressure in a tight championship finale which I am certain he will be a part of.

3. Mark Webber- Mark Webber’s stock value is really going up at the moment. He is being very consistent and keeps on getting the points. He has scored in 6 of the 8 races so far and currently has a very healthy 18 points in the bag. He has been the main reason why Red Bull find themselves in 4^thposition. His Red Bull isn’t quite quick enough to be challenging the top 3 teams but he is comfortably best of the rest this year, which includes the likes of Alonso in the Renault, Trulli in the Toyota and Rosberg in the Williams. Some may rate these better drivers but Webber is delivering in each race. He has been very consistent on a par with my number 1 choice Robert Kubica.

Webber’s two races so far have been 5^th in Barcelona and 4^thin Monaco. His performance in the tough conditions in Monaco was fantastic, he kept out of trouble, made a brave call by putting dry tyres on a bit early but he made it pay for him in the end.

His qualifying record has as usual has been excellent and his record against his team mate is 7-1 in Mark’s favour. Mark Webber has featured in most top ten shootouts in qualifying this season. He continues to prove that he is one of the best qualifiers in the world. In these days of F1 you race where you qualify which is the main difference between him and DC and other midfield runners who don’t score points as often as they perhaps should.

I think Webber deserves to be in a top team, as outside of the top 2 or 3 teams he is definitely one of the best drivers and I think it is a shame that people haven’t seen this yet. If he continues on his current form then he will surely appear on more people’s radars. If he had got some of the great results he was denied in the past couple of seasons then maybe his stock would have been higher by now. If he gets the machinery he will get the job done. Simple.

4. Jarno Trulli- This may be a surprise choice for some but I think Jarno Trulli is doing an excellent job this season. Last season Trulli didn’t have a very good car and in the races it was very poor and inconsistent which Trulli struggled to get the best out of.

This season the car is a different beast and much more consistent lap to lap and a bit easier to setup. We are now seeing a much-improved Jarno Trulli. As usual we are seeing great qualifying laps out of him but he is also driving some great races. In Malaysia Trulli started in third and in the race finish in 4^th. He was able to drive consistently at the front for the whole race and at one point he was even trying to overtake Heikki Kovalainen in the Mclaren. In Magny-Cours he finished a remarkable third after starting in 4^thplace, he beat strong opposition in Alonso, Kovalainen and Kubica in a straight fight. He had to hold off Kovalainen for the last 10 laps but never cracked under pressure like we have seen from him in the past. Remember when Barrichello got Trulli on the last lap in Magny-Cours in 2004? He was a weaker driver then and not an error he would make again now I am sure.

I think Trulli is perhaps driving the best he has ever done in his career and has made only few errors. People expected Glock to give Trulli a hard time but Trulli has given him a proper thrashing so far. Trulli has beaten Glock 7-1 in qualifying and has had 5 finishes in the points compared to Glock’s one.

Trulli seems like a new driver this season so lets see if he can keep it up. Sometimes he slips in the second half of the season and seems to concentrate on his wine making rather than his F1 driving. This season it will be different hopefully. Trulli has such an artistic driving style. He drives his car like a train on a railway, particularly in qualifying. He has a lot of natural talent and it’s been frustrating that he hasn’t always made the most of it.

This season we have seen him making the most of it and that’s why he is 4^th in my top 10.

5. Kimi Raikkonen- I expected Kimi Raikkonen to really consolidate his position as world number 1 this season and take real inspiration from his triumph last season but we have seen a very irratic Kimi Raikkonen.

Kimi Raikkonen has won 2 races in Malaysia and Spain where he drove very well. In Malaysia he was easily faster than Massa in race conditions and had a clear edge over him in Spain. Raikkonen was also faster than Massa in France and was on course for a comfortable victory over him before the exhaust problems kicked in.

The rest of the season so far has been very hit or miss, in Melbourne especially, he made rookie type errors when trying to overtake Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock. In the latter stages of the race he lost two positions in two corners to Kovalainen and Alonso. He ended up finishing 8^thand getting just a single point. In Bahrain and Turkey he never had an answer for his team mate Felipe Massa throughout the weekend and was never anywhere near him in those two races. Its almost as if he did accept he was going to be beaten by Massa and just tried to get as many points possible rather than really going all out to win like great champions such as Schumacher or Senna. He didn’t look the part at either of these GPs.

Monaco was another messy GP, he was beaten to pole by Massa and struggled in the wet race whereas Massa seemed to revel in it. After a couple of scrapings with Monaco barriers he found himself in 5^thplace before completely losing the car under breaking and forcing himself and Sutil out of the race.

