With the return of no refuelling for this season, it makes trying to judge the form for the upcoming season a wildly pointless affair, at least that’s my thoughts on it anyway. Although we can see that the big names (Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Redbull and possibly Lada sorry meant to type Renault) are looking like they will remain at the pointy end of things.

This year has got to be the most eagerly anticipated season in F1 for a long time. Why? well there are so many reasons, there have been rule changes, driver changes, new teams, new circuits and more announced and in F1 the more new things you throw into the mix the more the anticipation builds.

Will the rule changes mean that one team gets a relative jump in performance like Brawn GP did last year? will any of the new “rookie” drivers surprise and excite people the way Hamilton’s arrival did? Will the new teams be the “mobile chicanes” or “embarrassment” that some have suggested? Will the new circuits bring new excitement to the circus?

At this point, every question brings to mind another and another and another, you get the idea. There is another reason to be excited about this season as well and it’s a doozy, something that hasn’t happened in F1 in so long that I’m not sure it’s happened since I started following the sport in 1978. There are 4 (former) F1 World Champions starting the season and they’re all in cars that I’m expecting to be highly competitive and 2 of them are in the same team! I’m starting to sound like an informercial

Monza, Parabolica, Tyre wall

But wait there’s more! (yes, i went there) As if all that wasn’t enough, there’s another big story, in fact a huge story and one that is sure to dominate a lot of F1 columns this season (it certainly has taken a lot of them in the season build up) The return of the one, the only, the legendary, Micheal Schumacher.

Without question the most successful F1 driver of all time, is he going to add to the legend or destroy it, at his age (41) and with his name already on almost every page of the f1 record book I don’t think he can destroy the legend. But what is there left for him to achieve? well for one thing he’s only 9 victories away from having 100 F1 race wins to his name and that might be enough to grab him another world title.

All these questions will start to be answered on Sunday, when the lights go out and the engines roar. I can’t wait, really I can’t, I may not sleep again until the first race is over. There is one final question that only I can answer?

Who will I be supporting this year?

Well, I’ve been called a Ferrari Fan but that’s only because some of my favourite drivers have driven for them (Giles Villeneuve, Stefan Johansen, Michael Schumacher & Felipe Massa) But I was a Schumacher fan before he was a Ferrari driver and the same goes for Felipe. Am I an Alonso Fan? well no, some of my previous posts about him should make that clear.

So I have 2 drivers to choose between from that statement alone, but I’m also a fan of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, so that could make me a Red Bull fan, but then there’s, also an up and coming driver who I think has been underrated, Nico Rosberg and finally a driver whose name alone brings memories flooding back like Jacques Villenueve‘s arrival did.

That’s Bruno Senna, he like Jacques has a legendary shadow hanging over him, Uncle Ayrton, I don’t think he has a car to compete with the big boys this year but then Uncle Ayrton won in a Lotus that people didn’t rate terribly highly either.

Oh the choices, I guess I’ll just have to support them all as much as I can, I’d love to see anyone of them lift the crown at the end of the year, but there can be only one WDC 2010 and I guess when I look deep, deep down into my soul, I want to see Schumacher lift the crown again, I want to see the “old guy” (at least in F1 terms) not just beat the “young pretenders” but do it by a humiliating margin.

Why?

Oh come on do you really need me to answer that?

Schuey wins Nurburg 2006

Oh alright then, It would be the greatest comeback of all time, it would be the ultimate “never give up” story, jaysus it’d be like Rocky come to life!

And finally, here’s a thought to keep you distracted from all the other F1 goodness until sunday. I remember way back in Schuey’s early days an interview where he was asked what his ultimate goal in F1 was, his answer? to win 10 World championships, he has 7 and he’s signed to Mercedes for 3 seasons and I think he’ll need luck on his side but, I don’t see any other driver on the grid this weekend that has a chance of ever winning 10. Go Michael!

As a result Fernando was a bit peeved. So he decides he can’t see whether there are white lines on his tyres or not and spends 9 or 10 seconds on the radio checking that the team put the right set on. As a result Lewis misses his opportunity to do a flying lap by 4 seconds.

Now all hell has broken loose, McLaren are once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, let’s not forget Lewis’s accusations of team orders in Monaco, Fernando’s accusations of favouritism, The whole spy mess and now Hungarogate ™. It seems to me what should have been a dream season for McLaren has turned into a nightmare.

Is it just me or are both drivers acting like a spoilt brats?

Eddie Irvine seems to think so and he makes some interesting points. I have to say, I agree with him when he says…

To block Lewis like that in qualifying was one of the most stupid things I’ve ever seen and it reminded me of Michael Schumacher’s move on Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997

I think Eddie managed to sum up what I found so offensive about this whole thing…

“I can’t condone cheating, but if you must do it, there’s got to be a subtler way!â€?

