Boy Wonder Hamilton

Yay!! That Hamilton chap is going from strength to strength. Yet another fine display of one upmanship between our local hero Lewis Hamilton and that overcooked paella, Fernando Alonso. I think Alonso tarnished his own character in an interview during his capaign to become world champion first time around when he stated that there is no-one of the grid he would consider to be his friend. They are the opposition and that he was there to beat them Fair do's Mr I take things too seriously. Look at the attitude of our young hero Hamilton. Friendly, competitive and without any hint of arrogance. Lets not forget his champion status for GP2. Winning any championship is going to have an effect on an individual. His is for the better while Alonso is not fairing so well. In the third and final qualifying period, he made mistakes on his last possible lap to take pole position. I think we are beginning to identify the chink in Alonso's armour. His inability to control the rage inside of what clearly seems to stem from the naive attitude that just because he is world champion, the team should pay him the extra attention he supposedly earns. If he really wanted that, then Ferrari would have been more than happy to accommodate. Clearly they aren't seeing the promised land with Kimi's disappointing performance so far and the under performing Ferrari. Some might say that it is Kimi's first year at Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton clearly puts that argument right.

So what of Lewis. A sucessful conversion of pole to a win? If Alonso tries and succeeds in trying to pull off the same kamakazi routine tomorrow morning, then he'll most definitely take Hamilton out and in the process hand advantage to Ferrari or BMW. Will arogance win over team spirit? We'll see.

Are we getting all too pant wettingly excited about tomorrow's prospect of another win and indeed subsequent wins to make Lewis world champion? I think so. Form suggests that experience will win the day. It just damn logical. So why are some highly respected people in the game already suggesting that the miracle will happen? Look at the results so far. Not one single error. Canada and Hamilton's performance was not only text book, but one would regard as the perfect race.

The US grand prix traditionally a Ferrari stronghold is no more judging by the qualifying form of McClaren Mercedes. Expect the following results:

1 Lewis Hamilton
2 Fernando Alonso
3 Felippe Massa
4 Nick Heidfeld
5 Kimi Raikkonen
6 New Boy Vettel
7 Heikki Kovalainen
8 David Coulthard/Mark Webber - yes a copp out if you will. Could swing either way.

One to watch. Red Bull Racing for tomorrow.

I could be entirely wrong however.

Alonso feeling a little Alone so?

It had to happen. I'm suprised it happed so soon though. Many a Formula 1 driver has thrown his toys out of the pram when things aren't going his way. Villeneuve, Schumacher, Schumacher Junior, Raikonnen and even Button to name a few. Eddie Irvine used to be quite masterful at it but this latest whinge from Alonso has broken my solemn vow not to mention anything about it.

Here's the scenario. Boy wonder Hamilton fairly and squarely wins the Canadian grand prix. Unlike most races where an unexpected winner is usually gifted the win by means of the front runners breaking down or having an accident. This race has a high number of retirees but none of the front runners. No one who would have made a difference to the out come if they had stayed on in the race. Indeed they may have been detrimental to Alonso's seventh place finish. He could have left with nothing.

So it came a no big suprise that the young Spanish driver decided to have a moan to his countrymen about how he has the sneaky suspicion that the British team that he drives for favours the young British driver. What? Yeah and Ferrari, the Italian team favouring who for so long? Umm does Alonso forget, when McClaren Mercedes were doing rather well in the late nineties with their partnership of Hakinen and Coulthard that the British driver didn't have an advantage of the Finnish driver?

What a sad little man Alonso is. So what if he is a proven champion. All champions fall eventually. Did he really think he was the next Schumacher? Unlike Schumacher, I don't think he has the air of invincibility like the German had. I'm no fan of Schumacher but I have to be honest enough to give him legendary status (what's that funny taste in my mouth?). Alonso made mistakes in that race. Quite a few of them. It was his own fault. Why? He know's how good Hamilton is and he is worried. Instead of worrying about whether the rookie is better than him, perhaps it would be better to just focus on trying to win another championship. If the boy is better than him then so be it. At least Alonso can be thankful of not being a one hit wonder like Villenueve.

I cannot help but compare Alonso with Schumacher. Where Schumacher didn't have a great car underneath him last season, he still badgered Alonso till the end. Same goes for the year before. Alonso put in a similar situation with a slightly under performing car would probably fall to pieces.

With that kind of attitude and to accuse his own team so early in the season for unfair treatment is pretty childish and very poor in terms of professionalism. If I were Ron Dennis, I would be watching him like a hawk and getting the PR and legal machine ready to pounce on anymore loose tongues criticism at the team from Alonso. Bold statements like that need to be backed up. Tread carefully Alonso. Or you'll go the way of Villeneuve and his embarrassing tittle tattle with Jenson Button and BAR just before he was booted out early. Oh my mistake. He walked. Childish.

One final thing for Alonso to remember. Hamilton maybe a Rookie in Formula one. But he was a dominant force in GP2. Its not about the car, its about attitude, natural ability, humility and focus.

