SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX: Fantastic Fernando makes it 20

Fernando Alonso on the podium celebrating his first win in over a year

Over a year since his last Grand Prix Victury, Fernando Alonso celebrated his first win since his return to the Renault team and his 20th Grand Prix win overall bringing him level with the great double world champion, Finland's Mika Hakkinen.

THE RACE

Felipe Massa started the night on pole and judging by the margin of his pole position (0.6 seconds) everyone assumed Massa was fuelled very light for the first stint and as the race got underway, this looked to be the case as he opened up a 6 second lead over Lewis Hamilton at one point, further back in the field, Jarno Trulli's heavy fuel strategy was playing havoc with the 2 Williams Toyota's of Rosberg and Nakajima and also Alonso. But the whole complexion of the race was about to change on lap 14.

Nelson Piquet got it all wrong coming into the Marina complex and gave the surrounding walls an almighty thwack, the safety car was brought out, but before the call was made, Alonso and the 2 Red Bull's of Coulthard and Webber quickly made their pitstops, for Alonso, this move would prove crucial. Rosberg made his pitstop after the Safety Car was dispatched, this would mean he would get a penalty eventually but it would also mean he'd come out in the lead, and for him that would prove crucial as well. But it was the main gaggle of cars coming in for their stops that would mark THE main turning point. The 2 Ferrari's were forced to queue in the pitlane meaning Raikkonen would lose out heavily while waiting for the race leader Massa to complete his stop, but Massa's stop was packed with drama and calamity, the refuelling rig had become jammed in the car's nozzle bay and by total accident, the chief refueller knocked the little button on the side which switched their semi-automatic pit release system (Ferrari's hi-tech replacement for the lollipop) to turn Green therefore giving Massa the signal to go, which Massa did, taking the entire refuelling rig with him down the pit lane as it was still jammed. Oce all pitstops were completed, it took 5 Ferrari mechanics 2 minutes to run down the pitlane where Massa had stopped, remove the rig and get him going again, his race was shot to pieces.

Lewis Hamilton had no such problems and he popped up in 6th place behing Rosberg, Trulli & Fisichella (who both had'nt stopped) and the 3 drivers who legitimately stopped before the safety car (Alonso, Coulthard and Webber), as the safety car went in and the race restarted, Nico Rosberg (penalty pending) was given instruction by his team to put the hamemr down and go for it, and that he did, over the next 10 laps, while the rest of the field were held up by Trulli & Fisichella, Rosberg managed to open up a huge lead of 28 seconds before he had to come in for his 10 second stop & go penalty (Robert Kubica had the same punishment but he was well down.) Thanks to that charge, Rosberg came out behind Alonso but in front of the rest of the field in 2nd place, the risk had paid off.

Webber retired and Hamilton overtook Coulthard down into turn 7 a few laps later, and when Trulli made his one and only stop, Hamilton all of a sudden was in 3rd spot, on course for 6 priceless points, especially with Massa way way down in 13th (where he would eventually finish.) After the 2nd round of stops, the order remained the same, then Hamilton went on an almighty charge, reeling in Rosberg at almost a second a lap until a 2nd safety car period to recover Adrian Sutil's Force India car from the barrier. After that short Safety car, Hamilton went offensive on Rosberg, but then decided to hold station, thinking it was better to stay put and claim 6 points rather than risk everything and get nothing.

Like Kimi Raikkonen did who managed to haul his way up to 5th but with 4 laps to go, while trying to pressure the 4th placed Timo Glock, Raikkonen went in too hot at the chicane, jumped over the kerbs and slammed into the barrier, meaning no points for the reigning world champion. From then on, it was a prescession as Alonso cruised to a well deserved and much needed victory not only for him, but also for his Renault team as well ahead of Rosberg whose superb 10 laps more than merited his 2nd podium finish of the season, but the real winner of the weekend was Lewis Hamilton, who'se 3rd place earned him 6 points and an overall lead of 7 in the championship with just 3 races to go

DRIVERS STANDINGS:
1. Lewis Hamilton 84, 2. Felipe Massa 77, 3. Robert Kubica 64, 4. Kimi Raikkonen 57, 5. Nick Heidfeld 56, 6. Heikki Kovalainen 51, 7. Fernando Alonso 38, 8. Sebastian Vettel 27, 9. Jarno Trulli 26, =10. Timo Glock 20, =10. Mark Webber 20, 12. Nico Rosberg 17

CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS:
1. McLaren Mercedes 135, 2. Ferrari 134, 3. BMW Sauber 120, 4. Renault 51, 5. Toyota 46, 6. Toro Rosso Ferrari 31, 7. Red Bull Renault 28, 8. Williams Toyota 26, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India Ferrari 0

SPA-GATE: Lewis Hamilton Loses Appeal

Lewis Hamilton leaving the appeal hearing at FIA headquarters in Paris

What a total injustice, penalised for basically FOLLOWING THE RULES!!!!!

