Firstly, respect to Forensic who has already dedicated part of his frame-by-frame post to the very incident I am about to tear apart.

F1 has always been home to a sizable dollop of controversy, most of it to do with the FIA, the body who sanction F1, having a bias toward Ferrari. Whether or not this is true is not really up for discussion, although if you look hard enough you can probably find it discussed ad infinitum

The latest chapted in the epic tome came on Sunday, when in a race that ended in a situation where I was ready for Penelope Pitstop to come past in the Compact Pussycat, and at a greater speed than any of the, supposedly top, drivers was managing. Picture the scene, Lewis Hamilton is looking to make a pass into the pedestrian-slow Bus Stop Chicane, round Kimi Raikonnen's Ferrari, already tip-toeing round a mildly wet track. He moves up the outside for the right-hand side section and was alongside the Finns car as the two went to the left hand side portion of the corner.

As the two approach the corner Kimi forces Lewis off the track and on to the tarmac run off area on the inside of the corner. This forced move meant that Lewis had cut the corner, and as is excepted in F1 he had to give the position back. A similar set-up is used at numerous F1 tracks, the Nouvelle Chicane (after the tunnel) in Monaco, the final turns of Montreal's track and the various chicanes of Mangy-Cours, where Lewis was penalised for a similar misdemenour earlier this season.

Snd he gave the position back, allowing the Ferrari man past to the extent where Kimi could pull infront of Lewis heading down to the La Source hairpin. Lewis duly outbraked Kimi into the hairpin, in what most of the world saw as a fair move, regardless of the remaining two laps of (what turned out to be) chaos.

But the FIA decided it was not so and docked Lewis 25 seconds for gaining an unfair advantage, and while it may not have been openly said, it has to be preseumed that it is for the events described above.

Now, let's look at the FIA rules, or what is published on Formula1.com for what they have to use in giving penalties, using the relevent section (Driver penalties). And imeadiately there appear to be giant holes in the FIA ruling.

Lewis was forced off the track - his only other options were to run straight into the Ferrari or run over the curb and wet grass/astroturf, which probably would have had the same result. In my opinion this was something that should have been ruled against Kimi, with Lewis being mostly alongside, consistent with the B-pillar ruling that is part of the rules in a majority of touring/stock car series. Basically Kimi should have given Lewis the room to take the corner.

But Lewis, forced off, does give the position back, and once in front by a car length Kimi pulls infront of him. Lewis had said that he hoped, once he'd let Kimi past to take advantage of the tow down to La Source. However, there is no rule that Kimi had to pull over to the racing line, if he believed he was that slow he could have taken the defensive line, rather than allow Lewis to get in his tow.

On top of this there is absolutely no sign that any of this actually influenced the result. Lewis and Kimi swapped places at least once more in the following 3/4 of a lap. The eventual accident that saw Kimi smear Ferrari all over the wall was nothing to do with Hamilton, and so it may well have happened no matter who was infront.

To cap it all off, I can't find mention of the rule that means you have to give the position back, but perhaps that's just because the F1 rule book has more holes than swiss cheese. Hmmm. sounds familiar.

WARNING:  If you haven't seen the Monaco GP race yet, and don't want to have everything spoilt for you by me, DO NOT read this. If you have and you want to read thinly veiled rant about the result, read on.

Firstly - why can't Formula 1 (and European based series in general) understand Safety/Pace Cars?

Safety cars are a thing that have become normal in Formula One in recent years, especially at tracks like Monaco and Montreal. Before last season a new rule was introduced on safety grounds. The pit road would now be closed for a number of laps while the entire field was collected behind the Safety Car. The thinking being that it stopped drivers from hurtling round the track, through, hypothetically, shards of  Carbon Fibre, Turn Workers and Medical/Recovery vehicles, to take advantage of the SC. To me this makes perfect sense. However, to the big wigs and brains behind Formula One strategies fail to understand this. As part of the rule if you pitted for fuel before the pits were open you would be given a drive-through penalty. Of course in order to do this a car may have to carry a few laps surplus fuel compared to when they want to pit. THAT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. Yet people continue to be caught out by it. While the SC periods of this race went off without incident, mainly due to their timing (very early and very late), the rule has cost people in the past - Alonso at Canada last year, Hiedfeld at Barcalona earlier this season after Kovalienen's crash. It's not like this rule is sprung on the at the last minute. It's in the rule book. The same rule book teams probably pour over for months trying to find a grey area and push the envelope on their cars and strategy.

