I can't really believe that he'd start proceedings that would surely result in his competence being severely questioned in a courtroom. He'd never work again.

mrkjf makes a very good point. If other teams (not RBR or Brawn) win some races it will make catching Button all the harder. (If Ferrari were suddenly to come good for example) Engines may become an issue for RBR too. They have used more than Brawn and perhaps grid drops will become an issue later? Button currently has a 23 point lead and there are nine races left. So if he were to finish second in every remaining race he would be World Champion regardless of who won the races (even if Rubens won them all)!

Bernie, you really should engage the brain before putting the mouth into gear.

A personal opinion of PF1¿s rules of engagement: 1) no swearing Very good rule ¿ anyone who needs to resort to swearing has already lost the argument. 2) no calling Bernie a 'troll' - it won't be published Very good rule ¿ anyone who needs to resort to personal attacks has again already lost the argument. 3) no bringing up Max's history What? None of it? Aren¿t we allowed to mention anything? His time with March? His power struggle with Balestre? His recent questionable governance of F1? Or do you just mean that aspect of his personal life that has been widely reporting in the National press and is mentioned almost every time he is written about in Fleet Street? Grow up PF1. Everyone already knows. 4) no slanderous comments towards Bernie, Max, etc See the answers to rules one and two. 5) don't say anything that can get PF1 sued We can¿t get you sued as you publish a disclaimer that any opinions expressed are not those of PF1.

Before commenting on this article I think it would be interesting to see (or preferrably hear) a transcript of this interview to see precisely what questions prompted this remarkable response. I am always more than a little sceptical when an article in the popular press is prefaced with the words "has been quoted as saying". It always sounds a little like a buck passing excercise to me. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending Bernie. His outspoken comments are a source of much amusement but all too often journlists are to a very large extent responsible for placing words into interviewees mouth or even, god forbid, for taking quotations out of context. On numerous occasions I have read of some outrageous "Bernieism" only to later see the actual inteview and realising he was speaking with his tongue very firmly in his cheek. I hope I have kept to the rules here PF1. Or do I (once again) fail to get my comment printed for even the slightest suggestion of shoddy journalism.

A schedule has been leaked to the media.... 3 March Buenos Aires Argentina Last hosted F1 in 1998 21 March Mexico City Mexico Last hosted F1 in 1992 11 April Jerez Spain Last hosted F1 in 1997 25 April Portimao Portugal Never hosted F1 2 May Imola San Marino Last hosted F1 in 2006 23 May Monte Carlo Monaco Current F1 host 6 June Montreal Canada Last hosted F1 in 2008 13 June Indianapolis United States Last hosted F1 in 2007 1 July Silverstone United Kingdom Current F1 host 25 July Magny-Cours France Last hosted F1 in 2008 15 August Laustizring Germany Never hosted F1 29 August Helsinki Finland Never hosted F1 12 September Monza Italy Current F1 host 26 September Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates Current F1 host 10 October Marina Bay Singapore Current F1 host 24 October Suzuka Japan Last hosted F1 in 2006 8 November Adelaide or Surfers¿ Paradise Australia Last hosted F1 in 1995/Never hosted F1

If Max is backpeddling he must know something we don't. It sounds to me like the writing is on the wall and that he's going to lose his job very soon if he doesn't stop the breakaway.

Great TV but no way has MS ever donned that white helmet before.

Oh he is so thick skinned it is ludicrous. You are an anachronism man. Resign!

It is clear that the stumbling block here is the continued governance of Max Mosley. He should have had the good grace to resign at the time of whiplash-gate. If he were to go now a compromise would be quickly reached by the warraing factions. No one likes you Max. Resign.

If Ferrari and others go to a new series, that is the one I will watch. How does everyone else feel?

It is rather worrying that imparitility is so badly compromised by the actions of this person. Surely he must resign?

Personailitiesy aside, It's also a question of circumstance. Hamilton came along out of nowhere and started winning. It would be quite natural for other drivers to think he had not earned that right and begrudge him his success. In contrast this year we have Button who has served his time in a very poor car and the natural tendancy is to think he has paid his dues and deserves him time in the spotlight.

Did he mention any seagulls and trawlers?

I am amazed that EJ isn't in your losers list as he continues to tie himself in verbal knots in an effort to use big, intelligent words.

Why were they surprised. They were at best midfield runners before Monaco where there are no high speed corners. Now we are back to real race circuits they are back in the midfield.

People who casually follow F1 only really get interested in seasons when their favoutite team or driver is successful. They seem to find the other seasons boring. Genuine diehard F1 fans appreciate and enjoy any kind of season. Jenson is a joy to behold a the moment. He is reaping the reward of being the perfect man for that car. We may not have the incredibly exciting season that we had in 2008 but F1 no less fascinating to the true fan.

With only three team places available, most of these new teams will miss out.

If Toyota confirm they are quitting I'm going to put a bet on that they win their next race!

Rubbish. 16 ponts ahead with 11 races to go. DC wants to go out and buy a calculator.

Read this: http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.2510643.0.A_corrupt_bankrupt_charade_can_Formula_One_be_rescued.php

What about Brawn GP? They don't have any other businesses.

I've never been able to get beyond the fact that the £40M budget cap will cause teams to make redundancies. If this were to go to the International Court of Human Rights, and it probably will, the FIA will not have a leg to stand on.

DagenhamDustbin, your memory is short. There was a British winner at Monaco last year, a certain Lewis Hamilton. Also, as others have pointed out, David Couthard won it twice in 2000 and 2002. In history seven British drivers have won Monaco and they share 16 victories between them. Apart from those already mentioned Graham Hill won five times, Moss and Stewart won three times and William Grover Williams won the first ever race there.

I can see what you mean viceman. It does seem as though the stewards have toned it down a bit but this is no bad thing in my opinion. Racing will always see accidents and unless there is foul play, no one should be penalised. Also, I think the reason that McLaren were so victimised in recent seasons has gone. Ron has retired and Max and his cronies no longer have a reason to witch hunt the team.

I agree with much of what has been said about the BBC team, but not all. DC is very knowledgeable but he is struggling under the sheer weight of rubbish spoken by EJ. Given that EJ used to run an F1 one team it is remarkable how little constructive insight he seems to have. He seems to feel the need to make his observations extreme. There is no middle ground. Also, he is reminding me more and more of Mark Blundell in that he constantly tries to use words that he would never normally use in every day conversation. Big words I mean. This is a big mistake and it frequently results in meaningless sentences. I'd rather him not be there at all. I disagree with the comments about Lee McKenzie, I think she's doing OK, given that she¿s usually interviewing very cheesed off retirees. She is worth keeping for her gorgeous voice. Ted Kravitz seems to have upped his game since his ITV days. I am enjoying his comments from the pits more than ever. Jake Humphrey is doing a thoroughly excellent job as anchor. His clever management of his schoolboy enthusiasm and professional persona works very well in my opinion. Frankly however, Jonathan Legard is abysmal. His commentary seems to rely on the words "here comes" or "there goes". (Here comes Hamilton. There goes Massa). He doesn't seem to have any real knowledge of F1 and completely lacks any insight into situations that are clearly unfolding in front of his eyes. Martin Brundle is probably as excellent as ever but it seems to me he is being dragged down by the obvious deficiencies of his co-commentator. I think they should ditch Legard and Jordan as soon as possible. Mike Gascoyne or Anthony Davidson would be decent replacements for EJ. David Croft should replace Legard.

Diffuser1 - Every driver is now obliged to make themselves available to the gentlemen of the press after each session of practice and qualy. What would you have him do? Not answer the questions he is being asked! He doesn't go seeking out journalists to make his comments. He is obliged to do so under the rules of the sport. So take your petty sideswipes elsewhere.

When all is said and done, these guys are racers. If you put them in anything with wheels, they will race. Alonso will be in the queue even if the only seat available is at Costcutter Racing!

FishboneMcGraw, sadly Ferrari are the vanguard for Toyota, BMW and Red Bull. We can't afford to lose all these teams from F1.

The very fact that he does not recognise that the sport is in crisis proves that it is!

There is a Grand Prix in Rome every single day!

Bernie calls for common sense. Now that is funny!

Well said deepwater330.

The trouble with games of chicken is that if no one flinches there is an almighty head on collision and everyone dies.

I suspect that the FIA will see this as just a game of brinksmanship by the teams to encourage more negotiation regarding the rules and budgets for 2010. However, with Ferrari, Toyota, BMW, Red Bull & Torro Rosso all threatening to leave the sport Max & Co can't just play this as a game. They need to realise that they must be doing something very wrong! Think about it you numbskulls, when was the last time five team threatened to leave the sport? Message to Max.... resign and stop spoiling motorsport.

Yes Bernie, you DO want to lose the British GP. Get over your ego and let Silverstone step in if and when it becomes necessary.

Philtypr, I understand exactly what you are saying but it doesn't add up. Had they waited until RBs second stop and then fuelled him to the finish he would have been on the harder (and slower) tyres for a very long stint. Such a strategy would have made no sense. Jenson made the two stopper work because he was very fast on his long stint on softer tyres. I still don't think RB has any right to be miffed. He was just too slow for most of the race.

philtypr - the reason RB was not put onto a two stopper is explained clearly above. He would have come out right behind Rosberg and lost vital track position. Also, he wasn't pulling away from Button in the early stages. The radio transmissions reveal that in the early laps Button (in a lighter car) was actually being held up by Barrichello. He frequently asked the team to tell RB go quicker as they weren't building enough of a gap. Ironically, had Reubens not beaten Button off the line, he probably would have been the one switched to two stops but, you know what, I think Button would still have won the race. I think the only thing RB was a victim of last weekend was not being fast enough.

Ajkfin, you are of course entitled to your opinion but I fear you are a victim of sensationalist headlines. What Reubens actually said was ¿If I get a whiff that Ross favoured Jenson today I will hang up my helmet immediately. But I don¿t think he would do that.¿ Putting supposition to one side and looking at facts, Jenson put in a superb performance from his pole lap to his race times. However, in the race Barrichello was not fast enough when needed. His own engineers constantly needed to tell him to increase his speed. When asked in the press conference RB said ¿Well, I'm very experienced with that, and if that happens, I won't follow any team orders any more. I'm making it clear now, so everybody knows.¿ Button immediately responded ¿I'm going to answer this a bit as well because this affects me. Our strategy said that a three stop was quicker, full stop.¿ Reubens then went on to say ¿it's much more different than it used to be at Ferrari. We have a much more friendly situation, so I'm not sitting down on the side blaming this or that¿ So, even though Reubens himself did not say team orders had been used, all the headlines did and that is understandable as newspapers have to be sold! As ever with a three stopper, it looks good on paper but so much depends on track position and switches are frequently made. Brawn couldn¿t switch RB as he would have come out behind a slow Rosberg. Personally I think it highly unlikely that Brawn would deliberately sabotage RB and risk him finishing fourth behind the two Red Bulls. Talking of Red Bull, Webber's switch to a two stop strategy also saw him finish ahead of his team mate and in with a shout of beating Barrichello, both on three stoppers.