So overall Raikkonen is having a very inconsistent season at the moment, he is losing out to his team mate in the championship and he has to be careful that gap doesn’t get too big. If he wants to win this championship he needs to get his head straight and really give a bit more and perform a lot better at the tracks where Massa is really strong because Massa is starting to get the hang of more of the tracks that Raikkonen likes.

Great champions like Schumacher and Senna can perform at all the tracks they go to but Raikkonen simply isn’t showing himself at that same level at the moment. However don’t rule out Raikkonen for the title as he can turn it on when he really needs to.

However he can’t leave it too late this year, he has a much stronger Massa competing for the title with him, and Mclaren are gaining on them on the faster circuits and don’t have any major politics to deal with at the moment. The attention that Spygate took from Mclaren definitely helped give the title to Raikkonen last season.

If Raikkonen thinks his main rivals will make big errors and hand him the title this season then he is very much mistaken, he really is going to have to dig deeper for the rest of the season.

6. Lewis Hamilton- Like Kimi Raikkonen 2008 has been a mix for Lewis Hamilton so far. The 2^ndseason is bringing him new challenges. As team leader for Mclaren he is expected to get results race in race out, set up the car perfectly every race. Media interest is always huge and any wrong quote will get twisted to all proportions. Lewis isn’t driving as well as last season and some of the pressure has definitely been getting to him. Lewis is Mclaren’s best hope of the championship this season and he carries a huge weight of expectation from the team, fans and media on his young shoulders.

He has still driven a few blinders this season, his performance in Melbourne was very assured whilst his win in Monaco was a champion’s drive. However when the wheels have come off they really have come off. There can’t be any excuses for the infamous Montreal pit lane incident. He should have been looking out for the red light, simple as that. Trying to make excuses for the incident didn’t make him look good. In the French GP he felt everyone was against him. There wasn’t the conviction and normal aggression in his overtaking moves, he just never got going.

Despite his mixed performances so far he has to be grateful that he is still in the championship fight and try and re-focus on the job in hand rather than let everything outside the car get to him. He has to get used to his fame and learn to take the rough with smooth. It’s very easy to attend sponsor and media events after you have won races but after a disastrous race it can be difficult but it still has to be done and you have to show that you are not rattled and feeling the heat.

I think he maybe needs to relax his schedule a bit so that he is more focused on his racing. Some people from Mclaren think that his mistake off the grid in Bahrain was due to him doing too much before the start of the race and therefore he wasn’t fully in the zone. To be a champion you have to be focused and in the zone all the time and not let anything or anyone detract you from your job. This is what Lewis has to do.

I do think maybe Mclaren have made a mistake this year by putting all their eggs in his basket, rookie to team leader gives a huge raise of expectation. It’s difficult when you are still as inexperienced as he is. After his stellar debut season we forget this fact.

7. Heikki Kovalainen- It’s really hard to tell exactly how good Heikki is at the moment due to the amount of bad luck that he has had. He has had to fight back through the field a lot this year. In Turkey he broke his front wing, in Monaco the car wouldn’t get off the grid and in Canada problems at the pits mainly being served second behind Lewis during the SC period put him a long way back. He also received penalties at Malaysia and France during qualifying. He just has not had a clean break at all this season. And lets not forget that terrible accident during the Spanish GP. Overall Heikki has looked quite strong and during all those races where he has had to fight back through the field he has done the job and has overtaken a lot of cars with style.

I think Heikki just needs to have one really positive weekend where nothing goes wrong and he can challenge for a win, then his whole season may take off and he go on a long run of successful results. I feel that he is very much a confidence driver and just needs that one result just in the same way as fellow Finn Mika Hakkinen. When Mika won his first GP the floodgates opened and he then won two world championships.

In terms of how his pace compares to Lewis, I would say Kovalainen needs to find an extra few tenths. Overall Lewis has outpaced Kovalainen in qualifying, it’s currently 6-2 to Lewis (before Lewis was sent 10 places back in Magny-Cours). In Canada there was a huge difference between the pair of them. If you ignore the bad luck and instances Lewis is generally faster than Heikki quite comfortably but I do think the warning signs are there from Heikki and Mclaren rate him very highly.

One positive result for Heikki and it could gain him a few tenths but I suspect he will spend the rest of the season in Lewis’s wake due to the huge gap in points between them. I hope he can at least get his debut victory this season. He just needs a less dramatic second half of the season, gain confidence and push on next season.

