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.

According to the Forumula1 blog, Bridgestone have opted to take the soft and super-soft tyre compounds to Montreal. Presumably they have remembered what happened to the tyres there last year. David Coulthard said it was the worst dry-weather conditions he had ever raced in.

One of the most common criticisms about Formula 1 is the fact that often it is just the driver of the best car who wins. They’re only half right. The reality is far worse than that.

Not only did last week see the exit of Michael Schumacher from Formula 1, but it also saw the exit of the Michelin tyre company. With a control tyre due to be brought in by the FIA for 2008, it has brought to an end the tyre war for the foreseeable future.

With more and more restrictions being placed on chassis and engine development, most time can be gained through improvements in tyre technology. It is said that 2006’s tyres were 2 seconds per lap faster than 2005’s. The rivalry between Bridgestone and Michelin had become increasingly competitive over the past few years.

Here is an extract from an article by Paul Kimmage in The Sunday Times from a couple of months ago.

At a press conference the next afternoon at the [Istanbul] circuit, [Jenson Button] is joined on stage by fellow drivers David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen and Tiago Monteiro. A French journalist raises his hand and asks, “Question to you all: who will win the world championship? Schumacher or Alonso?” The four give the same reply: the championship will basically be decided by the team with the best tyres. The journalist is annoyed. What? No names? No opinions? “We’ve given our opinions,” Button insists. “We can’t see into the future. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

We meet an hour later and I pull him up on it again. “What was all that corporate crap? Why couldn’t you give the guy a straight answer: Alonso or Schumacher? As a journalist and a fan, I find that absolutely infuriating.”

“Because it’s the truth,” he says. “It will all come down to the tyres.”

“The tyres,” I repeat, incredulous.

“The tyres, 100%,” he insists.

Kimmage might not have believed him, but it is true. Over the past few years if a driver won the World Championship the tyre manufacturer got the credit. If Schumacher qualified on pole it was because Bridgestone produced a good qualifying tyre. If Alonso won the race it was because Michelin had produced a good race tyre.

In reality, we no longer had a Drivers’ Championship or a Constructors’ Championship. All we had left was a glorified Tyre Championship in all but name. It’s not as heroic as a driver standing up on his seat to win a race. It’s not as sexy as a constructor pushing the boundaries of technology to make their car better. Formula 1 had come down to four — literally — black boxes. Elements that are peripheral to the cars became central to the championship.

Competition is good. It drives improvement. But the thing about tyres is that because they’re black boxes you simply don’t see that improvement. Today’s Formula 1 tyres look almost exactly the same as they did in 1998, even if what goes inside them has developed radically.

The only way we can actually see a tyre making a difference is by looking at a list of lap times. It’s not like watching a driver making an audacious overtaking manoeuvre, a team making improvements to their car design or even the crew executing a slick pit stop. Put simply, tyres are boring. End of.

At first the tyre war added another variable into the mix; a new angle to look at the Championship at. But by the end it had overwhelmed the entire Championship. It drowned out all of the other elements that make motor racing what it is.

Alonso ran away with the first half of the season. When Michael Schumacher made his comeback it was accompanied by a Toyota resurgence at certain races. That wasn’t because of anything Schumacher or Toyota did. It wasn’t not a coincidence that Ferrari and Toyota both used Bridgestone tyres.

Here is what F1Fanatic had to say on the morning of qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Toyota drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, whose average starting positions this year prior to Japan were 10.38 and 11.19, are third and fourth. The swing in tyre performance is so great that its making a mockery of the endeavours of teams and drivers - just as it did to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari last year.

The tyre war has provoked some cripplingly dull races this year when either Michelin or Bridgestone have been miles ahead, handing Alonso and Schumacher some very uncomplicated wins.

I couldn’t agree more. This season might have had a topsy-turvy championship because of the competition between the tyre manufacturers. But a lot of the races themselves — particularly at the start of the season — were shockingly dull, simply because one tyre company would have such a huge and obvious advantage over the other.

F1Fanatic also makes reference to a piece by Mark Hughes in favour of the tyre war. Some F1 fans have relished the tyre war because it has often made things exciting. But that just shows up the big problem with Formula 1 at the moment. How many people can honestly say that they started watching motor racing because they were interested in tyres? Any takers? Surely not. Motor racing is about great drivers and great cars — not bits of rubber.

