FORCDA 2010 Season

[watka]

Is it true that Mr Melrose is desperately seeking for a new challenge, and that he has been in extensive that he has been in extensive talks with Super Aguri?

[Wizzie]

Is it true that Mr Melrose is desperately seeking for a new challenge, and that he has been in extensive talks with Super Aguri?

Those rumours are completely untrue as I currently have a contract with BMW until the end of 2008 and I want to extend it by another year atleast. However I have always wanted to drive for Williams ever since I was a child and when I feel that the time is right I might jump ship to the Grove squad.

Anyways race results for France now up.

EDIT: And finally to dispel the myths about difficulty level the fastest lap classifications show that Massa was within 2 tenths of Michael Schumacher's 2004 lap record which shows it is infact on it's hardest difficulty level (And he retired on lap 20 for god's sake ). Also Raikkonen was within half a second of it and Sammy Jones, Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher were all about a second off Michael's time

[the Masked Lapwing]

14. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS
15. J. Trulli (Toyota): +3 LAPS
16. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS

Now that can't be right...

[Wizzie]

14. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS
15. J. Trulli (Toyota): +3 LAPS
16. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS

Now that can't be right...

Fixed. Sutil was meant to be 16th.

[Wizzie]

Pre-Britain:

Silly season officially kicked into gear with McLaren's self-implosion continued as Fernando Alonso came out in the press saying either he gets preferential treatment for the rest of the season or else. Ron Dennis responded by ripping up Alonso's contract and Alonso's now racing on a race-by-race basis and is expected to go back to Renault next season. Meanwhile Juan Pablo Montoya is also reported to be on the way out from Toyota as he is still not being worth his wages. Finally word has it that this may be Dave Simpson's last race as apparently Markus Winkelhock and a Scotsman by the name of Phoenix McAllister may be looking to buy their way into the Spyker seat.

Round 9: Great Britain

Qualifying:

Qualifying produced an interesting grid as on one side of the grid were the top 5 drivers and on the other side were outsiders. In the end Daniel Melrose put in a stonking lap to put his BMW on pole from Ralf Schumacher in the Renault, Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovaleinen in the other Renault as Briatore's merry men had a good return to form. McLaren disappointed in 5th and 7th while Juan Pablo Montoya hauled his Toyota to a season-high 6th on the grid.

Grid:
1. D. Melrose (BMW)
2. R. Schumacher (Renault)
3. F. Massa (Ferrari)
4. H. Kovaleinen (Renault)
5. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
7. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
8. R. Kubica (BMW)
9. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
10. J. Trulli (Toyota)
11. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
12. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
13. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
14. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari)
15. R. Barrichello (Honda)
16. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
17. N. Jani (STR-Ferrari)
18. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
19. J. Button (Honda)
20. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
21. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari)
22. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)

Race:

Everyone could see that Daniel Melrose was trying much harder than he did in France as he had several off track moments. Not that it stopped him by winning by over 40 seconds from Felipe Massa. Fernando Alonso translated his anger off the track to agressive driving on it to finish 3rd while Renault took a double points finish with Schumacher 4th and Kovaleinen 7th. Jones disappointed in his home race in 5th while Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica both put in good burn from the stern performances from early collisions to finish 6th and 8th respectively.

Results:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 1h 23m 15.328
2. F. Massa (Ferrari): +42.447
3. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:02.418
4. R. Schumacher (Renault): +1 LAP
5. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +1 LAP
6. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): +1 LAP
7. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1 LAP
8. R. Kubica (BMW): +1 LAP
9. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +2 LAPS
10. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +2 LAPS
11. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +2 LAPS
12. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +2 LAPS
13. R. Barrichello (Honda): +2 LAPS
14. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +2 LAPS
15. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): +2 LAPS
16. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
17. J. Trulli (Toyota): +3 LAPS
18. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS
19. J. Button (Honda): +3 LAPS
20. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
DNF. N. Jani (STR-Ferrari)
DNF. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)

Pole: D. Melrose (BMW): 1:19.528
Fastest Lap: D. Melrose (BMW): 1:21.372
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-20, 23-60 (Total: 58)
F. Massa: 21-22 (Total: 2)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 80 points (8 wins)
2. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (4 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 46 points (2 2nds, 2 3rds)
4. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 39 points (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
5. F. Massa (Ferrari): 32 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 15 points (1 3rd)
7. R. Schumacher (Renault): 14 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
8. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 13 points (1 2nd)
9. H. Kovaleinen (Renault): 13 points (Best Result: 3 6ths)
10. J. Button (Honda): 11 points (1 3rd)
11. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 10 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
12. J. Trulli (Toyota): 9 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
13. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
14. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
17. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 2 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
18. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 99 points (7 wins, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 90 points (5 2nds, 4 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 78 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 27 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. Red Bull Racing Renault: 16 points (1 2nd)
6. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 11 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
7. Honda Racing F1 Team: 11 points (1 3rd)
8. AT&T Williams Toyota: 10 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is the European Grand Prix at the legendary Nurburgring

[Wizzie]

Race results for Great Britain now up.

[tommykl]

10. J. Toyota (Toyota)

That can't be right.

[the Masked Lapwing]

18. F. Zimmer (STR-Ferrari): +3 LAPS

I'm somewhat insulted...
Not a good day today, was it?

[Wizzie]

18. F. Zimmer (STR-Ferrari): +3 LAPS

I'm somewhat insulted...
Not a good day today, was it?

No, and I haven't even updated the wretched spreadsheet yet

[Wizzie]

Pre-Europe:

The only major news story was the not-unexpected news that Dave Simpson has been dumped from the Spyker lineup and has been replaced by Markus Winkelhock. However it is expected to be a one-off drive for Winkelhock since Colin Kolles is interested in the services of both Japanese paydriver Sakon Yamamoto and Spaniad Phoenix McAllister. Meanwhile rumour has it Simpson has been approached by BMW for a testing role to replace Timo Glock should he head to Toyota next season (allegedly Simpson was suggested for the role by Daniel Melrose) but neither Simpson or BMW would confirm any of this.

Round 10: Europe

Qualifying:

3 times this season has Raikkonen and Melrose gotten into a genuine head-to-head fight in qualifying. And for the second time this season it was Raikkonen who won the battle as he took his second pole position of the season. He and Melrose were the only drivers to dip into the 29s while Alonso, Massa, Kubica and Webber were all stuck in the mid-high 30s. Sammy Jones on the other hand had an absolute shocker as he was stuck in 16th on the grid behind BOTH Hondas and Zimmer's Super Aguri to boot.

Grid:
1. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
2. D. Melrose (BMW)
3. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari)
5. R. Kubica (BMW)
6. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
7. H. Kovaleinen (Renault)
8. J. Trulli (Toyota)
9. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
10. R. Schumacher (Renault)
11. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
12. R. Barrichello (Honda)
13. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
14. J. Button (Honda)
15. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
16. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
17. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
18. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari)
19. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
20. N. Jani (STR-Ferrari)
21. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)
22. M. Winkelhock (Spyker-Ferrari)

Race:
To say that the start was messy is an understatement as Daniel Melrose got the jump on Kimi Raikkonen and slammed the door on him in the braking zone into turn 1 as Melrose crossed to the outside of the track. Raikkonen proceeded to bump the back of Melrose while Robert Kubica ran into the back of Raikkonen which caused no damage to everyone in question. Meanwhile at the back of the grid Takuma Sato was snookered out wide in the concentina which relegated him to the back of the field. At the end of the lap one the order was Fernando Alonso from Melrose, Kubica, Jarno Trulli and Felipe Massa rounding out the top 5.

The race quickly turned into a Alonso vs Melrose Battle Royale as Alonso pulled out a gap to Melrose which was up to 12 seconds when Alonso pitted on lap 19. Melrose was scheduled to put the next lap but had stretched out his fuel load to the end of lap 25 just incase there was a need to convert to a one stopper. In the end Melrose stuck to the two stopper as he emerged 12 seconds behind the Spaniad. This proved to be a masterstroke as Melrose reduced the gap from 12 seconds to 2 seconds once Alonso pitted again on lap 39. Melrose was helped when Alonso lost 2 seconds on one lap trying to lap the squabling Red Bulls shortly before Alonso's 2nd stop.

