In case you were wondering, I have decided against writing a review of F1’s ‘bigwigs’ — for the sake of my health. I just wrote a big rant about Max Mosley the other day anyway.

My next post was going to look at F1 websites. But this week Ollie White wrote a post about podcasts, so I thought I would move my post on podcasts to this week.

I’m a relative newcomer to podcasts. As a concept, they have grown much more quickly than blogging and I would bet that ‘podcast’ is more of a household word than ‘blog’ already. But they never really grabbed my attention because, for me, they are rather inconvenient to listen to, as I wrote a few months back.

Since I wrote that post, I have transformed into a big fan of podcasts though. This was partly because I replaced my ageing iRiver with a brand spanking new iPod.

I have to say, mega thumbs up to the people at Apple who have made keeping up with podcasts so easy! The iPod takes away so much of the hassle that existed with my old iRiver.

At first I only listened to podcasts on my commute through to university. But soon enough I found myself subscribing to more and more podcasts and not having enough time to listen to them all. Now I am such a podcast addict that I actually set aside some time every day to listen to them by going out for a walk (with the added benefits of exercise and fresh air that this brings).

So, from my mild scepticism in the late summer, I have turned into a full-on podcast addict. And right at the top of the list comes the F1 podcasts that I have gradually discovered. This post will review my favourites. They are listed in alphabetical order, in case you’re wondering.

AT&T Williams Podcast

As far as I know, Williams is one of only two Formula 1 teams who produced podcasts this year. Maybe it’s just me, but I would never have expected Williams to be so hip. They always seemed like a team that is mainly supported by middle-aged men, the kind of people who prefer Fifth Gear to Top Gear.

Maybe this is actually the case, because for me the Williams podcast is the least fulfilling of my regular listens. It is produced by USP Content — the same people who produce the excellent programmes for Radio 5 Live and Renault’s podcast. But the Williams podcast misfires a bit.

So what’s the problem? It’s just a bit too cheesy. It is a bit like a local radio programme. An example regular feature is ‘2007′ (pronounced ‘twenty-oh-seven’) where presenter David Croft talks to Alexander Wurz at 8:07 PM on the Saturday before the race. I don’t know, but that is quite a hollow feature to me. Yeah, neat pun, but it’s a bit meaningless when you’re listening at whatever time you choose. Besides, we don’t even know that the interview was conducted at 8:07 PM and apart from that there was nothing much to the feature.

The interviews, conducted by Tom Clarkson, were normally a bit too fluffy for my liking. I can remember actually cringing at some of the questions. It is probably reasonably entertaining for some fans. But if you’re looking for insight and analysis it is best to look elsewhere.

Worst of all, some kind of glitch towards the end of the season meant that the podcasts weren’t getting delivered (at least to me — and I remember Sidepodcast mentioning a similar problem). The podcasts for Japan, China and Brazil all arrived on my iPod weeks after the season had finished. Does this mean that they were not getting published? To think about all the work that must have gone into producing them, only for them to be inaccessible until they were completely out of date.

All evidence that the Williams podcast existed seems to have been removed from the Williams website, which perhaps suggests that the podcast won’t be making a return next season. A list of old episodes is available on USP Content’s website though, and the iTunes link is here.

Chequered Flag Formula 1

The BBC’s Formula 1 podcast is one of the best for my money. The centrepiece programme is The Chequered Flag, which provides analysis soon after the end of every race. But when you subscribe to the feed you also receive other F1 programmes broadcast on Radio 5 Live including the race preview show and occasional editions of the 606 phone-in.

There is not much else to say apart from the obvious. I already covered Radio 5 Live’s coverage in last week’s post, and the same applies to the podcast. They contain excellent interviews and top-notch analysis. The kind of quality you expect from the BBC. Great stuff.

F1 Rejects

Direct from Australia comes the funniest F1 podcast I have come across.

The website is dedicated to the “heroic failures” of Formula 1 — the people at the back of the grid who regularly put their lives at risk despite the fact that they have no hope of achieving any success. The podcast has a similar vibe, with a kind of attitude towards bad drivers that is a curious mixture of disgust and awe — an attitude that I broadly share.

But while the podcast revels in its celebration / castigation of F1’s rejects, it has plenty to say about the world of F1 in general. If you are looking for a humorous take on the world of F1, look no further. I have only been listening for a couple of episodes, but already F1 Rejects is one of my favourite podcasts.

Formula 1 Blog

On balance, this is probably my favourite Formula 1 podcast. It is American, which is an advantage because it doesn’t fall into the trap that Brits have fallen into by dividing into two camps — pro-Hamilton and anti-Hamilton. Formula 1 Blog is more neutral in this regard — a great dose of reality in this world of Hamilton hype and anti-hype.