Sunday September 7th, the world watched as both Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen came towards the Bus Stop chicane to complete lap 40, with Raikkonen struggling to cope with the increasingly difficult conditions, Hamilton began to excel with his McLaren Mercedes better suited to wet weather driving, seeing Raikkonen brake early for the Bus Stop chicane, Hamilton saw his opportunity on the outside of the corner, it was a fair move and Raikkonen did the right thing in forcing Hamilton as wide as possible, this therefore forced Hamilton to short cut the chicane. Now the real talking point.

Hamilton popped out in front of Raikkonen, meaning he had to relinquish his lead to abide by the current rules and regulations, and he did that, allowing Raikkonen to regain his lead. Now under the rules, once Hamilton did that, they could immediately resume racing, so as soon as Raikkonen had resumed a full cars length advantage, Hamilton went for it, darting onto the inside of La Source catching Raikkonen out cold, and regained the lead he relinquished.

Now my main complaints are these. Firstly, the issue of GAINING AN ADVANTAGE that was brought up by the stewards when they gave Hamilton his 25 second penalty, now where in the rule book does it say that the driver has gained an advantage AFTER relinquishing his position, surely once the offendign driver has given the lead back, the advantage is with the man out in front.
And secondly, the role of the race director, Charlie Whiting, a man with 11 years experience in his role and many more as an FIA technical delegate, so his opinions on such matters are highly valued in my view. When Hamilton made the move on Raikkonen, McLaren boss Ron Dennis radioed Whiting and asked if Hamilton's move had complied with the rules, and Whiting said "YES", now why was'nt his view on the incident used by the Stewards or better still, WHY IS WHITING (being the race director) NOT A STEWARD HIMSELF??

Basically, i think in making this decision to rule in favour of the Stewards, the FIA have basically re-written the rulebook overnight, and also, i fear this wont be the last time the FIA will act against Hamilton before the end of the season.

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX - A Star Is Born

Sebastian Vettel celebrates a most unlikely victory

3 years ago, you may have heard of a small Italian team, the perennial backmarkers, the great survivors, the team that lived and breathed grand prix racing, well they were based at a small workshop in the little town of Faenza in North-Eastern Italy, they were known simply as MINARDI. Now under new ownership (Dietrich Maeschitz), a new identity (Scuderia Toro Rosso) and a new belief. They are a completely different beast to the group of tail-end charlies that scored just a total of 38 points in the original guise's 20 year existence. And all the hard work put into the team by the grandfather of the team, Giancarlo Minardi finally paid off as the young but immensly talented German, Sebastian Vettel scored an emotional lights to flag win and at the same time, hailed the birth of a new superstar in the making. Vettel himself was not even born when the Minardi team made their debut in the Brazillian Grand Prix in 1985.

THE RACE

The race itself did not start well for the Toro Rosso squad, Vettel qualified on Pole with his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in 4th, the championship challengers were well back on the grid, Felipe Massa down in 6th, Robert Kubica down in 11th, with Kimi Raikkonen AND Lewis Hamilton down in 14th and 15th respectively, this was all down to the atrocious weather conditions that had marred the whole weekend.

The decision was taken to start the race behind the safety car, but Bourdais had stalled his engine on the line, it took his mechanics nearly 5 minutes to fire up his engine again, but by that time, he was already a lap down and his race practically over before it had started, after 2 laps, the safety car pulled in and the race began, Vettel took full advantage of being the only car not hampered by following another car's spray to open up a big lead over the 2nd placed Heikki Kovalainen. From then on, it was pretty much status quo throughout the field as the drivers settled down to get used to the conditions, Giancarlo Fisichella crashed out on lap 13 and amazingly, he would prove to be the only retirement. As the first pit-stops drew nearer and nearer and the track began to dry out, Lewis Hamilton began an almighty charge, when Vettel came in as the first to pit, Hamilton had fought his way up from 15th to 6th in just 23 laps.

Hamilton was one stopping so he needed the track to continue drying out so he could come into the pits for intermediates (all the 2 stoppers continued with their extreme wets) but it didnt, a light drizzle of rain meant that no-one was willing to take any risks at the half way point so Hamilton pitted for wets, bad call, the drizzle stopped, Intermediates were the way to go and Hamilton's (along with Raikkonen's) chances of victory were gone. As expected this played into the hands of the 2 stoppers but also the one stoppers that had an extremely long first stint like Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso, both drivers ended up finishing up in the top 4 thanks to their strategy and a bit of luck with the weather.

