On most race weekends 5th place would be a walk in the park for Lewis Hamilton but somehow in Brazil we were treated to every twist, turn and drama possible! I find it amazing that the World Championship so often comes down to the last race, let alone the last corner!

Lewis Hamilton - Congratulations to Lewis on his first Formula One Drivers World Championship! He almost let it slip away again, not really through any fault of his own, but managed to wrestle it back. He’s not the mosts loved driver but he’s certainly one of the fastest men in F1 so thoroughly deserves the championship

Felipe Massa - Poor Felipe. While he probably doesn’t have the outright pace and talent of Lewis, he managed his season better and ended up with more wins. Very respectable. Felipe certainly is a different driver this year. He’s finally stepped out of his “number 2 upbringing” at Ferrari.

I keep thinking back to how Felipe’s engine blew a few laps from the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix - a Grand Prix he absolutely dominated. That was where the championship was lost along with the pit lane blunder in Singapore.

Unfortunately for Felipe, and with all due respect to him, I have a feeling this might have been his only shot at a drivers world title…

Felipe Massa’s family and some Ferrari crew - I felt SO bad for them seeing they thought they’d won the Championship only to discover Lewis passed Timo Glock in the last corners… It would have been great to see Brazil erupt like they did when Ayrton Senna did the impossible in the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix. At least they had a perfect qualifying to celebrate over the weekend I guess…

Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel - It’s such a shame these guys didn’t have the car they needed to be in the championship hunt in the start of the season. They’ve been nothing short of brilliant in the 2nd half of the year (and on occassion in the first half).

Robert Kubica - I mention Robert here because he’s another driver who it would have been nice to see in the championship race. However while Renault and Toro Rosso have improved throughout the season, BMW have gone backward.

Giancarlo Fisichella - Fantastic decision to switch to dry tyres early on! It doesn’t often pay off for those people who brave the conditions first, but it’s nice to see when it does pay off. A special shout-out to Kaushal who wanted us to cover Force India in our post-race comments! And a big hi to all our Indian readers too!

Timo Glock - I don’t think Timo will be on Felipe Massa’s Christmas card list this year :)  To be fair though, even though Timo was terrible on the last 2 laps, his decision to stay out on dry tyres in the wet was the only reason he leapfrogged the other drivers anyway. So all up another good points race for the Toyota driver

Heikki Kovalianen - I really wonder whether McLaren develop the car completely around Lewis because I didn’t think Heikki was that bad… but maybe he is… Anyway, Heikki cost McLaren the constructors title with his under-par performances throughout the year.

Kimi Raikkonen - Did a very solid job to finish 3rd. Probably could have taken Alonso, but needed to minimise the risk to give Massa a chance at the title. Great team spirit from the FInn.

David Coulthard - I remember when David first came in to Williams to replace Ayrton Senna. He was an exciting young talent. While he did well after moving to McLaren he really got moulded into the classic “number 2″, in many ways like Felipe Massa has been in previous years.

It’s a shame David never got to have a good shot at the title like Felipe did this year, but he seems to have had a good time in F1 with his share of gorgeous girlfriends, casinos, hotels, lucky escapes (both on track and from a private jet crash)… so David, we wish you all the best and thank you for the exciting times

As of this year Channel Ten has been broadcasting different content on their HD and SD channels. This means that instead of getting a delayed telecast due to time conflicts with other television shows, Ten HD has been showing the Grand Prix live.

Only problem is, what about those of us that only have SD? We still just get the old program timing carried over from the analogue broadcast (ie. delayed - GPs usually starting from 10:30pm onward).

It seems as of next year Ten will be releasing a dedicated sports channel broadcast in both HD and SD! The new channel will be known as ONE and will be a direct competitor to FoxSports and ESPN - albeit, free

Ten HD will become ONE HD but will have a simulcast on ONE SD.

No doubt this will mean better motorsport (especially F1) coverage. Again, props to Channel Ten for taking things to the next level…

Ferrari in pole position - photo by Brenton Edwards

Ok, so we got a lot of flak the last time we reported on a young guy crashing a Ferrari in Australia. This time however we didn’t even have to try to mix some humour in there - news.com.au did it for us by titling their gallery of the crash Ferrari in Pole Position.

Needless to say nobody was injured (otherwise we wouldn’t joke about it).