Worst comes with the farcical rule that ALL lapped cars can overtake the leaders, unlapping themselves. This isn't just a lucky dog - it's a whole litter of them. I can understand why this is done. In years past a lapped car stuck between the leader and 2nd (or similar scenario) has allowed a massive gap to open up, killing off any race. However, wouldn't it be easier ( and a lot quicker) to have them drop to the back of the train of cars - preserving the one lap deficit that the lead cars have been good enough to build up, rather than gifting a lap back to those who have up to that point struggled. Today's race saw Kovalienen and Hiedfeld take a number of laps to overtake the lead pack, and who knows what effect that had on results (both theirs', and others' - well specifically Kovalienen's as Hiedfeld was already about 4 laps down.

Today's other big races. The Indy 500 and the Coke 600 will both see numerous Safety Car periods, and all will be handled far better than F1 ever does.

Secondly. Apply here to join the 'We hate Kimi Raikkonen Collective'.

The man is a --------- (something that FOX will probably censor, so I'll let you choose your own word to fill that gap). He is utterly uninspiring (I've referred to him on here before as 'The world's most boring Finn' and I stand by that) and incredibly overrated. He spent years at McLaren breaking cars simply by looking at them, lucked into his only championship because the other team got it's knickers in a twist and has spent this a fair chunk of this season missing bits of car. Round 1 Australia. Spins a few times in some truly rookie errors. Rounds Then-Now. Looks second best to Massa, who, while far from perfect, looks like he should have the number 1 on his car.

Now he proves his talect is very limited. Going straight on at the first corner and making a royal hash-up of the chicane to take out Adrian Sutil - this week's unluckiest man in sport. If it was the other way round - Sutil in the inferior car, screwing up and taking Raikkonen out, everyone would be up in arms about how Sutil doesn't deserve to be in Formula One. But when Kimi does it nothing happens. Mike Gasgoyne, part of the upper echelons of Sutil's Force India team, says that the team have complained to the stewards about the accident, and well they should. Drivers have been penalised before for causing avoidable accidents - and that's what it was. I'm saying Kimi went out ot try and take Sutil out, but I can't help but think that he always knew he had the car there as his own personal crash barrier, and so made little/no effort to avoid it. However, nothing will happen as it's a Ferrari that the FIA will be punishing, and that's like Turkey's voting for an early Christmas.

What made it worse is that post race the head of Ferrari was interviewed by British TV, and asked if he felt bad because one of his driver #### up and cost a team and a young driver their first points. His primary concern is that THEY lost points. I understand the competitive nature of sport, but have some heart. It's not like they are battling with Force India or Sutil for a title. It's not like Sutil didn't deserve to be there. He earnt that position, by not making any mistakes, something that cannot be said of Ferrari today. I hope that there is some sort of apology from Ferrari, either verbal or financial (Ferrari supply Force India's engines) to show that Ferrari are not complete --------- (use you chosen word again).  

Yep. When aked about whether he'd like to drive in Formula One, Marco Andretti came out with this gem, claiming that he is well aware of the sort of underhand tactics that come as part of a drive in Formula One.

There is no denying that Formula One is far from squeaky clean. You only have to look at last years Stepney-gate fiasco between McLaren and Ferrari and the fighting between the teams at the back of the grid to try and get each other kicked out due to percieved idea that customer cars are illegal (Note: they're not, but soon will be). However, trying underhand back-stabbing to try and get one over on your competitors in a multi-million pound sport is nothing new. I could cite hundreds of cheating cases that would prove that for just about every sport going, but sabataging your own team. Now even for Formula One that seems a bit extreme.

The story goes like this. Micheal Andretti was brought over to F1 by McLaren in 1993 after 10 years in CART and a place as a runner up in the 1992 Championship. At the time McLaren were one of the big teams, having finished second in the constructors title to the dominant Williams team whose drivers took 1st and 2nd in that years drivers championship. To follow up they paired up multi-world champion Aryton Senna with Michael Andretti.

One thing about the following season is certain. Senna finished second in the drivers race and Andretti garnered only 7 points, and was replaced by a yound Finn called Mika Hakkinen for the final three races of the season.

Conventional wisdom is, like many drivers who have moved quickly from one form of racing to another, that Andretti struggled to come to terms with the differences in the Indycar's he was familiar with and the Formula One cars. Even in 1993 Formula One cars were massively spohisticated with a dazzling array of electrics and driver aids.

