Formula 1

[Dirk Gently]

US GRAND PRIX GRID

1. HAMILTON McLaren
2. ALONSO McLaren
3. MASSA Ferrari
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
5. HEIDFELD BMW
6. KOVALAINEN Renault
7. VETTEL BMW
8. TRULLI Toyota
9. WEBBER Red Bull
10. FISICHELLA Renault

11. COULTHARD Red Bull
12. SCHUMACHER Toyota
13. BUTTON Honda
14. ROSBERG Williams
15. BARRICHELLO Honda
16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri

17. WURZ Williams
18. SATO Super Aguri
19. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
20. SPEED Toro Rosso
21. SUTIL Spyker
22. ALBERS Spyker

Race starts 18:00 British Time.

[Dirk Gently]

1st Hamilton
2nd Alonso
3rd Massa
4th Raikkonen
5th Kovalainen
6th Trulli


Hamilton 58 pts
Alonso 48 pts
Massa 39 pts
Raikkonen 32 pts
Heidfeld 26 pts
Kubica 13 pts

[Larry]

have to be honest and say I've never really like motor sport of any kind but I must say I've been very impressed by the instant impact Hamilton has made on the F1 curcuit. The one very noticable thing about him is that he comes across as a likable and very sensible leval headed young man who is not allowing his success to go to his head

[Paul Hayes]

have to be honest and say I've never really like motor sport of any kind but I must say I've been very impressed by the instant impact Hamilton has made on the F1 curcuit. The one very noticable thing about him is that he comes across as a likable and very sensible leval headed young man who is not allowing his success to go to his head

Apart from when referring to drivers in slower cars as "monkeys".

Interesting to wonder how long any driver making the same remark in reverse would be around before being chucked out of the sport.

[Dirk Gently]

1 Kimi Rikknen Ferrari 10
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 8
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 6 This guy just can't stop picking up silverware!
4 Robert Kubica BMW 5
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW 4
6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 3
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 2
8 Jenson Button Honda 1 Finally!

1 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 64
2 Fernando Alonso Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 50
3 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 47
4 Kimi Rikknen Finnish Ferrari 42
5 Nick Heidfeld German BMW 30
6 Robert Kubica Polish BMW 17
7 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 16
8 Heikki Kovalainen Finnish Renault 12
9 Alexander Wurz Austrian Williams-Toyota 8
10 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 7
11 Nico Rosberg German Williams-Toyota 5
12= David Coulthard British Red Bull-Renault 4
12= Takuma Sato Japanese Super Aguri-Honda 4
14= Mark Webber Australian Red Bull-Renault 2
14= Ralf Schumacher German Toyota 2
16= Jenson Button British Honda 1
16= Sebastian Vettel German BMW 1
18= Scott Speed USA STR-Ferrari 0
18= Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Honda 0
18= Anthony Davidson British Super Aguri-Honda 0
18= Adrian Sutil German Spyker-Ferrari 0
18= Christijan Albers Dutch Spyker-Ferrari 0
18= Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian STR-Ferrari 0

1 McLaren-Mercedes 114
2 Ferrari 89
3 BMW 48
4 Renault 28
5 Williams-Toyota 13
6 Toyota 9
7 Red Bull-Renault 6
8 Super Aguri-Honda 4
9 Honda 1
10= STR-Ferrari 0
10= Spyker-Ferrari 0

[stephenhannan]

Apart from when referring to drivers in slower cars as "monkeys".

Interesting to wonder how long any driver making the same remark in reverse would be around before being chucked out of the sport.

When it comes to Formula 1 I can say that I do not seem to gravitate towards people of my own Nationality.

Lewis is performing well in a great car.

However will the ferraris return to form after the possibility of sabotage?

Will Alonso finally get his head back together?

Will Lewis's growing arrogance end?

[stephenhannan]

Raikonnen was really on it today looking outstandingly smooth and un troubled. I think Hamilton is going to find it tough on Sunday.