Interestingly, the crash happened in Adelaide which I believe is the only place in Australia that has concrete and metal telegraph/power poles (called Stobie Poles) - ouch! - everywhere else has wooden poles (still ouch I guess).

Stobie Pole 1, Ferrari 0.

Lewis Hamilton - A perfect race. The key was for him to have a clean start - which he did. After that, no dramas.

Felipe Massa - Felipe had nowhere near the pace of Hamilton. He didn’t even look close to teammate Raikkonen. No doubt he’ll put in a good show at Brazil (pole at all costs? Very light car perhaps? :)), but he’ll need more luck than Kimi Raikkonen last year to pull this one off…

Kimi Raikkonen - Still improving his game back to where we expect, but still quite a way off the pace of the McLarens (well, at least Lewis’ McLaren).

Fernando Alonso - It’s quite simple. Get this guy in a competitive car and you’re guaranteed wins. Heck, put him in an average car and you’ll get wins

Nick Heidfeld - A better race than normal for Nick. Shame the early pace during the weekend didn’t translate into race pace.

Robert Kubica - You could see how disappointed he looked during qualifying. Shame he’s no longer in the championship hunt because as Kimi showed last year, anything can happen when you’re still in with a chance. But when the maths don’t add up, you’re out.

Heikki Kovalainen - Unlucky to have a tyre failure. Looked like he could have got some good points for McLaren in their bid for the constructors championship. Or as Felipe Massa put it, the “construction” championship 8)  I hate to tell Felipe, but if there was a construction championship McLaren would have won it years ago when they built the McLaren Technology Centre (AKA Paragon).

Apart from Alonso putting in another great drive to back up his Singapore Grand Prix win, one thing was clear in Japan - both Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton are “sloppy” championship contenders.

Fernando Alonso - I can only imagine what Fernando could have done this year in a McLaren, Ferrari or even a BMW Sauber…

Lewis Hamilton - He talked a lot about how he was going to drive a smart race and not take any unnecessary risks. WTF!? I actually agree with the first corner penalty because it did screw up the races of many of his competitors. The fact that there was no contact is irrelevant - they all had to go off track to avoid his wild move up the inside.

Felipe Massa - Again, I agree with the penalty given here. I don’t understand why Felipe didn’t close the door while entering the corner instead of going crazy after Lewis passed him. Sloppy work. In many ways I think neither Felipe nor Lewis deserve the championship. Let’s give it to Vettel or Kubica or even Alonso.

Kimi Raikkonen - Hopefully this is the start of Kimi returning to form. He’s been sorely missed.

Robert Kubica - Great drive. Shame BMW didn’t develop this year’s car. He might have been leading the championship with Lewis and Felipe dropping the ball so much.

Nelson Piquet Jr - This guy seems to come out of nowhere to be in the points all the time. Great result for Renault. Will it be enough to keep his seat next year? Probably not..

Jarno Trulli - Showed he can still mix it with the youngins

Sebastian Vettel -Still solid. Let’s hope Toro Rosso can keep it up next year.

Sebastien Bourdais - It’s hard to tell whether his contact with Felipe Massa as he exited the pits was Massa’s fault or his. Massa did seem to have the racing line, but may have been able to give him a little bit of room…

The only bad points about the Grand Prix were the track seems extremely difficult to pass on and unfortunately the ridiculous safety car / pit lane rules once again ruined the race results (unless you’re an Alonso fan of course :)).

Nico Rosberg - Amazing race! Gets a stop-and-go and still manages to finish 2nd! Wow :)  It’s almost a shame Williams wants to hold on to Nico so much. Either give the guy the car he deserves or let him show his talent somewhere else.

Fernando Alonso - Even though luck played a huge part in the win, Fernando definitely deserved to win this Grand Prix. He looked like he could have had a chance to qualify on the front row if it weren’t for bad luck in qualifying. Then, in the race, once in front he was unstoppable. Quite a nice surprise.

Felipe Massa - The term “poor Felipe” seems to be said a lot. I think that’s how the season will end too unfortunately. Once again he drove a perfect race until his team (or their automated pit system?) stuffed it up for him. After that he was not the driver he can be. Felipe is always a different driver when he leads a Grand Prix. Once he gets on the back foot he falls apart a bit.

Lewis Hamilton - Massa seemed to have him beat in the beginning, but once again Lewis brought home the points that are crucial in the chase for the World Championship.

Kimi Raikkonen - Off, on, off, on, off into the wall… When Kimi was catching Lewis I thought the old Kimi was back. What a shame I was wrong.