8. Fernando Alonso- Alonso isn’t in a very quick car this year but he is still really trying his best to get the best of his Renault. In Spain he produced a great lap to get onto the front row of the grid in front of his home crowd and would have been 5^th or 6^th had it not been for a reliability gremlin. His qualifying performances in Canada (4^th) and France (3^rd) were also very impressive.

His race performances have been patchy at times though. Alonso is still showing his immense talent but he wants wins and podiums and he is perhaps trying to hard to earn this rather than getting the solid points that the Renault team needs in order to push them into the top 4. Alonso’s move on Heidfeld in Monaco was really desperate and pushed a bit too hard in Montreal when chasing a possible win in a crazy race. Renault lost a lot of points in those two races. Alonso just needs to keep his head down and start scoring the points, which Renault need, to lift them away from the bottom half of the championship, which they currently find themselves languishing in.

Australia was the race where we saw the typical Fernando Alonso as he battled wheel to wheel with Rosberg, Kubica, Raikkonen and Kovalainen and earnt 4^th place. If the Renault car is faster in the second half of the season he will certainly try to make the most of it but he needs to hold back and not take risks for positions he can’t get and get a series of points finishes together.

Alonso needs to ensure he extracts everything out of the car and keep the nearly 1000 people who work for Renault feel wanted and appreciated so that they find more speed in the car. As a world championship winning driver for Renault he needs to inspire them and help them and not criticize them or appear downcast and bring the team down. They are just as frustrated as he is that they are not challenging for the world championship but they are keeping the chin up so Fernando needs to too.

9. Nick Heidfeld- This hasn’t been a great season for Nick Heidfeld so far. He is struggling to come to terms with huge increased pace of his team mate and he is just not getting to grips with this year’s BMW.

However you don’t become a bad driver overnight so there must be quite a lot of differences on that BMW car. However he still has had a few good races. In Australia he finished in a brilliant 2^ndplace where he matched the pace of Kovalainen at times during the race. He also finished 2^ndto Kubica in Canada, in the end Kubica won comfortably but if Heidfeld had not let him pass due to their different strategies I think Nick could well have held off Kubica and Alonso and won the race by himself. However the team’s first win was the priority so this was a missed opportunity for him and Kubica got all the praise.

This must have been extremely difficult for Nick to take and in France I think his performance reflected this, he struggled to get to Q2. He got a bad start in the race and never recovered and finished 13^th.

He needs to his head straight pretty quickly. He was brilliant last season but in F1 you are only as good as your last few races and he is going to end up falling off the radar pretty quickly. He is definitely capable, you can’t just suddenly become a bad driver.

His race pace in most races has still been very solid and if he can sort out his tyre warming problems in qualifying then he can have a decent second half of the season.

10. Sebastien Vettel- Vettel is showing to be somebody with a lot of potential. Straight away at the start of the season he qualified in the top 10 for the Australian GP with a very impressive lap. In Monaco and Canada which were both crazy races he did a great job to finish in the points and showed that when the odds are evened and his’s car’s lack of pace isn’t as much of a problem, he can get amongst the big boys and compete with them.

However despite praising him and putting him in my top 10 I do feel some pundits get a big carried away about him. There is no doubt the talent is there and he will do very well in the future. If he can stay ahead of his team mate Bourdais in qualifying and races and get a few more points when he can then he has a good chance of moving to the main Red Bull next season.

Although he won’t find Mark Webber very easy to beat. Next season will probably determine how much furthur he could go in Formula 1.

Let me say something about Formula One. Yes, that includes you, Mr. (Bernie) Ecclestone, and Mr. Nazi-themed Orgy-having el Jefe de FIA Max Mosley (Imagine Michael Buffer giving that introduction at a prize fight).

For a racing series that is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport, I dare say somebody had their head up their ass this morning.

The traveling circus that is the Formula One "World Driving Championship" is visiting the airstrip-turned racing circuit called Silverstone. Home (at least until next year - see this story by Michael Griffin about that) to the British F1 Grand Prix.

Friday a.m. the cars were taking part in their first of three practice sessions of the weekend.

Two-time F1 Champion Fernando Alonso was running flat-out on the Hangar Straight when the engine of his Renault gave up the ghost in a fit of mechanical mayhem. The result was a shower of oil spraying onto the racing surface. To see Alonso's engine erupt as it did, but not send out safety crews to properly inspect and clean the track afterward, could have gotten someone killed.

And almost did.

Oh, these are the "Best" drivers on the face of the planet... Especially the ones in the red cars... 