Also the big surprise of the day was Ralf Schumacher, who in setting third fastest time of the day made the Toyota look very calm and well balanced whilst on the other hand Trulli was all over the place.

Alonso was on the ragged edge must of the time, and visibly fastest at Club but kept making small errors. I watched at Abbey and he just kept missing the Apex into the chicane.

Massa too looked calm but not as fast as Kimi who just was so on it that he made all others look average.

having watched Lewis for the first time actually out in anger I was surprised how much he kicks the back end out in high speed corners. Does not auger well for wet races.

Jenson just could not seem to get his act together and missed the 2nd session whilst Honda let Christian Klien take the car for a spin.

Sorry Lewis fans but I think 3rd is the best acheivable after the two run away Ferraris. Also beware of a fast but often clumsy Schumacher into Copse at the beginning.

However having said that tommorrow is another day and we will see what morning practice and Qualy reveal.

[Dirk Gently]

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
2 Kimi Rikknen Ferrari
3 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari
5 Robert Kubica BMW
6 Ralf Schumacher Toyota
7 Heikki Kovalainen Renault
8 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
9 Nick Heidfeld BMW
10 Jarno Trulli Toyota
11 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
12 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
13 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota
14 Rubens Barrichello Honda
15 Scott Speed STR-Ferrari
16 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari
17 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
18 Jenson Button Honda
19 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda
20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari
21 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda
22 Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari

What was that someone was saying about Hamilton only making 3rd?

Although I do wonder what fuel he has. Whether he's too light & will have to stop too early, especially if he can't get away from Kimi.

[Paul Hayes]

I think tomorrow will be very close - if it's dry, a Raikkonen or Hamilton win, but if it rains complete carnage and a BMW picking up the pieces.

[Paul Hayes]

Not as great a race as I'd hoped it might be, although the battle between Alonson and Raikkoken briefly provided some spark in the middle part. Once the second stops were out of the way though it was pretty much a cruise to the flag for the Finn, which although a shame for the race was good for the championship as it helps close things up a little. The second half of the year should be very tight indeed.

[Dirk Gently]

1 6 Kimi Rikknen Ferrari
2 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes
3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4 10 Robert Kubica BMW
5 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari
6 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW
7 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault
8 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
9 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda
10 7 Jenson Button Honda

Might have been a more interesting race had Massa not screwed up his start.
Hamilton gets another trophy, that's 9 in as many races. Nice to see he's disappointed with 3rd.

1 McLaren-Mercedes 128
2 Ferrari 103
3 BMW 56
4 Renault 31
5 Williams-Toyota 13
6 Toyota 9
7 Red Bull-Renault 6
8 Super Aguri-Honda 4
9 Honda 1


1 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 70
2 Fernando Alonso Spanish McLaren-Mercedes 58
3 Kimi Rikknen Finnish Ferrari 52
4 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 51
5 Nick Heidfeld German BMW 33
6 Robert Kubica Polish BMW 22
7 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 17
8 Heikki Kovalainen Finnish Renault 14
9 Alexander Wurz Austrian Williams-Toyota 8
10 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 7

[stephenhannan]

I was going to title my race report as "Cool Kimi Comfortably cruises" for that is exactly what he did.

Anyone witnessing the Friday and Saturday Practices would have, unless wild with optimism or blinded by hype, have seen that under every condition other than low fuel and soft tyres was the Ferrari superior to the Mclaren.

Knowing this all John Todt needed to do was optimise his tyre management and fuel stratergy and surely his two boys would have stood on the top two steps of the winners podium.

And that is what would have happened if not for this weeks Ferrari glitch hitting Filipe, who despite a magnificent charge from the pits, passing car after car finally reached a determined Kubica who would not have him pass.

How Filipe must have wished for a lap or two more fuel in the middle session which would have seen him past Kubica as well as Heidfeld.

So here we had the man who I have unfortunatly described as Kimi Car Breaker in the past pulling away from Alonso at the rate of 1/2 a second per lap and nearly a whole second from Lewis without breaking sweat.