Amidst all this, Vettel continued to lead and lead well ahead of Kovalainen and despite the clear performance advantage of the McLaren, Vettel's sublime car control allowed him to increase his lead over the Finn to 12.5 seconds when he crossed the finish line with head in hands thinking it was a dream. Kovalainen finished 2nd with Kubica 3rd, as for the championship challengers, Massa finished 6th, Hamilton 7th (therefore limiting the damage to a single point) and Raikkonen 9th out of the points and (realistically) out of the championship running.

But on the day, the championship battle didnt really matter, everyone left the track talking about one man Sebastian Vettel, and it wont be the last time we see that name next to the word "Winner" either.

DRIVERS STANDINGS: 1. Hamilton 78, 2. Massa 77, 3. Kubica 64, 4. Raikkonen 57, 5. Heidfeld 53, 6. Kovalainen 51, 7. Alonso 28, 8. Trulli 26, 9. Vettel 23, 10. Webber 20
CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS: 1. Ferrari 134, 2. McLaren 129, 3. BMW Sauber 117, =4. Renault 41, =4. Toyota 41, 6. Toro Rosso 27, 7. Red Bull 26, 8. Williams 17, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India 0

RISING STARS No2: Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg posing next to his 2007 title winning A1GP car

When you think of famous German F1 drivers, you immediately think of 2, Michael Schumacher and the late great Wolfgang Von Trips, and at the moment, all the talk is about the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil. Lurking in the shadows though is another destined for future stardom, 21 year old Nico Hulkenberg from a small city in Germany called Emmerich am Rhein.

He may only be 21 years old, but he already has a wealth of success to his name, most notably in the self proclaimed "World Cup Of Motorsport", A1 Grand Prix, racing for Willi Weber's Germany team in the 2006-07 season, at the age of just 19, and despite a less than spectacular season in German F3, he was picked by Weber (at the time, Schumacher's manager) in place of the experienced Timo Scheider, he re-paid the faith shown in him by Weber with some stunning performances that shocked nearly everyone that season, they were expecting France (with their lineup from last season, including multiple A1GP race winner Nicolas Lapierre) to walk away with the title again. He made his intentions clear with a dominant win at the first round at a wet Zandvoort, Holland, only USA's Phil Giebler finished within half a minute of the German.

From then on, he struggled some-what in the Czech Republic and Beijing but then a dominant feature race win in Malaysia really set the ball rolling, after a podium finish in Indonesia came the big push, double wins in the next 3 rounds (New Zealand, Australia and Durban = 6 races) all of which he dominated from the outset won him the title, he missed the Mexico round before finishing the season with podium finishes in Shanghai and Great Britain to help Germany win the "World Cup Of Motorsport" by a staggering 35 points from the runners-up, New Zealand.

From there on, he went to the European F3 championship and performed admirably as a rookie against a class field finishing in 3rd spot behind Grosjean and Buemi with 3 wins and 72 points. At the moment this season, he's putting his new found experience in F3 to good use, winning 4 of the 14 races so far meaning he sits top of the standings 13 points clear of his main rival for the title, Italys Edoardo Mortara.

Next season, i think he is almost destined for a drive in GP2 and also in the meantime, he has taken on a testing role for the Williams F1 squad.

RISING STARS No1: Romain Grosjean

This young man from Geneva is potentially the next big French racing hope (Born in Switzerland but races under a French license) That is if you pay attention to his enormous success in the junior and lower racing classes. After a successful career in karting and a clean sweep of wins in his first season of Swiss Formula Renault, he moved to the French version of the class in 2004 where he struggled at first but after getting used to the opposition in that, went on to dominate the championship in 2005 taking 10 wins, at that point, he became part of Renault's Driver Development programme through which he recieved funding to do a full season of European Formula 3 and (if he were successful) a test in one of Renault's Grand Prix cars.

And successful he was, after joining the leading ASM squad and a shaky start to the 2007 season, he domianted the opposition in the 2nd half of the F3 Euroseries season winning 6 races and the title by 11 points from rival Sebastien Buemi. This earned him a shot in the newly formed GP2 Asia series, a breakoff from the normal F1 supporting GP2 championship set up to rival the nation based A1GP championship and he impressed again winning 4 of the 10 races and winning the title by a hefty 24 points from his nearest rival which was again Buemi.

At the moment, he is enjoying a successful debut season in the main GP2 series, at the moment, he lies in 4th place in the standings with a mathematical chance of winning the title outright, not bad for a first season in a high up category. I would'nt be suprised one bit if he becomes an F1 regular for the 2009 or 2010 seasons.