But Formula 1 Blog certainly isn’t a neutral podcast, and it prides itself on being a journal of opinion. Negative Camber is a Ferrari fan (no, I don’t understand either) and his sidekick Grace is a McLaren fan. As a result, the banter between them is fantastic to listen to!

Negative Camber is also quite nifty at doing impressions. His impression of Patrick Head’s grumpy expression is hilarious and a couple of weeks back he did an impression of Ross Brawn that had me in stitches on the train. I do worry about his strange obsession with Matt Bishop though. Any discussion of a McLaren press release soon turns into a discussion about Matt Bishop and how he copes with wearing the grey McLaren uniform instead of his normal loud shirts.

The podcast also touches on other motor sports, particularly MotoGP and WRC. But the centrepiece of the podcast is F1.

The podcasts are a tad on the long side — typically lasting almost an hour. The long idents also grate a little bit. They are an entertaining listen the first time round, but after that it takes about two minutes from the start of the podcast until the actual discussion begins. Nevertheless, it is always an entertaining listen.

ING Renault F1 Team Podcast

Note to Williams: this is how you do an F1 team podcast!

The most astonishing thing about the Renault podcast is the fact that important people who probably have a lot on their plate take a great deal of time to appear on the podcast. After every race, Radio 5 Live presenter Holly Samos visits the Renault factory to make the podcast. It is a brilliant way for an F1 team to reach the fans.

Pat Symonds in particular should be applauded for his dedication. It is always worth listening to what he says, and he provides refreshingly honest answers. He has held his hands up and said that Renault produced a bad car this year, and he has been completely open about these faults on the podcast.

The interviews with the drivers are also worth listening to, as they manage to avoid the fluff and cheese of the Williams podcast. It is strange that both podcasts are produced by the same company, USP Content, as the difference in quality could hardly be more stark.

I really do hope that Renault continue the podcast next season. More teams should follow suit, and the Renault template should guide them because it really is top-notch stuff.

Sidepodcast

This was the first F1 podcast I started listening to regularly, and I still loyally follow it.

I am in two minds about Sidepodcast, because I really like it when Christine and ‘me’ have an opinionated discussion, but the more factual and newsy elements of the podcast are not my cup of tea. For instance, a lap-by-lap review of the race sends me to sleep because I already know what happened. After all, I watched the race. However, I can see how it could be useful for those who missed the race.

Sidepodcast should be applauded for its experimental variants on the format. From time to time, for instance, short series are produced. For instance, last week there was a series called ‘Days that Shook the F1 World’ — a short daily podcast, each one focussing on a different pivotal moment in F1 history. Again, for me, these series are not so entertaining because I am personally the type who would rather delve into Wikipedia and books to find out more about such events.

There is a spin-off podcast called F1 Minute. It is a daily, 60 second long podcast rounding up the day’s F1 news in brief. Again, for me, it is not very useful because I usually keep up with news using RSS feeds and I already know most of the stories featured in the podcast. Nevertheless, it must be an excellent resource for those who are unable to keep up with the news as much.

However, I am in awe at the Sidepodcast video podcasts, which are top quality previews of each race. How do they do it?

Sidepodcast should also be congratulated for offering podcasts in the ‘enhanced’ format. These divide podcasts into DVD-style chapters. They also have the capacity to display images as the podcast is playing, which can be quite good if your are sitting around or in the train or something, although rather more off-putting if you’re going for a walk!

All-in-all, the content of Sidepodcast is not all my cup of tea. But in terms of effort, there is no doubt about it. Sidepodcast takes the crown.

That’s it for my review of my favourite F1 podcasts. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I have already mentioned Ollie’s post which contains some other suggestions that I will be trying out in the future, so take a look at that as well.

This is part two of my series of posts reviewing the F1 season gone by. Last week I wrote about F1’s backmarkers. This week: my top 13 drivers.

13 — Alexander Wurz

When Alexander Wurz burst onto the scene in 1997, he was talked about as a hot prospect. I’d say he was the Nico Rosberg of his day. So the way his career panned out must be seen as a disappointment. He was unfortunate enough to fall into the trap of becoming a test driver, then becoming too good at being a test driver to be considered for a long-term drive.

His occasional races with McLaren were typical. He came across as a bit rusty, as though he had forgotten how to race as opposed to just drive the car. However, when he was on form he shone brightly.

The story was much the same this year with Williams — his first full-term drive with a team since 2000. Most of the time he looked off the pace, and was outclassed by team mate Nico Rosberg. But he had two or three stunning drives, which is why I have placed him so far up the list.