At least when Michael and Ayrton were caught they were trying to make it look like an ‘accident’

I can see where he’s coming from, I am starting to think that Lewis has been manipulating things when speaking to the press, but then what driver hasn’t at some point in his career. Still that bit of arrogance that’s starting to show is a sign of what’s happening at the moment and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of it. He’s the most successful rookie of all time by a long long way and it must be so hard to resist being arrogant when you are in a class of your own.

Last Saturday, when this all went off, I thought that maybe there was a culture of cheating starting to build in McLaren, I now think it’s more to do with 2 giant egos battling to be number 1 in a team that will not publicly condone such a thing and despite the success they have had in the past they have mostly come when there has been a ‘natural’ number 1 in the team (sorry DC I love your attitude these days but you were never a match for Hakkinen, except maybe the day Ron ordered you to let him pass). Remember Senna and Prost? That ended well for McLaren didn’t it

I feel myself, it’s only a matter of time before one of the brats throws the toys out of the pram and does something even more stoopid (and probably dangerous) than what we saw this weekend. I really hope it doesn’t come to that but barring Ron actually names a number 1 driver I can’t see this ending any other way. The question is which one will it be, the young gifted rookie or the 2 time world champ?

Shame on you Fernando, you have often criticised other drivers for tactics such as these and now you do the same! To your own Teammate? of course your counting on Ron Dennis not lodging a formal complaint, as it would compromise the team, your counting on Ron Dennis not feeling the need to ‘change your engine’ or ‘start you from the pit lane’ or even firing you. It was obvious from the coverage that this was not planned and approved by the team.

I’m reminded of ‘Rascassegate’ at last years Monaco GP and Flavio Briatore’s comments in particular.

“Someone who was seven times a world champion wants us to believe that he didn’t do it on purpose – it’s fairyland.”

At least there could be some debate over Schumacher’s intentions, but, in my opinion, there can be no denying that Fernando sat still despite being ordered out of the pits by the team.

This all comes right in the middle of the whole Stepneygate affair and I have to say thing’s look bad for McLaren, they were found guilty of cheating, yet not penalised as ‘they gained no benefit’ from the information. I’m sorry, but cheating is cheating and unless some punishment is applied to McLaren even as a token gesture, I believe it calls in to question the impartiality of the FIA and it almost legitimises cheating maybe that’s why Fernando did it.

I’m sure there will be a lot of comment in the next few days/weeks regardless of what the outcome this weekend and in the whole spy thing, at the end of the day, it would be easy to say the only ones losing out are the stakeholders in the sport, as they are making a mockery of what has been an incredibly entertaining season in F1 for all the right reasons.

But I love F1, have done since I were a nipper and I’m a stakeholder in the sport, granted as a spectator only but it’s the spectators that the sponsors want to entice and it’s the sponsors that provide the funds for the teams and drivers to go racing. I’m glad I’m not a vodafone customer because I would now have to change phone companies, I’m glad I don’t drive a Mercedes because I would have to change it.

Next up, Autosport made the same announcement, with one major difference, it might be a night race.

Then a few hours later ITV F1 make the same announcement, but there saying, Singapore will have the honour of hosting the first night race.

Now before, I had a chance to start looking for flight’s, Autosport post a follow up story. Literally within half an hour and they are sticking to there “might be a night race” story.

Okay this is the second time in the last few month’s that we’ve had the suggestion of a night race. So what’s it all about? Well it would appear that Mr. E wants to make the “fly-away” races a little more “friendly” to the european audiences, but also he’s generating public discussion. Which will make the idea easier to accept to the teams, well with the sponsors “encouragement” anyway , provided public opinion is behind the idea anyway.

The idea is sound, there have been plenty of night races in other formula’s before. Me personally, I think it’s a brilliant idea and wherever it happens I would dearly love to be there. I’m hoping the night race, if it does happen, will be towards the end of next year, that way I might have a hope of paying for trip.

So I’m all for it and I know one or 10 others that think it’s a fantastic idea as well and if the fans like the idea then there’s more chance that the audiences will be bigger. Which in turn means that the sponsors will be happy, which will generate other potential sponsors, which will mean more money to go round, which makes the team bosses happy cause they won’t have to fire people, which will keep the team staff happy. So, that leaves the drivers, let’s face it, if they don’t want to do it then it’s a dead duck.

Thankfully, Kimi and some of the other drivers seem to like the idea. Unfortunatly, Alonso, the reigning World Champion, doesn’t seem to keen on the idea.

But then again who’s gonna argue with Mr. E? especially after his most recent comments on the subject of night races. I’m getting the impresion he wants a night race and he’s gonna do what ever it takes to make it happen. Lets face it Mr. E is one of those people who makes the things he wants to happen, happen.