Yes, Ferrari badly let down their drivers again yesterday. Let us all hope they are not descending into the kind of slump that saw them win no championships of any kind (drivers or constructors) between 1984 and 1998 and no drivers championships between 1980 and 1999.

Houghy: There is no medal system. It was quietly dropped last week, two days after they said "winner takesA all' would be used. The FIA said they had made a mistake with the original press release.

It seems pretty clear that there were no team orders. Reubens only just got out in front of Rosberg after his first stop and they decided to switch Button to avoid him being stuck right behind the Williams. From then on the lap times say it all. Reubens was simply unable to go quickly enough to win the race whereas Button flew, especially considering he had the heavier car. Also, we clearly heard Barrichello at the end of the race saying that his car was terrible on the last two sets of tyres.

The winner takes all system has been dropped for next year. For some reason it has not been mentioned much anywhere.

Did anyone hear Jonathan Legard refer to Alonso as Fernando Anando? Will Jenson Benson be driving tomorrow?

I have read that the rules have been revised and that we are back to point for 2010. Does anyone know anything about this?

It's just a feeling I have. Not much to back it up yet.

Idiots.

Every now and then there comes a driver who has not set the world on fire in the lower catergories but the moment he puts his bum in an F1 car he looks born the be there. I have a feeling Mr. Buemi is one of those drivers.

Much as I'd love the GP to return to Brands Hatch it is just too small to host such a huge event.

Amazingly there is no reference to the fact that Trulli went off the track and Hamilton was entitled to be in front of him.

Here we go again...

One more thing, presumably if there is an absolute budget cap then engines and gearboxes having to last for a certain number of races and the ban on in season testing can be ditched as the teams won't be able to afford to do differently anyway.

Firstly and most importantly, let us all spare a thought for those people who will undoubtedly lose their jobs as a result of this budget cap. Put yourself in their position. It isn't fun! Secondly, how on earth will it be policed? In the UK limited companies do not have to present their financial accounts to Companies House until 10 months after their year end. There is very good reason for this: It takes several months to prepare the figures. So, what happens if, ten months later, a Championship winning team is found to have spent £1000 (or ¿1000) too much? Will they be stripped of the title? Will they be fined $500,000,000? (One in the eye for any budget cap). Anyone who has ever worked in the accounting department of a major corporation will know that it will be almost impossible to monitor this as there are so many ways of circumventing the audit (in whatever form it may take). The huge multi National corporations who build road cars and compete in F1 (Renault, Toyota, Mercedes Benz & BMW etc.) will be easily able to ¿lose¿ a bit of R&D money in the parent company accounts. I suppose there is an upside though. This will surely lead to A & B teams for everyone (as per Red Bull and Torro Rosso) as shared resources will be a HUGE advantage. So we may see more teams on the grid, more drivers getting a job in F1 and hopefully work for some of those who were made redundant in the first place!

How about we try wiring up Flav's nadgers to a Kers unit? (Not Ferrari's)!

Cam2000cc - they tried limiting fuel amounts from 1984 to 1988 to allow the normally astipated teams a chance against the turbos. It resulted in a lot of boring processions as people were afraid to run dry later in the race... and many did, often the last lap! Please don't bring that back!

Are BWM in F1 then?

Cyrano, BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation and they have charter which requires them to report on British sportspeople to the British Nation so of course they are going to talk about the British drivers. The broadcaster from each different country has no choice but to slant it's coverage towards it own drivers. It is audience driven. What else would you expect?

I wonder how he would feel had Renault won the first four races?

Luca was only in Bahrain becasue he has run out of TVs at home!

If Bernie's "Winner Takes All" system was being used this season the teams would already be starting to secretly use team orders to catch Button. Hypothetically, if Button were to win the next two or three races he would still be catchable under the points system but under the proposed 2010 system, he would be Champion elect. Don't let this "Winner Takes All" nonsense be introduced.....

It was interesting (in the post race "red button" session on the BBC) to hear Ross Brawn say that they were so stretched as a team just to get the car on the grid for the first race that they have made absolutly no upgrades since then. He stated that the Brawn car was completely unchanged for the first four races but went on to say that they had a big package of upgrades planned for Spain. The competition should watch out I think.

Vettels blocking in China Qualy was far worse than Sutils in Bahrain yet yielded no investigation, let alone a penalty.

Surely they would drop Force India for Red Bull?

Bring back Lotus!

This minor incident should have been sorted by the stewards of the race. I can't believe the FIA is considering setting a precedent of sanctioning a team for telling a lie. If they give Mclaren a big penalty, they will place themselves in the position of having to sanction any team every time an employee tells an untruth. Such a precedent could decimate F1, a sport steeped in lies and deceptions intended to gain the competitive edge. The FIA is reaping what is sews from inconsistent and inept governace leading to the teams feeling unable to trust them to to the right thing.

Ronn, the Elvis song to which you refer is actually called "I did it my way" written by Paul Anka for Frank Sinatra. The title is an apt reminder of the great work Ron Dennis has done in F1.

PeterF I suspect Force India would be behind you on the grid for similar reasons...

A famous motorsport name. Great to see that they are considering a return to F1.

I see Lola has announced a new F1 project. The budget cap seems to be generating lots of interest in F1.

Vive la difference...

F1 goes in cycles. Teams like Williams, Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus have all dominated the sport at one time or another. Likewise they have all had very bad periods. Lotus paid the ultimate price for their slide from grace. Ferrari are a large and resourceful team but they have no divine right to be at the top all the time. This current dip could last for five races or it could last for five years! This is the nature of the sport of F1.

Any news of the stewards looking at Vettel blocking Kovalainen?

Parr says: "Essentially you have to have a vertical transition between the two when the step plane is visible directly above the periphery of the reference plane. Where you don't, it is explicit that you don't have to have one. So one of the key issues in the case was that if you don't have to have one at certain points then by definition you can have many transitions." So that has cleared that up then!!!

Come on F1_Freak show some respect to a man who has done a lot for this sport we love.

Nice one NickUSA. Very interesting post.

No more rubber gloves for the boys in red then.

Sad news. Ron has done a lot for F1. I hope he enjoys his retirement and I also hope that Max Mosely follows him out of the door very shortly.

STOP PRESS: Ferrari's first double decker diffuser design can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25736183@N05/3444466637/

I think the diffuser race could go the way of the razor blade race! Gilette are up to five blades now because they shave you closer still. Perhaps if the other teams were to adopt triple or quad diffusers it would shave seconds off their times.

"The most honorable team in F1 must now join in". I presume you mean Williams mate.

I have a feeling that these words may some day come back to haunt Jarno.

The DDD has been approved by the FIA Technical Department, the Stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix and now five judges at the International Court of Appeal yet certain people who write here think they know better. This is so funny!

How many times must these diffusers be declared legal before the "rattle out of the pram brigade" accept this fact? It is very sad that fans with limited knowledge seem to think they know better than the scrutineers and the international court of appeal. Get over it! On reflection, it is very funny too, so keep writing!!

Let us all hope that the new package works as it would be unthinkable for Ferrari to fail to score for three races in a row. When did that last happen?

Thank you for this Andrew. I was beginning to think everyone had gone mad!

It's a load of fuss about nothing. I am under no illusions that every team in F1 lies on a regular basis. McLaren got caught by the broomstick brigade.

But Branson is a grandfather!!!

It is wrong for whiting to talk about the matter before the hearing . how unprofessional is that?

dfcnmf you have a very naive view of F1 considering you have been watching for so long. F1 has always been riddled with cheating and lying. It's the nature of the game. No one is innocent, including the FIA. Clearly this was not a premeditated act on the part of LH. The team took the decision as a direct consequence of the paranoia they must be experiencing as a result of being victimised for the past few years. The absence of Race Control is also a key issue. If we had a fair and consistent governing body then no one would have felt the need to try to protect the position which, under F1 rules, they thoroughly deserved. McLaren will be the fall guys I have no doubt (as MM has an agenda), but is the governing body who are responsible for the situation. Their amateurish and vindictive management of the sport will only lead to more of the same as they randomly apply penalties where they are not deserved and ignore situations where they are. In the past couple of weeks Vettel has been penalised for telling the truth and Hamilton has been penalised for lying! What kind of message does that send out? And the really sad part is that aside from a minority of die hard fans like you and I, no one cares.

I understand that Ross Brawns proposed clarification of the diffuser grey area was rejected out of hand. I have read elsewhere that he told the working group that the new (then) Honda was going to be light years ahead of the game if they didnt clarify the rule. Given Hondas track record they didnt take him seriously. In other words, he gave them the chance and they ignored him.

msjanus said: "I dont think it was schumi either... neither do i think it was kimi's engineer Chris dyer nor team manager Luca ( ex schumi's race engineer ) so who was the culprit that cost kimi points ??" It was obviously Ron Dennis!!

Hot news from the Ferrari website; In China Kimi will be ditching his Bermuda shorts for heavy duty insulated rubber ones. Felipe will definately have a clear helmet visor (as his dad is bigger than Rob Smedley's dad) and Walls Cornetto will be officially announced as the new sponsors of the team.

I wonder how many teams have used team orders since they were banned some years ago? All of them I would guess. Certainly all the ones fighting for a title. Any team who has done so will have therefore lied to the FIA. The only difference is they didn't (couldn't) get caught because they didn't have to broadcast their radio transmissions. They simply trotted out the time honoured lie (sorry, excuse) that is was a gentleman's agreement between the drivers. Whereas in reality it was and is a direct action intended to gain a Championship at the expense of another team and, as such, is far worse to McLaren's infraction. (McLaren had only one point to gain remember, not an entire Championship). As some religious bloke once said "Let him amongst you who is without sin cast the first stone..." Remember, this is the first season where radio transmissions cannot be scrambled and this led directly to McLaren getting caught in a relatively minor white lie given the circumstances. Firstly it was a direct consequence of the inability of race control to react to McLaren¿s queries. (For my money race control should be in trouble, not McLaren). Secondly, had McLaren pre-meditated their action (as one would pre-plan team orders) code words would have been employed and Hamilton (bless him) would not have blabbed to the press. Furthermore, had the FIA not been so inconsistent in interpreting its own rules, Ron, Martin, Dave or whoever would not have felt the need to tell this small lie in order to protect the position they fully deserved under the rules of the game. With a decent, honest and fair governing body this situation would never have arisen.

hotstuff939 I am overwhelmed by your deductive reasoning and the power of your cleverly thought out comments. I cannot failed to be persuaded by such an eloquent argument.