Melrose then spent the next 7 laps trying to get a big enough gap to pit and emerge ahead of Alonso which he managed once Melrose pitted at the end of lap 46. However Melrose had his work cut out as he had to short shift for the final 2 laps of his second stint which cost him a few seconds as a miscommunitcation meant that Melrose's teammate Kubica was one lap short on fuel at the first pitstop which meant he had to stop before Melrose. It was a dramatic rejoin for Melrose as he was side-by-side with Alonso down the front straight who was boxed in by the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen. Melrose had the inside line which meant he got the spot and went on to win by just under 8 seconds. Massa completely the podium in a lonely third while polesitter Raikkonen was 4th. Nick Heidfeld drove the race of his career to finish 5th while Sammy Jones put in a good recovery drive to finish 6th. Kubica was 7th while Kovaleinen rounded out the point scorers.

Results:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 1h 23m 15.328
2. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): +7.894
3. F. Massa (Ferrari): +36.010
4. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): +1:18.589
5. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +1:22.020
6. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:24.060
7. R. Kubica (BMW): +1 LAP
8. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1 LAP
9. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +1 LAP
10. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): +1 LAP
11. J. Trulli (Toyota): +1 LAP
12. R. Barrichello (Honda): +1 LAP
13. R. Schumacher (Renault): +1 LAP
14. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
15. J. Button (Honda): +2 LAPS
16. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
17. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +2 LAPS
18. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +3 LAPS
19. M. Winkelhock (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
21. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS
DNF. N. Jani (STR-Ferrari)

Pole: K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 1:29.710
Fastest Lap: D. Melrose (BMW): 1:31.146
Leaders: F. Alonso: 1-19, 26-39 (Total: 33)
D. Melrose: 20-25, 40-60 (Total: 27)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 90 points (9 wins)
2. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 54 points (4 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 51 points (2 2nds, 2 3rds)
4. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 47 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. F. Massa (Ferrari): 38 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 17 points (1 3rd)
7. R. Schumacher (Renault): 14 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
8. H. Kovaleinen (Renault): 14 points (Best Result: 3 6ths)
9. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 13 points (1 2nd)
10. J. Button (Honda): 11 points (1 3rd)
11. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 10 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
12. J. Trulli (Toyota): 9 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
13. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
14. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
18. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 2 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
19. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 111 points (9 wins, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 101 points (6 2nds, 4 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 89 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 4 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 28 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. Red Bull Racing Renault: 16 points (1 2nd)
6. AT&T Williams Toyota: 14 points (Best Result: 2 5ths)
7. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 11 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 11 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Budapest

[the Masked Lapwing]

Sammy Jones on the other hand had an absolute shocker as he was stuck in 6th on the grid behind BOTH Hondas and Zimmer's Super Aguri to boot.
16. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)

This is fun, pointing out your epic fails. 6 does not equal 16! How dare you give me false hope that a Super Aguri was anywhere near the top 10.

[Wizzie]

Sammy Jones on the other hand had an absolute shocker as he was stuck in 6th on the grid behind BOTH Hondas and Zimmer's Super Aguri to boot.
16. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)

This is fun, pointing out your epic fails. 6 does not equal 16! How dare you give me false hope that a Super Aguri was anywhere near the top 10.

Just because I'm dyslexic with numbers half the time.

[MinardiFan95]

What else could I expect from Colin Kolles. At the start of the season he told me if I scored points I wouldn't need to pay to drive. Three races later he tells me that I'm sacked for not paying. He never told me to pay up after Monaco, so I'm assuming this was just a plan to get a driver that pays more to the team. What a load of bull manure!

*This quote is for Wizzie's 2007 season, not my long-dead attempt at the 2010 season that never made it past half a season because I couldn't be bothered.

[Wizzie]

Race results for Europe now up

[Wizzie]

Pre-Hungary:

In the post-race conference in Europe, Fernando Alonso was an unhappy young man as he described the McLaren team and Ron Dennis in the most colourful Spanish you will ever hear. For his troubles Alonso got a $10 000 fine and a suspended one race ban for the use of foul language infront to the world's media. Meanwhile Scott Speed, unimpressed at STR's lack of progress left the team before he could get sacked. STR took the opperunity to fire Neel Jani aswell which means there will be an all new lineup for the rest of the season in Sebastian Vettel and Michael Ammermuller although rumour has it Sebastien Bourdais may get a run in the car before the end of the season. Down at Toyota though and things are just starting to heat up as Toyota tell Juan Pablo Montoya that his services are no longer required at the end of the season. Montoya responded in the press by attacking the Toyota team for not providing him with the equipment to score points regularly let alone fight for podiums and wins. Finally Spaniad Phoenix McAllister will finally get a run in the Spyker and is expected to stay there for the rest of the season alongside Adrian Sutil.

Round 11: Hungary

Qualifying:

Daniel Melrose was yet again complaining of the car feeling "clumsy" around the back of the circuit and even some major setup changes couldn't fully cure it which meant Melrose will only start 2nd on the grid alongside McLaren's Sammy Jones who scored his first career pole position. Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg filled the second row while Alonso's fustration lead to overdriving and only 5th on the grid alongside Robert Kubica. Surprises in qualifying were Massa in a disappointing 12th, Zimmer in a brilliant 14th and McAllister outqaulifying Sutil.

Grid:
1. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. D. Melrose (BMW)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
5. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. R. Kubica (BMW)
7. J. Trulli (Toyota)
8. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
9. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
10. R. Schumacher (Renault)
11. H. Kovalainen (Renault)
12. F. Massa (Ferrari)
13. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
14. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
15. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
16. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
17. J. Button (Honda)
18. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
19. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
20. R. Barrichello (Honda)
21. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)
22. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)

Race:
The race started off in monsoon conditions with monsoon tyres the order of the day as Melrose got the jump on Jones at the start while Rosberg did a similar job on Raikkonen. Meanwhile further back David Coulthard made an absolutely blinding start to go from 13th on the grid to 7th by the exit of turn one.

The conditions started claiming victims early as Sutil became the first spinner of the day. In all during the first 15 laps their were 13 recorded spins as drivers found the conditions difficult to handle. Jones, Alonso and Rosberg (Who spun 3 times mind you) were among the casualties. Even Melrose himself had atleast 3 off-track excursions during the first stint. Amazingly there were only 3 retirements for the entire Grand Prix. And two of them occured within the first 10 laps as Vettel collected Zimmer as the Australian was trying to rejoin the track putting both out of the race. Montoya meanwhile was driving like a bat out of hell and was up to 6th by lap 13 and closing in on Rosberg who by sheer dumb luck was still running 5th until the pair collided which put Montoya out of points contention for the rest of the afternoon as from that point on he spent more time off the track than on it.

Rosberg had done Melrose a favour during the first 5 or so laps letting the Australian skip away at the rate of about 1.5 seconds a lap until Rosberg had the first of his spins. This released the Iceman Kimi Raikkonen as he hunted down Melrose. By lap 15 the track had dried enough to use the softer of the wet tyres rather than the monsoons and there was a flurry of activity as the majority of the field pitted between laps 13 and 15. Melrose, Massa and Jones all stayed out until lap 17. This nearly cost Melrose the lead as he came out right infront of Raikkonen but Melrose did a much better job in the traffic which helped him pull out a lead of 20 seconds by lap 30. At this point Takuma Sato was up to a simply astonishing 5th place until Adrian Sutil shoved Taku off the road and put Sato down to 8th. Sutil was later placed on report for the incident. Sato then had another off-track moment a few laps later which put him out of a possible points paying position for the rest of the afternoon.

Meanwhile outfront the gap between Melrose and Raikkonen had stablised to the 15-17 second region until lap 38 when Melrose struggled with massive tyre wear as his times plummeted by 2-3 seconds a lap. Raikkonen closes the gap by about 10 seconds in 4 laps before he spears off the track and has to do it all over again. He was helped by Jones being particually uncooperative while being lapped by Melrose which meant the gap was back down to 3 seconds when pretty much everyone pitted on laps 45 and 46 to go to the harder of the two full wet tyres as the track kept drying. However the track would remain at about that level of wetness for the rest of the afternoon.

Phoenix McAllister on the other hand was having an absolutely miserable afternoon as he was almost a minute behind Button in 19th place and was about to be lapped by Melrose for the 5th time that afternoon when mercifully his Ferrari powerplant let go putting an early end to his race on lap 55. Just one lap before that Raikkonen had caught Melrose and tried to put a move around the outside of the Australian at turn 11 which isn't an orthodox passing spot. It showed as Raikkonen and Melrose collided and spun as Raikkonen accidentally slammed the door on the BMW's nose. Melrose was quicker to recover however and Raikkonen had a 13 second gap to make up. He didn't make it any easier for himself when he spun again on lap 56 which made the gap 16 seconds.