However, this is where Marco's opinion comes in, did McLaren use these electonics to sabotage his dad. Micheal did have a shocker, retiring in 7 out of his 13 races. Marco insists that the sabotage only stopped when Senna himself, who apparently knew what was going on, stepped in.  Admitedly, Michael's performance picks up. An 8th in Belgium, before at podium in his final race at Monza. Had Senna got the team to stop doing what ever skull-duggering they were up to, or was the Monza result because of the high attrition rate that day - with 6 out of the 10 drivers eventually to finish above Andretti in championship retiring and champion Alain Prost coming home 12th.

Either way the damage was done. Andretti was fired before the last three races of the season, to be replaced by Hakkinen, who had been the team's test driver and was (according to Marco) going to be paid far less. Andretti went back to the US and was never heard of again in F1.

McLaren are being predictably tight lipped about the whole thing, and any record of Senna's part in the story was lost into the wall at Tamberello corner in 1994. Even Michael has stayed silent so far.

What to make of it. The Truth? A young man taking advantage of a media opportunity the week before his biggest race of the year? A Formula One question that stirred the memories of a bedtime story that was told to a 6-year-old by his dad when he couldn't find "The Little Engine That Could".

My guess is a combination of the last two.

I've had a pretty manic three weeks or so, so have stored up a few points that need to be unleashed. Adopt the brace position.

NASCAR-wise just about everyone has been proved royally wrong. The Hendrick cars continue to have a big round 0 in their win column (and long may it continue). By no means is their recent domination long forgotten but they've failed to pick up where they left off in 2007. Dale Jr continues to keep those of us who think he's over-rated and over-hyped happy by looking the same sort of ordinary he did last year. Also proving everyone wrong is the list (wel. two Toyota winners so far). Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. You see Tony Stewart in that list. No. Me Neither. You expect that. No? Me neither.

So far it looks like were getting into the best NASCAR season in recent years - no matter what your opinion of the car is you have to agree the near identical templates have made the intended equality between the makers real. We've had all 4 makers win a race, a bunch of teams look strong, putting probably the longest list in years on a list we might put on the 'potential winners' list. Dave Blaney's luck continues to suck more than a breast-fed 12 year old. Running strong at Daytona - bumped out, running strong at Martinsville - unspecified mechanical problem drops him from 12th to 43rd. Joy Unconfined.

The new combined open wheel series is underway. Not that you would have noticed. Given the incredible-ness of last years Chicagoland title decider last weekends dull and very used dishwater Homestead opener was a turn off. It only confirmed what some of us already guessed. The same old IRL guys will be winning, the converted Champ Car guys will be mobile chicanes, so despite the 25 car grid that rolled up messily to the green flag in Miami the real race was probably between the same old 6-8 drivers. Amazingly I found the Cup race at Martinsville more watchable than the IRL race, something that given my very very low opinion of Martinville racing I never expected to happen.

Someone fixed Formula One!! From the first corner in Melbourne when Felipe Massa put his foot down and span towards the wall the sport was a very different monster. It might even now be described as a sport. The drivers have to drive. Incredible.

I have a new love. The American Le Mans Series. I've always loved endurance racing, the main Le Mans event especially, and the American sister series got off to a stormer in Sebring. Although Europe has a similar Le Mans series it is run much closer to 'real' ACO rules, meaning that P2 cars are far weaker than P1's. The ALMS's throwing out of that rule makes the racing far better. No-one wants to see Audi win over and over again. Thanks to Speed TV having coverage of Sebring on the internet and Radio Le Mans also broadcasting over the internet I didn't go to sleep till 2am. And I loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately I have to end some sad news.  A plane crash on Sunday claimed the life of two of the most well-known guys in British motorsport. Former Touring Car driver David Leslie and Team Owner Richard Lloyd crashed en route to the Nogaro circuit in France where they were planning on testing their latest project - a Jaguar GT3 car for the FIA GT championship. Both these guys were, if not childhood heroes of mine, central figures in the sport as I just started to follow it in the early 90's.

It's just a shame that after a great start to the motor-racing year, something like that has to happen.

The 2008 Formula season kicks off in Melbourne, Australia this weekend, to start a season that has more than the normal number of unknowns clouding anyone's predictions. I'm not going to run through the drivers one by one, as bc525 already covered that one (check out his Jan 25th blog). Instead I'm going to cover the talking points ahead of the season.