To graphite, Bernie would argue that the penalties are consistently inconsistent. To Velocityboy, the key word in what you write is ¿caught¿. Every single driver and team on the grid has lied to the stewards or race control or the FIA. How many teams do you think have covertly used team orders since they were banned? I¿ll tell you the answer. All of them! But it could never be proved. Sadly for McLaren this season all radio transmissions have to be broadcast and they got caught in a pretty minor lie brought on mostly by the absence of help from Race Control.

True to his motto (which is "all publicity is good publicity") our dear Bernie continues to say whatever will put F1 on the front pages. The sport is a laughing stock already. Everyone I know who does not follow the sport are constantly winding me up about what a mess F1 one it in. They don't know what is really going on as all they see is the rubbish spouted by the tabloid press who are more interested in sensation than in facts.

What are the odds of Hamilton winning the 2009 Championship in the Brawn? Sorry Reubens, only joking!

Thats an interesting phrase: "In the interests of the Sport". There are one or two other people who would be well served to think about what that means. Mr Mosely take note!

This is an interesting development. If McLaren are excluded, LH may leave F1. That surely increases the pressure on this decision. Can they afford to risk losing one of the top teams AND someone who has brought a huge new audience to the sport?

Get some perspective people. This is a relatively minor infraction blown up out of all proportion by hysterical media and a governing body with revenge on it's mind. They are now seeking to bring Ron Dennis into it even though he wasn't present at the race. I am thoroughly fed up with the "holier than though" attitude of Max Mosely and his cronies. Every single person in the sport of F1 (and probably every single person who writes on this forum) will at some time during their lives or careers used a lie to manipulate a situation to their benefit. "Bringing the sport into disrepute". Don't make me laugh. With the current people is charge there is nothing to "disrepute". F1 is already sleazing around in the gutter and the FIA is just reaping what is sews.

Isn't hindsight brilliant. It is easy to criticise now but the critics were not on the pit wall on Sunday. Had the rain fallen at that precise moment we would be all now hailing a good decision.

Is it a benefit or is it a kerse?

The three teams who were not consulted when the rule changes were being discussed are the three teams with a different interpretation. The teams who were consulted and helped shape the rules obviously had a particular idea about the diffusers but failed to see that others could interpret their ideas differently. It seems clear that the rules were just badly written and open to a different interpretation.

I think the buck stops with Charlie Whiting. Why were there no enough "resources" in race control to answer a simple question that would have avoided this entire situation. It would not have happened if Charlie had not gone AWOL.

Decisions taken in the heat ofthe moment sometimes come back to haunt you. I am no Ferrari fan but you cannot write them off.

nai777 can I just say that your English is very good! I wish I could write in a second language as well as you. I am afraid I do not have a good answer to your question but I think there are many Ferrari supporters in Britain because of the great history that Ferrari have inside F1. However, there are many great British teams and a lot of British people do support them. I have supported Team Williams since the late 1970s but I like to watch good racing whover is winning.

Penalty referee!!!! Sorry I am too busy to give you a decision right now. Do what you think is right....

Why was race control unavailable at a crucial moment?

Listen to the tapes. McLaren said both things to Hamilton. They said "let him past" and then moments later they said "don't let him past" (too late it turns out). They took this decision as they were unable to contact race control to clarify the matter and therein lies the problem. Race control should have been available. If they were not, then they should realise that McLaren couldn't so anything more than they had. I don't see anyone investigating Charlie Whiting for being AWOL at a crucial moment. Surely HE should resign too!!

We were promised transparency in stewards decisions. Let us have it please.

I'm losing heart with Formula 1. I've watched through thick and thin for 30+ years but this current era of poor stewarding and hidden agendas makes me vomit. I feel like not watching any more races as racing itself is banned (Vettel & Kubica) and one team is treated very unfairly.

Playground policing of a professional sport.

Why isn't race control under investigation for not answering an important query that has cost McLaren dear?

Time for the Stewards to put their money where their mouth is. They have no choice but to release full and frank information now that they have accused a driver of being dishonest. This is libel territory.

Oh no! Has Trulli lied too?

Hamilton and Trulli should share third and fourth, although in what order I'm not sure.

I hope they see sense and remove his penalties. It was a 50/50 racing incident.

I thought the stewards had to release full information this season. Why havent they not released the report on this incident?

Give Jarno the place back, he's in my Fantasy F1 team!

LOVERACING, are you sure you have got the right person? JGSIDEWAY praises Button.

Within an hour this column will be full of people calling LH arrogant. Leave the boy alone. So he is not your favourite driver. Thats OK. Just dont pick on him all the time. It smacks of bigotry.

F246 says "anyone who doesnt cheer for Lewis Hamilton is considered deranged or a ferrari fanatic..or both!" You are so very wrong. It is perfectly OK for you to cheer for who ever you like. What I hate is when people feel the need to contantly criticise those they do not support. It is almost as if they have to justify themselves when their team loses. Nothing I can say will stop you having your favourites and nothing you can say will stop me from having mine (and no, mine is not LH, it is Williams). So please just watch the sport and enjoy. This is a golden era of F1 with loads of drivers capable of winning. Your team cant win every time. Regardless of your criticisms, Hamilton finished third. He drove a pretty good race. His car was reliable. He didn't throw it into the scenery. Get over it!

It strikes me that the boy cannot win with you people. If he says he will never give up the sad people weigh in with Lewis-bashing comments about him being arrogant. Had said the car was so bad he felt like giving up the same people would be writing how awful it was that he had no committment. It seems that just the very sight of his name sends you off into a frenzy of hate. I don't know what is lacking in your lives to make you think like that. Please remember that 99% of the articles here are just responses to 30 second interviews in a paddock with a microphone shoved up his nose. The reporters then have to write a story. Give LH a break. He is clearly very good. No question. Nothing in your inane and childish ramblings will persuade any proper racing fan otherwise. Support your favourite by all means... but don't bash his rivals. It only serves to reveal how worried you are that the rival is better.

Fair point philtypr. Apologies for putting words into your mouth (and I am not being sarcastic, I mean it). I must admit that I don't really get your original point though. Hamilton had a very good drive, made the best of his car and lucked into a few extra places. What is the problem with that? He started 18th and seven cars in front of him fell out. That puts him in 11th, yet he finished third. Every time he was shown on TV he was really pushing and we saw him pass a number of cars. As you say, he finished in front of Rosberg and Alonso despite them having superior cars. Sounds like a good day at the office to me. Trulli also drove well and also received his fair share of luck (benefitting from the same cars dropping out as LH). But this article was about McLarens reaction to Hamiltons drive. Why would you expect Martin Whitmarsh comment on Trulli? That is a job for Toyota. Probably the only difference between the drives of LH and JT was that JT went off onto the grass under the safety car. That simple error (which you can clearly see on you tube) makes Trullis efforts less worthy than Hamiltons. I still think JT deserves fourth place though.

The you tube video has not been removed. The FIA cannot possibly do that unless they display 'no photography' signs at all their races. I watched it again 30 seconds ago at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGuS2PxZEE

NO1SPOT you entirtely missed the intended irony in my post. I am no Hamilton hater. Just look at my comments on other posts. I am fed up to the teeth with people bashing him unfairly. I was simply trying to tell philtyp how little I value his opinion. Please read my post again and do not tar me with the same brush as those LH haters that populate this forum. I think LH is an excellent driver and a worthy World Champion who drove a great race in a crap car on Sunday.

Having been once made redundant it is not something I would wish upon anyone.

Cue the Lewis basher brigade with their most informative opinions.

It is my sincere hope that this year will also see victories for Red Bull, BWM, Renault, Toyoya and Williams.

Remember it is the budget caps imposed by the FIA that means team are having to shed staff. The real cost of the F1 budget restrictions is people.

Frankly, who cares? I'd much rather see the season end at a proper circuit like Interlagos instead of these ridiculous places where F1 is unknown. Real circuits like Silverstone, Montreal, Austria and others are off the calendar because of places such as this.

philtypr thanks for clearing that up for me. Having read all the reports made by professional journalists in numerous place and having listened to the opinions of a lot of former F1 drivers I was under the impression that Hamiltons drive was pretty good. I am so glad you were able to confirm to us all that he is actually rubbish and lucked into everything he has won since he was born. It all becomes clear. ;-)

Brawn won with Mercedes power, not Honda. Who can say whether Honda threw away a winning car? With the Honda engine it may have been slower?

Clearly KERS is allowed off the line as both the Ferraris used it at Melbourne.

Many of you are confusing commentators with pundits. Martin Brundle is a pundit and needs a top line commentator alongside him. He and Legard may improve their rapport over time and should be given the benefit of the doubt for now. Remember when Murray Walker and James Hunt first worked together they didnt have very good chemistry. I seem to recall that they actually disliked one another but still managed to develop a decent working relationship over time.

Congratulations to ctdurf for the most interesting post of the week. That is fascinating.

I watched the practice sessions on the red button and was mightily impressed by the commentary that they used from Radio 5 live. David Croft was miles better than Legard and it is hard to see why the Beeb didn't give him the TV seat. You can listen to the Radio 5 live commentary for the race if you prefer but you would lose the brilliant Martin Brundle (although Anthony Davidson, BBC Radios "Brundle" is very good too. If I could make one tiny suggestion it would be SHUT EDDIE JORDAN UP. He constantly hogged the discussions and frequently cut across his fellow pundits. Jake H seemed totally unable to be able to control him. My ideal commentary team would be Croft & Brundle.

domformula1 is correct. As soon as they all have it, it will negate itself and reveal itself as the pointless expense it is.

Spare a thought for all those folk in F1 who have lost, and will lose, their jobs as a result of the budget caps imposed by the FIA.

On the You Tube footage (which is available in High Quality) the cars are clearly racing. Not only are they going full chat, you can see the marshalls posts on both corners and no yellow flags are being waved on either of them. Hamilton passes Trulli who has taken a trip into the scenery and also a Renault (I think) passes a Red Bull on the exit of the second corner we can see. This was racing, not safety car conditions.

He only said it was ONE of his best performances and surely it was. Give the guy some credit. Some of the extreme comments made by people on this forum over the past two years border on bigotry, and well you know what kind of bigotry I mean!

Oh I do hope so! That would be brilliant. I wonder how the Brawn will go on wets? Button is usally pretty good in the rain.

I can recall scores of comments last year saying "lets see what Hamilton can do in a bad car". Well, now you have.