Right.

So with oil on the racing line, Felipe Massa comes screaming along at upwards of 190 miles per hour, tries to slow for the turn at Stowe, and... Hasta la bye bye!

Splat.

One severely damaged racing machine, one fortunate driver. Lucky Ferrari has all those spare parts sitting around, including Michael Schumacher.

So who gets the 10-spot penalty for this "avoidable" accident?

The stewards didn't throw a full-course caution to inspect and properly clean the track. Mind you, sometimes cleaning the track doesn't always do the trick, just ask Sprint Cup Driver Michael McDowell after his dramatic qualifying crash at the Texas Motor Speedway in April. But at least NASCAR stopped things and made an attempt to sop up oil on the surface following David Gilliland's engine failure.

Seems to me the stewards that work for F1 need some refresher training. Of course, they may need a clarification on the fuel temperature measurement regulation, or the definition of "overtaking", even "avoidable accident" while they're at it.

So does an official who failed to make a decision that could have cost a driver his life, let alone the darlings of F1 an expensive race car, get penalized? Maybe they can sit him in the corner of the classroom with a pointy "Dunce" cap on his melon. Or one of Mosley's leather-clad, whip-bearers can give him what for.

Perhaps blame lies with the flag people alongside the track? Did they wave the "Oil!" standard to let oncoming drivers know of the potential danger? I'd consider reassigning them to traffic detail at a pedestrian crossing, serving drinks at a concession stand, or waving a toilet brush following the weekend.

What about Felipe Massa, current leader in the World Driving Championship, himself? The onboard camera shot clearly shows dark streaks on the racing line, and he drove right through them.

I thought Formula 1 drivers were supposed to be the best in the world. Certainly Ferrari is arguably the best racing team in F1. Did they not realize they hired a couple of bozos like Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who couldn't avoid a bump in the road at Monaco and could have gotten himself and another driver killed?

You'd think these guys hadn't turned a lap at some of these places a time or two. Maybe F1 drivers do need coaches, after all.

So based on recent precedent that drivers receive a ten grid-spot penalty for "avoidable" accidents, should... Wait. Would this one be on Alonso for dropping the oil or Massa for not heeding his team's radio warning to steer clear of it?

Confusion sets in...

Maybe the oil manufacturers themselves are to blame. After all, oil is dark, and somewhat blends in with the color of asphalt. Why can't they add a bright, springy hue to it? Say neon green or yellow. Or something fresh that "pops", like a nice shade of turquoise-to better indicate to track workers and drivers alike where trouble may loom.

White would work but only until Labor Day. We wouldn't want designer Mark Ecko and the Fashion Police going after the champagne and caviar crowd they intermingle with, would we?

Hell, right now the oil manufacturers are getting blamed for everything else in the world, this side of President Bush. I chipped a nail! It's Bush's fault! A hurricane hit my city! It's Bush's fault! (Seriously-they say he has a hot line straight to God.)

So why shouldn't they be the ones held responsible?

I know, let's pile on the oil companies for not having the foresight to know that if their product is released from a contained environment onto a driving surface, it could endanger a someone taking part in a high-risk occupation (ala the tobacco companies).

Not to mention a drop or two might stain the soil adjacent to the track (It's Exxon Valdez part II! Quick! Get some towels!)

Watson, I've got it! Is MUST be McLaren's fault...

Where was I? Oh, yes.

Mind you, after Massa's crash the track crew lolligagged on over (I thought they only did that in baseball) and put down some oil-dry to clean up the mess...

"After" being the operative word.

Ultimately, Felipe Massa walked away from his wrecked machine, and the Ferrari folks have the money and pieces required to rebuild it. Better than it was before...

Better... Stronger... Faster... (Cue The Six Million Dollar Man theme)

This is my 100th article here on Bleacher Report, and I really had other things in mind than talking about how dense the clowns in F1 can be. The highest-tech and most expensive racing cars on the face of the Earth, with a couple of guys who think they're God incarnate running the show, and the "best" drivers money can buy, yet they can't figure out how to get around an oil slick.

Makes me feel a little better about Mike Helton and the dufuses running NASCAR. At least they try to clean up a mess before someone gets hurt. Formula One is apparently above all that-drive around that debris or oil!

Wow. Such high expectations on mere mortals.

In Massa's defense, it is said that when a racing driver puts on a helmet, it cuts off blood flow to the brain, severely limiting cranial function (or something like that). Wait!

The helmet manufacturer is to blame!

Superior my ass.

Somebody please 'splain that to me.