1) The Spygate Fallout - For those of you living under a motorsport rock, 'Spygate' was the discovery that the McLaren team had had access to confidential Ferrari documents and designs, and had been using them on it's own car. The initial ruling was that McLaren were docked all of the constructors points - the reason their cars will carry numbers 22 and 23, rather than 3 and 4 - reflecting their real performance. The fallout continues to rumble on, various members of the McLaren team being called to court and rumours that team principal Ron Dennis is on the way out. The teams 08 car was subject to FIA checks to make sure that the Ferrari data wasn't still being used. On initial models of the car a few elements were ruled too similar, but what these elements were is probably only known to the FIA and McLaren. Looking at the off-season test times McLaren don't seem to been effected too badly, but F1 tests are notoriously mis-leading.

2) Alonso's Annoyed - After having a season where the world seemed against him at McLaren Fernando Alonso has made a prodigal son like return to Renault - the team he won two drivers titles with. Last season was not a good one for Renault. There many be all sorts of reason for it - sub-standard drivers, the loss of tyre partners Michelin etc, but they were below par. On Alonso's return a budget increase for the team was promised. Again, judging by the test times Renault are in top regions of the time sheets again.

3) Super Aguri Saved? - Despite an outstanding season for the tiny team last season their main 2007 sponsors, SS United, pulled out of their deal with team, meaning that for a while the team's existence was seriously threatened. They had to cancel tests and the futures of their drivers were in doubt. Until this week, when the UK based Magma Group have brought the team. The team's new car hasn't been tested so it's practice runs in Melbourne will be the first time the cars has run timed public laps. Coupled with the fact that it's a Honda customer car, and Honda are, well, rubbish, it may well be back to nil points.

4) And this week the name is..... - Jordan, no Midland, no Spyker, no it's, erm... Force India. OK, OK so apart from sounding like the sub-continents's answer to Mighty Morpin' Power Rangers it might not be all bad. The new owner wants to bring some stability back to the team after a few years when they changed names like underwear. The team are also free from the customer car grumbles that plague fellow back-markers Super Aguri and Toro Rosso, and have a driver pairing that could suprise a few. Adrian Sutil is a young guy, who despite being unknown has one feather in his cap. 2007 Monaco GP, it's practice it's raining and Sutil bests the whole field in a poor car - imagine him in a good one. He's partnered by Giancarlo Fisichella, who may well have been World Champion by now, had his career not coincided with Michael Schumacher, and Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Raikonnen. They may well score a few lucky points this season, but far more important is that come March 2009 we're still writing about Force India and not 'Generic Rich Businessman's Plaything F1 Team'.

5) Traction Control - Is no more. Hooray! Basically TC stops the drivers lead foot from spinning the car into the nearest barrier. There'll be no more super clean starts, look for buckets of wheel spin and complete choas. Also look for drivers to be more careful on the accellorator out of corners as too much oomph too soon will have them pirrowetting off the track. This means that different drivers could come to the fore, whoe driving styles suit the new technology, or at least have been able to adapt fastest and best. There are worries this could be more dangerous, but consiering that it will also lower speeds slightly and most F1 tracks have run-offs the size of small African nations it's nothing to worry about.

6) The Standard ECU - I'm have no idea what an ECU does, but I know what it stands for - Electronic Control Unit - so it controls the, well, electrics. And now all the teams have to use the same one, but what they've done with it is different. Many teams have spent large chunks of testing trying to get the best performance out of it. Oddly, especially considering the Spygate fiasco the maker of this ECU seems odd. It's McLaren. Or actually a subsiderary company owned by McLaren. Yes, and the next COT design is going to be by GM.

7) Things that go Vroom in the night - Racing at night is the in thing around motorsport this year. MotoGP has just come out of Qatar after it's first night race, and other than having a carbon footprint only ecplised by China it went well, no one couldn't see and drove (or should that be rode) straight on at a corner, no-one's visor was obscured by a mass suicide of moths. And now F1 wants a go - in Singapore. I'm not sure it's going to work. it's on a street track, famously dangerous for proximity of cars to wall, and now they want to do the first race at a track (it's got a bridge as well, and I mean a bridge over a harbour, not a bridge over the track) in the dark. Bernie's gone mad!!

8) More Street Circuits - Along with Singapore comes Valencia. Another street circuit, around a harbour, seems they're in fashion as well. Considering people have been complaining how dangerous Monaco's twisty Armco fringed track is for a few years to add two more Monaco's seems an odd move. Actually considering how awful Montreal was last year, perhaps the lads at the Molson Race in Toronto should phone up the FIA.  

An idea, I shamelessly stole from Tez, please forgive me. Except without the pictures, because I don't know how.