His drive in Canada led to a well-deserved third place. Of course, an element of luck was involved as the multiple safety car periods probably worked to his advantage. But even with luck playing a role, to have qualified 19^th and finish on the podium is good going.

More impressive in my view, though, was Wurz’s drive at the Nürburgring. He adapted to the fiercely changeable conditions better than most. Some said this was in part due to his knowledge of the local microclimate, as he used to live just opposite the circuit. But his immense experience was also at play as he got his Williams ahead of better cars.

12 — Sebastian Vettel

In a year of excellent rookie performances, Sebastian Vettel has been overshadowed a little bit. Drafted in at short notice to deputise for Robert Kubica at Indianapolis, Vettel got a little bit spooked at the first corner, but held his nerve for the rest of the race to grab a point.

It was to be his sole race for BMW. But a few races later a vacancy appeared at Toro Rosso, and Vettel took it. Some joked that, while Vettel scored a point in his F1 début, by signing for Toro Rosso he ensured that he wouldn’t score another point until at least 2009.

Those wags turned out to be wrong. On the one hand, he did not comprehensively outperform team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, although it looked to me as though he did a bit better than Scott Speed. But undoubtedly the Toro Rosso was handy at some circuits towards the end of the season (perhaps sometimes due to rainy conditions) which helped Vettel.

Liuzzi as well as Vettel looked good towards the end of the season, but Vettel was able to capitalise on the opportunities more. He was running in third at Fuji until his infamous collision with Mark Webber, who was effectively his team mate. It was an unforgivable mistake, no matter what the mitigating circumstances were and Vettel obviously knew it. However, he went a long way to burying the memory of that incident by finishing an incredible fourth place at the next race in China.

A lot will hinge on the competitiveness of next year’s Toro Rosso. But given a semi-decent car, Vettel will have the capability to grab highly impressive results from time to time.

11 — David Coulthard

The thing that impresses me about David Coulthard is not so much his driving ability, but the fact that he shows no sign of running out of steam. He is F1’s oldest driver, and of the current crop only Rubens Barrichello has more experience. Usually that would be a sure sign that you’re off — even if you are Michael Schumacher. But DC just keeps on going.

Results this year were mixed, but mostly impressive. He started the year badly with a ludicrously over-ambitious move on Alexander Wurz which almost decapitated the Austrian. As accidents go, it was probably even more shocking than Robert Kubica’s because it demonstrated just how vulnerable drivers still are in that open cockpit.

Coulthard also other race-ending accidents, and of course he was also often the victim of the Red Bull’s dire reliability. But when he was able to finish, it was often in an impressive position. The end of the season was particularly strong, topped by a fourth place in Japan. No podiums like in 2006, but you can’t win them all.

10 — Mark Webber

What has Mark Webber done to deserve such terrible luck? While David Coulthard had his reliability problems from time to time, Mark Webber seemed to suffer all the time. Formula1.com reports that all but one of his seven retirements was caused by either gearbox, transmission or hydraulics.

When he managed to finish a race, though, it was more often than not in a high position. He was particularly impressive in the wet, as he grabbed a podium at the Nürburgring and was lining himself up for a win at Fuji until Vettel smashed into him.

Webber was also excellent at qualifying. He is a surprisingly high seventh on this year’s ’supergrid’ (where drivers are arranged according to average grid position).

9 — Robert Kubica

In a lot of ways Robert Kubica was a disappointment this season. There were a lot of good results — a slew of fourths and fifths. But his BMW car was handy and he was comprehensively outperformed by Nick Heidfeld.

Unfortunately, Robert Kubica’s 2007 season will mainly be remembered for that shocking accident in Montreal. For me, it was the lowest point of the season as there was a period of time where I feared the worst. It was a truly sickening accident to watch, and at one point Kubica experienced a force of 75g. Kubica was lucky to escape without any major injury (particularly since, by the end of the accident, his feet and ankles were completely exposed).

Kubica did not let the accident deter him. He was eager to take part at Indianapolis, but was ordered to take the week off by doctors. He bounced back at Magny-Cours, though, to finish fourth and went on to score in all but two of the remaining races. That is what makes people like Robert Kubica different to the likes of you and me.

8 — Nico Rosberg

I get the impression that people weren’t really sure what to make of Nico Rosberg at the end of 2006. This year he really cemented his reputation as a solid, reliable driver. Overall, he outperformed Alexander Wurz and Frank Williams seems rather keen on retaining his services. This is odd for Mr. Williams, who usually sees his drivers as disposable commodities.

