I can’t believe that the fact that Lewis Hamilton is moving is still in the news. They were talking about it on the radio last night. I mean, when was this announced? Two, three weeks ago? And the media is still yammering on about it.

I will actually defend Lewis Hamilton here. It is not as if “rich person moves to tax haven” is exactly shocking news. Loads of F1 drivers move to Switzerland. Motor racing is illegal in Switzerland, so an F1 driver can declare himself unemployed. Ka-ching!

But this just underlines how obsessed the media is with Lewis Hamilton. I was just going to let the whole thing pass without commenting on it, but this story has been in the news for weeks now, and there is little sign of it running out of steam.

It is not even the fact that he is British, because Jenson Button and David Coulthard both live in Monaco and I don’t remember the media going on and on about it then. Nigel Mansell has lived in the Isle of Man and Jersey as well.

Moreover, the very fact that the media keeps on banging on about it kind of proves the point that Hamilton has been making — that he can’t get enough privacy in Britain. I can well believe that. The man probably can’t even take a shit in peace.

This is a country with a skewed culture that thinks it is newsworthy if a celebrity has a wardrobe malfunction. If a contestant on Big Brother from five years ago gets a wedgie it makes it onto the front cover of Heat.

And with the tabloids’ relentless obsession over every single female that stands within 100 yards of Hamilton, I would not be surprised if he is rather fed up with it.

And here is the thing. Only two out of 23 F1 drivers currently live in their home country, according to the August issue of F1 Racing, which coincidentally ran an item about F1 drivers moving country. Only Giancarlo Fisichella and Anthony Davidson have stayed at home.

But, it’s not all for tax reasons, as some may believe. While 15 drivers currently live in either Switzerland or Monaco, some prefer to live in the UK, even if they aren’t from there. Mark Webber, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Heikki Kovalainen all live in the UK. Presumably this is for work reasons, as the vast majority of F1 teams are based in Britain. Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello lives in Portugal. I would guess this is so that he can be based in Europe while still speaking his native Portugese.

What I am worried about now is that the near-inevitable backlash will be every bit as unbearable as the hype. Jenson Button was right yesterday when he said that 2007 was possibly Hamilton’s best chance to win the Championship.

It is conceivable that McLaren will produce a bad car next year. Going by recent form, they are not likely to strike gold twice in a row. And with the FIA getting in the way of the process this year, it’s easy to see how they might get put off for 2008.

Today Hamilton is talked about as a near-certain future World Champion. But say McLaren go into a slump for a few years. Hamilton may be loyal to McLaren now, but that’s what Button said when he was at Williams. Hamilton will get itchy feet if he isn’t given a car that can win. He could move to another team and end up in that classic situation — always being at the right team at the wrong time. Good cars aren’t easy to come by, as Button knows all too well.

All of a sudden, Lewis Hamilton gets a touch of the Buttons. No longer will he be future World Champion. He will revert to Plucky Brit status and the media will start to hate him for blowing his opportunity.

It could happen, although I hope it doesn’t. But if the media is this bad when Hamilton simply moves house, imagine how bad it would be if he stops winning races.

At last! I have got round to starting on my review of the Formula 1 season. Because it has taken so long for me to get round to it, I have had enough ideas gestating around for me to write several posts on this. So I will write one post every Sunday for a few weeks. Hey, somebody has to provide some F1 action on a Sunday!

Each post will focus on a different aspect of the season. Future posts will look at the performances of teams. I will also assess the various F1 media outlets — ITV, FOM, websites, blogs and podcasts.

But today I’ll start with a look at the drivers. This is the first of a two-part run-down.

It’s not easy to rank drivers. As I said a few weeks ago, they are all heroes really. But we all know that some drivers are better than others. No doubt there will be plenty of disagreements, but that is what it’s all about, huh?

26 — Sakon Yamamoto

I have seen some people say that Yamamoto compares favourably to Adrian Sutil. I just don’t get it. Why is he even in F1? He was rubbish last year at Super Aguri, and he didn’t do very much interesting this year at Spyker. Perhaps part of this is the fact that he is tootling round at the back pretty anonymously, and has therefore been overlooked.

But looking at the figures, Yamamoto was outqualified by Sutil in every single race. The books will say that Yamamoto started ahead of Sutil in Brazil, but only because Sutil started in the pitlane, presumably due to mechanical problems. In fact, looking at the qualifying times, Yamamoto set the 22^nd-”quickest” time in every single qualifying session. His blushes were only ever spared by other people’s mechanical failures.

He must have some really good sponsors.