Not that it mattered much since Melrose's tyres were going off worse than they did in the previous stint which meant Raikkonen had caught Melrose yet again with 6 laps to go after Melrose had let Massa and Sato unlap themselves a few laps earlier. Massa then caught and passed Jones for 7th as a result. Lap 65 and Raikkonen having caught the Australian tried to sell one down the inside at turn 14 but outbraked himself and spent all of lap 66 making up the two seconds he lost in the process. On lap 68 down the front straight Melrose dived down to the inside line with Raikkonen going around the outside. Raikkonen and Melrose both locked their brakes with Melrose's lockup being worse which meant he understeered wide and slid into the side of Raikkonen punting him off the track. Raikkonen was then controversially placed on report for attempting the pass as there were yellow flags covering Felipe Massa's Ferrari who had spun there just seconds earlier. This promoted Robert Kubica to 2nd place. The top 3 remained Melrose/Kubica/Raikkonen for the final few laps as Melrose lead home BMW's first ever 1-2. Nico Rosberg did a brilliant salvage job to finish 4th while McLaren came from midling midfield positions early on to finish 5th (Alonso) and 7th (Jones). Heikki Kovalainen finish 6th between them and Felipe Massa got the last point in 8th.

Results:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 1h 48m 32.673
2. R. Kubica (BMW): +5.757
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): +17.809
4. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +26.779
5. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): +35.664
6. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +40.047
7. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:03.273
8. F. Massa (Ferrari): +1:12.539
9. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +1:19.207
10. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +1 LAP
11. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +1 LAP
12. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
13. J. Trulli (Toyota): +1 LAP
14. R. Schumacher (Renault): +2 LAPS
15. D. Coulthard (RBR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
16. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
17. R. Barrichello (Honda): +3 LAPS
18. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
19. J. Button (Honda): +4 LAPS
DNF. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)
DNF. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
DNF. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)

Pole: S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:14.099
Fastest Lap: K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 1:27.643
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-70 (Total: 70)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 100 points (10 wins)
2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 57 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
3. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 56 points (4 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. F. Massa (Ferrari): 39 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 25 points (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. H. Kovaleinen (Renault): 17 points (Best Result: 4 6ths)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 15 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. R. Schumacher (Renault): 14 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
10. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 13 points (1 2nd)
11. J. Button (Honda): 11 points (1 3rd)
12. J. Trulli (Toyota): 9 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
13. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
14. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
18. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 2 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
19. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 129 points (10 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 107 points (6 2nds, 4 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 96 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 5 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 31 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. AT&T Williams Toyota: 19 points (Best Result: 1 4ths)
6. Red Bull Racing Renault: 16 points (1 2nd)
7. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 11 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 11 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is a modern Tilke-Drome in Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix

[Wizzie]

Race results for Hungary now up but before I continue:

Post-Hungary:

Kimi Raikkonen was cleared of allegations of passing under yellow flags after Daniel Melrose said that Massa was nowhere to be seen when they had arrived at turn 1 (Massa has already recovered from the spin and the yellows were out for too long). Meanwhile Adrian Sutil wasn't so lucky and got a 25 second penalty for running Takuma Sato off the road although it didn't affect his finishing position. Finally Fernando Alonso has exploded again at the recent lack of pace in the McLaren and assulted a reporter on the way out of the circuit on Sunday afternoon. He was arrested at Budapest airport and the one-race ban was put in place which could be extended to two or more facing an extrordinary WMSC meeting on the Tuesday before the Italian Grand Prix where the main topic for discussion will be the espionage scandal. However the ban for Alonso may become irrelevent depending on how the court case he has to attend in Budapest goes. Alonso's vacant seat will be filled by Lewis Hamilton for the next race.

[the Masked Lapwing]

I think I speak for the entire Super Aguri team when I say: German bastards.

No offence guys, so don't hurt me. Please.

[Wizzie]

Pre-Turkey:

As stated in the previous post Lewis Hamilton will replace Fernando Alonso for this race and possibly the next race aswell. Hamilton also confirmed that he has signed a 2 year contract which will take him to the end of 2009. In light of Alonso's dummy spits Sammy Jones was also offered a 2 year extension to his contract which he accepted which means McLaren's lineup has been confirmed for 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile rumour has it that a consortium lead by Indian Tycoon Vijay Mallya may be buying out the Spyker team at the end of the year and having Sutil and McAllister as their drivers next year. Finally news from BMW with Daniel Melrose confirming he will continue driving next season in addition to the news that fellow Australian Dave Simpson has officially been signed on as BMW's test driver for next year which has added fuel to the story that Timo Glock could be heading to Toyota next season.

Round 12: Turkey

Qualifying:

Incredibly Daniel Melrose could wrap up the championship if he wins and Jones and Raikkonen fail to finish higher than 5th and 6th respectively. And this was a season expected to be one of the closest ever but more on that later as Daniel Melrose scored yet another pole position. Lewis Hamilton stunned the world by putting his McLaren 2nd in his first ever race which immediately drew comparisons to Daniel Melrose who started 2nd in his first race back in 2005. Ferrari locked out the second row with Raikkonen ahead of Massa and Kimi tries to keep the championship alive at the next round at Monza. Jones was showed up by his rookie teammate as he was only 5th alongside Robert Kubica. The surprise of qualifying was Frank Zimmer as he hauled his SA-07 to 11th on the grid. Meanwhile McAllister was having a torrid time as he failed to find a good setup and was 1.2 seconds slower than his teammate.

Grid:
1. D. Melrose (BMW)
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari)
5. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. R. Kubica (BMW)
7. H. Kovalainen (Renautl)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
9. J. Trulli (Toyota)
10. R. Schumacher (Renault)
11. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
12. R. Barrichello (Honda)
13. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
14. J. Button (Honda)
15. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
16. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
17. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
18. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
19. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
20. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
21. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)
22. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)

Race:

Race start was damp with inters the order of the day although it didn't stop Jones, Kovalainen and Rosberg gambling on drys and hoping for no more weather. It sort of worked as Melrose got the jump on Hamilton at the start while Kubica went backwards as he was passed by Kovy and Rosberg. Meanwhile further back former teammates Schumacher and Trulli collided which put Schumacher out of points contention for the rest of the afternoon. On lap 2 it started raining and the track got wetter quite quickly as Webber spun at turn 1 and Vettel spun and nearly got rear-ended by Sutil at turn 8. Up front and Raikkonen passed Massa for 3rd place a turn 9 on lap 2 while behind them Rosberg spun Kovy around who then nearly got side-swiped by an out of control Nick Heidfeld.

Lap 3 and Zimmer collided with Ammermuller putting both of them back a few places while Schumacher had his second collision in 3 laps as he his McAllister. By lap 4 Trulli's afternoon was done after Barrichello effectively shoved the Italian off the road at turn 9 while Jones, Rosberg and Kovy pitted for inters at the end of that lap. The next lap Jenson Button spins at turn 7 while on the other side of the track Hamilton tried to put a move around the outside of Melrose at turn 12 but was forced to yield at turn 13. Spyker were having a miserable afternoon as McAllister and Sutil collided putting them at the back of the queue.

Lap 6 and Raikkonen had blastest past Hamilton and set his sights on the BMW. Meanwhile McAllister had another spin as Jones and Rosberg tried to make progress from their current midfield positions with varying degrees of success. The next lap Raikkonen sold one to Melrose down the inside at turn 7 while Hamilton spun right behidn them. Schumacher tapped Ammermuller putting the STR in a spin while the Red Bulls got into a barging match with Coulthard coming off second best. Lap 8 and unmittigated chaos took place in the midfield as Montoya ran wide at turn 8. However the real action was at turn 7 when Zimmer spun at his own accord. Button ran into the back of Webber immediatly behind that and both of them nearly collected the Super Aguri. Nick Heidfeld then came steaming in, spun and nearly side-swiped the Super Aguri aswell. Zimmer then spun again on laps 9 and 10 and was fast approaching Massa levels of wet weather imcompetence. Speaking of Massa he was helped into a spin by Daniel Melrose on lap 9 while he tried to do the same thing Hamilton tried to do to the Australian earlier.

There must have been something wrong with the Red Bulls as Webber had another spin and a collision with Massa during the next 5 or so laps while Coulthard and Vettel in the Toro Rosso also had off track excursions. Kubica was also falling down the order faster than a rock as both McLarens passed him in consecutive laps before Hamilton finally sold Melrose a dummy and got past on lap 17. Meanwhile Schumacher was the first to switch to wets and all the other two stoppers followed suit between laps 18 and 24. During this time Rosberg leapfrogged Melrose which put Melrose down to an effective 5th place. Massa's war on anything associatied with Red Bull continued as he hit Vettel at turn 1 during the pitstop phase. Sammy Jones also put a decisive move on Melrose at turn 9 on lap 21 as payback for Melrose beating him off the line at Hungary a few weeks earlier.