Who ever in the Mclaren garage choose Lewis' pit stratergy clearly wanted to flatter to decieve and the result lost the poor boy even the opportunity of challenging his team mate whist struggling with a heavy car on hard tyres through much of two sessions.

As for the rest of the field; the Toyota charge came to nothing and the BWM returned in formation, punctuated by Massa and nothing spectacular was seen after this.

As for Silverstone itself. Saturday saw the return of the badly managed car parking of yesteryear. Having got it right over the past few years the un organised parking Marshals ( Or Boys ) were not up to the job with some of the most idiotic management I've ever witnessed.

And yet again the organisers are still neglecting the true fan there on general admission in favour of the Champagne and Strawberry brigade in their half empty corporate suites now establised over former Fan areas. Yes I do mean the monstrosity down at Vale and the ever encroaching costly seating on the hill at Club. Some stands notably Priory and Stowe were half empty whilst true fan cannot find space to see anything but a flash of car despite being there from the crack of Dawn. I was at Vale at 6 o;clock this morning having started out at four and just about managed to find a spot, now with vision obscured by the half empty aformentioned corporate area. get your finger out organisers. Bernie is right about improvements and that does not just mean more revenue.

[Paul Hayes]

Definitely one of the best finishes to a race we've had for years. Alonso and Massa banging away at each other was highly entertaining, and Ferrari must be gutted after having had the race seemingly sown up. Action right to the very last corner to as the ever-unlucky Webber *almost* threw away the podium finish, but fortunately managed to keep it all together to the line.

I couldn't believe that carnage at the start though, and all those cars throwing themselves into the one corner in the first few chaotic laps. Well done to Hamilton for the presence of mind to keep the engine running, but you have to say that he and McLaren threw it away with the decision to go onto dry weather tyres so early.

It looks as though we have a genuinely multi-driver title fight shaping up now though as the season reaches the sharp end. If they all anything like as good as this from here on in, we could be in for one of the best and closest seasons ever.

[stephenhannan]

yesterday I thought was the true Moment we really saw the Alonso factor kick in.

As much as I dislike Mclaren as "The other team" I appreciate that Alonso is now the exceptional driver in the line up with a competant team behind him.

The McLaren should not have beaten the Ferrari on paper however the deficeit is amply made up by the exceptional driving of Fernando now that he has come to terms with the car and the tyres.

I think this is unbeatable this year and Hamilton will have to wait his turn as his experience caught him well out this week and will surely do so again this season.

I even believe that Fernando was smart enough to keep it steady during the early part of the race knowing that the one weak part of the Ferrari which is temprature problems would catch Kimi out if he forced Kimi to continually run in dirty air. From the start Fernando would have been happy with first or second and if the opportunity to get that first place would arise as it did then he would go for it.

Alonso really is in the "Great" mode, no wonder MS decided that another year not finishing clear first was not what he wanted.

I've heard that it was said that F1 should install sprinklers on all circuits. If that what it takes to showcase super races like yesterday I'm all for it.

Cut to the others and we saw super drives from Webber and Wurz. In my heart Williams are and will always be the " British" team and any route back to greatness is much welcomed. Maybe we could hope to see a couple of British drivers in there to muster the ranks of British supporters and sponsers.

Nutcase of the week goes to the new "Monza Gorilla" as we saw the Torro Rosa flying backwards into the first corner nearly taking the safety car with it.

Smile of the race to the sight of a Spyker leading a grand prix for three laps. You know this may have led to points had the race not been red flagged and the strange decission to go to full wets at the restart. A touch of the old Jordan " what the hell" thinking methinks. I bet Eddie had a smile to himself.

[stephenhannan]

The big headed rookie or the bad tempered Spaniard?

[Dirk Gently]

I don't mind Hamilton losing out on the title but I really don't want to see Alonso win it. I've really gone off him this season & that stunt he pulled in the pits of qualifying REALLY was not on for team mates. You never saw ANYONE do that in the past no matter how much they disliked their team mate.