Despite this, we are yet to see any real result from him. Yes, he is in the Williams which is not the best car. But even Wurz was seen towards the front of the field once or twice this year. Rosberg seems more comfortable in the midfield, and his best result is a solitary fourth (at Brazil, an awesome drive), although you’d be most likely to see him finish seventh.

Nico Rosberg is one of those drivers who is on the borderline for me. A lot will hinge on next year and how he adapts to the removal of traction control.

7 — Jenson Button

Okay, hear me out. A lot of people mocked Nick Fry when he said that this was Jenson Button’s best ever year. Indeed, Nick Fry’s unflappable optimism is often rather laughable, but I think he had a point on this matter.

Let us face facts. We all know that the Honda car was awful. And yet, Jenson Button has six points to his name this year. That is six more than Rubens Barrichello scored. In fact, Button largely outperformed Barrichello in every area this year. Button fought hard to wring results out of that car — and he managed it, particularly towards the end of the season.

I am not usually a fan of Jenson Button. However, this year has made me really appreciate how good he is in the wet. He put in an amazing qualifying performance at Fuji and was really unlucky to walk away from that race with nothing to show for it after getting involved in an accident during the race. Still, he came back in China to score an amazing fifth position.

But it was not just rainy conditions that allowed Button to score points. He broke his duck this year at the bone-dry Magny-Cours circuit. This year, Button has gone up in my estimation a great deal.

6 — Heikki Kovalainen

Kovalainen didn’t start the season too well. His Australian Grand Prix was so disastrous that Flavio Briatore said it couldn’t have been Heikki — it must have been his brother. Ouch!

But as Kovalainen got comfortable in the Renault, he began to put Giancarlo Fisichella in the shadow. His first truly great moment was in Canada. There he survived a race of attrition to finish fourth, leaving Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari behind, having started plum last.

Arguably better was his race in treacherous conditions in Fuji. He was helped out a bit by the collision between Webber and Vettel, but you wouldn’t begrudge Kovalainen the second position.

It really was a year of excellent rookie performances! Kovalainen came within a whisker of beating Tiago Monteiro’s record of most rookie race finishes in a row. Kovalainen finished every single race of the season bar Brazil, so the record — finishing his first sixteen races in a row — must be shared with Monteiro.

It is difficult to believe that Kovalainen is still uncertain to get a drive next season. He is undoubtedly talented, but it looks as though only McLaren would be willing to hire him next season — but would they want two relatively inexperienced drivers? Renault are too busy trying to woo Alonso, and reading between the lines it seems as though Kovalainen does not want to be team mates with Alonso.

5 — Felipe Massa

I still find it difficult to understand where Felipe Massa is at. He does have the ability to pull the rabbit out of the hat. He is a proven race winner, a deserved race winner indeed. And let us not forget that for the majority of the season he was McLaren’s closest rival in the Championship.

It is possible to say that the only reason he fell behind Räikkönen was because of an unlucky patch where the team messed up his qualifying chance in Hungary and a DNF in Italy due to suspension troubles. For a long time, Felipe Massa was being seriously considered as a potential World Champion.

But Massa yet again revealed himself to be far from the complete driver. He was made to look rather silly by Lewis Hamilton at Sepang. And his performance in the changeable conditions at the Nürburgring was embarrassingly bad.

You could also say that the only reason Massa was able to seize the initiative in the first place was due to the teething problems Räikkönen had at the beginning of the season. Two of his three wins were during this phase.

A lot of people were astonished that Felipe Massa had managed to extended his contract with Ferrari until 2010. I have heard that the tifosi prefer Massa to Räikkönen, but I cannot fathom why. Massa is just the sort of driver who I’d imagine would struggle without traction control, so next year will be very interesting indeed.

4 — Nick Heidfeld

It is amazing to think that a few years ago Quick Nick was almost finished in F1 terms. His lifeline came in the form of the Jordan team, which was by then deep into a trough. He impressed enough in that dire car for Williams to pick him up, and ever since he been associated with BMW.

Those years of perseverance have really paid off as he is now in a great car, with a team on the ascendancy and he has comfortably outperformed his head-turning team mate, Kubica. Who would have thought back in 2004 that Nick Heidfeld would ever rake in a points haul of 61? This is about twenty times what he got at Jordan!

Heidfeld had a slew of excellent results. He finished fourth five times, but he also scored two podiums. One was an impressive drive at Hungary where he fended off the threat from Fernando Alonso. Indeed, in Bahrain he made an amazing pass on the outside of Alonso. But he went one better at Canada to finish second in that hectic race. Nick Heidfeld comfortably established himself as the ‘best of the rest’.