When Kimi Räikkönen lost the 2003 World Championship, it was blamed on 23 laps of the rain-hit United States Grand Prix when the Bridgestones had a 1.4 second per lap advantage on a drying track. Those crucial 23 laps were, so Michelin said in the December 2003 edition of F1 Racing magazine, the only laps where Bridgestones were faster than the Michelins. And it won Schumacher the championship.

It might have made that particular aspect of the championship interesting. But I don’t want to see a driver win the Drivers’ Championship because he has superior rubber. Nor do I want to see a constructor win the Constructors’ Championship because it happens to use the best tyres. It makes a mockery of the whole idea of racing. You might as well just take one Bridgestone and one Michelin and roll them down a hill to decide who wins the championship.

So good riddance to the tyre war. If it means that next year’s season has fewer twists and turns, then so be it. At least I will be able to see what makes a winning team — because it will no longer be concealed in those anonymous black boxes.

An entertaining race, well worth getting up at 6am for. Even if it’s zombified me for the rest of the day. It seemed as though Renault were going to walk away with it today. With the changeable conditions, the Michelins were clearly coping better in the wet.

At least that was the case in qualifying. You could literally have split the running order in two — the top half was of Michelin runners, the backmarkers were all on Bridgestones. The only person to spoil it was Michael Schumacher who incredibly qualified his car in 6^th. The next Bridgestone runner was his team mate Felipe Massa way back in 13^th. Imagine if everybody was on the same tyres! Schumacher would have completely blitzed the field.

So the buildup to the race this morning went pretty much along the lines of, ‘Schumacher is great. Just a shame his tyres are useless.’ James Allen said that somebody up there was being kind to Fernando Alonso this weekend. Well today that person up there must have decided that he was too kind yesterday, and conspired to give Alonso the lion’s share of bad luck in the race.

It looked good to start off with. Alonso was absolutely supreme in the first corner, as was Kimi Räikkönen. Alonso built up a big lead in the first stint, but problems came after his first pitstop. The front tyres needed changing, but they kept the old rear tyres on. It seemed like a strange decision, and it turned out to be the wrong one indeed as Alonso’s lead was cut to zero before he had to relent to Giancarlo Fisichella and Schumacher.

It wasn’t over for Alonso though. On a decent set of tyres he was still the fastest driver. But during his pitstop where he changed to dry tyres a wheel nut got stuck, adding at least 10 seconds to his time. Were it not for that, Alonso could well have won.

As it was, Schumacher was able to take the victory. The first lap out on dry tyres was clearly crucial. The track was still damp and cold in spots, and we clearly saw that those who fully committed — Alonso, Schumacher — benefited. Meanwhile drivers who tentatively tiptoed out of the pits — Fisichella, Kubica (who changed to dries too early anyway) — lost ground big time. Schumacher’s move on Fisichella into turn 1 on Fisi’s out lap was outstanding.

It was a weekend of good drives. Not only had Schumacher and Alonso excelled themselves, but Jenson Button also shone in the final phase of the race with the drying track. After a little off where he lost a place to Pedro de la Rosa, Button came back in the final laps to spectacularly climb his way up to 4^th which culminated in an amazing scrap at the penultimate corner of the race.

Six cars into one corner doesn’t go. But Button drove smartly to take Barrichello, then Heidfeld. The latter two were both disadvantaged by the traffic, and de la Rosa was able to take 5^th. Takuma Sato was subsequently disqualified for “blocking faster drivers”. Yes, it’s funny how his presence benefited his pseudo-team mate Button. But Sato’s team mate, Sakon Yamamoto, can congratulate himself for finally finishing a race for the first time!

As for the tyre war, during the race it seemed as though the Michelins weren’t quite as dominant as they were in qualifying. Looking at the results, I am no longer so sure. The only Bridgestone runners to get a decent result were Schumacher and Mark Webber (who scored an increasingly rare point for Williams).

