All Sport Report

In precisely 8 days time and 1 race, the Formula 1 season will be finished, and the title race is the closest it has been for years (the first time since 1986 there have been 3 drivers gunning for the championship in the final race).

Currently on top is British rookie and McClaren driver Lewis Hamilton, who could have taken the title last week, but in treachourous conditions, his tyres were worn so far that the canvas was showing, and when he pulled into the pits, he slid off under braking into the gravel trap immedietly outside the pits, and no amount of pushing from the Chinese stewards could move the beached car. This leaves Hamilton (107 points) going into the final race (Brazil) with “only” a 4 point lead, which means if he finishes 1st or 2nd, he will become the champion ahead of his team mate Fernando Alonso (103).
However, If Hamilton finished 3rd and Alonso wins, they will be tied on points however Alonso will have one more 1st place, and will take the title, there are dozens of other possibilities involving tied points, but anything other than the above scenario between those two will result in Hamilton taking the title thanks to him having one more 2nd place finish.

Then there is the outside chance, Kimi Raikonnen, aka the Flying Fin, and he has certainly lived up to that nickname in the latter half of the season. He currently stands at 100 points, so if Hamilton finishes 5th or better, or Alonso finishes 2nd, then Kimi is out. But the way the second half of the F1 season has gone so far, anything could happen.

A complete listing of all the possible finishes at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 2007 season has been faced with a lot of controversy, a lot has happened:

- Ferrari find a “suspicious” white powder in the fuel tanks of their cars, sabotage suspected, the problem is fixed and the seemingly slow Ferrari’s become an entirely new animal.

- Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso; Team “mates”, not something to take lightly, Hamilton has been with McClaren since a young age, being brought up through their youth advancement program under the wing of boss Ron Dennis. Hamilton drives well, and soon Spaniard and defending champion Fernando Alonso falls behind in the points, he claims that the team are showing favours towards Lewis, and that he cannot compete with a British driver with a British team. Ron Dennis states that the team are treating both drivers as equals (although most other teams do not do this).

- As Hamilton gets more and more distant, the McClaren garage becomes split, even with the drivers respective mechanics taking up on the rivalry, during a qualifying session, as both drivers come into for fresh tyres and a final run, after being waved to go, Alonso stays put in the pit box for several seconds before moving off, backing up Hamilton and forcing him to miss starting a hot lap by 4 seconds. Hamilton starts in 3rd thanks to setting an early quick lap, and Alonso is penalised 5 places by the FIA for the stunt.

- McClaren become excluded from the Constructor’s Championship; both McClaren and Ferrari officials find emails about car specifications, of the Ferrari cars, have been passed on, many emails and SMS messages are found, Ron Dennis hands all of them over to the FIA, and for his trouble the team get fined $100million and all of their points, once again Alonso is involved with this, shortly after it becomes known that Alonso threatened Dennis to go to the FIA. He also states that as a two-time champion, he deserves to be treated as the number 1 driver for McClaren, again, Dennis states he will not treat either driver differently.

-Alonso strikes out at the McClaren team yet again; Just last week, after qualifying 4th at China, he was quoted as saying:
“Each one has his own philosophy, he (Ron Dennis) has his, and we all understand it. I have spoken a lot with (David) Coulthard, with (Juan Pablo) Montoya, with Kimi (Raikkonen), and they have all left the team and found a lot of happiness. There must be a reason.”
While the amount of criticism from Alonso has died down somewhat towards the back end of the season, he still maintained he was being treated unfairly. However, for the final race of the season, the FIA have assigned a special scrutineer to ensure that neither driver will be treated indifferently in terms of car setup.

So right now, the speculation is that no matter what happens in the final race, Alonso will be leaving McClaren, the major possibility is that he returns to Renault, the team he won his championships with who have not performed that well this season. There is also a chance he will go to Ferrari, however with Felippe Massa and Kimi Raikonnen there, he will be hard pressed to gain a job. But the real pressing question still coming from fans is:
Will the FIA ever try to make the sport more interesting?
As many will testify (myself included) the F1 compared to other motorsports has become stale over the years, this is because the racing has all come down to who can build the better car. Every race, the same people are fighting for the podium, but its typically decided before a race by tactics and qualifying (especially true for the Hungaroring, where overtaking is near impossible). Everyone is pondering when, not if, the FIA will re-introduce slick only tyres, less aerodynamics, and get rid of all these qualifying rules involving running a car with its race fuel. Decisions like this have caused nothing but more boredom, and its obvious this season, with a majority of the time the 2 McClaren’s and 2 Ferrari’s finishing in the top 4, often by a lap or 2…