3 — Lewis Hamilton

Undoubtedly the surprise of the year. Even those who raved about Hamilton’s GP2 performances were flabbergasted at just how well he was able to cope this season.

For me, his trademark is his audacious overtaking manoeuvres. At the start of the year his lightning starts were fearless as he made his way round the Alonsos and Räikkönens of this world as though they were little kids. Rivals ran wide as Hamilton drove the corners as though he were in a slot car. He psyched out Felipe Massa in Malaysia. He surprised Räikkönen at Monza with perhaps the move of the year.

Some have criticised Hamilton for being over-ambitious when overtaking. His move on Barrichello at Brazil, for instance, was derided as dangerous and stupid. But part of the art of overtaking is trying to work out if the other guy is risk-averse enough to get out of your way. If Hamilton had tried the same move on, say, Nakajima, it would be a legitimate criticism. But you have to look at the situation and say that Hamilton’s audacious overtaking moves have never yet resulted in an accident.

Lewis Hamilton’s other major strong point is his qualifying, particularly towards the end of the season. I could scarcely believe some of the lap times he managed to put in. Alonso was definitely put in the shade several times by Hamilton this season.

However, there is the bad side of Hamilton’s driving. He took several questionable actions throughout the season. His driving behind the Safety Car in Fuji was widely criticised, and was a contributory factor in the famous smash between Webber and Vettel. The employment of a crane to get his European Grand Prix going again was arguably illegal.

But his lowest moment came during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. His refusal to follow team orders and give Alonso his legitimate chance during qualifying (as per internal McLaren rules) set off a chain of events that essentially resulted in the breakdown of the relationship between Alonso and the rest of the McLaren team. Most sickeningly, the whole situation subsequently worked in Hamilton’s favour, so he felt no real punishment for his actions.

On track, too, Hamilton disappointed at the end of the season. To lose a 17 point lead in just two races when there were no mechanical problems, in a car as fast as the McLaren, just beggars belief. Hamilton’s cool head impressed at the start of the season, but clearly by the end the pressure was just too much for him.

Many will point out the fact that McLaren should not have left Hamilton out on shot tyres for so long at Shanghai. This is true, but it also ignores some important points. First of all, Hamilton was the only driver whose tyres were so badly worn out in the first place. This was due to his impatient start and his desperation to win at all costs (when he only needed fourth). Secondly, if Hamilton knew he needed new tyres he could have just pitted anyway (we all know how Hamilton likes to ignore team orders anyway!). Thirdly, it was Hamilton’s fault for entering the pits too quickly and spinning off.

Some also ask why McLaren put Hamilton on a three-stop strategy in Brazil. But the reality is that Hamilton blew his chances himself by going on the grass on the first lap. Once again, this was down to his impatience, and a desperation to take a position that he simply did not need to take.

Even leaving aside the question of whether or not Hamilton pressed the wrong button on the steering wheel, his chances were blown at that moment on the first lap. Even after that, his entire Brazilian Grand Prix performance was, in my view, quite nervy.

Overall, I would define Hamilton’s style this year as ‘impatient’. Sometimes this has worked to his advantage, as it did with his great overtaking manoeuvres at the start of the season. Sometimes it worked against him, as it did in China and Brazil. To become World Champion, Hamilton needs time to mature a bit in this respect. Perhaps he will tone down the exciting nature of his driving in order to do this.

2 — Fernando Alonso

Off the track, 2007 was a bit of a nightmare for Fernando Alonso. Even on the track it was quite bad, as his rookie team mate got the better of him on several occasions.

However, overall, Alonso’s performances were more consistent and demonstrated his extra experience. He had a few bad races. In Bahrain he was unable to fend off Nick Heidfeld, although seemingly Alonso’s car was damaged in transit, compromising grip levels. In Canada he was overtaken by Takuma Sato of all people (although Alonso was disadvantaged badly by the new Safety Car rules).

Alonso was also unusually off colour at Fuji. He spun off in the wet. It was a far cry from the Alonso we saw at Hungary in 2006.

By the end of the year it seemed clear that Alonso did not particularly want to win the Championship with McLaren. This was most obvious in Brazil. So we won’t know what he was capable of.

This year has damaged Alonso’s reputation because of certain off-track events. But on the track, Fernando Alonso is still, for my money, the best driver on the grid. However, this year he was outperformed by one driver in particular.

1 — Kimi Räikkönen

When Kimi Räikkönen burst onto the scene in 2001, who would have thought it would have taken him eight season to win his first World Championship? Räikkönen is the most experienced first time World Champion since Nigel Mansell. The debate will rage on about whether Räikkönen was unlucky with reliability at McLaren or he is a ‘car breaker’.

