World Series by Renault — the feeder series to watch

There is a surfeit of motor racing championships that aim to usher in the next generation of Formula 1 stars. But only a few are worth paying serious attention to. GP2 — the ‘official’ way to progress to F1 The most well-known by a long way is GP2. Backed by Bernie Ecclestone, GP2 is the […]

Is Alonso now the championship favourite?

All of a sudden, the complexion of the championship has changed. Just a few races ago, Fernando Alonso was one of the outsiders in the championship. As has been widely noted, when he declared himself capable of winning the championship at Silverstone a few races ago, his remarks were met with scepticism. He was, after […]

You can’t make an old dog forget dirty tricks

The Hungarian Grand Prix lived up to its reputation for being a boring circuit in terms of overtaking, but always delivering action of some sort. Hungaroring may be dull as a spectacle, but there is never a shortage of talking points. This year’s was provided by Michael Schumacher. His already infamous move to push Rubens […]

Bahrain boring? Blame Bernie, not the refuelling ban

It has to be said that the writing was on the wall for the Bahrain Grand Prix before the teams even arrived there. And it’s not due to the refuelling ban. There are arguments for and against refuelling, but on balance I think banning refuelling is a good idea. The legacy of refuelling Some people […]

Button’s bounce back

This season never ceases to amaze me. The racing hasn’t always been the best, but the outcomes have seldom been predictable. At first, the utter dominance of Brawn, and Button in particular, was unbelievable. They were unstoppable, and it took longer for the other teams to catch up. Then when the other teams caught up, […]

Fisichella, Badoer and the hard-to-drive Ferrari

No-one can have failed to have spotted the irony. Giancarlo Fisichella has realised his childhood dream. Like any Italian driver, the opportunity to drive for Ferrari at all — never mind at Monza — is a real dream come true for Fisichella. But as with Luca Badoer, that dream has not quite gone to plan. […]

Crikeynen! Kimi wins again at last

What a grand prix weekend that was. It just goes to show you what a decent circuit can do for racing. Boy, can Spa do it for racing. It also clearly does it for Kimi Räikkönen, who is always mesmerising in this most inspirational of settings. Räikkönen confuses people a lot of the time with […]

Ruby on Rails!

This year’s European Grand Prix was not the best race we’ve seen so far this year — but at least it wasn’t the utter snoozer we had last year. There are at least a few interesting talking points. First, of course, is the performance of Rubens Barrichello, which was truly masterful. For once, the most […]

Forza Minardi! Bravo Sebastian!

After the controversy of Spa, which I described at the time as being among the darkest days of F1, the Italian Grand Prix has provided the sport with its best day for a very long time. It’s the good news story F1 craved. Sebastian Vettel has become the youngest ever Grand Prix winner at a […]

Another opinion on the incident

Several times on this blog I have recommended The Inside Line podcast with Maurice Hamilton and Ian Phillips. As always, it came up with the goods following the Belgian Grand Prix. Ian Phillips gave his opinion on the incident where Lewis Hamilton cut the chicane. For those that don’t know, Ian Phillips is Director of […]