2008 marks a whole new chapter in the history of British drivers in international motorsport.

British drivers continue to be very well represented in F1 in 2008. The most experienced active driver in the field continues to be Scot, David Coulthard, as he enters his fourth year with the Red Bull team. There is no question that David deserves a place in F1, but the Red Bull cars have never been the most reliable. On a more positive note the input from F1 designing god Adrian Newey may start to truly show through. However, the car's reliability desperately needs improving if Coulthard and his team-mate Mark Webber are to improve on the teams finishes of last year. Coulthard may also be one to benefit from the out-lawing of Traction Control, he's driven TC less F1 cars before, which is more than some of the less experienced runners have.

Jenson Button continues to be the more over-rated driver on the face of planet earth, with '07's Pram-like Honda adding to his woes. The 2008 Honda looks less like it was painted by a 7 year old, instead looking like it's sponsored by a chewing-gum company, but whether it is any less pram-like is still up for debate. In the most recent test in Barcalona, Spain the two Hondas, including one driven by Button, were never out of the slowest 3 times set each day. However, F1 testing, especially this early is notoriously fickle, with different teams testing different things with different spec cars in different stages of development, but surely they can't make the car any slower.

Anthony Davidson is currently caught up in the mess that is Super Aguri. Despite their great showing last year, I don't think the sight of Takuma Sato passing World Champion whiner Fernando Alonso will ever start being less funny, their title sponsor SS United has pulled out and they are currently struggling to find a replacement. Should the worse happen Davidson would no-doubt be out of a drive, and probably forced to push a Honda round in testing again.

Oh, yea, some guy named Lewis is British as well. Like him of loath him, his debut season was very, very good, and only some bad luck, shocking calls by the team and a few rookie mistakes stole a title away from him in the final races. The spy-gate fiasco continues to haunt McLaren, how much this has effected their 2008 car will probably never be known. The loss of Alonso from the team may also hurt the team, they no longer have his experience and know-how of the workings of F1 cars. I think given all this to expect a repeat is too much, he may well win a few more races next season, but I don't expect him to be able to hold a candle to the Ferraris.

We know enter what we may call the 'Chip Ganassi section', if this man is not an Anglophile he has some explaining to do.

Firstly he gave NASCAR Dario. Why I don't know, Dario could well have stayed in IRL and had a whirl at defending his title, but he came to NASCAR. His Busch and ARCA results in the few races he ran last season were quite a bit less than impressive and the Dodges appear to be slowest of the 4 makers in testing. That he's well accustomed to going round ovals is sure, you don't win Indy and the title by accident, but perhaps the jump from IRL to NASCAR this quickly is just too much.

The IRL looks set to be the centre for British drivers in America, with 4 drivers currently confirmed. Dan Wheldon stays on at Ganassi alongside Scott Dixon, and may well be Dixon's biggest rival for the title with the exit of Dario and Hornish to NASCAR. He's pedigree is clear, winning the Indy and the title a few years back. The third car in the team is being driven by another Brit, this time, Alex Lloyd. He is the current champion of the IRL's developmental series, and to immediately move into a big name team says alot for his talent. Out of Ganassi-land Darren Manning continues to bother US motorsport like a moth round a lightbulb. In three years of IRL his best race finish is 4th and he's never been very consistent. The last British driver really needed looking up on Wikipedia, Jay Howard. The all-knowing source shows him as Lloyd's predecessor as Indy Pro series champion, and from the same English county as me. He joins Roth Racing as a second driver.

Champ Car, like IRL, loses it's top star, with Bourdais moving to F1. One of the drivers most likely to benefit is Justin Wilson, who finished second in 2007 to the beforementioned Frenchmen, and win a move from long term team R-sports to Newman/Haas/Lanigan, Justin may well be the favourite for the title. He is currently the only confirmed British driver in the series as 2007 driver, Dan Clarke, Ryan Daziel and Catherine Legge look set to move on, all three with nothing confirmed although rumours persist Legge may move to the DTM (where there are lots of other British drivers (but that's a whole other blog entry).

It's 2008. It's January, the various championships of motor racing are gearing up for another year of giving us all enough to scream and yell about, until, well about this time next year. Here are a handful of series I can't wait to kick off, and I've even allowed myself to try and pick a winner (occasionally).