Fast-forward to lap 26 after all the two-stoppers had stopped and Rosberg collided with Kubica which moved Melrose back up to 5th place which became 4th next time by as Rosberg spun at turn 7. Turn 7 claimed yet more victims next time by as Schumacher had yet another spin. He was quickly followed by Takuma Sato who was on the fringes of points before Robert Kubica came barreling through, collected the Super Aguri and put himself out of the race while forcing Sato to put for a new front wing. The one stoppers all pitted at effectively the same time on lap 29 as the rain got heavy enough to make the full wets the better tyre by some margin over the inters. Sammy Jones was driving like a demon as he had such a huge gap over Hamilton that he came out infront of his teammate. Lap 30 and Rosberg did the same thing that Hamilton and Jones did to Melrose earlier in the race and passed the Australian for 4th place. However he pitted a few laps later handing the position back to Melrose.

The race quietened down as Schumacher and Ammermuller collided with eachother for the second time that afternoon while both Williamses retired with the same gearbox drama on lap 39. Melrose made his second stop at the end of lap 43 and Montoya could have ended up ahead of Melrose had he not spun putting him behind Kovalainen. Sato and Sutil then collided a few laps later at turn 1 forcing both of them to pit for new noses. Webber didn't even make it that far as he retired with transmission problems. The race was still incredibly exciting as most of the one stoppers and some of the two stoppers had to come in with 3-4 laps to go for a splash n dash which jumbled up the midfield. The final race-changing event was David Coulthard reitiring from 7th place due to damage from a puncture.

After 95 minutes of racing Kimi Raikkonen won from Sammy Jones and Lewis Hamilton whose debut performance was drawing praise from everywhere and comparisons to the debut performance of Daniel Melrose back in 2005 where he also started 2nd and finish 3rd. Here though Melrose finished a lapped 4th while Montoya put in his best race of the season to finish 5th. Jenson Button scored more points in 6th while Massa and Kovalainen were the final pointscorers.

Results:
1. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 1h 34m 48.299
2. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +46.618
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:22.508
4. D. Melrose (BMW): +1 LAP
5. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +1 LAP
6. J. Button (Honda): +1 LAP
7. F. Massa (Ferrari): +1 LAP
8. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1 LAP
9. R. Schumacher (Renault): +2 LAPS
10. R. Barrichello (Honda): +2 LAPS
11. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
12. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +2 LAPS
13. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +2 LAPS
14. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
15. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
16. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
DNF. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
DNF. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
DNF. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
DNF. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
DNF. R. Kubica (BMW)
DNF. J. Trulli (Toyota)

Pole: D. Melrose (BMW): 1:24.786
Fastest Lap: K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 1:33.243
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-6 (Total: 6)
K. Raikkonen: 7-58 (Total: 52)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 105 points (10 wins)
2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 67 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 3 3rds)
3. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 64 points (5 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. F. Massa (Ferrari): 41 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 25 points (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. H. Kovaleinen (Renault): 18 points (Best Result: 4 6ths)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 15 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. J. Button (Honda): 14 points (1 3rd)
10. R. Schumacher (Renault): 14 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
11. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 13 points (1 2nd)
12. J. Trulli (Toyota): 9 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
13. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 6 points (1 3rd)
14. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 6 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
18. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
19. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 134 points (10 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 121 points (7 2nds, 5 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 108 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 5 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 32 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. AT&T Williams Toyota: 19 points (Best Result: 1 4ths)
6. Red Bull Racing Renault: 16 points (1 2nd)
7. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 15 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 14 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is the Italian Grand Prix at the ultra-fast Monza circuit.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Ferrari locked out the front row with Raikkonen ahead of Massa and Kimi tries to keep the championship alive at the next round at Monza.

1. D. Melrose (BMW)
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari)

Are you sure?

[Wizzie]

Ferrari locked out the front row with Raikkonen ahead of Massa and Kimi tries to keep the championship alive at the next round at Monza.

1. D. Melrose (BMW)
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari)

Are you sure?

I'm dyslexic with numbers remember?

[Wizzie]

Race results and another extremally long recap for Turkey now up

[Phoenix]

[AndreaModa]

In light of Raikonnen's recent run of form I have only one thing to say...

Grrr!!

[Wizzie]

Pre-Italy:

The major talking point was the WMSC meeting concerning the fate of McLaren and Fernando Alonso. Firstly Fernando Alonso's ban wasn't extended for another race simply because the court case in Budapest over assault charges means he'll be unable to drive for the rest of the European season at the very least and even if he is avaliable for the final flyaways McLaren wouldn't be too keen on getting him back. Onto McLaren's punishment and they managed to avoid exclusion from either championship by the skin of their teeth but they are now ineligble for any prizemoney from the constructors championship in addition to a 5 million dollar fine. Meanwhile Ralf Schumacher offcially announced his retirement at the end of the season clearing the road for an Alonso/Kovalainen pairing at Renault for 2008. Finally the deal has been done between Spyker and Vijay Mallya which means the Spyker team will be renamed Force India for next season. Adrian Sutil is expected to be the lead driver for the team while it's a coin toss between Phoenix McAllister and Giancarlo Fisichella for the second race seat with the loser getting the test seat.

Round 13: Italy

Qualifying:

Daniel Melrose came into Italy with another chance to sow up the title simply by winning the Grand Prix tomorrow afternoon. However between then and now is qualifying where Melrose produced another one of his world-famous one lap flyers to put his admittingly inferior BMW on pole ahead of both McLarens who could have easily easily beaten Melrose to the pole as both were within one and a half tenths of the Australian. For the second race in a row it was Hamilton ahead of Jones with Massa completely the 2nd row. Kimi Raikkonen was 5th but was almost a second off pole while surprises were Frank Zimmer in 11th splitting the 2 works Hondas and Ralf Schumacher being nowhere.

Grid:
1. D. Melrose (BMW)
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
3. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari)
5. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
6. R. Kubica (BMW)
7. H. Kovalainen (Renautl)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
9. J. Trulli (Toyota)
10. J. Button (Honda)
11. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
12. R. Barrichello (Honda)
13. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
14. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
15. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
16. R. Schumacher (Renault)
17. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
18. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
19. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
20. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)
21. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)
22. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)

Race:
It was a dry race for the Italian Grand Prix but it didn't stop the action off the start as Jones bogged it down, got swamped by Kubica and let Melrose and Hamilton skip away by about 2 seconds on the first lap. Further back and Montoya and McAllister both made demon starts to end up 11th and 14th at the end of the first lap respectively. Hamilton was recorded as the official leader of lap 1 as he got a better run out of the Parabolica. Melrose sold him one down the inside at the Rettifillio and proceeded to lead the next 11 laps as Jones breezed past Kubica, caught and passed Hamilton and caught and passed Melrose on lap 13.

Jones then led until the end of lap 16 as he was the first to stop. Hamilton and Raikkonen, who were both out of contention for victory pitted the next lap while Melrose pitted on lap 18. Melrose's pit exit onto the racetrack was messy however as the one stopping Robert Kubica passed him down the pit straight but Melrose outbraked his teammate and the pair nearly collided as they sorted themselves out through the Rettifillio. Melrose emereged infront as Jones spent the rest of the lap trying to find a way past his teammate before he tried a half-hearted move at Ascari, lost momentum and was passed by Kovalainen, who was also one stopping, on the run to the Parabolica. Jones then spent the rest of the stint trying to catch Melrose again as he passed Kovy and Kubica pitted before Jones could catch him.

Jones got to within 1.5 seconds of the BMW before he was the first of the two stoppers to pit again on lap 33. Melrose pitted on lap 36 and emerged the best part of 8 seconds up the road as Jones had come out right in the middle of a massive midfield scrap. Hamilton led for a few laps before he pitted on lap 39. For a while Jones looked like he could have closed the gap to Melrose but every 5 laps or so Melrose would lap a midfield runner which would slow Jones' progress. In the end the gap proved too much as Melrose won the 2007 Italian Grand Prix by 1.4 seconds over Sammy Jones and in the process took a historic third world championship which was a massive relief for Melrose as he had an absolutely torrid year off track. Lewis Hamilton continued his incredible form to finish 3rd while Kimi Raikkonen was 4th. Robert Kubica was 5th while Kovalainen was the best of the rest in 6. Felipe Massa was a disappointing 7th while Jarno Trulli rounded out the points in 8th.