Sadly making the appeal means they cannot run a revised diffuser until at least China. By then the stable door will have been open so long that the horse may have bolted.

The fact that three teams, not one, came up with the same solution suggests that it is a grey area in the rules which has been cleverly exploited by some designers and missed by others. Remember, whatever happens in the appeal, the results of the first two races will stand (as it did when Ferrari raced with a supposedly illegal floor a few years ago). Brawn wont lose their points. The only issue is who will have to change their cars? The three? Or the seven? Or six, given that McLaren did not join the appeal. Presumably their version of the clever diffuser will appear soon. Personally, I think the clever diffuser will be declared OK and the others will have to change. Those teams making the most noise being the ones who will need to change the most things on their car to incorporate the idea.

So, lets talk about Ferrari shall we?

I don't think Brawn have yet revealed their full hand. I think they only did as much to win as they needed not wanting to scare the powers that be into ruling against their dominance in the diffuser row. Without the intervention of safty cars no one would have been anywhere near Button at the end.

How can you give this the tagline "Video raises doubts over Trulli penalty". The video does exactly the opposite. It confirms Hamilton was entitled to pass him. Only the speculation about why Trulli re passed the McLaren is in question and there is no video footage of that (yet).

It seems Jenson had a very good time down under!

Only weeks?

You may know from previous posts I have made that I am no Ferrari fan. However, it is both amusing and sad to read the extremes of the comments on this post. Ferrari are either useless no hopers with "donkey driver" who will never win a race again or the carriers of the divine sword of Formula 1 and the only team that matters. The reality of the situation of course lies somewhere between these two extreme points of view. The Ferrari's were pretty quick on Sunday and could have had a good result. For various reasons they didnt, whether that be due to unreliability or driver error. But this is F1 and shi* happens sometimes. Ferrari WILL obviously bounce back. They have everything they need to be a feature in the Championship this year. Regarding Brawn GP and the "closeness" of BMW, Red Bull and others; May I be so bold as to suggest that if it were not for the safety car periods neither Vettel or Kubica would have been anywhere near Button. In an incident free race and without Buttons pit stop error Brawn would probably have won by half a minute or more.

The mark of a champion is to get the best out of a bad car as well as a good one. I don't think anyone can disagree that Hamilton drove a very good race even though there was an element of luck in him getting third. His aggression was clear and his car appeared on the edge everytime it was on screen. It is not Hamiltons fault that several people who should have finished ahead of him threw it off the track. To finish first (or indeed third), first you have to finish.

It is clear from the You Tube footage that Hamilton was within his rights to overtake Trulli who had left the circuit. If McLaren then wrongly let him back through (in order to cover themselves against penalty) then perhaps the fairest result would be to let Trulli keep his fourth place rather than give him an inappropriate time penalty. After all, he clearly left the track in the first instance. McLarens probably acted as they did becasue of the ambiguity created by the inconsistency of the F1 stewards last year.

Yes, Barrichello was a bit rash but the first corner incident was no fault of his as he was punted from behind. His other incident was pretty minor and he didn't inconvenience either of the Ferraris who managed to throw it away on their own!

Only 10 minutes Jense?

Hey Queen, there is no need to get personal. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how misguided.

But for the safety car tha would have been a crushing win for Button.

The diffuser on the cars belonging to the "three" does have a perfectly straight edge. It is a completely different part adjacent to the diffuser which seems to have a contoured shape, or so I have read on other more technical forums.

Well done Jenson. Top job! Pole position. Good luck for the race.

Well I enjoyed that! The opening bars of 'the Chain' got my spine tingling as F1 returned to the BBC. (I dont even remember the ITV theme tune). The subsequent qualifying session was a cracker full of drama. It is great to see a change in the established order and I hope that Brawn can steal a few results before the big boys catch up. I was a bit disappointed that Williams didnt feature higher in the final placings (especially Nakajima) but who knows what fuel levels everyone is running? Richard Branson managed to swear in his first sentence on live TV and then said "are we on TV"? (Doh! What do you think the microphones and cameras were for Richard?) I wasnt too fussed on the commentary of Jonathan Ledgard but the rest of the new BBC team seemed pretty good, even if Eddie Jordan seemed intent on showing us how many big words he can use. (Keep it simple Ed!) Let's hope the race is just as good as qualy. Go Brawn!

This is fantastic. Proper Formula One. A couple of teams spot an idea and all the others who didn't think of it cry foul. It reminds me of the old days of skirts, fan cars and six wheelers, except this time I don't think this innovative diffuser will get banned. The others will have to play catch-up and judging from the noise they are making, it will be a while before they do.

I thought Jenson was pretty cheap when I bought him for my Fantasy F1 team!

It is great to see a shake up of the established order. Enjoy it while it lasts. The big money teams will be back up there fairly soon. Here's to a great race and maybe a new GP winner?

I take your point Schum but last years understeering Ferrari was not suited to Kimi. This year it is more of an oversteering car and may well suit his style better. I think he will give Massa a much bigger battle.

deepwater330 - it is quite possible the press did make it up!

For goodness sake just get on and protest will you. Stop blowing hot air and do it. This 'my dad is bigger than your dad' posturing could fuel your KERS device for a season.

JOHNBT - No, they are just clever enough to prepare for any eventuality.

Today the scrutineers will rule one way or the other. The 'losing' teams (either 7 or 3) will then protest to the court of appeal and the race result won't be known for months. How to mis-manage a sport in one easy lesson.

After Ron & Flavs visit to Bernie the other day I think it is easy to predict who will win this argument! Bernie bears grudges gentlemen. The diffusers will be allowed and all the teams will be running them in the very near future! They are just peeved that their designers missed a trick when reading the new rules.

Surely if the cars pass scritineering then they are legal. If they dont, then they are not. Is that not the the job of the FIA scrutineers? How inept can the FIA get before someone else has to take control of the sport?

I think the single most important point to come out of this article is the reference to the taller and heavier drivers being penalised. Surely it wouldn't be a great problem to account for this when car weights are calculated. If the world's greatest driver were 6 foot 6 inches tall we'd never see him in F1.

Well done Fernando and Nelson.

I hope Bernie will have the good sense to put his ego aside and make the decision that everyone else wants. Forget this winner takes all nonsense. Having the good grace to admit you were wrong is a far bigger thing that ploughing on regardless.

Dear Bernie, please re-arrange these words into a well known phrase or saying: Foot Shot The You In Yourself

After the latest round of F1 hokey cokey, isn't it good to know that the sport is in such safe hands!

Mrs Thatcher... hmmmm, actually, now you mention it she got progressively madder as she got older, perhpas Bernie is on the same road! Is the Winner Takes All system Bernie's Poll Tax?

owainluvsf1, brilliant! Flav, watch out for the stewards this year.

RESIGN MAX!

Under the new system the guy with the second best number of wins could be beaten into second place by a guy with less wins! So some wins are more equal than others!

Soccer has a points system. Three for a win and one for a draw. (All British leagues including the Premiership).

Jamie Hibbard on the excellent Top Gear website has pointed out a massive anomaly with the new "most wins wins" system: Here is what he says: "I¿ve just had a look at the FIA¿s press release again with regards how they¿ll decide second place overall, and it says: ¿The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system. There is no provision to award medals for first, second or third place.¿ Which means, potentially, the driver with the SECOND MOST wins won¿t necessarily finish the season as the second best driver, if he¿s got less points overall. Which is just, well, odd is it not?"

Dear Jense, it doesn't confuse me... It infuriates me.

All well and good except that podiums are no longer of any consequence unless you are on the top step!

What do the sponsors and broadcasters think of this issue? Did the BBC knowingly sign up to this nonsense?

RoadsTTer asks what series he should now watch in place of F1. That is easy to answer. There is one series which is very much like F1 in the way that it is run and the way results are achieved. Its called WWF (the World Wrestling Federation). Failing that, you should go to a circus.

I totally disagree with the "after the second round of pit stops not much happens" argument. Do you honestly think that the wins only system will change that? Drivers settle for positions bcause they KNOW they cannot catch the guy in front in the car they have on the day. This new system cannot possibly change that! No driver can conjour a faster car just because the rules have been changed. Racers race! And always have done. I don't see much evidence of drivers in F1 settling for anything other than the best they can do (apart from one race in every season when one guy knows what he need to do to be champion and this has been the norm from Mike Hawthorn to Lewis Hamilton). Weemac2000 raises the best point of all. What is the mark of a great driver? To win from lights to flag or to fight back from 17th to 3rd after a puncture. What incentive is there to do this under the new system? We want meaningful battles ALL THE WAY DOWN THE FIELD, not just at the front.

I have a feeling that Williams will do pretty well this year. And they are quite cheap in Fantasy F1.

These guys are racers and they will race as best they can regardless of how the championship is decided. No system is going to make them any more or less able to pass the guy in front than they actually are. Oh wait, I need to pass him so I'll just 'magic' my car into going faster! If you can pass, you do. If you can't, you don't! Only in the last race of the season was this not the case. LH needed 5th and aimed for it. No driver or team would have done any different. Here we have a recipe for disaster and I predict reckless lunges down the inside safe in the knowledge that if you take out both yourself and your championship rival it doesn't matter as you were only second anyway and have nothing to lose. The stewards will have to work overtime of course and they are very good at that aren't they! Here's to someone on 60 points being champion over someone on 120 points. I think F1 in 2009 will be reckless but certainly not wreckless!

They will all have it withng 3 months!

The new system has the potential to make ar, far more of a mockery of the championship than a points system ever could! A driver with 70 points could win out over one with 120!

Laguna Seca or Road America please!

I can (just about) understand the arguement for the new points system even though I strongly disagree with it. The reason I disagree is that it has the potential to make far, far more of a mockery of F1 racing than a points system ever could. OK, so Lewis was Champion with one less win. What if he were Champion with 70 less points?

We will actuall see real team orders and real last lap crashes when desperation leads drivers to punt their challengers of the track if they can't win as second is of no consequence. This will send the stewards into overdrive and they will decide who wins the championship.

I notice that on-line petitions galore have sprung up against the points system eing changed. Just google F1 points petition.

I notice that on-line petitions galore have sprung up against the points system eing changed. Just google F1 points petition.

I notice that on-line petitions galore have sprung up against the points system eing changed. Just google F1 points petition.

For once I agree with Robson but not for the same reasons.

I hope your next "good week / bad week" feature will reflect what a bad week it has been for the fans of F1.

My previous comment was meant to be ironic! The WMSC tinkering has led to fans hoping for a season where that title is decided quickly so we can get back to proper racing with points.

Yes, let us hope for a dominant driver so the system is shown up for what it is: Stupid!