Schumacher’s team mate, Massa, had a torrid race which culminated in a clumsy crash with David Coulthard. I am now absolutely convinced that Michael Schumacher drove out of his skin today. He was ecstatic at the end of the race. He obviously desperately wants to end his career on a high.

But Alonso will also be determined to win the Championship this year. He must be looking on at his future team, McLaren, with trepidation. Räikkönen’s car failed yet again today. Reliability is still a major problem for McLaren. This could be Alonso’s last chance to win the Championship for a while.

Anyway, today’s result leaves Schumacher and Alonso tied at the top with 116 points each. But officially Schumacher leads the championship because he’s won more races. Contrary to what most people are saying, the championship is not guaranteed to go down to the wire.

If Alonso fails to score and Schumacher wins in Japan, Schumi’s lead will be unassailable. Even though Alonso could win in Brazil to level the scoring again, Schumacher would still win the championship because he has won more races this year. That would be the closest championship in history. It’s certainly a pleasure to be watching it, even at silly o’clock.

Full race result

Update: F1 Fanatic Keith Collantine points out:

Fernando Alonso would be leading this year’s championship by 15 points if it weren’t for the man who changes his right-rear wheel.

Sorry I’m so late with this post on the most incredible grand prix of the year. I’ve been very busy recently, and when I’ve not been busy I’ve been tired.

Anyway, from an early age — probably when I turned 4 in 1990 — I learned that everything bad in life can be attributed to the 1980s. VHS is one of the decade’s prime bad-ups. I missed the final five laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix because I had to go to work. I thought I would be okay, but being a wet race it lasted much longer than most races do. No worry, I thought: the race is being taped for my brother anyway. Yeah, well it would have been okay had the tape not chewed up and just displayed a lot of white noise. Gah.

Still, the happiness / grumpiness balance was slightly positive on Sunday because what I had seen of the race was absolutely fantastic.

It didn’t just start on Sunday. Fernando Alonso was given a 2 second penalty in qualifying for overtaking under a yellow flag and bizarrely brake-testing, shaking his fist at and veering towards Red Bull test driver Robert Doornbos. Apparently Alonso felt as though Doornbos was holding him up — but this is practice. It’s not as if it’s important. And why single out poor Doornbos? What has he ever done wrong? It seems as though Alonso has a lot of frustration at the moment, and he is letting it out on the racetrack in some bizarre ways.

But as if Alonso’s penalty wasn’t incredible enough, Michael Schumacher ended up getting a 2 second qualifying penalty aswell for overtaking under a red flag, which is a big no-no. Schumi says he was given no option but to overtake, after Alonso slowed a queue of cars right down. Looking at the footage, that is a convincing explanation. But there was still no need for Schumacher to overtake under a red flag. It’s not difficult to hit the brakes.

Under those circumstances, the race was always going to be good. But then came the rain. How long is it since there’s been a wet race? Two or three years? Too long, that’s for sure. It was to turn out to be one of those days where all of the big names cracked.

Michael Schumacher had an incredible start — up from 11^th on the grid to 4^th after just one lap. Alonso took longer to make his way through the field, but eventually he was up to the lead. Not before Alonso and Schumacher had a fun battle on the track. You seldom see championship contenders battling like that on-track — mostly they make their moves via impenetrable pit strategies. But in that phase of the race — on a wet track — Alonso’s Michelin tyres were so much better than Schumacher’s Bridgestones. With Alonso stroming up so quickly they had no choice but to meet on the track.

Kimi Räikkönen was initially looking quite good for the win. But he ran into trouble — and another car — when it came to lapping Vitantonio Liuzzi. It was a spectacular crash, with Kimi practically climbing over the top of Liuzzi’s car. It was difficult to say from the replays exactly who was to blame. It looked as though Räikkönen was just too slow to move out of Liuzzi’s way. But right now Liuzzi seems to be getting the blame for slowing down too much.

After Kimi’s crash, Alonso had taken the lead. After Renault’s poor form since the US Grand Prix and Alonso’s disastrous build-up to the race, this was quite a turn up for the books — but Alonso looked as though he was going to win. That was before he had the most bizarre “driveshaft failure” in history. It was the sort of driveshaft failure that makes your car go all wobbly and throws a few wheel nuts off your car straight after a pitstop.