Results:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 1h 14m 26.263
2. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +1.442
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +16.232
4. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): +32.317
5. R. Kubica (BMW): +41.824
6. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1:03.324
7. F. Massa (Ferrari): +1:06.438
8. J. Trulli (Toyota): +1:19.496
9. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +1:21.467
10. R. Barrichello (Honda): +1 LAP
11. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +1 LAP
12. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
13. J. Button (Honda): +1 LAP
14. R. Schumacher (Renault): +1 LAP
15. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +1 LAP
16. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
17. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
18. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +1 LAP
19. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +1 LAP
20. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari): +1 LAP
21. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +1 LAP
DNF. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)

Pole: D. Melrose (BMW): 1:21.479
Fastest Lap: S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:22.013
Leaders: L. Hamilton: 1, 37-39 (Total: 4)
D. Melrose: 2-12, 16-36, 40-53 (Total: 46)
S. Jones: 13-15 (Total: 3)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 115 points (11 wins) World Champion
2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 72 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 3 3rds)
3. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 72 points (6 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. F. Massa (Ferrari): 43 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 29 points (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. H. Kovalainen (Renault): 21 points (Best Result: 5 6ths)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 15 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. J. Button (Honda): 14 points (1 3rd)
10. R. Schumacher (Renault): 14 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
11. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 13 points (1 2nd)
12. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 12 points (2 3rds)
13. J. Trulli (Toyota): 10 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
14. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 6 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
18. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
19. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 148 points (11 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 135 points (8 2nds, 6 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 115 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 5 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 35 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. AT&T Williams Toyota: 19 points (Best Result: 1 4ths)
6. Red Bull Racing Renault: 16 points (1 2nd)
7. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 16 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 14 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is a welcome return to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix

[Wizzie]

Race results for Italy now up and feel free to start another round of questions

[Phoenix]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've finished ahead of someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wizzie]

I finally got my 2004 mod working for GP4 so I might aswell have some fun:

Pre-Australia:

Sauber test driver Daniel Melrose was given the nod at Minardi alongside Zsolt Baumgartner. Rumour has it he was put there by Ferrari with the promise of Minardi getting quite large sums of payments from the Maranello squad.

Round 1: Australia

Qualfiying:
Ferrari's stranglehold on the field was simply awe-inspiring as they had the best part of half a second over the rest of the field. However what nobody expected was Rubens Barrichello to be leading the charge as he scored pole by half a tenth over Michael Shcumacher. BAR and Williams locked out the next two rows but the gap between Montoya in 3rd and Ralf Schumacher in 6th was a staggering 7 tenths of a second. However by far the biggest revelation in qualifying was Daniel Melrose. The Australian rookie in his first Grand Prix weekend at just 18 years and 253 days participated in his first ever qualifying session and put his Minardi a simply astounding 12th on the grid showing the home crowd and the world that he is infact as talanted as everyone is saying he his. Coulthard was absolutely hating the format however as he was 13th on the grid while Raikkonen was 10th capping off what was a poor day for McLaren.

Grid:
1. R. Barrichello (Ferrari)
2. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
3. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW)
4. J. Button (BAR-Honda)
5. T. Sato (BAR-Honda)
6. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW)
7. F. Alonso (Renault)
8. J.Trulli (Renault)
9. M. Webber (Jaguar-Cosworth)
10. K. Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes)
11. F. Massa (Sauber-Petronas)
12. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth)
13. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
14. C. Da Matta (Toyota)
15. N. Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford)
16. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas)
17. G. Pantano (Jordan-Ford)
18. Z. Baumgartner (Minardi-Cosworth)
19. O. Panis (Toyota)
20. C. Klien (Jaguar-Cosworth)

Race:
Ferrari simply dominated the race as, surprisingly, Rubens Barrichello won from Michael Schumacher by just under 9 seconds while Juan Pablo Montoya was a lonely 3rd. Ralf Schumacher finished 4th in the other Williams but not before putting a simply sublime move on feelgood story of the day Daniel Melrose with less than 6 laps to go. Fernando Alonso followed him when Melrose ran wide on exit after the pair spent the entire afternoon trying to pass the Minardi after Melrose went from 12th to 6th off the start and was in contention for major points for the rest of the afternoon. Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella rounded out the points while McLaren had a frankly awful day with Coulthard 10th and Raikkonen 17th and last runner.

Results:
1. R. Barrichello (Ferrari): 1h 25m 16.582s
2. M. Schumacher (Ferrari): +8.819
3. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW): +53.435
4. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW): +1:27.984
5. F. Alonso (Renault): +1 LAP
6. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth): +1 LAP
7. J. Button (BAR-Honda): +1 LAP
8. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas): +1 LAP
9. J. Trulli (Renault): +1 LAP
10. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes): +2 LAPS
11. C. Klien (Jaguar-Cosworth): +3 LAPS
12. O. Panis (Toyota): +3 LAPS
13. C. Da Matta (Williams-BMW): +3 LAPS
14. F. Massa (Sauber-Petronas): +3 LAPS
15. M. Webber (Jaguar-Cosworth): +3 LAPS
16. Z. Baumgartner (Minardi-Cosworth): +4 LAPS
17. K. Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes): +5 LAPS
DNF. N. Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford)
DNF. T. Sato (BAR-Honda)
DNF. G. Pantano (Jordan-Ford)

Pole: R. Barrichello (Ferrari): 1.25.694
Fastest Lap: M. Schumacher (Ferrari): 1:25.784
Leaders: R. Barrichello: 1-21, 24-46, 50-58 (Total: 53)
M. Schumacher: 22-23, 47-49 (Total: 5)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. R. Barrichello (Ferrari): 10 points (1 win)
2. M. Schumacher (Ferrari): 8 points (1 2nd)
3. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW): 6 points (1 3rd)
4. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW): 5 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
5. F. Alonso (Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
6. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
7. J. Button (BAR-Honda): 2 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
8. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 18 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
2. BMW WilliamsF1 Team: 11 points (1 3rd)
3. Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
4. Minardi Cosworth: 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
5. Lucky Strike BAR Honda: 2 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
6. Sauber Petronas: 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Next up is the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit in Kuala Lumpur.

[Wizzie]

Race results for Melbourne now up and before you ask no I didn't turn down the difficulty at all (It's still on its hardest for HWNSNBM's sake) it's just that Melbourne is a track I've traditionally done well at, I'm using setups from the 2006 and 2007 mods which surprisingly work on V10 cars aswell and Minardis are just so easy to drive because of the useless engines they had to play with.

[East Londoner]

Sauber test driver Daniel Melrose was given the nod at Minardi alongside HWNSNBM. Rumour has it he was put there by Ferrari with the promise of Minardi getting quite large sums of payments from the Maranello squad.

That's better.

[Wizzie]

Round 2: Malaysia

Qualifying:

Daniel Melrose came back thudding down to Earth in Malasyia as he was a distant 16th after the one-lap shootout although Melrose believed he could have been 14th. No matter though because it wouldn't make much difference as up front Michael Schumacher took pole from Mark Webber with Barrichello and Kimi Raikkonen locking out the second row.

Grid:
1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
2. M. Webber (Jaguar-Cosworth)
3. R. Barrichello (Ferrari)
4. K. Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes)
5. J. Button (BAR-Honda)
6. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW)
7. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW)
8. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
9. J. Trulli (Renault)
10. F. Massa (Sauber-Petronas)
11. C. Da Matta (Toyota)
12. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas)
13. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
14. O. Panis (Toyota)
15. N. Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford)
16. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth)
17. Z. Baumgartner (Minardi-Cosworth)
18. G. Pantano (Jordan-Ford)
19. F. Alonso (Renault)
20. T. Sato (BAR-Honda)

Race:
Juan Pablo Montoya effectively decided the result of the Malaysian Grand Prix within the first minute of the Grand Prix as he tried a daft move on Michael Schumacher which forced Schumacher into the gravel trap as Montoya spun and was collected by Mark Webber putting the Columbian out of the race and forcing Webber to pit for a new front wing. The frontrunners' nightmare helped the thus far disappointing McLarens and simply stunning Minardis up into serious positions with Coulthard 3rd, Raikkonen 4th, Melrose 5th after making the most oppertunistic start of the lot and Baumgartner 10th. Baumgartner then put a classy move on Ralf Schumacher at the final hairpin on lap 2 to move up to 9th while Melrose tried a similar trick on Raikkonen at the first turn on lap 3 but only succeeded to punt the McLaren off the track while Melrose continued unhindered.