Bernie always likes to stir things up and he wants 26 people on the grid for good reason. But remember he always has a personal agenda. Is it the enjoyment of the fans? Nope. Is it close racing? Nope. I will leave you to guess what it is. Kerchingggg!

I see Bernie has chosen to ignore the massive outcry against the new scoring system for 2009. I hope he takes a little time to sample the tirade of dissent that is pouring into to F1 websites. Sadly the FIA do not have the courage to open a forum on their website.

Flashash, could you explain yourself a little further please? How do you define a "purist"? How do you define yourself? This "us and them" scenario that you present does not hold any water. Just read the many hundreds of irate comments that have appeared on this site since this annoucement was made? 95% of the posts are from fans who are very upset and extremely concerned about this new points system. If you cannot see the reasons for their concern, that is OK. You are entitled to your opinions. But accusing a large number of caring fans of being luddites is out of order. Next time, before you write on this subject, take time to notice that it is not "us and them", it is "us and you"!

Nice one Lucifer. I wish I could have written that as eloquently as you!

I agree with Bernie. We will see real racing now! We will see the F1 fans racing over the horizon to go and watch MotoGP or Touring Cars instead.

When I wrote what I wrote, I did not think of KERS. Nick and Monercy may well be right about this being part of what we saw on the video. I still think it sounds like a rev limiter though!

Dear Bernie, please read all the posts on this topic here on Planet-F1. You will see that 95% are against. 5% for. Multiply this by your worldwide F1 audience and go figure.

So, even more secret team orders then! It is inevitable that one win will be enough to sway every team in that direction. Bye bye F1. RIP

VOTE WITH YOUR FEET. Stop supporting F1.

Vote with your feet guys. Stop watching and supporting F1. No? Of course we won't. The powers that be know we will continu watching regardless of the balls up they make of the sport. Lets have two drivers Championships! The proper World Championship AND Bernie's Fantasy F1 Trophy for the most wins.

Putting the testing issues aside for a moment, I am continually shocked and saddened by the amount of hatred that those who leave comments direct towards the drivers. In this particular article the vitriol is aimed at Hamilton. Elsewhere on the site you don¿t have to look too far to see similar character assassinations of Massa, Kimi, Alonso and many others. Why do people feel so the need to display so much hatred? Get over this childish ranting and enjoy the amazing competition that these guys provide. The last two seasons have been among the most exciting in history. Long may it continue, whoever triumphs at the end of the season.

I'd like to know what kind of times they were all running in their race simulations!

OK, here's a hypothetical scenario: Massa & Raikkonnen are tied on 5 wins each at the end of the season so we go back to points. Alonso with four wins and ten second places becomes champions as he has most points. Yeah, a really good idea guys!

Does it not escape their attention that they are casting aside 50 years of history and tradition. The casual fan may be wooed by this stupid race win approach but the die-hard fans will be lost by the thousand. Can I have my Fantasy F1 entry money back please?

The championship to be decided on race wins? Seemingly Molière was correct when he said "A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one". These people are supposed to know what they are doing! Let us hope they realise the error of this decision before it si too late. Sadly I suspect they won't as only "a wise man changes his mind, a fool never does¿.

Does this affect PLANET F1 fantasy F1 teams. I want my money back!!

Is it April 1st? This is ludicrous. How to ruin a sport in one easy step. I cannot believe that such idiots govern our sport. Can't they see how nfair such a system would be and how it will demotivate, not motivate. It says "if you are in a car that cannot win, you are not worthy of being in our Championship". I suspect that this will please casual fans who do not understand the sport but anger people who have been avid fans for many years. Knee jerk!!!

As an impartial observer I think that finolaits description of this video is more than a little exaggerated. Initially the two cars accelerate equally but at the point that the Ferrari starts to gain quickly you can clearly hear a sound very much like an engine rev limiter. It sounds to me like the McLaren fails to grab a gear and hits the limiter. Also, as the two cars go out of sight the Ferrari has only just pulled alongside the Mclaren so the words "by the time Heikki gets to Turn 1 he's been lapped" are not true as we never actually get to see turn one.

McLaren are obviously struggling and if Ferrari are going to be the team to beat I think Kimi may be that man to watch as this car seems to suit his driving style. Anyone care to hazzard a guess as to how many teams will win a GP in 2009? I'm going for five although I was tempted to say six.

Renault will have copied it by the first race.

The Daily Star... oh it must be true then!

It looks like this could well be a competitive package. Testing is not necessarily a true indicator but when was the old Honda ever top of the times by a clear second? Like Wolfinleeds I'm really looking forward to seeing the true pace of this car (and others) in Oz.

I¿ve been thinking about my own favourite drivers and have come up with some names. Before you all get excited, this is not a list based on statistical achievement. Those lists write themselves and should include the likes of Senna, Schumacher, Prost, Stewart, etc. No, the list that follows is completely personal and includes drivers I have found very exciting to watch and some that have captured my imagination in the history books. So, in no particular order my favourite Grand Prix drivers are: Gilles Villeneuve, Bernd Rosemeyer, Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Alan Jones, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Cark, Ronnie Peterson, Alberto Ascari and Graham Hill. Other drivers outside the ten are: Jean Alesi, Stefan Bellof, Achille Varzi, Tazio Nuvolari, Jean Behra and Stirling Moss.

I must confess I didn't even realise Schumacher wasn't in Mr. McDermott¿s list. I automatically assumed he was. That makes the list even more of a nonsense. MEZRG is absolutely right. Of course MS must be in the list, and near the top.

To Robert McDermott. I understand that top ten lists are a personal thing but surely an all time F1 top ten without Juan Manuel Fangio is a nonsense. Also I feel your omission of the likes of Moss, Ascari, Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi and Graham Hill in favour of the likes of Phil Hill, Mario Andretti, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton is a bit odd. Kimi and Lewis may get there one day but not yet. Also, I think that Jackie Stewart himself, whilst undoubtedly worthy of the top ten, would dispute being placed above Jimmy (not Jimmie) Clark. One last point, I see no mention of possibly (dare I say probably) the fastest driver of them all¿ Slim Borgudd. Only joking, I mean Gilles Villeneuve.

I'm going to support BGP! Good luck guys.

The testing times look promising though....

Good luck BGP.

To HOLLANDERS I remember the Cosworth years in F1 as a golden era with lots of competitive cars on the grid and the privateers regularly wiping the floor with the big manufacturers. To ROBSON, I can only wonder at your inconsistency. I bet you were Brawn's biggest supporter when he was at Ferrari. To everyone else, lets all get behind Brawn GP. This is the kind of team F1 needs and thrives upon. I hope they spring some surprises.

This just reverses the change introduced when Mickey Shoemaker was winning everything. In 2003 they made second place worth 8 points instead of 6 to make the title battle closer! I would bet that if another driver, maybe Vettel, becomes as dominant again, the powers that be will probably change back to 10-8-6 etc.!

Very interesting! Ross Brawn & Nick Fry with a clean slate. Two good proven drivers. A Mercedes engine. Honda money for the season and a 2009 spec car they have been working on for longer than anyone else. I think this could be a surprise package and would not write them off just yet.

Congratulations kubomon17. You are one of the few people in this forum who can appreicate a good driver even if you don't like or support them. For the rest of this forum not liking a driver automatically means he is no good! This especially applies to those blinkered Ferrari and McLaren fans for whom everything is black and white (or should I say red or silver). All the drivers are very good or they wouldn't be sitting in an F1 car. The percentage of talent or ability that separates the good from the very good or from the exceptional is very small indeed, maybe lower than 1%. So please grow up and give credit where it is due. If the driver or team you support loses, it does not mean that the ones who beat him are bad or lucky or undeserving. Just better on that day or in that year.

It looks like it will be Brawn. I doubt Virin wil go all the way.

It isn't Hamilton's job to be liked. It is his job to win races and Championships. Senna and Schumacher were very much disliked at the peak of their powers. It goes with the territory.

Yes Wombat, you are testing my memory and I¿m not 100% sure what you are trying to say. The Williams FW07, one of my favourite all time F1 machines, was clearly the car to beat in 1980 winning six races (with the Brabham BT49 winning three and the Ligier JS11 winning two). I can only guess you are referring to the fact that the FW07 was pretty much a copy of the Lotus 79 but copy or not it propelled Alan Jones to the title in 1980 and would have done so again in 1981 if it were not for car problems in five races where Jones was leading (Moncaco, Hockenheim, Buenos Aires, Zolder and Montreal). I was at Hockenheim that day and the Williams was very clearly in a class of it¿s own through the pre-chicane Ostkurve (although Villeneuve in the awful Turbo Ferrari was far more entertaining to watch). A sticking fuel pump cost Jones the win and those points alone would have been enough to have given him the 1981 title. Recent statistics have also shown that had Bernie¿s infamous medals system been in place, the FW07 with Jones at the wheel would have also won the 1979 Driver¿s Championship. So all in all, I think the FW07 was a pretty special machine.

Well said Rochester.

You usually speak a lot of sense Sir JYS. I hope you are wrong this time though!

Oh come on guys, put aside your petty prejudices. Can't you see that an American F1 team would be a great asset to Formula One. We need as many teams as we can get right now!

This sounds promising. They started working on their 2009 car after the first GP of 2008 so it should be at least OK. Let just hope they can bolt the Merc unit onto the back of it and be reasonably competitive. Any team with Ross Brawn involved will have potential to succeed but will it be the BF Mercedes or the Virgin Mercedes on the grid on 2009. Either will do....

If USF1 makes it to F1 it could be the first step towards getting a race (or two?) on American soil. Our "World" Championship really ought to include the US and if I could pick my ideal venues I would go for Road America or Laguna Seca although I think both circuits would need pretty big investment in facilities before Bernie would consider them.

biso you are absolutely right, i know nothing about football, guilty as charged. Rugby is the game I love and that is why I am not as impressed with the crash helmet brigade as most Americans think we should be. Having said that I watched and thoroughly enjoyed the Superbowl this year. I was so glad that it was on the BBC though... no adverts... like F1 in 2009.

Yet another twist in the curious case of Jenson Button!

They may win the FA Cup but the'll never win the Premiership as well!

It would be interesting to see if teams like McLaren and Ferrari fell back into the clutches of the teams with less money. That's got to be good for competition!

I don't mind the idea of banning refuelling but wouldn't it be expensive to implement? It would mean a complete redesign of all the cars to hold a much bigger fuel tank. Would this outweigh the cost of taking fuel rigs to the GPs?

If F1 were to copy the NFL would a 90 minute Grand Prix take five hours?