So, is it to early to speculate? Lewis Hamilton could be the 2007 world champion, personally I’m a Massa fan these days but I’ll talk about that another time, Lets just take a look at what Lewis has accomplished in only 4 races in Formula 1.

1. He has finished every race, always good for a rookie to be able to do that.
2. He has passed cars on the first lap of every race.
3. He has finished on the podium at every race so far.
4. He seems to be consistently faster than his team mate.
5. He seems to be consistently faster than the current World Champion.
6. He’s the youngest driver ever to lead the world drivers championship.
7. He’s never lost in Monaco (and that’s where the next race is)

And  I think he’s also the most successful formula 1 rookie of all time with 4 podiums in his first season and there’s only been 4 races!

The Lewis Hamilton story is an incredible one and it is sure to draw more and more attention to Formula 1 as time goes on, even if he starts making “the rookie” mistakes that everyone is still half expecting. What he has achieved so far is astounding, Lets not forget the current World Champ is the man who beat the most successful driver in history to 2 world championships and Lewis has made him look just a little silly recently

So I’m asking the question does anyone think we could have a rookie world champion at the end of the 2007 season?

And once again this is an opportunity for Michael to show just how great a champion he really is, even on a day when he’s been dealt such a blow, he still goes back to his garage and thanked every single member of the team.

That’s a far cry from the reaction of “Wah-lonso” when he loses out, blaming the FIA, his conspiracy theory and occasionally his team, come on Wah-lonso it’s time to grow up and start being a man, a memorable Champion or at the very least not a sore loser.

Congratulations on the win today Fernando, just remember the fat lady may be warming up in the wing’s but she ain’t gonna be singing for at least 2 weeks. Lets not close the book on the 2006 Formula 1 World championship until we see who’s standing on the podium in Brazil.

Well that’s what some people would have us believe anyway. After all the commotion in Monza, I’m so disappointed in the mainstream F1 press they all wanted to say it but none of them would. You wonder why? I did but then I realised there just trying to make a story where there isn’t one, yup that’s it if enough people start to believe a story then it starts to take on a momentum of it’s own it creates it’s own smoke so there has to be a fire right?

Fair play to Fernando and Flavio they said what was on there mind Flav more than Fernando who just seemed to think F1 isn’t a sport anymore. Then again Flav retracted Fernando didn’t and infact has gone considerably further since.

I know Alonso is the youngest world champion in the history of the sport but what does he hope to achieve by slagging off the most successful driver in the history of the sport? that’s not going to win you the championship only keeping a calm head and scoring points will do that, not driving beyond the limits of your car until the engine explodes or whinging into the radio or sideswiping a friday test driver at high speed before brake testing him.

Schuey has his history too as so many people have been quick to point out since Monaco, but for some reason the media are blinkered to Alonso‘s wrong doing’s and very quick to point to Schuey’s past indiscretions at every available opportunity. Yet very quick to forget that schuey has been penalised severely in the past as well, both on and off the track.

Well whatever Alonso and flav had hoped to achieve by there actions at Monza what they did achieve was a clarification of the “blocking” rule in F1 although you can tell by the tone that the FIA aren’t happy about the way these 2 conducted themselves. I really am surprised that neither have been pulled up for bringing the sport into disrepute.

I think there are 2 thing’s Fernando needs to learn from what has happened at and since Monza.

1. You’ll never win an argument with the referee
2. If you wanna have a bitch about a competitor get your manager to do it for you

Still it’s nice to know the fans have more sense than to listen to the media and have made there own minds up by voting Schuey and Ferrari there favourite by a country mile.

The ‘blocking’ incident that relegated Alonso to 10th on the grid? and upset him just a smidge

Kubica’s incredible start?

Kubica’s amazing drive to third place?

Alonso’s engine blow up?

Hhhhhmmm there was something else as well…

What was it again?

Oh, yeah the Greatest F1 driver of all time announced his retirement.

Where to start on that one? Well to be honest I am going to write something on this but I think I should wait till the seasons over, just to save myself revising it when he does/doesn’t win his eight championship.

Personally, I’d love to see him go out on a high note

Ok so it still isn’t the best second and third place battle in F1 History, and to be fair Ranault have been waiting a while to get there own back,  but how long is it since we saw 2 world champions that close at the end of a race? (Conor are you out there?)

Oh BTW the link above is Described Completly incorrectly so ignore that, this is the closing laps of the 1979 French Grand Prix in Dijon, the race was the first race to be won by a Turbocharged car in F1 by Jean-Pierre Jabouille in a Renault.

Those of us who saw this on the day (tv or at the circuit) know what really mattered that day and that was the battle for second place between Rene Arnoux (Renault) (who’s quoted at the start and end of the clip) and Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) Even at 4 years old (okay almost 5) I knew I was watching something very very special.