NASCAR: Let's kick off with the obvious, so much has been dedicated to the unknowns of the 2008 season. The COT going full time. Toyota looking to prove itself. Can anyone topple Hendrick. Can the open wheelers even hope to compete. Oh, and some lad called Dale has changed teams. If the racing on the track (and the organisation off it) come anywhere near matching this hype then we should be in for one of the better seasons of recent years. From testing it almost looks as it the Camry is the car to beat, and now they have the Gibbs engine dept on their side (the same Gibbs engine dept that powered The Toyota's to the top of qualifying and Blaney to 3rd in the 'Dega chase race) they should be good. I don't know if Toyota (most likely in the form o####ibbs car) can win the title, but I think those who wrote off their chances of a Cup win in 08 should be made to eat humble pie at some point. When it comes down to the title I find it hard to look beyond Hendrick. They may not always have the fastest car, but they have the best drivers.

PREDICTION: Toyota to win a race before May, and Jimmie to lead Jeff and Jr in a Hendrick 1-2-3 to the title. At least one of the open-wheel refugees to be unseated before the Chase.

F1: This year's Formula 1 season is unlikely to come close to the excitement that last season delivered. This is a shame as I feel that last year gained the sport a number of new fans (this may only be over here in the UK thanks to Hamilton) and it would be a shame to see it crash in flames. Again, like NASCAR there are huge unknowns. The cars are now without Traction Control, something that a number of drivers may not be used to. This gives us the possibility that new drivers may come to the fore. We also have new tracks on the calendar, at Valencia, Spain (which will host the European GP) and Singapore, including a blast over a bridge in the harbour. In the dark. As for winners McLaren will be strong again, BMW will look to become a major challenger for wins, rather than picking up podiums when others retire, but Ferrari are my favourites for the title. Kimi's title win last year may well have been a bit lucky, but there was no luck in winning 6 races (2 more than either McLaren driver).

PREDICTION: Kimi to lead a dominant Ferrari season, Hamilton's difficult second season, BMW to win at least one race. Singapore's night race to involve carnage that ensures F1 doesn't race at night again.

Touring Cars: Firstly the British Touring Cars (this will mean nothing to a huge swathe of you no doubt). We see arguably the best driver in the field (Matt Neal) driving for arguably the best team on the grid, and current manufacturers champions (Vauxhall). There will undoubtedly be the normal Touring Car bashing and ####ing, but I can't see their rivals (Seat) coming close.

PREDICTION: The rivalry between the Vauxhall drivers will be more interesting than Vauxhall's rivalry with anything else.

Now the World Touring Cars. Andy Priaulx looks to continue his domination of the class, as he challenges for his 4th consequtive title, with no doubt one of the Mullers as his main rival.

PREDICTION: Sorry Andy, my money's on the Germans

V8 Supercars: DISCLAIMER - I defer to Tez on all things V8. Can Ford win the title. After two years of nearly, they've failed at the final round both times. It's obvious the Falcons are strong, taking both endurance races in 2007, but for some reason they haven't been able to rekindle the form that led them to 3 titles with Stone Brothers Racing.

PREDICTION: Holden again, at this stage (I don't know the 08 team line-ups), I'd put money on one of the Kelly brothers taking the title.

Le Mans: The Madness of mid-June. With the dawn of the diesel era at La Sarthe only a few teams are in the chase for ultimate victory, namely the all conquering Audi's and the challenging Peugeots. Peugeot had a good showing last year (despite having a car they claimed was still being developed). If that claim was anything other than mind games they could have a shot at beating the 4 Rings.

PREDICTION: I'm taking the easy way out here. Audi all the way.

Firstly apologies if this is a bit contrived, but Racing topics of conversation tend to dry up when no-one is racing.....

I think we all agree that money plays a huge part in every sport. It pays for stadiums, player's wages, coach's wages. The people/teams with the most money are, 9 times from 10, going to be the most successful.

And out of every sport, motor racing is one of the most reliant on the cash coming into the teams. The very nature of the sport, especially the top echelons, means that the boundries are always being pushed (or should that be broken). And to push boundries you need money for R&D - building better facilities, or more people to make tiny alterations to bits of the car only they know exist.

Now, being realistic getting rid of this money is never going to happen. But is money a good or bad thing.

In my opinion money is not all bad, but as soon as you notice it, it becomes bad. I promise that made some sort of sense once. Take NASCAR. Hendrick has more money than many small countries, and don't we know it. This extra cash gives them the ability to hire the best drivers (and Junior), do more development - the fact that they started miles ahead of everyone else in the COT stakes proves that. And the domination this has given him is killing the sport. Sport is built on unpredictability, but there were times last season when a Hendrick win was all but certain - a fact that was a big part, if not the only part that meant the chase was an enormous turn off.