There are also constant question marks and innuendos about Räikkönen’s commitment to winning the World Championship and off-track antics of a different sort to what Alonso got up to. Let us not forget, though, that Räikkönen came unbearably close to winning the World Championship twice when he was at McLaren. So Räikkönen’s ability and willpower can not be in doubt.

A lot of people love Räikkönen for his cool attitude. He doesn’t give a hoot. He just gets in the car and drives the wheels off it. Meanwhile, he likes to have fun off the track. He is the closest contemporary racing drivers get to the ‘playboy’ model of the stereotypical 1970s grand prix driver.

But on race weekend his approach is laid back, not reckless. At Brazil in 2006 he famously told Martin Brundle that he couldn’t be bothered watching Pelé present Michael Schumacher with a special trophy because he was taking a shit. You really can’t get much more relaxed than that, and I’m sure he was every bit as relaxed at this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

In this context, it is easy to see how Räikkönen just capitalised on the spat between Hamilton and Alonso. Räikkönen was not being put off, so he just drove ahead of them, pulled back a 17 point deficit and waved goodbye to the McLarens. Brilliant.

Räikkönen has the right attitude, and when he gets in the car nothing deters him. He won six races this year, more than anyone else.

However, even Räikkönen’s season was not perfect. He had a very bad patch at the beginning of the season. The blame was put on the transition to Bridgestones and the new Ferrari car, although if this was the case then it doesn’t explain why he won so easily at the very first race in Australia.

Luca di Montezemolo had to give Räikkönen a kick up the arse via the press. It worked — and from the French Grand Prix onwards it is impossible to find fault in Räikkönen’s season. A well-deserved Championship win.

I have taken so long to write this post about the European Grand Prix because there was so much action, I hardly know where to begin.

I think I might start with Lewis Hamilton, because I predicted that he would have to run into some bad luck sooner or later. And he ran into it big time at the Nürburgring.

Of course there was that crash during qualifying, which was what I believe drivers call a “big one”. It was not Hamilton’s fault, and he was a complete passenger in the accident. And while the crash did not look as scary as Robert Kubica’s at Montreal earlier this year, Hamilton’s impact was exactly the kind that took Michael Schumacher out of the 1999 season with a broken leg at Silverstone.

Come race day and nothing seemed to go right for Hamilton. Some of it was his fault, and some of it wasn’t. For me, this was a major test for Hamilton. We had yet to see him drive in the wet, and we had yet to see him come through the field. He had to do both this weekend, and he did not exactly pass with flying colours.

Coming through the field was not actually much bother for Hamilton. He made several excellent overtaking manoeuvres. He probably made more passes during that race than some drivers will make in an entire season.

But on the wet track he was not so hot. He was one of several drivers to aquaplane off the circuit during the early downpour. And while many joined him in the gravel trap, it should be noted that Massa and Alonso negotiated the corner with no major problem just seconds before Hamilton flew straight off.

He had his brain engaged though, and managed to persuade the marshals to get crane his car back onto the racetrack! It is a bit of the evil exploitation of the rulebook that Michael Schumacher specialised in. It’s not always pretty, but it’s the stuff champions are made of.

Hamilton also had a lacklustre time with his tyre choices. Bad strategy and the trip into the sandpit meant that Hamilton failed to score a point for the first time in his career, even though there was nothing wrong with his car. Evidence that Hamilton still has stuff to learn.

Someone else with stuff to learn is Felipe Massa. He has historically had a reputation as a bit of an erratic, incomplete driver. In the last couple of years, in a tip-top Ferrari car, he has managed to bluff his way to a better reputation. But every so often something happens to remind you that Massa is not yet a complete driver, and possibly never will be.

His is absolutely dire in the wet. Alonso was all over him. And this was a race that Massa had seemingly sewn up. A 4 second lead evaporated in the space of one lap. All it takes is a bit of drizzle, for Massa to become a seriously average racing driver.

The McLaren victory was a complete surprise to me, as I had really thought that Ferrari had the race in the bag. On balance, Ferrari probably have a slightly better car, but there is no doubt that McLaren’s driver line up is much stronger. How many other people would have managed to overtake Massa like that, even in a superior car?

But while Alonso won the race, surely the driver with the most to cheer about was Markus Winkelhock. It was his first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix and he led it for six laps. Okay, so it was mostly down to luck, as a risky tactical masterstroke from the Spyker team saw him starting the race from the pits on intermediate tyres while everyone else was sitting on the grid on slicks.