25 — Christijan Albers

It’s a shame for Christijan Albers. He seemed like a really nice guy. Unfortunately, he simply caused too many embarrassing incidents. He was warned midway through the season by the Spyker team to clean up his act. Not long afterwards, he dangerously drove out of the pitlane with the fuel hose still attached. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

24 — Ralf Schumacher

Oh my goodness. What an awful season Ralf Schumacher had. Seemingly everyone had it in for him this year. The Toyota team finally lost patience with him and he appears to be out of a drive for next season.

Ralf Schumacher himself is going around telling everybody that he will be in F1 next season. If he’ll be in F1 next season, it will be driving in the Safety Car, although I’m sure the FIA would rather find someone faster.

Part of the problem with Ralf Schumacher is the fact that he is just so damn deluded. At the start of the season he declared himself to be one of the top three drivers (!) and the Toyota the fourth fastest car (!). So where were the results to back it up? Only five points all season.

And all too often he failed to cross the psychological barrier of Q1. For a team with such a huge budget and a driver with such a huge pay packet, that is simply unforgivable. Tragic. Once upon a time Ralf Schumacher was a steady pair of hands, and a proven race winner. That feels like a very long time ago now.

23 — Anthony Davidson

At last, Anthony Davidson finally got a full season in F1. What did he do? I can’t remember. A couple of impressive moments. I seem to remember one particularly unlucky qualifying session. Bad luck dogged him actually, most notably when he hit a groundhog while running 3^rd in Canada.

But he also had bad moments of his own making, like spinning during qualifying at Silverstone. Otherwise, Davidson was too anonymous for me to place him any higher.

22 — Markus Winkelhock

Markus Winkelhock’s début grand prix will surely go down in history as one of the most eventful débuts ever. The son of Manfred Winkelhock made his début where his father made his exit from F1, at the Nürburgring. It looks as though it will be Markus’s last F1 race too.

Were it not for Lewis Hamilton, Markus Winkelhock would have been the only person to lead in his début this year. In a way, Winkelhock’s achievement is all the more impressive given that he did it in the Spyker (the worst car) rather than the McLaren.

Of course, in reality luck played a huge part in Winkelhock’s race. A risky strategy was employed by Spyker as weather conditions worsened, and luck played straight into their hands. At one point, Winkelhock led by over 30 seconds and had made Kimi Räikkönen look rather silly. But it was all because of that risky strategy to put Winkelhock on extreme wets.

It was a decision that only Spyker — at the back — could afford to take. In the end, it wasn’t much more than good PR. The race was stopped because the conditions were so atrocious, and at the restart Winkelhock was swamped by faster cars. In the end, he was in the sort of position you’d expect a Spyker to be. Then in another position where you’d expect a Spyker to be — in the grass, smoking.

Still, it’s a neat thing to put on your CV. Winkelhock is the only driver in history to have started the same race at the back of the grid and at the front!

21 — Kazuki Nakajima

Another F1 son, Kazuki is the son of Satoru Nakajima. Drafted in at the last minute to replace Alexander Wurz, who went on early retirement, Nakajima had a pretty mixed Brazilian Grand Prix.

Most notably, he was involved in a horrendous accident in the pitlane where he basically crashed into two of his mechanics. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured. Perhaps it can partly be explained by nerves and the fact that it was his first ever F1 pitstop. But it was nevertheless an unforgivable accident. He didn’t shine too much in qualifying either.

However, his race driving was pretty hot. He set the fifth fastest lap of the race, ahead of Fernando Alonso and fancied team mate Nico Rosberg. He powered through the field to finish 10^th. This has been a year of notable rookie performances, and for me, Nakajima’s Brazilian Grand Prix is up there.

20 — Rubens Barrichello

I know that the Honda was a shockingly bad car. But let’s face facts here. Jenson Button outperformed Barrichello all year. Whereas Button fought to get fast, Barrichello let the car’s poor performance get him down. It’s a far cry from his heroic days at Stewart. If he’s not over the hill, he’s certainly given up climbing it.

19 — Scott Speed

An F1 career wasted. Either Scott Speed simply wasn’t fast enough, or his career was ruined by Red Bull / Toro Rosso bosses. He had a few good drives, making a particularly good attempt at Monaco where the Toro Rosso car worked well. But of his retirements, more were down to accidents and driver error than mechanical failure.

It’s all water under the bridge now though as Scott Speed heads off to forge a new career in stock cars in the USA.

18 — Vitantonio Liuzzi

As Scott Speed, but with some points. Liuzzi also shone at Monaco. At one point in qualifying he was running among the front-runners — setting the fourth-fastest time in Q1 — until a set-up change ruined it all. He eventually qualified 13^th and had an unlucky race, being crashed out by Coulthard.