I don’t think many people buy Alonso’s explanation — which he gave unprompted. It seemed to everybody else as though the tyre change didn’t go to plan. But did Alonso and Renault really have to make up a driveshaft failure? It is more embarassing for Renault to have wheel nuts flying off their car than it is for their car to have a driveshaft failure?

With Alonso dispatched, the lead was taken by, of all people, Jenson Button. Like Alonso and Schumacher, Button started low down in the grid due to an engine penalty. Button felt good about his car, but the engine change caused a worry plus an extra ten cars to pass.

But the wet conditions really showed up the current qualifying rules for their ridiculousness. It was actually an advantage to qualify outside the top ten because further down the grid you are allowed to change your fuel load between qualifying and the race. Meanwhile, the top ten qualifiers were stuck with the same fuel loads that they used during qualifying — fuel loads designed for a dry race. When the heavens opened, the strategy of everybody in the top ten was dumped on.

Button drove a great race though. He made some great overtaking manoeuvres — most memorably on Michael Schumacher at turn 1, a clean and brave move. And now Button only needed to finish the race and he would win.

But the race wasn’t over. Most of the action seemed to revolve around Michael Schumacher. He lost part of his front wing in an edgy battle with Fisichella. He then overdid it against Pedro de la Rosa, skipping the same chicane twice. He should have been penalised, but it didn’t matter in the end because de la Rosa was so fast that he overtook Schumacher anyway. Then there was yet another battle with Heidfeld, when Schumacher parked his car in the garage. It seemed as though both World Championship contenders had come away from this pivotal race without scoring!

Meanwhile, Button was still out in the lead. James Allen and Anthony Davidson, ITV’s commentators, were buzzing. Allen had put several curses on Button by talking up his chances of a win. Meanwhile Davidson — Honda’s test driver — very much looked at things from the team’s point of view. “Don’t forget,” Davidson said when Jenson first took the lead, “that I chose the tyres for this race — so this is a pretty nervous moment for me aswell.”

When Button finally met the chequered flag for the first time in his Formula 1 career, Davidson yelped, “I can’t believe I was on television for this race! Martin Brundle, what have you done?!” Brundle was on holiday. I’ve read on some places that Brundle deliberately missed out the Hungarian Grand Prix because it is usually a boring race. I’m pretty sure it’s not the first time that Brundle has skipped the Hungarian GP. But he chose the wrong one to skip this year.

The Hungaroring has a reputation for being a processional race circuit where it is impossible to overtake. Maybe some of that is justified, but all circuits have seen processional races, and I can remember quite a few exciting races there. How could you forget the drama of the 1997 race where Damon Hill took his drastically underpowered Arrows within a whisker of a win? Or last year when Räikkönen recovered from a nightmare situation — having to start first in qualifying — to win the race?

And I certainly don’t think many people would consider this race to be boring. Button has finally broken his duck. Although I’m not his biggest fan, his first win has been long overdue after 115 entries. This is also Honda’s first win as a constructor since 1967, although of course they had plenty as engine manufacturers in the 1980s and 1990s.

It marks the end of a three year long drought of British winners — the longest in history apparently. Button is also the first Englishman to win a race since Johnny Herbert took the flag at the 1999 European Grand Prix — another crazy wet race.

It was also great to see Pedro de la Rosa take his first-ever podium and Nick Heidfeld, perhaps the most ignored driver of the past decade, taking a well-deserved third place.

Even after the chequered flag had fallen, though, the drama wasn’t over. Robert Kubica — Poland’s first F1 driver in his first race — had finished 7^th to take two Championship points. But in scrutineering his car was found to be 2kg underweight. Apparently this was down to excessive tyre wear, with no malicious intentions. What a terrible shame for Kubica.

But his disqualification meant that Schumacher was awarded a point, so the Championship lead has been cut down to just ten points!

All-in-all, this was a race that reminded you of how much can change in F1 in just a couple of months. Just a couple of months ago Alonso’s Championship lead looked virtually unassailable. And if you asked me a couple of months ago if I thought Button would win a race this year I would have laughed.

Now we’re being lined up for an exciting down-to-the-wire Championship battle. The next race is at Turkey. I can’t wait.