Melrose must have had some strong stuff for breakfast as his gamble on a two stopper worked a treat which nearly put him in the lead once everyone else did their first out of three stops. Melrose only missed out on the lead because Jenson Button stayed out long enough to stay ahead of the Minardi once he pitted and in the process leapfrogged early leader Barrichello and that was as far as the race for victory was concerned. Barrichello eventually got ahead of Melrose during the pitstop phase but Melrose drove like a bat out of hell to finish 3rd behind first time winner Button and Barrichello in what was probably the most popular podium in Formula One history. David Coulthard harrassed Melrose all the way to haul the McLaren to 4th place in a desperate bid to prove it's not a pile of horse excrement as everyone believes it is. Renault scored a double points finish with Jarno Trulli 5th and a recovering Fernando Alonso 7th after starting on the back row while Michael Schumacher put in a similar performance to walk home with 6th place and fastest lap. Cristiano Da Matta scored the final point for Toyota while Zsolt Baumgartner capped off a briliant day for Minardi by finishing 13th ahead of a BAR, a McLaren, a Williams and a Jaguar to boot.

Results:
1. J. Button (BAR-Honda): 1h 28m 43.288s
2. R. Barrichello (Ferrari): +23.097
3. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth): +27.491
4. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes): +29.266
5. J. Trulli (Renault): +42.077
6. M. Schumacher (Ferrari): +45.390
7. F. Alonso (Renault): +1:11.786
8. C. Da Matta (Toyota): +1 LAP
9. C. Klien (Jaguar-Cosworth): +1 LAP
10. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas): +1 LAP
11. O. Panis (Toyota): +1 LAP
12. G. Pantano (Jordan-Ford): +1 LAP
13. Z. Baumgartner (Minardi-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
14. T. Sato (BAR-Honda): +2 LAPS
15. K. Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes): +3 LAPS
16. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW): +4 LAPS
17. M. Webber (Jaguar-Cosworth): +4 LAPS
DNF. N. Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford)
DNF. F. Massa (Sauber-Petronas)
DNF. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW)

Pole: M. Schumacher (Ferrari): 1.33.156
Fastest Lap: M. Schumacher (Ferrari): 1:34.179
Leaders: R. Barrichello: 1-8, 19-22 (Total: 12)
J. Button: 9-18, 23-55 (Total: 43)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. R. Barrichello (Ferrari): 18 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
2. J. Button (BAR-Honda): 12 points (1 win)
3. M. Schumacher (Ferrari): 11 points (1 2nd)
4. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth): 9 points (1 3rd)
5. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW): 6 points (1 3rd)
6. F. Alonso (Renault): 6 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
7. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes): 5 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW): 5 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. J. Trulli (Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)
11. C. Da Matta (Toyota): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 29 points (1 win, 2 2nds)
2. Lucky Strike BAR Honda: 12 points (1 win)
3. BMW WilliamsF1 Team: 11 points (1 3rd)
4. Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: 10 points (Best Result: 2 5ths)
5. Minardi Cosworth: 9 points (1 3rd)
6. West McLaren Mercedes: 5 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
7. Sauber Petronas: 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)
8. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

[Wizzie]

Race results for Sepang now up.

[watka]

Quite frankly Wizzie, this is ridiculous.

[Wizzie]

Oi! Sam Emmett was a championship contender in a bathplugging Hispania.

Besides I'm only in a remotely competitive position in the races is because the pace discrepency between qualy and the race is incredible... I mean I'm 1.5-2 seconds off the pace in qualy which usually means gridspots in the mid-low teens and I'm 1.5-2 seconds off the pace in the races which means I somehow end up being the 6th or 7th fastest car on track. The Dutch haven't done a great job making the performance files for the mod did they?

[Phoenix]

But...but I wanted to see mcallisters exploits in force india showing the world how useless adrian sutil really is
Btw sorry for the poor spelling but I'm using a frigging blackberry

[Wizzie]

Pre-Belgium:

The only major news story was David Coulthard joining Ralf Schumacher in announcing his retirement from Formula 1. Rumour has it Michael Ammermuller might get the step up to the Red Bull team next season on the basis of his performances at Toro Rosso.

Round 14: Belgium

Qualifying:

Right from practice Daniel Melrose gave the impression that he genuinely didn't want to be at Spa that weekend.In addition to that his BMW was just plain slow as he put in his worst qualifying performance since the 2005 Italian Grand Prix to be 8th on the grid. Robert Kubica then made the misery complete as he came within a tenth of scoring his first pole position but he just couldn't beat Sammy Jones who has found something extra in his driving since Alonso left the team. Raikkonen and Massa will start 3rd and 4th while Hamilton will start a relatively disappointing 6th behind the super-impressive Webber in 5th. Renault on the other hand were nowhere with Schumacher 13th and Kovalainen an awful 17th.

Grid:
1. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. R. Kubica (BMW)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari)
5. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
6. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
7. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
8. D. Melrose (BMW)
9. J. Trulli (Toyota)
10. J. Button (Honda)
11. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
12. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
13. R. Schumacher (Renault)
14. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
15. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
16. R. Barrichello (Honda)
17. H. Kovalainen (Renault)
18. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
19. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)
21. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
22. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)

Race:
The race for the win was over within the first 10 minutes of the Grand Prix as Felipe Massa put a move on Sammy Jones at the Bus Stop on lap 4 after Jones accidentally shoved early leader Robert Kubica off the road at Pouhon earlier that lap. Daniel Melrose by that point was up to 3rd after another oppertunist start got him up to 5th on the first lap and 4th by lap 2 after Raikkonen went off. Melrose and Jones then got into a race-long tussle before Melrose put in a gutsy move at La Source with 7 laps to go with Jones pitting a few laps later after it turned out he wasn't going to have enough fuel to make it to the end which promoted Raikkonen to 3rd and demoted Jones to 4th. Jarno Trulli was best of the rest in 5th while Nico Rosberg and the Renaults rounded out the points. Kubica didn't have the pace to move up any further than 12th after his early incident while Lewis Hamilton simply had a crap race by finishing 10th and out of the points.

Results:
1. F. Massa (Ferrari): 1h 22m 07.724
2. D. Melrose (BMW): +32.438
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): +1:02.429
4. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:03.041
5. J. Trulli (Toyota): +1:12.437
6. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +1:18.426
7. R. Schumacher (Renault): +1:41.112
8. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1:41.489
9. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +1 LAP
10. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +1 LAP
11. R. Barrichello (Honda): +1 LAP
12. R. Kubica (BMW): +1 LAP
13. J. Button (Honda): +1 LAP
14. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
15. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +1 LAP
16. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +1 LAP
17. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
18. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +1 LAP
19. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari): +1 LAP
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +1 LAP
21. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): +2 LAPS
DNF. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)

Pole: S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:48.005
Fastest Lap: F. Massa (Ferrari): 1:48.165
Leaders: R. Kubica: 1-3 (Total: 3)
F. Massa: 4-12, 15-44 (Total: 39)
D. Melrose: 13-14 (Total: 2)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 123 points (11 wins, 1 2nd) World Champion
2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 78 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 4 3rds)
3. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 77 points (6 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari): 53 points (2 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
5. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 29 points (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. H. Kovalainen (Renault): 22 points (Best Result: 5 6ths)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 18 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. R. Schumacher (Renault): 16 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
10. J. Button (Honda): 14 points (1 3rd)
11. J. Trulli (Toyota): 14 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
12. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 13 points (1 2nd)
13. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 12 points (2 3rds)
14. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 6 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
18. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
19. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 156 points (11 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 140 points (8 2nds, 6 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 131 points (3 wins, 3 2nds, 6 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 38 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. AT&T Williams Toyota: 22 points (Best Result: 1 4ths)
6. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
7. Red Bull Racing Renault: 16 points (1 2nd)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 14 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next is the first of the flyaways to close the season at the redesigned and redeveloped Fuji Speedway

[Wizzie]

Pre-Japan:

The only major news story was the confirmation that Michael Ammermuller will be driving the 2nd Red Bull next season while Sebastian Vettel will drive alongside Sebastien Bourdais next season at Toro Rosso.

Round 15: Japan

Qualifying:

Daniel Melrose may have qualified 6th for the Japanese Grand Prix but for most of the weekend he and Kubica were struggling to even break the top 10 and it took another one of Melrose's one lap specials to put him a provisional 5th which became 6th and nearly 7th when Webber beat him and Sebastian Vettel nearly did the same thing. Meanwhile upfront Sammy Jones scored his 3rd pole of the season alongside Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen was 3rd while Lewis Hamilton was the slowest of the leading quartet.