Things looked up a bit towards the end of the season. It became clear that the Toro Rosso was pretty handy in the wet, and Liuzzi was able to wring out some respectable results — almost scoring in Japan and finishing 6^th in China. However, he was still outperformed by team mate Sebastian Vettel towards the end of the season. Overall though, Liuzzi’s qualifying performances tended to outshine those of his team mate, whether it was Speed or Vettel.

Midway through the season it was clear that, as with Scott Speed, Liuzzi’s relationship with the management at Toro Rosso had broken down. So he won’t remain at Toro Rosso. Is this the last we’ve seen of Liuzzi? I feel as though he’s had a lot of bad luck in his career. It is only a few years ago that the F3000 champion was being talked about as a future Ferrari driver.

17 — Jarno Trulli

Toyota is like an old folk’s home. But a one where they pay you to stay there. I guess this was just like 2006 for Jarno Trulli, but with fewer jibes about the “Trulli train”, the phenomenon whereby everybody gets stuck behind Jarno Trulli and the leaders disappear off into the distance. I give him one more year in F1.

16 — Giancarlo Fisichella

It’s much the same with Giancarlo Fisichella. In fact, when you look at it, the careers of Trulli and Fisichella have followed extraordinarily similar paths. The broke onto the scene with Minardi, then had some promising stints at Benetton / Renault and some wilderness years at Jordan.

Since then they have diverged a bit, with Trulli going to the Panasonic Toyota Retirement Home and Fisichella constantly being given the benefit of the doubt by Renault. It is clear that Fisichella is not as fast as some people once thought. Outclassed entirely by Alonso and now by rookie Heikki Kovalainen, it is obvious that Fisi is on the wane, big time.

He lucked in to an extension of his Renault contract with the departure of Alonso. Now it might happen again if Kovalainen moves. Expect Nelsinho Piquet to give him a pasting in 2008.

15 — Adrian Sutil

I am not sure if my placing of Adrian Sutil is a little on the high side. It is difficult to tell when a driver is in the worst car. But in a way, it is this very fact that makes me place him so high.

Sutil is a bit of a question mark. Some people seem to be quite impressed with him, while others think he is nothing special. But for me, the facts speak for themselves. He was only outqualified twice all year, and three different drivers were up against him in that Spyker.

It would be fascinating to see how he measures up in a better car. My gut feeling is that Sutil is a competent driver like, say, Button rather than a truly fast driver like Alonso.

14 — Takuma Sato

Takuma Sato has further cemented his reputation as the greatest driver ever to come out of Japan. He has outshone Anthony Davidson for most of the year, if not in qualifying then certainly in the races. Who could forget the moment when Sato overtook Alonso in Canada? I was jumping with joy. Certainly one of the best moments of the year.

That’s my view on the back half of the field. Next week I’ll post my thoughts on the other 13 drivers who competed this year.

I am sorry to keep on banging on about this, but the “team orders” row has reached a whole new level in the wake of the news that the FIA will be investigating it. There is just so much you can say.

First of all, it seems as though the world has been split into two camps. It is not the MSM vs. everyone else, for once. It is people who know shit all about F1 vs. people who have a clue.

It was good to see David Croft, in his column for the BBC, saw the team orders row for what it is — a media-driven storm in a teacup. Note for the MSM: The following paragraph is sarcastic.

…let’s talk about Lewis Hamilton for a moment instead. Or rather let’s jump up and down in outrage at Lewis being deprived of his first Grand Prix win in Monaco. In fact, let’s jump up and down so much that governing body the FIA will step in and make sure that Mclaren never dare to put the team first ever again. Why stop there? Why not strip team boss Ron Dennis of his CBE for his unpatriotic judgement call?

I heard the newsreader on Radio Five Live overnight acting as though Jackie Stewart — an actual expert in F1 — was off his face when he said that McLaren were right to tell its drivers to hold back. As Stewart pointed out, not only is there the risk of throwing the cars into the barriers, but there is also the risk that the drivers will push the car too hard and end up stressing it to the point of breaking.

In this age where engines have to last for more than one race, that is something that an F1 team simply cannot afford. It is common sense and, indeed, common for a team to tell its drivers to take it easy once the race is under control. McLaren dominated the Monaco GP in a way which they haven’t for almost a decade. Even when they “lifted off” they managed to lap everyone apart from Massa. So there was no need to push too hard.