But Winkelhock kept it on the island while so many others were flying off the circuit, and apparently at one point his lead was 30 seconds. He led from the restart, at which point everyone else ganged up on him. A second risk to put him on extreme wet tyres failed, and he soon found himself dead last apart from Hamilton. Then his car failed.

His moment of glory had come and gone. It looks as though his career may last for just that one race. It would put him in a strange position of having led his début Grand Prix in a grotesquely underperforming car, yet never being invited back. A day to remember for Winkelhock.

The Red Bulls were outstanding. Webber took a rare podium for him, although he almost lost it to Wurz on the penultimate corner! Does anyone else notice how Wurz seems to have a pretty anonymous time in an F1 car, but when he gets a result it is absolutely awesome?

The BMWs were disappointingly poor. They did not help themselves by running into each other at the start. But even taking that into consideration they were strangely off-colour. I wonder if they are slipping behind a bit in terms of development.

The best moment, though, came during the podium ceremony. Hilariously, Michael Schumacher presented Ron Dennis with the Constructor’s trophy. Hahahah! I haven’t laughed so much in ages.

What a championship we now have on our hands though! Hamilton’s 12 point lead has been slashed to a fragile 2 points and the Ferrari resurgence is surely due to kick in at some point.

Last night and this morning on the radio I was surprised to hear that the latest manufactured row surrounding Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and McLaren was the top story in the sport bulletins. I don’t recall it being the top story when Alonso said a similar thing the last time he lost to his then team mate, Giancarlo Fisichella.

Alonso has form in this area. We know he gets miffed when he loses to his team mate. But that does not happen often — he is not used to being behind. When he was at Renault he once complained that he felt alone. But no driver can win back-to-back World Championships without the full and unqualified backing of their team.

As for Alonso’s comment that Hamilton’s win was lucky, this is little more than a statement of fact. In any race that is interrupted so many times by safety cars, luck plays a big role. You only need to take a look at the race result to realise this. Just compare finishing positions with each driver’s grid position.

Kovalainen and Wurz came from the back to the front, largely down to pure luck. For similar reasons, if Hamilton had pitted just a couple of laps before he did, he would have found himself finishing around 5^th.

But it would not surprise me at all if Alonso’s comments were taken out of context. There are clearly a lot of journalists who are eager to get a juicy story about the relationship between Alonso and Hamilton. Quite rightly, most of them fall flat, like this interview with Lewis Hamilton.

We are now in a situation where a known trait of Alonso’s — to search for a reason to explain why he loses — has allowed the media to kid on that Alonso and Hamilton are warring with each other.

Just two short weeks ago McLaren were accused of favouring Fernando Alonso over Lewis Hamilton. This week they are accused of doing the opposite. Can not the media make up its mind?

The claims made following the Monaco Grand Prix were laughable. Why would a Formula 1 team spend ten years nurturing a talent and taking him under their wing, only to mess up his career once he finally gets into an F1 car?

Equally, there is no way that an F1 team would spend lots of money wooing the biggest name in F1, a double World Champion, only to thwart it all by giving a rookie preferential treatment. And Lewis Hamilton is a rookie, and not the second coming of Ayrton Senna, despite what the media appears to think.

Besides, not even Senna was Senna six races into his career. A reputation is built over a long period of time. Anything else is just hype.

I guess this is what we have to live with now that a Brit happens to be in a position to win races. Clueless journalists who appear to know bugger all about F1 are disseminating untruths through the media.

It really makes me wonder about the MSM. When they are talking about something that I know about, it is obvious that they are talking arrant bullcrap. Yet, I depend on them to get my information on subjects that I do not know about. I am not so confident that I should rely so much on the media any more.

Why do journalists expect team mates to be at each other’s throats anyway? They are team mates. If a footballer kicked a team mate in the bollocks, he would be condemned for it. If an F1 driver doesn’t kick his team mate in the bollocks, he is condemned for it.

How about this radical idea for the media to consider? Maybe when a driver wins a race it is because he won the race, and not due to some conspiracy.

I put “race” in scare-quotes because it did not feel like much of a race, as a great deal of it was spent behind the safety car. Yet more of it was being spent by drivers being confused by the new safety car rules, and serving their penalties for it. And then there was Robert Kubica’s absolutely horrifying accident which took a lot of the attention away from the on-track action.

I was absolutely shocked when I saw Kubica’s car flying in the air before hitting a safety barrier, careering back onto the track in front of oncoming traffic, barrel-rolling a couple of times, then hitting a concrete wall before ending up on its side. I can’t recall seeing many worse accidents since I started watching F1 and it was sickening to view.

BlogF1 has a picture of Kubica’s car mid-accident — and that is before it hit the wall.