Heikki Kovalainen - Crap. Next.

Timo Glock - Once again showing he could be a lead driver for Toyota in the future as opposed to a mobile chicane like some Toyota drivers…

Jarno Trulli - Ok, the mobile chicane comment was harsh because Jarno is doing quite a good job when you think about it

Sebastian Vettel - Great drive, again :)  Not as high up as he potentially could have been, but if it had rained I would have placed a bet…

Sebastian Vettel - I think the fact that most people are very happy that Sebastian won says a lot. Everybody loves seeing someone “genuine” win, and I think we have that in Sebastian. He’s pulled the odd move while battling this year, but in the main drives fair and is gracious in victory and defeat (hopefully he has more victory of course ;)). Top job!

Heikki Kovalainen - Well, he kept it on the track, but it seems something is still missing with his performances?

Robert Kubica - Solid job. Shame BMW dropped the ball a bit in the middle of the season because he really could have been a championship contender.

Fernando Alonso - Quite a surprising result given how underpowered the Renault engine seems to be. Guess we can thank the rain for that.

Nick Heidfeld - Now that’s better, both BMWs getting a good haul of points at the same time for once!

Felipe Massa - Did great compared with his teammate. Considering the Ferrari seems quite bad in the wet it was good damage control. But what if Lewis had qualified better?

Lewis Hamilton - Damn quick as usual. It would be a big surprise if he didn’t win the championship this year, especially with rain predicted for the next round in Singapore. Seems he won’t be making many friends along the way though pushing people to the limits of the track when passing them. Perhaps he was bitter about Spa where it seemed Kimi squeezed him? Still, impressive drive.

Mark Webber - Unlucky not to finish a lot higher. His contact with Lewis seemed to slow his charge a fair bit toward the end. Can only imagine how good he and Alonso could have done with a bit more HP.

Kimi Raikkonen - Oh dear… really, what is going on here? It’s almost reminicent of other falls from grace we’ve seen like Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve… maybe Kimi for NASCAR in 2011?

My first impression was his fight with Kimi Raikkonen was fair. After cutting the chicane, Lewis let Kimi back into the lead. That’s the normal procedure. Nothing wrong there. From the outside, it looks like a good clean fight. I mean, it did look like Kimi didn’t give him any room, so cutting the chicane was the only option right?

Click here to view the embedded video.

My opinion started to change a bit when I saw the on-board shots from Hamilton’s car (from 3:20 on in the video below):

Click here to view the embedded video.

From the on-board it looks to me like Lewis could have in fact taken the corner if he slowed a little but instead chose to keep his momentum to ensure he had an opportunity to pass Kimi into the first corner.

Regardless of whether or not Lewis backed off enough to “undo” the advantage he got from cutting the chicane, I think most people would agree that the penalty given was too harsh. Perhaps a 5 spot grid penalty in the next race would have been more appropriate or even just a warning? A 25 second race time penalty could have meant Lewis scored no points if it weren’t for the fact the field got spread out so much in the chaotic conditions - and that would have been a penalty even his harshest critics wouldn’t agree with.

Aside from the whole Lewis penalty, the race had some pretty exciting moments right from the start. So let’s get to the points:

Lewis Hamilton - Drove really well. Used the fact that the McLaren warms the tyres quicker to his advantage as the conditions deteriorated. Unlucky to get such a harsh penalty.

Kimi Raikkonen - You have to feel for Kimi. Spa is a track he owns and to crash out so close to victory must hurt so bad - especially as it almost completely rules him out of the Championship hunt.

Felipe Massa - A bit of poetic justice for the Brazilian. The gains Lewis made from Felipe’s car trouble in the past have somewhat been negated now. So it’s a straight fight to the championship. But in all honesty this wasn’t one of Felipe’s best races.

Fernando Alonso - Starting to impress again, despite his horsepower woes.

Nick Heidfeld - Brilliant decision to change to wet tyres at the end. A nice way to follow up a good qualifying performance. One of the rare few races this year when he’s done better than teammate Robert Kubica.

Sebastian Vettel - Every race this guy’s stock seems to go up

Toro Rosso - So nice to see the old Minardi team doing so well. I hope Vettel’s imminent move to Red Bull Racing isn’t a step backwards… I wouldn’t be surprised if Red Bull somehow do a deal to get the Ferrari engines in their lead team in the next few years…

Heikki Kovalainen - Showed just how strong McLaren is by storming back through the field. What he didn’t realise is he has to earn each and every position - it’s not his right to just go flying by everyone

Valencia Circuit - One word - gorgeous!