A True British Champ in waiting.

How can I possibly ignore Lewis Hamilton's well deserved win. He won the Canadian grand prix with the skill and talent of all the great drivers of the past. Michael Schumacher, Gilles Villeneuve, Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna. The list can go on. Never has there been talent at such a young age to take on the big guns of the Formula one world. I can't think what it would be like to have Schumacher still in the game. With Ferrari's performance of late it would be a little unfair. Put the two drivers together in McClaren's and the outcome would still be the same as the weekends results with the more experienced world champion floundering. Probably not quite as badly as Alonso but most definitely behind wonder boy Hamilton. Not a single error in what was the most testing of grand prix's. No less than four safety car deployments. A huge test of mental strength for the youngster and he proved he could handle the pressure. But have the media turned the up the hype machine? Possibly. Without taking credit away from Hamilton, he is after all a GP2 champion. And a dominant one at that. He has had the backing of Ron Dennis of McClaren Mercedes from a young age. The will and motivation have been there for a long time. It was inevitable that Lewis Hamilton would one day race for McClaren Mercedes. Some have criticised Ron Dennis for giving him a full time race seat. For a man who have closely followed the young star's career, I think he made a well educated choice on where and what Hamilton would be doing for 2007.

Hamilton's fantastic qualifying set a standard for himself and a warning shot to his team mate. Race day and clearly unsettled by the fact that a rookie (only as far as F1 is concerned) out qualified him, he attempted on cold tires to snatch the lead at turn one. As a seasoned driver and double world champion, that was an error that even Takuma Sato would be ashamed of. That error at that corner was the first of four throughout the race. It seems clear to anyone following form of F1 drivers that Alonso when under pressure can make mistakes. No. Not pressure but when his ego has been given a knock, he is prone to making rookie mistakes. Oh the irony..

McClaren Mercedes have been right in allowing their drivers to race. No team orders. They were criticised at the Monaco grand prix for allegdly issuing team orders. What would any team do when they have dominated the entire grand prix with both drivers commanding a one, two position? Allow them to race each other in the final third of the race exposing both drivers to the potential to wipe both cars out leaving team and drivers with no points? That would just be ridiculous. Even Ferrari saw the sense in it and made no complaint. So why did the media stir up a pointless argument? Because our boy (Hamilton) was catching Alonso at a rate of knots. On a circuit like Monaco it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to endanger the guaranteed outcome of a win for McClaren. I put it down to sheer patriotism and a whole lot of enthusiasm. The boy did good at Canada. More of that and we could be looking at a rookie world champion.

Formula One Season

Whay Hey! Formula One season is off again. It seems too long since the last one. What a thrilling finish to last season. This one seems to be even better. New teams, or should I say new team names, one tire manufacturer, new drivers and drivers in different teams. With the departure of Michael Shumacher there is now a belief that all those who thought Bernie Eccelstone and Max Mosley were race fixing can now see if that still is the case. Bernies interview on the grid just before the start would always end in the final question, "who do you think is going to win?", to which he answers and ninety percent of the time comes true.

My fantasy driver/team package would probably be McLaren, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari are likely to have the upper hand at the start of the season but if other teams such as McLaren develop at a faster rate as the season progresses, I think there will be a frenzied finish to the season with the winners being......

My prediction for the outcome this season? McLaren for the constructors and Alonso for the drivers title. Kimi Raikkonen in second with Hamilton third. Massa fourth. The rest are going to be difficult to predict as both BMW and Williams have started off very well and may upset a few usually predictable results mid season.

Honda and Jenson Button and all the hoo hah that surrounded his decision to terminate his contract with Williams has blown up in his face for two reasons. One, he effectively rubbished Williams by saying that Honda would take him to world champion status and that he believed it so much that he paid Williams twenty million plus pounds to severe his contract. Two, Honda are not delivering and will not do. This season I think will be yet another disappointing one for Honda and Jenson will still need to fulfill the remaining three years of his contract. After that he will be thirty years old, people will still remember him for shitting on William, who incidentally will probably have won more races if not a championship by then. He'll end living his F1 career in Spyker or Torro Rosso. Put Jenson into a McLaren now or even a Ferrari and we would see what he can do. A final nail for Honda is there sister team Super Aguri had the edge on Honda in Adelaide and finished much better off than Honda due to retaining last years chassis and this years engine. Oh dear.

Poor David Coultard.Poor Red Bull. Being hugely out qualified my his team mate Mark Webber was a tad embarrassing. Give the man a job commentating. Out of all the drivers he can talk the talk.I used to be a big fan of old square jaws and rejoiced in his numerous wins of old (his McLaren days). Now its time to hang up his helmet and place himself in the commentators seat. I for one would find his conversation whilst viewing the race most interesting.

If I really wanted to push the boat out for who this years winner is going to be, then it would be nice to see Kimi do it.