Although American football is a little contrived and long winded as a sport, their draft pick system is inspired and has completely eradicated long term dominance by one franchise. I can see the benefits of the English premier league adopting a similar situation but I can't really see how if would work for F1.

Gype seems not to have noticed that Welsh clubs Cardiff City and Swansea City are currently both high up in the 'English' Championship and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that either (or both) could soon be in the Premiership!

I hope this is true, F1 needs all the teams it can get.

It's like watching tennis! The FIA changed the points system in 1991 from 9-6-4-3-2-1 to 10-6-4-3-2-1 to give more emphasis to winning. Then in 2003 they went to 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to allow the others an outside chance of challenging the all conquering Schumacher and also (wait for it) to "reward reliability and consistency". Now, we are calling for this to be reversed so that reliability and consistency are not rewarded. The bottom line is that whatever points system you adopt, the drivers will adjust accordingly. I suspect that most World Champions would still have won whatever system was in place in thet year (with the possible exception of Mike Hawthorn). The most telling comment of the year was from Felipe Massa who said he wasn't going to blame the points system as all the drivers knew the rules going into the season.

Drop it Bernie, you are so, so wrong.

I doubt any F1 team manager would risk his drivers in a tin top demolition derby. The risk of injury would probably more than double with contact being the norm rather than the exception in Touring Car racing. Note, this is not a dig a DTM or any Touring Car series. They are great to watch.

McLaren's maiden win at Silverstone in 1981 was the first Grand Prix I ever attended. I remember parking overnight right behind the banking at Copse and watching the race just before that corner. During the race I seem to recall that the fast turbo Renaults of Prost and Arnoux expired, Piquet had a tyre failure which put him in hospital and a crash at Woodcote sent Villeneuve and Jones into the catch fencing. All this handed Wattie a somewhat fortuitous win. Being a fan of Williams and AJ I was quite disappointed though the result went down well with the British crowd. After the race whilst queing to get out I noticed that a gate onto the track was open and I managed to do three quarters of a lap (from Copse to Abbey) before being ushered off the circuit. I still have my entry ticket for which I paid the princely sum of £8. How times have changed!

The faster it goes, the more beautiful it will become!

Surely the Ensign N179 and the Ferrari 312B3 'Snowplough' should be in this top ten!! Also, didn't March make a six wheeler with four at the back?

I doubt he has the balls ;-)

Surely the whole world knows that in F1 anyone could sign anyone... providing they are fast enough! An F1 team principal would sign his Granny's murderer if he made the car go half a second faster.

But which are the most beautiful? I love the lines of a Maserati 250F. Or how about that gorgeous Lotus 88 that got banned before it raced. The Merc W196 was pretty special too. My favourite racing car design wasn't in F1 though, it was the Jaguar D Type.

Two drivers from one team contending for the title has in the past allowed others to sneak in and beat them both. Such a situation needs careful management and Ferrari, considering the Schumacher is number one driver years, are perhaps not as well placed as other teams to manage the situation. Time will tell.

It does look as though there will be a lot of broken wings in 09.

It is good to see that someone has the interests of Formula One at heart.

I love CrazyJoeDavola's dream schedule. Fantastic. I have had the pleasure of watching Grands Prix at the Österreichring, Zandvoort (ah Gilles!) Spa, Monaco (ah Keke), Brands and Jerez and they are all great circuits for viewing. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be though! I doubt Bernie cares about the enjoyment of the real spectators, only the TV masses seem to count these days. Hey, how about a Scottish Grand Prix too? The roads up there are awesome.

Also being Welsh (a Ponty boy, like Tom Jones) I wholeheartedly agree with Taffy and ElvisBeavis. A Welsh Grand Prix would be a superb excuse for a second British race. I remember mapping out a fast street circuit around Cardiff some years back and trying it out in my 260Z. It started with a fantastic pit straight along along the Boulevard de Nantes past the museum then a fast right followed by a fast left hander down under the bridge onto Newport Road. It then went right onto the road past the Blind institute and the magistrates court, round the back of the Prison (where Robsons ancestors were from) and, after another long straight past where the Moon club used to be, a fast sweeping right into St Mary's Street followed by a blast down to the Castle and a challenging right and left chicane leading back up to a right hander back onto the start/finish line. These days we could also have a Cardiff Bay loop section. Grand Prix racing on Bute Street, now that would make a change!

I hope we get a close season with suprise packages seriously challenging for race wins and the titles, perhaps BMW, Renault or maybe even Red Bull. Racing is what we want.

Here's to a close season with loads of overtaking and no intervention from the stewards. May the best package win!

Sadly Jenson isn't known for his decision making powers! I'd be prepared to make a small wager that he ends up with nothing.

I think Jenson should join Torro Rosso now! A last minute failure to secure a buyer would probably mean him dropping out of F1 for 2009. Torro Rosso can't wait forever and we need all the Grand Prix winners we can get on the grid.

Oh yes, and Dear Auntie Beeb, please bring back the Chain.... or we'll send the boys round...

Mrmasher: I doubt there will be HD coverage. As Martin said, they have to work with the feeds given to them by the host broadcasters and very few, if any, of those countries broadcast in HD (yet). Some countries don't even use widescreen yet! I hope that we will have red button access to all race weekend sessions, not just qualy and race.

Oh go on Dave, we'll thrown in a Blaupunkt and an I-Pod

It seems to me that the problems experienced by Ferrari in 2008 were man made. Their traffic light system functions well enough but if the guy controlling it presses the release button too early then there is going to be a problem the same as if another team lifts the lollipop too early. I wonder if human error can ever really be eradicated from fuel stops?

Well done to Massa for having the good grace not to say what every one expects him to say. He is a good guy and a very good driver and would have been a worthy champion had he won. But as he says, he was aware of the points system at the start of the season, as was everyone! Hindsight is 20-20 vision.

Oops you are right Robbie, Singapore it was. Too much New Year celebration has killed some of my few remaining brain cells. BTW, I heard the same music as they ran down the pit lane. HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, whoever you support.

I bet the ringtone is the theme from the Godfather!

Digger, you are missing the point, Robson isn't 'saying it like it is', he is just being argumentative and has said so himself on several occasions. I suspect that even he does not believe everything he writes. He's just playing devils advocate and this, as you say, does spice things up a bit.

Fastrack says Ferarris is F1. This is patent nonsense. I think he¿s been watching too many re-runs of ¿Rollerball¿! History constantly illustrates that no single team is bigger than the sport. I began watching F1 in the late 1970's and at that time Ferrari was one of several teams competing for honours, not particularly better or worse than their rivals. However, as we progressed into the 1980s they rapidly went downhill, their only saving grace being a certain Gilles Villeneuve who made those awful red cars go much faster than they should, notably at Jarama in 1981. (I remember Harvey Postlethwaite, the designer of the 126C, eulogising on how Gilles was able to stay in front of five faster cars for almost the entire race, saying 'I know just how bad that car was'). In fact, in the 15 years between 1984 and 1998 Ferrari were ¿also-rans¿ winning no championships of any kind. In those days, many races had ¿Ferrari Keystone Cops¿ moments akin to Valencia¿s pit lane sprint! It took the talents of an Englishman, a Frenchman and a German to drag Ferrari back into contention in 1999. Then from 2000 to 2004 they enjoyed a period of total domination before Renault burst their bubble in 2005 and 2006. McLaren experienced an even greater period of domination between 1984 and 1991 but that ended when Benetton employed the aforementioned Englishman and German. Williams had some pretty good times too, 1992 to 1997 among them. The F1 record books clearly show that periods of domination don¿t last for ever. Indeed, nothing lasts for ever in Formula One. It is the nature of the beast. Obviously Ferrari is important to the sport but they, and every team in Formula One, can only be measured against the quality of their opposition. Without all the teams, Formula 1 (and Ferrari) would be nothing!

Rcparsons has had a great idea. Let's introduce cash for points but then spice it up by also introducing bonus payments of $500,000 each for 'best excuse for crashing' (For example "Beaver jumped out at me" or "going beautifully, chganging up early, white line, tiny mistake") or "longest sentence in a press conference" (Kimi would be out of the running for this one). Or how about "most uses of the phrase 'for sure' in an interview" or "Best scandal of the year", (would Max qualify for this bonus?). Any other ideas out there?

I think they should be called HONDALAY HONDALAY

Merry Christmas to everyone!

You are right Robson, I didn't even take my own advice. Merry Christmas.

How about we pay the drivers no wages at all, just $200,000 for each World Championship point they score. Now that WOULD improve overtaking.

Merry Christmas to Robson and F1-Freak_666. I look forward to reading your posts in 2009.

Robson says: ¿Don¿t let the facts get in the way of a good story¿ when he dismisses Mercedes Benz ¿because they have won nothing in F1 as a constructor of an f1 car¿. In fact, the two companies which merged to form Mercedes-Benz in 1926 had both already enjoyed success in the new sport of motor racing throughout their histories. Both took part in the very first automobile race, Paris to Rouen 1894. The Mercedes Simplex of 1902 was Mercedes' first purpose built race car and dominated racing for years. The 1930s saw the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows dominate Grand Prix racing in Europe together with its rival, Auto Union, the M-B cars winning championships in 1935, 1937, 1938 and 1939. (Incidentally, at this time Enzo Ferrari was running bought in ¿customer cars¿ made by Alfa Romeo). In 1954 Mercedes-Benz returned to what was now known as Formula One racing using the W196. Fangio was World Champion that year and the success continued into 1955 when Fangio and Stirling Moss, won 6 of 9 races between them and finished first and second in the championship. Oh, and one word on your hatred of all things British. British teams have won the 32 F1 constructors championships and 36 drivers championships. Italian teams have won the 16 constructors championships and 19 drivers championships.

Energyman, for me all the penalties were borderline and that is why they are so hotly argued over. I can see why you thought them fair but my take on Belgium is that a penalty for Hamilton became irrelevant after Kimi regained the lead but then later crashed out. The fact that Kimi got back in front proves that LH gained no advantage from the 'La Source' move. Mostly though I thought it was a great shame that the two guys actually 'racing' for the lead both lost out and the guy going slowly in third place inherited an undeserved win. Compliments of the season to you.

Hands up anyone out there who would like to take a voluntary wage cut...

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

The best way to deal with idiots like Robson is to ignore them!

What might have been is irrelevant. You may as well say that Adrian Sutil would have been World Champion if only the Force India was faster. The simple fact he wasn't and nor was Massa.

If Robson had his way all the F1 races would be like that debacle at Indianapolis a few years ago. He must have been like a pig in s**t watching a race which Ferrari could not possibly lose. Now that's what he calls sport!

No denial then.

kirk, you are right. I apologise.

No team is bigger than the sport.