There is even more money in F1. The teams with manufacturer backing have gigantic budgets. Many hold Ferrari the chief offenders for having the money to dominate the sport (especially in the Schumacher era), but no-one minds that Toyota have, historically, had the biggest budgets in F1 since their entrance into the sport. Why? Because you don't notice it. The only real sign that Toyota have had a huge budget in recent years hace been the big names in the cockpit, not the big numbers on the standings. At the other end of the grid is another money-over-matter incident.

The Jordan-Midland-Spyker-Force India incident. I am all for plucky private teams trying to make it in F1. In my opinion this is one factor that made the F1 of old so exciting (and dare I say romantic). For every Ferrari, or Renault, there was a team run by an eccentric millionaire, with a love of the sport, rather than a love of technology and selling a marques relevant road cars. However, we've recently seen the wrong end of this. How is a team meant to survive when they are basically treated as a businessman's play thing. Jordan were a quality team, with the necessary eccentric Irishman at the helm. They were then brought by a Russian/Canadian businessman. He made Narain Kathakeyan (sp?) an F1 driver. Not because he'd swept all before in feeder series, but because he represented the Indian market the businessman felt was so important. But he got bored and sold out to Dutch Sportscar maker Spyker. They had good results - driver Adrian Sutil ran the fastest practice time in a wet Monaco session. They also scored the first point since the Jordan days. Things were looking up. But they got bored, so they sold out. And the team became Force India.

Here there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Yes there is money backing the team, but in a recent interview the new team co-owner Vijay Mallya said that money wasn't driving choices, but the long term future of the team. They had the choice to use the money. Big name drivers Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella were among those they could have picked (going down the Toyota) but instead they intend on keeping Sutil and choosing the other driver due to the experience he brings to the young team, not the sponsorship money.

I wish Force India (despite having the worst team name in history) the best of luck. 

WARNING: No NASCAR here, only cars without bumpers and drivers who don't view right-hand-turns as a novelty. Just exposing myself to the knowledgable motorsport fans here.

About 12 months ago we found out. That an untested rookie from Stevenage and the charismatic Spanish double world champion were going to driver for the previously fragile McLaren team, while the world's mot boring Finn was replacing the cheating German with a giant chin in the bulletproof Ferrari.

A year on and I don't think you'd have paid a psychic who said we'd be here, like this, let alone what we've been through to get here.

Welcome to the 2007 F1 title race.

In a season that's basically been a chore to watch, with only Canada, Germany and Japan offering anything that resembles anything that resembles excitement, the best action seems to have been between lawyers. While on track the two teams have been chasing each other like Cops and Robbers off track it's all been literally cops and robbers. Betwen leaked e-mails between Spaniards, high profile sackings on both sides, Italian police searching the McLaren garage at Monza and more disqualifications than you can shake an FIA branded stick at this season has been more about the pin-stripe suit, not the fire-proof suit.

Last race out in Shanghai, China Hamilton simply needed to finish ahead of Alonso and the title was his. From Hamilton's pole position this was easy, right? But then the rain started, then stopped, then started, then stopped. McLaren engineers failed to grasp that tyre wear down, which resulted in Lewis having an accident an SUV driving commuter would be embarrased about, let alone one of the world's elite drivers. Anyhoo amid fears he'd upset Fernie and the prohibited protest chin-fuzz would re-appear the McLaren principle stayed away from the big red Dastedly & Muttley alike 'Stop the Spaniard button.

All of which sets the drivers championship up like this.

1. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren - 107 pts

2. Fernando Alonso - McLaren - 103 pts

3. Kimi Raikonen - Ferrari - 100 pts

Now the final race is in Interlago, Brazil, a place known for changable weather, sizable crashes and interesting races. What makes it great for the season decider is it neither favours one team, nor the other. The longer wheelbase Ferrari suits the long straights and the sweeping corners, while the McLaren is suited to twisty back part of the track. All three of the drivers above have a chance of winning the title.

Raikonen has the most outside of chances, needing both cars ahead of him to finish poorly relative to where they've been running the rest of the season. But, if you want to import NASCAR-like conspiracie here, a Ferrari win would suit the FIA, and removing any doubt over whether McLaren's cheating won the title.