Grid:
1. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. F. Massa (Ferrari)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
5. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
6. D. Melrose (BMW)
7. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-TOyota)
9. J. Button (Honda)
10. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
11. H. Kovalainen (Renault)
12. R. Kubica (BMW)
13. J. Trulli (Toyota)
14. R. Schumacher (Renault)
15. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
16. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
17. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
18. R. Barrichello (Honda)
19. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)
20. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
21. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
22. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)

Qualifying:

Grid:
1. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. F. Massa (Ferrari)
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5. R. Kubica (BMW)
6. J. Button (Honda)
7. D. Melrose (BMW)
8. N. Rosberg (Williams-TOyota)
9. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
10. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
11. H. Kovalainen (Renault)
12. R. Schumacher (Renault)
13. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
14. J. Trulli (Toyota)
15. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
16. R. Barrichello (Honda)
17. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
18. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
19. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
20. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)
21. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)
22. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)

Race:
Since their debut in 2006 BMWs have crossed the line in 1st place 24 times. Daniel Melrose was responsible for the previous 23 victories but today was different as Robert Kubica took his debut win in the Mount Fuji monsoon finishing almost 50 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton with Sebastian Vettel scoring his debut podium in 3rd place after passing Daniel Melrose with 10 laps to go who was only in that position in the first place after Melrose gambled with a strategy change to a one-stopper which gave him miles of track position over Mark Webber in 5th, Felipe Massa in 6th while the main protagonists for 2nd place in the championship Sammy Jones and Kimi Raikkonen finished 7th and 8th.

Results:
1. R. Kubica (BMW): 1h 48m 26.117
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +47.998
3. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): +50.943
4. D. Melrose (BMW): +59.184
5. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +1:21.823
6. F. Massa (Ferrari): +1:36.329
7. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): +1 LAP
8. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): +1 LAP
9. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
10. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1 LAP
11. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): +1 LAP
12. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +2 LAPS
13. R. Schumacher (Renault): +2 LAPS
14. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +2 LAPS
15. R. Barrichello (Honda): +2 LAPS
16. J. Button (Honda): +2 LAPS
17. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS
18. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +3 LAPS
19. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
20. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari): +4 LAPS
21. J. Trulli (Toyota): +5 LAPS
DNF. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)

Pole: S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:17.763
Fastest Lap: S. Jones (McLaren-Merceds): 1:31.936
Leaders: S. Jones: 1-12 (Total: 12)
L. Hamilton: 13 (Total: 1)
S. Vettel: 14-18 (Total: 5)
R. Kubica: 19-67 (Total: 49)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 128 points (11 wins, 1 2nd) World Champion
2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 79 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 4 3rds)
3. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 79 points (6 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari): 56 points (2 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
5. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 39 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. H. Kovalainen (Renault): 22 points (Best Result: 5 6ths)
8. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 20 points (1 2nd, 3rds)
9. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 18 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
10. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 17 points (1 2nd)
11. R. Schumacher (Renault): 16 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
12. J. Button (Honda): 14 points (1 3rd)
13. J. Trulli (Toyota): 14 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
14. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): 6 points (1 3rd)
15. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 6 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
18. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
19. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
20. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
21. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 171 points (12 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 150 points (9 2nds, 6 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 135 points (3 wins, 3 2nds, 6 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 38 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. AT&T Williams Toyota: 22 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
6. Red Bull Racing Renault: 20 points (1 2nd)
7. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 14 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 10 points (1 3rd)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai circuit.

[Wizzie]

Race results for Fuji now up and it's time to head back several years in the past:

2004: Round 3: Bahrain

Qualifying:

Not much to report from Qualfiying as Ferrari, BAR and Williams locked out the top 3 spots. Giancarlo Fisichella did well to put his Sauber 8th on the grid while Fernando Alonso was in all sorts of trouble in 16th behind Daniel Melrose who was 15th. Alonso's problems were nothing compared to what befell Kimi Raikkonen though as the Iceman ended up 20th and last on the grid.

Grid:
1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
2. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW)
3. R. Barrichello (Ferrari)
4. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW)
5. J. Button (BAR-Honda)
6. T. Sato (BAR-Honda)
7. J. Trulli (Renault)
8. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas)
9. O. Panis (Toyota)
10. C. Da Matta (Toyota)
11. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
12. C. Klien (Jaguar-Cosworth)
13. F. Massa (Sauber-Petronas)
14. M. Webber (Jaguar-Cosworth)
15. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth)
16. F. Alonso (Renault)
17. G. Pantano (Jordan-Ford)
18. N. Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford)
19. Z. Baumgartner (Minardi-Cosworth)
20. K. Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes)

Qualifying 2:

Grid:
1. J. Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW)
2. R. Schumacher (Williams-BMW)
3. R. Barrichello (Ferrari)
4. T. Sato (BAR-Honda)
5. J. Button (BAR-Honda)
6. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
7. J. Trulli (Renault)
8. G. Fisichella (Sauber-Petronas)
9. D. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)
10. O. Panis (Toyota)
11. C. Da Matta (Toyota)
12. C. Klien (Jaguar-Cosworth)
13. F. Massa (Sauber-Petronas)
14. M. Webber (Jaguar-Cosworth)
15. D. Melrose (Minardi-Cosworth)
16. G. Pantano (Jordan-Ford)
17. F. Alonso (Renault)
18. N. Heidfeld (Jordan-Ford)
19. K. Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes)
20. Z. Baumgartner (Minardi-Cosworth)

Race:
(To be done later)

[Wizzie]

I've decided to give up on the Bahrain Grand Prix after it ate through 6(!) savefiles in a week.

[Wizzie]

Pre-China:

The major news item before the Chinese Grand Prix was the surprise signing of Rubens Barrichello by Williams to replace the frankly disappointing Nick Heidfeld for the next two seasons atleast. Meanwhile Honda are tossing up between Frank Zimmer and Anthony Davidson to replace the departing Barrichello in the other seat. Meanwhile at Force India Vijay Mallya has confirmed that Pheonix McAllister will be driving the second Force India alongside Adrian Sutil while Giancarlo Fisichella has been signed on as their test drivers.

Round 16: Qualifying:

Rain has always been the great equaliser as Lewis Hamilton scored his first ever pole position from Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. Mark Webber beat both BMWs and Jones by putting his Red Bull in 4th while Daniel Melrose and Sammy Jones were for the second Chinese Grand Prix in a row in close proximity to each other in 5th and 6th. The back end of the top 10 was full of surprises with Sebastian Vettel, David Coulthard, Frank Zimmer and Jenson Button filling 7th to 10th in that order. Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher were all disappointments in 14th, 18th and 21st.

Grid:
1. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)
3. F. Massa (Ferrari)
4. M. Webber (RBR-Renault)
5. D. Melrose (BMW)
6. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes)
7. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
8. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault)
9. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda)
10. J. Button (Honda)
11. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari)
12. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota)
13. H. Kovalainen (Renault)
14. R. Kubica (BMW)
15. R. Barrichello (Honda)
16. J. Trulli (Toyota)
17. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda)
18. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
19. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota)
20. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari)
21. R. Schumacher (Renault)
22. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari)

Race:

(NOTE: The savefile corrupted itself yet again which means I can't continue beyond lap 52 and since I can't be bothered doing the entire race again I'll just make up some elaborate cover story to explain why the final few laps went missing.)

Lap 32 of the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix will go down in history as the lap which changed the race and quite possibly the constructors championship. This was the lap when Kimi Raikkonen had a massive accident at turn 7/8 complex while leading which put him out of the race. The resulting debris was the reason Daniel Melrose who was now up to 3rd place had a puncture going down the back straight on the next lap which put him behind the one stopping Renaults and Button's Honda as well as both Red Bulls and Toro Rossos and seemingly out of points contention after his stop.

This was set to be the case as by lap 42 Melrose had only made it up to 11th after Heidfeld had pitted. Melrose then put a classy move on Ralf Schumacher on lap 42 which marked the beginning of a brilliant comeback drive where he made it up to 7th after passing Vettel and benefitting from Ammermuller and Button colliding on lap 51. And then on lap 53 the mother and father of all big accidents happened on the back straight when Robert Kubica who was having an absolutely miserable afternoon ran up the back on Pheonix McAllister which brought out the red flags and put a premature end to the race as Kubica was airlifted to hospital was serious leg injuries while McAllister was taken to the track medical centre for check-ups but he was unhurt.

This meant the results were backdated to the end of lap 51 which meant after 154 attempts Sammy Jones finally scored his first Grand Prix victory which was met with huge fanfare from the paddock as he is immensly popular with everyone for his likeable personality. Felipe Massa finished 2nd while Lewis Hamilton was 3rd which brought McLaren right back into the hunt for the constructors championship. BMW and Raikkonen's loss was Red Bull's big gain as Webber was 4th and Coulthard 5th while Kovalainen finished 6th yet again ahead of Melrose and Vettel who stole the final point from Ammermuller at what was effectively the final corner of the race after the Ammermuller/Button collision.