Simon raises some interesting questions given some of the rather odd stewards decisions that went Ferrari's way this year. I can't wait to see what Robson is going to make of this....

I hope they are on the grid. We ned all the cars we can get..

I can't wait to see what Robson will make of this!

I wonder how much of a pay cut Max and Bernie are taking?

Now here's a phrase you don't read very often - I agree with F1-Freak-666. Luck did prevail over talent in 2008. Massa was indeed very lucky to get two wins gifted from the Stewards. It must be tough for him to accept that even with this outside assistance he still wasn't good enough to be World Champion. I don't agree however that he does not have talent. I think he is a very talented driver, almost as good as the World Champion.

biso9700 I think you've hit the nail on the head. It is really good to know that there are 'proper' Ferrari fans like you on this forum. No one loses any sleep over the nonsense spouted by 'the few'.

So when did Lewis say he was the best driver ever? I certainly don't remember this 'self proclamation'.

daveyboy33i I think Robson actually believes the nonsense he writes.

Oh dear, so sad, never mind....

YAY

Kirk98725 - it should be "I'm glad that Button doesn't have a drive for next year. He should HAVE stuck with William...". Or possibly "should've".

Great plan gghani. Will they get 'Tesco Club Card Points' too?

Wouldn't it be great if Vettel and Buemi joined the Championshup race in 2009. Having five or six drivers in serious contention would be fantastic.

Thanks for your text message but I won't go a penny over six hundred quid.

Summerss, fluke or no fluke he is the 2008 Champion. No amount of whingeing can change that.

Dear "robson", the answer is simple. We like to think of it as missionary work.

What is it with Torros Rosso and Sebastians?

Hi, the 'miserable pom' is back. I forgot to mention that my first 'hero' in Formula One was a certain Mr. Alan Jones and my earliest visits to Grands Prix all over Europe were to support him and 'Team Willy'. Page & Moy's 'Fast & Cheap' tours are sorely missed. Incidentaly, being welsh I feel compelled to mention the recent rugby match between our two Nations. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I.

For me Hamilton's World Championship triumph is made all the more enjoyable when I read all these really funny excuses from the fans of drivers who didn't win the Championship. Keep them coming, I really enjoy a good laugh! Nothing you can say will change the SIMPLE FACT that the 2008 Formula One World Motor Racing Champion is Lewis Hamilton. That'll be in the record books a hundred years after we have all shuffled off this mortal coil.

This is good news. I love Kyalami. A great circuit.

Speaking as a 'miserable pom' I'd love to visit Australia. A truly wonderous country from all accounts. Who knows, if I am really nice and wish 'Robson' a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, he may even say something nice on this forum. Lighten up mate, it's just a bit of fun!

I'm not sure about the ban on refuelling. The teams will have to completely re-design their cars to have bigger fuel tanks. Wouldn't this cost more than the saving gained from of getting rid of re-fuelling rigs and associated equipment? Am I missing something? Also, it is a shame they didn't dump KERS until a later time.

Dear Mr Fukui, I forgot one important question. Will you do me a discount for cash? Cheers, Dave.

Dear Mr Fukui, I saw your advert in the Auto Trader and wanted to express an interest in buying your team. Are you able to confirm that that nice Mr. Brawn is included in the advertised price? Also, is it possible to clarify the position regarding the two drivers. We've heard a rumour that the slower they drive, the more you pay them. Is this true? If so, can we provide our own drivers? Or are yours prepared to 'do a deal'? We can offer a competitive package including travel expenses and BUPA. (Incidentally I have spoken to Mr Button and he pronounces your name quite differently to me. Apologies if I have been getting it wrong). On the subject of engines, I understand that yours are not included in the sale but by pure co-incidence we have a couple of old 3 litre Ford units and a few ZF boxes knocking about at the back of the lock up. Do you think they would fit? Also, before we decide whether to make you an offer, would you answer one final question? How fast does it go? Regards, Dave.

Surely KERS is one of the 'costs' that got cut at the recent landmark meeting?

Great news. F1 would severely miss 'Team Willy'. I hope to see you back at the top very soon....

Speaking as a 'Brit' who wanted Hamilton to win this year, I certainly would not begrudge Massa the 2009 Championship. The way he acted at Interlagos was a lesson for everyone. Apart from being an excellent driver, he has dignity and class as a man. Good luck Felipe.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to carry on?

Before the days of huge motor manufacturers buying F1 teams we had a grid full of 'racers' who would field a car on a 'beg steal or borrow' budget of tuppence-halfpenny. Their sheer determination and ingenuity meant that they could often buy a bog standard Cosworth DFV engine and be competitive. I'm talking about teams like Brabham, Ligier, Williams, Tyrrell and Lotus. Sadly these days are long gone and nowadays formula one is emasculated by huge corporate entities with the sole object of selling cars (and the option to ship out as soon as it suits them). As shown in recent years by teams such as Prost & Super Aguri, it is really difficult for true racers to fight their way into this multi million dollar cartel as they inevitable struggle to find the massive sponsorship they need to compete. I cannot help but wonder therefore if Formula One would be better off without these fair weather friends who can so easily spoil our sport with a board room vote. Perhaps standard engines won't be such a bad thing after all?

Presumably max will be flying 'Economy' class from now on? And meanwhile, somewhere in California a wheel nut factory is laying off 100 of it's workers....

Before the days of huge motor manufacturers buying F1 teams we had a grid full of 'racers' who would field a car on a 'beg steal or borrow' budget of tuppence-ha¿penny. Their sheer determination and ingenuity meant that they could often buy a Cosworth DFV engine and be competitive. I'm talking about teams like Brabham, Ligier, Williams, Tyrrell and Lotus. Sadly these days are long gone and nowadays formula one is emasculated by huge corporate entities with the sole object of selling cars (and the option to ship out as soon as it suits them. As shown in recent years by Prost & Super Aguri, it is really difficult for true racers to fight their way into this cartel as they must find massive sponsorship just to be able to keep up. I cannot help but wonder therefore if Formula One would be better off without these fair weather friends who can so easily spoil our sport with a board room vote. Perhaps standard engines wouldn't be such a bad thing after all? Or perhaps I am remembering an utopia which can never be restored? You decide¿.

Goodbye Formula One, hello Formula Ford..

If Bernie¿s idea for medals were applied retrospectively to F1, the history books would show the following changes: Schumacher would remain unaffected with 7 championships. Prost would join Fangio on 5 titles. Senna and Clark would have 4 championships each, Mansell, Brabham and Stewart would all have three. Lauda, Andretti, Jones, Ascari, Graham Hill, Fittipaldi, Hakkinen and Alonso would each have 2 titles. Overall Britain would gain a lot with Clark having 4 titles instead of 2 and Mansell having 3 instead of 1. Moss would also have one. Justice surely! Prost, Senna, Andretti and Alan Jones all gain an extra championship and Pironi would have one title. The most unbelievable statistic would be that Nelson Piquet would lose ALL THREE of his championships! Lauda would lose one his three titles and Hawthorn, Surtees, Hulme, Scheckter and Rosberg would NEVER have been Champion. Anyone not named above would remain on one title. Oh yes, and Hamilton would also lose out to Massa (ludicrous penalties notwithstanding).

It would be just the like the old days of F1: Piquet, Prost, Senna & Rosberg. How about bringing in Matthias Lauda, Tomas Scheckter and Christian Jones? We could even get Jaques back too...

Raikkonen & Alonso better than Senna & Prost. I don't think so. Come back when they get to 7 titles and 92 race wins between them.

Anyone who thinks ITV's coverage of F1 was biased towards the British drivers, notably the World Championship winning Lewis Hamilton, is completely and utterly correct. Of course it is. He's British and this is exactly how it should be. It's the same in most other sports but I don't hear everyone complaining there. What about the massive coverage given by Auntie Beeb to our Gold Medal winning olympians? Likewise, both ITV¿s and BBC¿s coverage of champion's league and international football is massively geared towards the British viewer. Things are even more pronounced in rugby where England, Scotland and Wales all get independent local coverage totally geared to their own particular team and at the expense even of other British opposition. In short, TV channels are required and expected to pander to their home audiences. It is no different in Italy, Spain or Brazil and nor should we expect it to be. If truth be told, ITV's probably gave more air time and respect to overseas teams and competitors in Formula One than in any other sport it transmits.

Phew....

Oh poor Mark, I shall miss him so very much.

The medal system will take a huge amount of excitement away from Formula One simply because the statistical permutations of a season are massively reduced. Whether is increases overtaking is a moot point. It will certainly reduce excitement over the season as a whole with the title able to be decided long before the points system would have allowed.

This idea is clearly going to ruin Formula One. A driver who wins two races and fails to finish in all the others would be World Champion over a driver who wins one race and finishes second in 15! Patent nonsense.

Bernie you are such an idiot. This is quite clearly going to ruin Formula One for all but the top couple of teams. You are ruining almost 60 years of tradition with (yet another) knee jerk reaction. The idea totally removes the concept of reliability from the sport. A man winning two races could presumably be Champion over someone who wins one race and finishes second in ten others! That is LUDICROUS.

I've got a feeling that BMW may be the car to beat in 2009. Place your bets on Kubica now!

Question: How do you tell when Bernie is talking crap? Answer: His mouth opens!

Dear Jenson, GET OUT OF HONDA. Get out NOW before it's too late. I guarantee that after one race in 2009 you'll discover that Honda have (yet again) designed a lemon! Any other team is a better bet, even Force India. Go now while you still can.

Undoubtedly the funniest moment of the year was the McLaren mechanics urging the Ferrari team to run faster to retrieve the errant fuel hose. Was I the only person hearing the chase music from 'Benny Hill' at that moment? A close second was Bernie's comment thanking Ferrari for providing the clowns after Montezemolo had described Valencia as a circus. But then Bernie is a funny man, even when he should be serious!

Silverfox, I understand what you are saying but I well remember being at Silverstone in the height of Mansell Mania and it was no different. The British fans were heavily against any rivals of 'Our Nige'. Excited enthusiasts (who have probably been on the beer all day) can get a little passionate! This kind of Jingoism is unfortunate but Brazil is the norm not the exception.

Dear Rick and Freak, no matter how far out of the pram you throw your toys, Lewis Hamilton is 2008 Formula One World Champion. Enjoy! ;-)

Robson, so it seems you've been to every Australian GP since 1956, watched every F1 race since 1976, competed in many forms of motor sport AND you are a rocket scientist. I have to ask.... with all that experience, how come you still talk such utter crap?