The “ban on team orders” was brought in by the FIA in 2002, although it is generally recognised by F1 fans as not a ban on team orders. We all know team orders exist, and they exist for a very good reason. What was banned was a repeat of the kind of blatant move that happened in Austria 2002, where Rubens Barrichello slowed on the very last corner of the race to allow Michael Schumacher to win.

That was an exceptional circumstance. Everyone was expecting Barrichello to let Schumacher through for the sake of the World Championship. But Barrichello had a point to prove — that he was the rightful winner of the race. So, as a protest, he left it until the last corder. It was quite sickening to watch, and one of F1’s darkest moments. Understandably, the crowd booed all the way through the podium ceremony.

The ridiculousness of the situation and the public outcry that followed led the FIA to introduce the “ban on team orders”, although what it exactly entails is very vague. Team orders as we know it are still allowed, and they have been allowed to go on for the past five years, mostly without the FIA batting an eyelid.

It might seem strange to somebody who is not an F1 fan. But team orders have a long history in F1. Indeed, they have probably been around for as long as F1 itself has been. The FIA couldn’t really ban team orders.

The FIA didn’t ban team orders. They just brought in that rule as a fig leaf to outraged supporters. It pandered to the media and the public, but most see it for the hollow rule that it is. It was a ban on public outcry more than anything else.

So of course, when the British media kicks up a stink over what is actually a pretty regular policy for an F1 team to have — particularly on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo — the FIA wheel out the rule on public outcries. The media were pushing for them to do something, so they have done something. But the real scandal would be if the FIA punished McLaren for doing what any other team would have done.

The actual rule on team orders states:

Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited.

What is meant by this is vague. But you could argue that in Austria 2002, Ferrari interfered with the race result by swapping 1^st and 2^nd positions. In Monaco 2007, McLaren didn’t interfere with the race result because the drivers stayed in the positions that had been naturally established. (Don’t forget that Alonso qualified on pole, he led after the first corner, and he led when he took both of his pitstops. Alonso was the rightful winner.)

Ask yourself this question. If it was two Ferraris leading in Monaco and they did what McLaren did this weekend, would the FIA have launched an investigation? Of course not. Anything Ferrari does is A-OK in their book (Austria 2002 was an exception because it was so greatly against the interests of the sport).

I’m not the only one to allude to the FIA’s pro-Ferrari bias this weekend. During the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, Anthony Davidson suggested — if I read his comments correctly — that the only reason he was given a drive-through penalty was because he happened to be holding up Massa. If it was anyone else, he wouldn’t have been given the penalty.

Is it impossible to foresee a situation where McLaren are stripped of all the points they rightfully earned at Monaco? As I pointed out in my previous post on this issue, that would give Ferrari the Championship lead, instead of the 20 point deficit they currently face.

In that situation, Lewis Hamilton would lose the 8 Championship points he earned. And the British media would only have themselves to blame.

These people actually have a clue about F1

• Pitpass: FIA to investigate McLaren team orders
• BlogF1: McLaren Under Investigation
• F1 Fanatic: Outrage over McLaren ‘team orders’

Unfortunately I was unable to liveblog today’s Bahrain Grand Prix, so I will dump my thoughts on the race here instead. It gives me a good chance to write at length about the events so far this season, as I haven’t written anything about it here yet.

There was a slightly topsy-turvy feel to the whole race weekend really. I guess most people, like me, expected Räikkönen to race Felipe Massa off the park. But in Malaysia and Bahrain, Kimi has looked a little bit half-arsed. Massa grabbed pole on both races, and he was well in control of today’s race.

Räikkönen did beat Massa in Malaysia, after the Brazilian made some typically Massa-esque mistakes — the sort that we had thought we’d seen the last of from him — when he was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton. But apart from that, Kimi’s races this year have been pretty anonymous.

Today’s big “doh” moment was at the restart when Räikkönen was caught fast asleep. He must have done plenty of restarts by now, so he must know the drill. But he obviously wasn’t paying attention. That could have been his chance to take Alonso. As it was, he ended up being stuck behind the McLaren until his first pit stop.

Linksheaven has already asked what a lot of people must be thinking to themselves: Have we over rated Kimi Räikkönen for all these years? Räikkönen is no Kimi Räikkönen, as Linksheaven says.

After all, who have we had to compare him to? Nick Heidfeld — who actually did better than Kimi at Sauber. Then an ageing David Coulthard, who also did better than Kimi. Most recently he has been up against a distinctly average Juan Pablo Montoya. Now he is being made to look plain by the scrappy Massa.