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX - Hamilton masters the changable conditions, but (thanks to the stewards) to no avail

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton battles Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen early in the race

In motor racing, there have been many injustices, take for instance Michael Schumacher's kamikaze move on Damon Hill in the 1994 title decider that won him the world championship and the 2007 spygate affair which threatened to destroy the sport. This latest controversy might just rank up there with them.

THE RACE

As the lights went out and the race began, McLaren's plan for a two-pronged attack during the race backfired after Heikki Kovalainen had a shocker of a start put him well outside the top 10, Hamilton on the other hand made a dream start and had built up a sizeable 1st lap lead before he spun it all away at the start of Lap 2, Raikkonen sailed past but Hamilton managed to get side by side with the Finn after Eau Rouge but Raikkonen had the better line going into the big braking zone at Les Combes, the lead was his. Also looking back at the start the best start of all went to Jarno Trulli who started like a rocket and made many positions before the first corner where he was tagged in the back by Bourdais's Toro Rosso.

Up until the first pitstops, Raikkonen could'nt stretch out his lead to more than 2 seconds, then Hamilton pitted, crucially one lap earlier than his rival, this seemed to suggest that Raikkonen's pace was genuine with a heavy fuel load and that he would go on for at least another 3-4 laps and come out of the pits with a big lead, to make matters worse for McLaren, Hamilton came out of the pits right in the middle of traffic. To McLaren's suprise, Raikkonen came in on the very next lap, but being stuck behind traffic seemed to take its toll on Hamilton as the Finn came out of the pits with his lead doubled to over 4 seconds.

But then the weather forecasters saw that there was rain on the way, and it eventually came in the form of light drizzle with 5 laps to go, 2 laps later, drivers were struggling to keep the cars on the track and Hamilton (himself an expect when it comes to racing in changeable and wet conditions) saw his chance, he began to pull in Raikkonen at an alarming rate up to the main controversial point of the race at the end of lap 42. Coming up to the Bus Stop chicane, Hamilton managed to get into Raikkonen's slipstream and went for the outside line into the chicane, Hamilton was a smidgeon ahead, Kimi tried to force him wide and succeded, forcing Hamilton to take the short cut and as a result he turned up in front, immediately he lifted off to let Raikkonen through as he was obliged to do under the regulations, once he did, he immediately went for the inside of La Source, Raikkonen, taking the normal racing line was a sitting duck, Hamilton pulled off the move and now he was in front.

But now the rain was becoming so treacharous, the drivers were struggling to keep the cars on the track with their slick tyres, for the leaders, pitting for Intermediates was not an option, especially if another driver decided to stay out in the hope of the rain stopping, Raikkonen ran incredibly wide at Pouhon to carry a huge amount of momentum into the next corner at Fagnes, Hamilton, still driving cautious, then came across Nakajima's Williams to lap him, but with Raikkonen carrying so much momentum, Hamiltonw as forced onto the grass to avoid a 3 car pile-up, Raikkonen was back in front, but then he overcooked the exit spinning again, Hamilton was back in front, Raikkonen began to panic and tried to drive the track as if it was dry in a desparate attempt to catch Hamilton again, it didnt work, coming out of Blanchimont, it was too wet, Raikkonen went wide, spun and crunched hismelf into the barrier, his championship hopes realistically all gone in that instant.

Hamilton kept his cool to go on and win the race ahead of Massa with a resurgent Heidfeld and Alonso (who both pitted for Intermediate tyres) coming home 3rd and 4th ahead of Vettel, Kubica, Bourdais & Webber who rounded out the point scorers, this meant Hamilton had an 8 point lead over Massa...

...or so we thought, the Stewards later imposed a 25 second penalty on Hamilton, therefore demoting him to 3rd and gifting Felipe Massa the win. The reason given was "gaining an advantage coming out of the bus stop chicane" A ridiculous penalty as Hamilton followed the rules to the letter and let Raikkonen through before re-taking him, McLaren have appealed the decision, and i hope they win, because in my view, Lewis Hamilton won that race fair and square.

DRIVERS: 1. Hamilton 76, 2. Massa 74, 3. Kubica 58, 4. Raikkonen 57, 5. Heidfeld 49, 6. Kovalainen 43, 7. Trulli 26, 8. Alonso 23, 9. Webber 19, 10. Glock 15
MANUFACTURERS: 1. Ferrari 131, 2. McLaren 119, 3. BMW Sauber 107, 4. Toyota 41, 5. Renault 36, 6. Red Bull 25, =7. Williams 17, =7. Toro Rosso 17, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India 0