Now this is how true sportsmen respond to adversity. They work hard to try to win next time. Bravo Ferrari. How sad it is that your good name is sullied by those 'fans' who feel the need to decry the achievements of McLaren & Hamilton by resorting to personal insults and character assassination, often for the sake of skin colour. To all such 'fans', we don't want you, Ferarri doesn't want you and Formula One doesn't want you.

ONCE AGAIN I ASK, IF GLOCK WANTED TO HELP HAMILTON, THEN WHY DIDN'T HE JUST STOP FOR WET TYRES? For goodness sake. Don't you understand F1 at all????

Jamesrc has hit the nail right on the head with a brilliant observation. If Glock wanted to help Hamilton win the Championship, then he would have also stopped for wet tyres and ended up back where he was - behind Hamilton. These ludicrous conspiracy theories would be funny if they weren't so terribly sad.

It is ludicrous for anyone to suggest that Glock let LH and SV past. Anyone who has this opinion clearly has very little knowledge of the sport of F1. It was just a gamble that didn't quite pay off. Just look at the lap times. Glock & Trulli, the only ones on dry tyres, both did a 1.44s on the last lap. Hamilton and Vettel did 1.25s. You can't drive dry tyres on a wet track. So let go of your sour grapes and accept that we had a great race, a great season and a great finish. Pure sporting drama.

Isn't it a shame the rain came along and ruined a really boring race by introducing four laps of pure sporting drama! Had the rain not fallen, we would have have all been reading headlines like 'Lewis cruises to a trouble free fourth place and takes the title.' As it transpired we are now reading how lucky he was. Jeez, that's the kind of luck he could do without.

To Nick Towsey, I'm glad you quoted Niki Lauda. He always tells it like it is. Here are some other Lauda quotes for you to enjoy: Niki Lauda described the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of his Belgian grand prix victory as "the worst judgment in the history of formula one". He also said Hamilton "has shown himself to be incredibly mature and strong-minded, and he genuinely has the chance to win the world championship...¿ As for luck, surely he was unlucky not lucky. He was cruising to the Championship in fourth place when it rained. That's the kind of luck I don't want. For just one lap Massa looked like he was going to be Champion. Then Toyota's gamble failed and we were back to where we were before the rain! Take a leaf out of Massa's book and act with some dignity in defeat.

Every single World Champion since the dawn of the sport has needed some luck to win. But how can anyone say LH was lucky at Interlagos? He was cruising to the championship in fourth place with a few laps to go only for it start raining. This is BAD luck, not good! Toyota took a gamble which very briefly disrupted the status quo of the race. Their gamble didn't work. Massa was in with a shout of the Championship for just one lap and this only as a result of Toyota rolling the dice.

I cannot believe that anyone could say LH was lucky on Sunday. He was in fourth place, cruising to the championship with just a few laps to go only for it to rain. That, my friends, is BAD LUCK, not good! Toyota took a gamble which very briefly disrupted the status quo of the race. The gamble didn't work. Massa was in with a shout of the Championship for just one lap and this only as a result of Toyota's failed gamble.

To 'CuoreRosso', well said. To 'Chickv', what on earth are you talking about? To 'thirealboss', have you ever watched F1 before? Don't you know about dry tyres on a wet track? To 'muddwell' and 'hussainahm', well spotted. You saw that both Toyotas had really slow final laps. To 'M500C'. You are totally correct... and you probably also think that Marilyn Monroe shot Elvis and Saddam Hussein sunk the Titanic. And finally to Felipe Massa. You are a true sportsman and I hope you win next year.

Regarding the message from F1_Freak_666, do I detect just a touch of bitterness from a disappointed Ferrari fan? I suspect I do. Sadly, no matter what excuses you dream up, one thing won¿t change. Hamilton is the 2009 Formula One World Motor Racing Champion. He won it because he was the guy with the most points at the end of the last race. It is ludicrous to blame Felipe's reliability issues. If a car fails, it is clearly and unquestionably due to the failure of the team to prepare it correctly. Sir Jack Brabham said 'to finish first, first you have to finish'. How true is this? No matter how fast or talented you may be, if your car fails, you don¿t score points. Why can't you accept this and try to act with the same class and dignity as Felipe Massa.

Some of the people here (for example: ajayacharya_250, willhekaslike, thefasteddie & pistonchick) could learn a lot from how Felipe Massa acted after the Brazilian GP. Formual one needs gentlemen like Felipe. It does not need small minded fanatics like you.

Noko Mokwele, Sebastian, Charlie & Babbs you clearly do not understand F1. Glock was on DRY tyres on a WET track. Both Toyotas took the gamble to stay out. It didn't work. (For the record, on the last lap Glock did a 1m44.7s lap & Trulli did a 1m44.8s. By contrast, Hamilton on intermediate tyres did 1m 25.6s). Felipe Massa's grace and dignity is in stark contrast to the jingoistic rubbish spouted by the rabid conspiracy theory spouting fanatics who often populate forums such as this. Take a lesson in sportsmanship and remember Felipe's words: "I know how to win and I know how to lose".

What a gentleman you are Felipe.

The manner with which Felipe Massa acknowledged defeat was noble and dignified. His family, friends and fans should be very, very proud of him. He is a true gentleman. I admit I was hoping for Hamilton to be Champion but instead found myself being more emotional over Felipe's response to the horrible situation of being told he was the Champion only to discover seconds later that he was not. Bravo Felipe. You have gained many fans today, including me.

I am, along with Ferrari it seems, struggling to understand precisely what is being proposed by the FIA. Seemingly they are offering three options: The first being that, if asked, it would be compulsory for an engine maker to supply engines to another team for 5 million euros per year. The second option, if they do not agree to the first, would be to adopt standard engines from a single supplier for all teams? (I'm not entirely sure what the third option is but suspect it is the same as the first but for drive trains instead of just engines). If this is correct then surely the ONLY option is the first (or third) as the second spells the death of Formula One and everything it represents. We currently have a healthy situation with SIX engine manufacturers and TEN teams. Surely a standard engine would lead to five of the six engine makers having to leave the sport because they didn't get the contract? This is F1, not A1GP. FIAsco once more.

Murray was certainly a great commentator but I think 'pundit' is a completely different thing. Brundle provides an ex-driver's point of view to complement the words of the commentator. His level of knowledge and his fearlessness in saying what needs to be said remind me of the work of James Hunt more than anyone else, although perhaps Brundle is not quite as outspoken. I still remember Hunt's words during Nelson Piquet's wonderfully funny kung-fu attack on Eliseo Salazar at Hockenheim in 1982. After Piquet had punched and kicked Salazar James said "I think Salazar was jolly lucky not to have been beaten up". Wonderful. Watch it on You Tube if you've never seen it.

What you are reading is just an angle on a story from some journalist or other with a living to make. For example, if Flav's actual words had been "Hamilton is the strong favourite but he could still have reliability issues", the next day's headlines would read "Flav says Hammy will blow it". Then, a few days later, when there isn't much to write about, they would refer back to the same interview and use the headline "Flav says Hammy is strong title favourite". Don't you see? It's just reporters trying to fill column inches. Don't rise to the bait guys. As Sir Jack once said, "when the green flag drops, the bullshit stops". Only then will we know who will be Champion.

As "Rmnastor" has just halved the number of cars on the grid, I wonder which driver he would choose to ditch from each team. Now that would be a 'silly season' to remember.

I hope Brundle is on board, but honestly, I'd make do with Bruce Forsyth & Ronnie Corbett commentating as long the Beeb bring back "The Chain". When I imagine this iconic tune at the start of the first 2009 BBC F1 broadcast all the hairs stand up on the back of my neck!

Bring back team orders. They are an essential part of F1. Their banning was a 'knee-jerk' reaction to one particularly 'obvious' event.

For the record, Jacques in his first two seasons (1996 and 1997) had 11 wins, 5 seconds, 3 thirds, 1 fourth, 1 fifth and 1 sixth (amassing 158 points). In the remainder of his F1 career (another 9 years) he only scored a further 76 points. This illustrates Dark Defenders point very well. Nice one.

Is it too late to get the other 'Seb' (Vettel) in the Renault? I think he's superb and deserves a better seat. Or maybe McLaren should exchange him for Heikki?

I wrote my last reply before seeing the one from Dark Defender who makes a really good point. I hadn't thought of Jacques. (I should have as his father is my favourite driver of all time and I had the pleasure of watching him race on several occasions!) Ample illustration of the ups and downs of this amazing sport.

"Mezrg" makes a very fair point of course. It is impossible to compare drivers from different eras, but I thought it would be interesting to see the stats nonetheless. I was quite surprised to see how the others did in their early years. I was expecting more success given their iconic standing in the sport. However, I can't agree that Hamilton's success is solely down the having a good package. He is part of that package too remember! "IlAlfisto" says it is impossible to rank two drivers unless they are team mates. Well, in his first year Hamilton did an extremely good job against Alonso who "merzg" reckons is "arguably the best package on the grid at present" (and I agree). Hamilton is also blitzing his 2008 team mate in a very 'Schumacher like' manner. Given his success and the global impact he has had on the sport, it is often overlooked that Hamilton is still a rookie. He makes his mistakes in a massive blaze of publicity, unlike other rookies who are relatively anonymous to the masses. Just in case you think I'm a huge Hamilton fan, I'm not. I'm just a fan of racing and I'm really looking forward to the next few years, especially if Vettel gets his bum into a top car. I think he and Kubica will give Hamilton a real run for his money alongside the Ferrari pair and Alonso too. The last two years have been the most competitive for ages. Long may it continue.

I just did a very quick calculation of how three of the eastablished 'greats' did in their FIRST TWO SEASONS of F1 and compared them with Hamilton. Schumacher got one win, three 2nd places, three thirds, five fourths, one fifth and two sixth places (total points 57). Prost got 3 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, 1 fifth and 3 sixth places (48 points). Senna got 2 wins, 2 seconds, 4 thirds, 1 fourth and 2 sixth places (51 points). Hamilton has (so far) got 9 wins, 7 seconds, 6 thirds, 1 fourth, and 3 fifth places (total 203 points). This must make interesting reading to the Hamilton knockers out there... but I'm sure they'll find excuses...

So how does Lewis compare to the 'greats' so far? I suspect that the statistics fom his first two seasons would stack up well against anyone in the history of the sport. Of course, whether he goes on to achieve as much as Fangio, Senna, Prost, Schumacher etc. remains to be seen.

In any Dictatorship the first thing you do is get the media under your control. The fact the Mosley and Donnelly feel the need to take such steps speaks volumes. Brundle is the best of the F1 pundits and we need more like him, not fewer. At least he has the balls to say what he (and everyone) is thinking. A "witch hunt" it surely was (and still is). I just hope the BBC have the balls to tell Max where to stick it...