Although I am no medical expert, I was most concerned about the possibility of head injury or concussion as Kubica’s helmet bobbed around in that cockpit quite horrendously. It reminded me a little bit of Mika Häkkinen’s accident at Adelaide in 1995, although Häkkinen’s was much worse because it was just one, hard impact.

The fact that Kubica has apparently escaped with nothing more than a broken leg uninjured is a testament to the relative safety of F1 cars. But the shocking violence of his accident is a reminder of why safety is, rightly, such a major concern to F1.

Kubica’s accident brought about the second of four safety car periods. It was also the first outing of the safety car this year, which meant it was the first time the new rules got an airing. And boy, did it turn out to be a confusing situation.

The pitlane is now closed for a certain period once the safety car has been deployed. Two drivers — Alonso and Rosberg — were unfairly punished by this rule as they would have run out of fuel if they hadn’t pitted. They both had to serve 10 second stop–go penalties.

I cannot for the life of me understand why Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello did not make their pitstops while the safety car was out. The only reason I can think was that they were banking on the safety car staying out longer so that they could conserve more fuel — but Webber obviously did not have much fuel left anyway, as he pitted as soon as the safety car period finished!

Finally, I do not like the rule about lapped cars being allowed to overtake the safety car after a certain period of time has elapsed. It is like Nascar’s “competition yellows” — contriving a race where there shouldn’t be one. As a result, the entire field of cars was covered by little more than thirty seconds at the chequered flag. It just doesn’t seem right.

Massa and Fisichella were both disqualified for making silly mistakes. The pitlane exit was closed as the queue behind the safety car was seemingly still on turn 2. Kubica saw the red light and waited patiently, but Massa and Fisichella made mistakes that earned them both disqualification. These are not new rules, so these experienced drivers really should have known better, particularly when Kubica has less than a season under his belt.

Hats off to Lewis Hamilton though. While he might not have had a lot of racing to do, he effectively had five race starts to lead away from. He carried them all off immaculately.

Hamilton is gaining a reputation for having a cool head while cars are flying off all around him. Today Alonso panicked at the start and tried to catch him on the outside. Alonso ended up braking way too late and running onto the grass. Hamilton, meanwhile, kept his head and stayed on the racing line as though he was driving a Scalextric car.

Alonso’s car must have been damaged, and he fell off the track a few times. But nothing must have beaten the embarrassment of being overtaken by Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri. I genuinely laughed out loud. I take back every negative thing I’ve ever said about Sato. That move made my day, particularly following the sombre note struck by Kubica’s accident.

Alonso had a torrid time, but Räikkönen’s race was equally awful. Seemingly, Räikkönen is not the driver we all thought he was. He had better shape up quickly, because the reputation he has built up over the past five years is diminishing like air rushing out of a balloon, complete with comedy “pffffrrrrttt” noise.

Someone else whose reputation has taken a bit of a battering so far this season is Ralf Schumacher. Apparently the sword of Damocles dangles above his head, but he scored a point today. Even though being overtaken by Sato was embarrassing, he can console himself with the fact that the same happened to double World Champion Alonso.

Meanwhile, the fact that Kovalainen managed to finish 4^th is proof that no matter how dreadful Friday and Saturday are, it is what happens on Sunday that matters. He started from the back of the grid, and while he was helped by the large number of retirements, eight cars were behind him — including some big names.

It is great to see Nick Heidfeld finishing 2^nd. The BMW was obviously quick, particularly one circuits with lots of straights like Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Heidfeld is looking forward to Indianapolis next week and Monza, where BMW also excelled last year. BMW are probably not in much of a mood to celebrate, given Kubica’s accident.

It was also fantastic to see Alexander Wurz on the podium — with a broken rear wing, no less! The safety car periods allowed Wurz to cleverly save fuel and adopt a one-stop strategy. He was the only driver to do so. It was a risk that paid off big time.

The bottom line of the race

Hamilton was superb. While the hype surrounding him is often unbearable, there is no doubt that Lewis Hamilton is a highly exciting talent. Today he showed precisely why.

Ferrari must be really worried though. Most people thought that McLaren’s dominance at Monaco was a one-off. Apparently it wasn’t, and Ferrari must work out how to make up time quickly, before the Championship becomes a two-horse race between Alonso and Hamilton.

Hamilton has an eight point cushion over Alonso, and a fifteen point cushion over Massa! (A 21-point cushion over Räikkönen — but can he really be considered a title contender any more?)

Bring on Indy! But no scary accidents please.

Update: According to Pitpass, Kubica didn’t even break his leg and he will be released from hospital tomorrow. Incredible! Great news.