European Grand Prix - One word - boring!

Despite being a rather boring race it was great to see a different track. Not only that, it was a rather beautiful track. Love the fact the cars had a bridge to go over too - nice touch Will be very interesting to see the Singapore Grand Prix later this year too. Anyway, back to the race, drivers and teams…

Felipe Massa - If ever a win was truly deserved it was this one. What a great way to come back from such a disappointment in the last round. Massa is driving like a man who well and truly deserves to be world champion. It’s amazing to think he had some really embarrassing moments earlier in the year. He’s put it all together now though and is showing he’s worthy. Well done!

Also, I don’t know what this cowabunga/shaka hand thing he was doing at the end of the race was, but it was funny :)  It was either cowabunga or a Twinings ad…
Lewis Hamilton - Not his best race, but still a strong result especially given he was a bit ill.

Kimi Raikkonen - The fact that his engine blew up doesn’t really hide the fact that his race performances are just terrible lately. I wonder if he can put it all back together like Massa did…

Fernando Alonso and the Spanish Fans - Oh, the pain!! 8)  But hey, I think his qualifying performance was more painful…

Renault Engine - Seems to be the top of everyone’s most hated/unwanted list lately…

Robert Kubica - A rather “anonymous” drive. Nothing exciting, but another good result. Shame he hasn’t been able to keep the points ticking that well since his win earlier in the year…

Heikki Kovalainen - Another number 2 drive… and that could be number 2 as in driver or as in “I need to do a number 2″…

Sebastian Vettel - Proving once again he’s a star.

Red Bull vs Toro Rosso - Wow.. the Toro Rosso guys are really making their car work well now. Surely Red Bull can’t just blame the Renault engine alone can they? Maybe..

Toyota - Keep an eye on them, especially Timo Glock (even though Jarno Trulli finished higher)…

Honda - ke!?

Nick Heidfeld - It was nice knowing you…

Felipe Massa - He may not have finished first, but he definitely won on Sunday. Felipe has won our respect and no doubt the respect of many others. More importantly - he broke Lewis Hamilton - a psychological victory that is possibly worth more than 10 points. Lewis was miles quicker than anyone all weekend, yet Felipe managed to break his confidence by sticking it to him in the first corner. Lewis, surprisingly, had no comeback after that. As the track warmed up, so did Massa. 3 laps from his most outstanding victory ever his hopes went up in smoke… Let’s hope he doesn’t get too depressed over the result. At the end of the day he’s still in the championship fight and he’s proved he would be a worthy champion to everyone.

Timo Glock - Wow. Where did Toyota come from? Again, another driver bouncing back from an accident with such a strong drive! Definitely up there with Massa for driver of the day!

Lewis Hamilton - Everything was pointing to Lewis completely dominating again, until Massa broke that sense of invincibility. Very unlucky with yet another tyre failure. Keeps it interesting I guess

Kimi Raikkonen - Fernando Alonso is really starting to cause problems for Kimi in races isn’t he? The fact is though, Kimi should be further up the front in qualifying so he doesn’t have to deal with passing Alonso for the majority of the race. He had great race pace once in clear air. Makes you wonder what could have been… Still, valuable points in the bag so not a total disaster like previous races.

Heikki Kovalainen - Some may question why we put Heikki so far down on the review… Well, he wasn’t really a factor in the race despite winning it. It’s like Heikki is just there for the ride. The performance difference between him and Lewis is ridiculous. Let’s hope this victory gets the monkey off his back and increases his confidence so he can close that gap. Needless to say, Heikki was very lucky to inherit the win from Massa. At least he seems like a nice bloke so congrats Heikki! Just make sure it’s not a one-off!!

Renault - A good strong race from both drivers. It’s always interesting to see how Nelson Piquet Jr keeps coming from a terrible grid position to a good result lately. And this time he didn’t even need the help of the pace car!

BMW - Hmm… Has development stopped?

Refuelling Rigs - How many fires can you have in one day? Thankfully no-one was hurt. I wonder if the manufacturer of these rigs is the same manufacturer that’s made them all these years. It’s one thing that they don’t seem to work half the time, it’s another thing when safety is an issue…