Results (51 laps completed):
1. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 1h 23m 44.828
2. F. Massa (Ferrari): +15.586
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +58.473
4. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): +1:22.215
5. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): +1:22.885
6. H. Kovalainen (Renault): +1:27.311
7. D. Melrose (BMW): +1:29.170
8. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): +1:30.691
9. M. Ammermuller (STR-Ferrari): +1:32.993
10. R. Schumacher (Renault): +1:37.450
11. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
12. J. Trulli (Toyota): +1 LAP
13. F. Zimmer (Super Aguri-Honda): +1 LAP
14. J. Pablo Montoya (Toyota): +1 LAP
15. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): +1 LAP
16. P. McAllister (Spyker-Ferrari): +1 LAP
17. R. Kubica (BMW): +1 LAP
18. J. Button (Honda): +1 LAP*
19. R. Barrichello (Honda) +2 LAPS
20. T. Sato (Super Aguri-Honda): +2 LAPS
21. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): +3 LAPS
DNF. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari)

*Didn't finish but completed 90% race distance

Pole: L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:48.164
Fastest Lap: S. Jones (McLaren-Merceds): 1:36.144
Leaders: K. Raikkonen: 1-17, 20-31 (Total: 29)
D. Melrose: 18-19 (Total: 2)
S. Jones: 32-36, 38-51 (Total: 19)
F. Massa: 37 (Total: 1)


Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. D. Melrose (BMW): 130 points (11 wins, 1 2nd) World Champion
2. S. Jones (McLaren-Mercedes): 89 points (1 win, 6 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. K. Raikkonen (Ferrari): 79 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 4 3rds)
4. F. Massa (Ferrari): 64 points (2 wins, 2 2nds, 2 3rds)
5. F. Alonso (McLaren-Mercedes): 51 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
6. R. Kubica (BMW): 39 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 26 points (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
8. H. Kovalainen (Renault): 25 points (Best Result: 6 6ths)
9. M. Webber (RBR-Renault): 22 points (1 2nd)
10. N. Rosberg (Williams-Toyota): 18 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
11. R. Schumacher (Renault): 16 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
12. J. Button (Honda): 14 points (1 3rd)
13. J. Trulli (Toyota): 14 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
14. D. Coulthard (RBR-Renault): 8 points (Best Result: 2 5ths)
15. S. Vettel (STR-Ferrari): 7 points (1 3rd)
16. J. Pablo Montoyta (Toyota): 6 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
17. N. Heidfeld (Williams-Toyota): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
18. S. Speed (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
19. T. Glock (BMW): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
20. D. Simpson (Spyker-Ferrari): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
21. A. Sutil (Spyker-Ferrari): 1 point (Best Result: 1 8th)

Constructors:
1. Petronas BMW Sauber F1 Team: 173 points (12 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 166 points (1 win, 9 2nds, 7 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 143 points (3 wins, 4 2nds, 6 3rds)
4. ING Renault F1 Team: 41 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
5. Red Bull Racing Renault: 29 points (1 2nd)
6. AT&T Williams Toyota: 22 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
7. Panasonic Toyota Racing: 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Honda Racing F1 Team: 14 points (1 3rd)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 11 points (1 3rd)
10. Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team Ferrari: 4 points (Best Result: 1 6th)

Next up is the final race of the season at the Interlagos track at Sao Paulo, Brazil

[the Masked Lapwing]

You know what? I'll start an F1 career too. Having just gotten F1 Career Challenge, I'll stop this becoming all Wizzie's thread!

Young Australian Rhys Davies has just recieved his superlicence, and three teams, Prost, Benetton and Sauber, have offered him a drive. After careful thought (not), Davies chose to drive for Benetton in the 1999 Formula One season, alongside Giancarlo Fisichella. So off he went to Australia, where the team expected him to finish at least 16th. (Note: I haven't actually played this yet, so hopefully I be more rejectful than Melrose ever was!) After qualifying, however, things weren't looking so good...

1st: E. Irvine (Ferrari): 1:23.873
2nd: M. Schumacher (Ferrari): +0.029
3rd: D. Coulthard (McLaren): +0.387
4th: M. Hakkinen (McLaren): +0.431
5th: H. Frentzen (Jordan): +0.536
6th: R. Barrichello (Stewart): +0.736
7th: J. Herbert (Stewart): +0.751
8th: R. Schumacher (Williams): +0.858
9th: D. Hill (Jordan): +0.891
10th: G. Fisichella (Benetton): +1.410
11th: J. Alesi (Sauber): +1.465
12th: P. Diniz (Sauber): +1.576
13th: A. Zanardi (Williams): +1.725
14th: J. Trulli (Prost): +1.950
15th: O. Panis (Prost): +2.254
16th: J. Villeneuve (BAR): +3.597
17th: L. Badoer (Minardi): +3.977
18th: T. Takagi (Arrows): +4.015
19th: R. Zonta (BAR): +4.143
20th: M. Gene (Minardi): +4.182
21st: P. De la Rosa (Arrows): +4.252
22nd: R. Davies (Benetton): +5.006

Race (which is only 6 laps, annoyingly... oh well, short attention spans aren't good for long races):
A good start saw Davies up to 15th before the first corner. Irvine stalled, and Schumacher took the lead into the first corner, while his teammate retired. Surprisingly, there was little crashing at turn 1, the only incident being a small collision between Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher. Frenzten fell back, while Ralf held 8th. Davies, meanwhile, jumped to 9th. At turn 3, Schumacher was in more strife, as he hit Barrichello’s Stewart and turned him around! Davies, Hill and Frentzen had nowhere to go, but all managed to keep going, rather annoyingly, with Schumacher still ahead! Not for long, as he ran off at turn 9. By now, Davies was 7th, 2 seconds behind his teammate, but with Damon Hill all over him. Hakkinen went into the pits from third, having jumped Coulthard at the start, and rejoined down in 14th. Barrichello also went in for a quick repair, as did Frentzen and De la Rosa. For the German, however, he couldn’t get back out. Davies was 6th, as Hill got past at the first corner. Zanardi retired on lap 2 with suspension dramas. Coulthard pitted, while Hakkinen went off on cold tyres at turn 7. Hill and Fisichella pitted, meaning Davies was now 3rd! Yay! Unfortunately, he had Alesi all over the back of him. Lap 3 saw Michael Schumacher pit from the lead, and Herbert from second, giving Davies the lead! Barely, as Schumacher exited right behind him. Davies was due to pit this lap, so he just tried to stay ahead of him. That worked well, as they both went off at turn 11, giving Coulthard the lead of the race! In fact, Herbert got past Schumacher as well, meaning Davies stopped from second. He rejoined 15th, which became 14th when Trulli’s engine blew up. He had De la Rosa ahead and Villeneuve behind. And then 13th when Hakkinen pulled up with smoke from his engine too. Final lap, and he was 2 seconds behind De la Rosa and 10 ahead of Villeneuve. By the end of the first sector, he was just 1 second behind the Spaniard, before Diniz went off at turn 9, followed by De la Rosa! Davies couldn’t catch Diniz, but 12th was a good result from 22nd. Then he learned that Fisichella was 4th, and got annoyed…

1st: D. Coulthard (McLaren): 9:18.215
2nd: J. Herbert (Stewart): +3.157
3rd: M. Schumacher (Ferrari): +5.453
4th: G. Fisichella (Benetton): +14.022
5th: D. Hill (Jordan): +14.555
6th: O. Panis (Prost): +27.183
7th: T. Takagi (Arrows): +40.057
8th: R. Schumacher (Williams): +40.549
9th: M. Gene (Minardi): +43.255
10th: L. Badoer (Minardi): +43.544
11th: P. Diniz (Sauber): +45.281
12th: R. Davies (Benetton): +48.667
13th: P. De la Rosa (Arrows): +55.606
14th: J. Villeneuve (BAR): +57.703
15th: J. Alesi (Sauber): +58.941
16th: R. Zonta (BAR): +1:20.993
17th: J. Trulli (Prost) (engine)
18th: M. Hakkinen (McLaren)(engine)
DNF: R. Barrichello (Stewart) (wing)
DNF: H. Frentzen (Jordan) (collsion damage)
DNF: A. Zanardi (Williams) (suspension)
DNF: E. Irvine (Ferrari) (stalled)

Drivers Championship:
1st: D. Coulthard - 10
2nd: J. Herbert - 6
3rd: M. Schumacher - 4
4th: G. Fisichella - 3
5th: D. Hill - 2
6th: O. Panis - 1

Constructors Championship:
1st: McLaren - 10
2nd: Stewart - 6
3rd: Ferrari - 4
4th: Benetton - 3
5th: Jordan - 2
6th: Prost - 1

Now it's off to Brazil!