I wouldn't shed a tear if Alonso suddenly developed mechanical problems over the next race or three.

[stephenhannan]

Except of course for the untouchable, immortal Senna on Prost. Or Mansell on Prost.

It was all so gentlemanly back then?

[Dirk Gently]

Not in the pit. 'Racing' incidents are to be expected but to just sit there & run the clock down was inexcusable, IMO.

[stephenhannan]

Mansell threatening Piguet at Williams in 1987.

[Dirk Gently]

What, and that made Piquet's qualifying worse? It impacted on what Piquet did on the track?

[Dirk Gently]

Any hoo, the Monsoon that was the race at Fuji. What a wet fiasco that was!

Despite Cubica's best effort to knock him off the track Hamilton managed a good win & to help him Alonso smashed up his motor.

That gives Hamilton a 12 point advantage.
This means that Alonso must win the next two races & Hamilton has to finish 5th or worse in both races for Alonso to win the title.

[Dirk Gently]

LATEST NEWS!

Lewis Hamilton will find out on Saturday whether his bid to win the world championship will suffer a serious blow after it was confirmed the McLaren driver is under investigation for his role in the crash that forced Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel out of the Japanese Grand Prix.

I've seen the footage & there is no way that they can say Hamilton is to blame for this. If you look at the footage then it is obvious that Vettel could have given Webber room & not followed in Webber's spray. There was enough room for Vettel to move to the right & not hit Webber.
I think this is just another attack on McLaren & to stop a 'rookie' winning the title.

[stephenhannan]

There is just a question, just a slight question in my mind that suggests that maybe Kimi will do it this year after all.

Lewis came, saw, and blew it this weekend with a typical novice foulup. All he had to do was finish in the top three but both he and the team was anxious to show off and win it outright this week. Can't imagine Michael S making the same mistake.

Alonso doesn'tgive a s**t now and must feel he wasted a year at McClaren where the Germanic style did not fit with his Latin temprement. Now with offers from both Renault and Toyota and maybe even Ferrari too ( Hush Hush )he might be prepared just top rub Dennis's nose in it should Lewis foul up againand he finds himself in a position to do well but not win.

Kimi; Formally "Kimi Car Breaker" has gained confidence and respect in the Ferrari team who have learned to live with his level of commitment and in turn has learned to live with what is expected by him. He will if not make it this year, run away with next year. I was wrong. Kimi is the real deal.

Anyway as to Shanghai my drive of the day goes to young Vettal who amazingly after running 3rd at Japan comes away with a decent place here in a poorish car. What's the betting he gets a decent drive in a year or two?

And David Coulthard who I had no time for in his youth continues to impress with a rapidly improving Red Bull. Is the Newey machine now on the march for next year. I suspect so. and about time for David to make one last bid for some kind of Glory ( top Five )

praise also for Rosberg who is rumoured to have a place at Toyota should Alonso turn it down.

where forth for Hamilton?

A great Driver but too full of himself. Everything has gone his way from preference at Mclaren through to a fair measure of luck. Champion yes but in a year post Michael who I thought would have wrapped this year up by Monza had he been around.The proof being the comparison with massa in 2006 would have suggested that the advantage would have been 30/40 points by now and a clear championship. Will Lewis be a worthy Champion. in the future. I think so, but first he has to gain true respect from the other drivers and compete elsewher than Mclaren who are by now the most discredited team on the circuit.

[stephenhannan]

On vettel

Anyone notice that he placed car 7th on the grid in his very first outing?

Much as Ms did at Spa 1991 for Jordan. Spooky!!!!

[Dirk Gently]

I agree with you on a lot of what you say. Kimi will never be another M.S but he will be as constant front runner, similar to D.Hill. Massa doesn't seem to be doing as well with out M.S as a stablemate, it makes you wonder just how much input M.S had at Ferrari? I think if he ever wanted he could have made a good engineer/race management.

Vettle is a driver to be watched, he's showing the potential that both Alonso & Webber showed early on in their careers.