When Räikkönen started Formula 1 in 2001 he was seen as the potential heir to Michael Schumacher’s throne. Since then, he has merely won a handful of races. Some of them have been mighty impressive performances. But a lot of the time he just looks like he isn’t there. In the intervening period there was the small matter of Fernando Alonso, who was able to win back-to-back World Championships while Kimi just rolled his eyes (drowned his sorrows) and blamed his car.

But while we are talking about Alonso, he too was looking distinctly off-colour this weekend. All of the hype currently surrounds his team mate, Lewis Hamilton. Despite the obvious difficulties the McLarens faced in the first two stints, Hamilton made a strong comeback in the third stint, to the point where some wondered if he could actually win the race.

Meanwhile, Alonso languished behind. In the first stint he held up Kimi Räikkönen to a chronic extent. Then, once Räikkönen got past him after the first pit stops, Alonso got overtaken by Heidfeld on the outside. To be fair, it was an astonishing move from Heidfeld — really great, impressive, gutsy driving. But Alonso shouldn’t even have been in a position to be overtaken by a BMW.

Having said that, the BMW is clearly a handy car. In fact, it is undoubtedly the third-best car after the Ferraris and McLarens. Heidfeld has finished 4^th in all of this year’s races so far, which is good going. Today, Kubica finally joined him on the scoring sheet. The jury is still out on Kubica, but Heidfeld has been very impressive this year, especially with today’s overtaking move.

But the best move of the day for me was David Coulthard’s on Giancarlo Fisichella. The Red Bulls had a pretty bad start to the year — the car is unreliable, and it looked as though it didn’t even have the speed to compete for regular points finishes. But today, at last, the speed was there.

Coulthard was doing a fantastic job, particularly considering his grid position of 21^st. DC was on course for a points finish, and his move on Fisichella underlined just how well the Red Bull was performing. It was a similar move to the one that went so disastrously wrong with Wurz in Australia. This time, though, Fisichella let Coulthard by.

It was almost difficult to believe that Coulthard had pulled it off, but he had. And it has to be remembered that the two drivers were using the same Renault engines. So that shows you have far back Renault now find themselves in the chassis department.

Unfortunately for Red Bull, the reliability still eludes them. Coulthard parked in the garage with a hydraulics failure, while Webber — who was also having a brilliant race — also had to pull off due to a mechanical failure. For much of the race the Australian also had to cope with having his fuel flap stuck open. That seems to be an Achilles heel of Red Bull. A strange Achilles heel to have if you ask me.

Toyota are having a funny time. On the one hand, Trulli is clearly able to challenge for a low points score, pretty much on a par with Renault. Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher struggles in the lower midfield with the Hondas. Honda are supposed to be having a really embarrassing time at the moment. Well Ralf Schumacher must just be one non-stop blush. He reckons he is one of the top three drivers in F1. I think he is a bloody overpaid fool.

It is difficult to analyse Super Aguri. They certainly look as though they are there or thereabouts. Both Davidson and Sato were able to get some impressive positions over the weekend, but those engine problems are a big worry — for both Aguri and Honda? (Although what’s the odds on it being sabotage to minimise the embarrassment caused to the works Honda team? :D)

I think the main lesson from the first three races is that we are going to be in for a really tight championship. There is currently a three-way tie at the top. Alonso, Räikkönen and — amazingly — Hamilton share the lead on 22 points each. Technically though, Hamilton is actually third because he hasn’t won a race whereas Alonso and Räikkönen have.

Is it too much to ask if Hamilton could be the World Champion this year? I know I am getting sucked into the mad hype that is surrounding him. But he has been seriously impressive in these first three races, and he well and truly showed up Alonso today. A race win is surely just around the corner.

Outside of the top three, Massa could also be in with a shout of getting the Drivers’ Championship. Today showed that the supposed “number one” drivers should not take their status for granted. Massa and Hamilton well and truly beat the supposed title protagonists. It really is difficult to know who is going to win a race.

Finally, I have to admit that I was a sceptic of these new tyre rules, where each driver has to use a different compound at least once during the race. I thought it would end up being rubbish, but we have seen how it has the potential to completely turn the race on its head.

The way Hamilton came back in that last stint showed what can happen under these new rules. It adds a certain amount of predictability to races which all too often in the past have felt as though they were over by the first pitstop. Fantastic.

In short, I am mighty excited about this season! Bernie totally bollocksed up the the calendar this year, meaning that we have to wait a whole bloody month until the next race in Spain. It’s going to be a long wait.

This might be a banal post really, because anybody who is interested in this post will have been keeping an eye on the pre-season testing anyway, and will already have their own ideas of how things might pan out. But this is my blog, and I am stamping my feet as I type this!

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