Alonso needs to beat Hamilton, which is difficult enough considering Lewis has proved to be a formidable qualifier in a sport where starting position is all important, as well as having to overcome the possibility of the 'S.T.S.' button actually existing. He also has something to prove. He's the double champion, he's been whining all year about how he's not the undisputed No. 1 in the team. Now is his chance to put the rookie in his place and show the skill we all know he has. Also this, if he is going to another team next year, probability he is, this is his chance to deliver the finger to the team that's #### him around all year.

Hamilton is in the box seat, leading by what equates to 2 positions. He's shown he will do anything to win, although he'll stop short of Schumi tactics (cf. Adelaide 94, Jerez '97, Monaco '06), but he will make his car very wide. He does lack expericence, as the feeder serie he's raced in before didn't include Brazil, so he's coming in blind, however, that hasn't stopped him yet this season.

What is clear is that F1 needs this last, title deciding race to be a blinder, for one reason or another. Otherwise this will be remembered a the cheating season, and not for anything on track. The fact that the FIA have assigned a few scrutineers just to make sure McLaren don't cheat, favouring one driver over another, shows they believe the same thing.

But, there are unkowns. Has Hamilton got the bottle for the final hurdle, will McLaren realise that tyres wear down, will Ron Dennis conspire to stop Fernie, will the FIA conspire to stop Ron, exactly how many rules will be broken and who will whinge about who.

Find out as the tried and tested rookie takes of the toys-from-pram-ejecting Spaniard in the bulletproof McLarens, against the world's most boring Finn in the fragile Ferrari in.....

Interlagos or Bust.

......The water gets into motorsport's official's brains and they can't function properly (or so this weekend seems to show)

In a weekend when world weather seemed to want to play as big a part in deciding the winners of races as, say more conventional variables, like....say, drivers and cars, two different races, on 2 different continents, in two different types of car, a total of 65 drivers and BOTH managed to screw up - royally.

Let's start with the F1 from Fuji. Now, wet F1 races are far better than the procession that results from a race in decent weather, but Fuji, like the other wet race in Germany this year, was handled about as well as a slippery bar of soap. These drivers are (alledgedly) the best in world, yet they don't feel able to drive in the wet. The car maker and tyre maufacturers spend millions on developing wet tyres yet whenever rain falls they're made to drive around slowly.

Lots of other forms of motorsport, including a vast swathe of British racing (thanks to the stereotypical weather over here) needs near apocolyptic conditions to stop, yet here is someone's sneezes into the wind they call out the safety car.

What makes even less sense is that they ran the first 19 or so laps like this. Surely it would have made sense to delay the race until the powers that be deemed it safe to race rather than force fans to sit through the tedium of this. What makes even less sense is the fact they pulled the SC in when it was still raining and still wet and when it started to rain harder they kept racing, with the SC only coming out again so the fragments of the Spanish Moaner's car sould be cleared up. This stupid inconsistency made what could have been an exciting race seem more like Wacky Races.

Then it really hit the fan. The latest chapter in what seems to have been NASCAR's wettest season. Now, I don't like shortened NASCAR races. They throw any idea of strategy out of the window until the race resembles a 43 ticket raffle - the second rain delay which came during a round of green falg pitstops is a perfect example. Now, I'm sensible enough to realise than running these races in the wet is only a tiny bit short of suicidal, so I had no problem when they red flagged the race just after the half-way point (other than the pit-stop thing). But after 2 hours to re-start a race that could (probably should after 2 hours) have been called is just mental. I couldn't care less that it may have cost Tony Stewart the race - it was a daft call to leave him out there on the restart. Then the final nail in the coffin. How long was the race?. 267? 225? 210? Does the phrase "Moving the Goalposts" exist in American English.

Surely in this age of NASCAR stuff like this would be stopped. As the sport tries to make itself more respectable a dabacle like this is the last thing they need. With all races televised I think it makes more sense to have a time cut off point where the race is either stopped and rerun later, or called regardless of how many laps have been completed - at least then the teams have a solid point of reference for strategies in such races rather than guessing what NASCAR will do next.

The other alternative is - to quote another blogger on here - "to grow some stones and race in the rain". Now I realise that racing on 1.5-2.5 mile banked tracks in the rain with tyres grooved any shallower than the average canyon is unsafe, with the banking causing the sort of rain running down the track that made an F1 race in Brazil so much "fun" a few years back.

But, how about having a set of tracks where it's acceptable to race in the rain. Let's start with Watkins Glen and Sonoma, and how about some other the flat-banked-short-tracks - Martinsville, Milwaukee, Loudon etc. Tracks where the speed isn't too high and the banking isn't going to be treacherous.

Because cloud-seeding just doesn't work......