Interesting to read these thoughts from Mika about Lewis which very much match my own view about his mood recently. Last season we saw a similar change in him as the season progressed. But this time there is more experience informing his approach and he is, arguably, in a stronger position psychologically as a result.
There was a nasty moment during the test at Jerez this morning when a mechanic touched one of the BMW cars after it had run with the new KERS package and received a big electric shock. He was taken to the medical centre but was not thought to be seriously injured.
One other thing; here are Darren Heath's thoughts on Kimi's uncertain future..
We are just about to start the second half of this gripping season. We do so with three drivers tied on equal points and with Robert Kubica just two points behind. I would argue that he, however, is a long shot for the title because the car is not good enough yet. That leaves the other three. Here is a bit more information(originally prepared for the paper) on them and an assessment of the state of play in terms of their winning chances.
Lewis Hamilton
Age: 23
Lives: Geneva
Status: single(girlfriend is Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger)
Team: McLaren Mercedes
Formula One debut: Australian Grand Prix 2007
Grand Prix contested: 26
Grand Prix wins: 7
Pole positions: 7
Wins this season: 3(Australia, Monaco, Silverstone)
Total points this season: 48
Salary: £18 million a year
Hobbies: playing guitar, computer games, listening to music
Season highlight: destroyed the field when winning at Silverstone in the wet by 68 seconds
Season low: driving into the back of Kimi Raikkonen's car in Canada
The purist's view: he has the mark of greatness
The naysayer's view: he is ahead of himself and treats himself as "champion in waiting"
Strong points: car control in wheel-to-wheel combat, desire to win
Weak points: lack of experience, "unforced" errors(desire to win), distracted by too many commitments away from the track
He said: "I was born for this"
Ace in the hole: five-year contract with McLaren worth £75 million
Champion chances: favourite
Kimi Raikkonen
Age: 28
Lives: Zurich
Status: Married(to Jenni Dahlman, former Miss Scandanavia)
Team: Ferrari
Formula One debut: Australian Grand Prix, 2001
Grand Prix contested: 130
Grand Prix wins: 17
Pole positions: 16
Wins this season: 2(Malaysia, Spain)
Total points this season: 48
Salary: £25 million a year
Hobbies: ice-hockey, pet dogs, drinking
Season highlight: pole, fastest lap and race win at the Spanish Grand Prix
Season low: smashing into Adrian Sutil's Force India car in the closing stages at Monte Carlo
The purist's view: the fastest man in Formula One
The naysayer's view: does he really care if he is champion or not?
Strong points: speed, the long game, Finnish warrior spirit or Sisu
Weak points: can switch off
He said: "I'll only carry on doing this as long as I'm enjoying it."
Ace in the hole: confidence gained from winning the world championship in 2007
Champion chances: second favourite
Felipe Massa
Age: 27
Lives: Monaco
Status: Married(to Anna Raffaela Bassi)
Team: Ferrari
Formula One debut: Australian Grand Prix, 2002
Grand Prix contested: 96
Grand Prix wins: 8
Pole positions: 12
Wins this season: 3(Bahrain, Turkey, France)
Total points this season: 48
Salary: £10 million a year
Hobbies: Go-Karting, soccer, computer games, on the beach with family
Season highlight: wins the Turkish Grand Prix for the third consecutive year
Season low-point: dreadful race in the wet at Silverstone(finished last and spun his car five times)
The purist's view: he is not good enough to drive for Ferrari
The Massa camp says: he is fast enough and has enough raw talent to be champion(if he is so bad in the wet, then what about Monaco?)
Strong points: qualifying
Weak points: errors when driving under pressure, needs detailed direction from the team
He said: "This year I feel strong and motivated because I have everything I need to fight on an equal footing."
Ace in the hole: Michael Schumacher's advice and support
Champion chances: the dark horse
Another year, another appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for Lewis where the crowd were eager to see him and celebrate again his win at Silverstone. On both this visit and last year's, Lewis came to the Festival on an "upswing". Last year it was on the back of consecutive wins at Montreal and Indy, this time it was Silverstone and that sort of background certainly makes these types of things much easier and more fun for him.
Twelve months ago we used to talk about the "Hamilton effect", a term used to describe the huge impact Lewis was having in his first season in Formula One on the British collective psyche both in and out of sport. This visit to Goodwood reminded me that, even though Lewis is now an established force, that effect is still very much in evidence. He has given a big boost to British motorsport and I think it would be fair to say that he remains hugely popular in Britain where his fans fervently believe he will be champion soon and not just once either.
Standing in the sunshine waiting for him to appear with Lord March on the balcony of Goodwood House, I could have asked anyone and got roughly the same positive answers. They love Lewis and have taken him to their hearts. Here, for example, are the thoughts of Jeff Hudson, a gentleman in his 40s from Fareham in Hampshire.
"He's a little bit more inconsistent this season but he's a young lad and he's going to be going forward all the time. He is going to be, more than likely, the best British driver ever and he will rival Schumacher. He's got a lot of guts - he doesn't care, he just goes for it - and he'll win whatever the conditions. He was brilliant today. He said the right thing - his parents have been behind him and that's the most important thing - we are behind our kids exactly the same."
And here are the thoughts of Sarah Annison, a 37-year-old woman who was running a stall with her boyfriend at the festival..
"He is fantastically down to earth - just a really nice guy - I watch every Grand Prix with him in it, that's why we are here today. He will be world champion this year. He is definitely going to pull it back; it will be an absolutely fantastic year. Everyone I was standing with were taking pictures and they were really, really, buying into what he was saying and I think he is just very, very good with crowd spirit so he definitely gets everybody on his side. It's nice that he's taken time out of his life to come down here."
Wandering through the trees I came across the imposing figure of Nick Faldo, the six-time golfing major winner who s also a big Hamilton fan who reckons the young McLaren Mercedes driver has got all the right clubs in his bag. "I have been following his career - I called it," said Faldo. "I mean the guy is absolutely so good. I knew he was going to come out and be a winner like last year. I thought it was no surprise that he did so well. He's got something special in his mental approach, he's comfortable with it all. The more comfortable you are, the more easily you can deal with things and it looked like, straight away, he was going to come out and be a winner. We know what motor racing's like - anything can happen to a driver or a constructor - but, inside, he knows he's got it and he's got inner patience as well. He knows that one day he is going to make it."
So there you have it, the view of the fans on a beautiful morning in West Sussex. And, to finish, a word from Lewis himself talking to ITV's Steve Ryder at the top of the hill about that win at Silverstone. "I think Silverstone showed that anything can happen and you can achieve anything when you put your mind to it, even with all the tough things going on around outside. You just home in and focus on what you really want. If you have the desire then anything is possible and I showed that weekend that, even though I was fourth and things weren't looking great and great things weren't being said about me, I was able to pull out a good race and do a good job."
Finally, Lewis was asked what car he would love to drive up the hill at Goodwood, if he could just come on his own and have a go. He said it would have to be a Formula One car and he would choose the McLaren MP4-8, Senna's car from 1993(with the squashed hedgehog stickers on the side for every race in which the McLaren beat the Williams cars). Senna managed five wins in that machine including, of course, that epic drive in the rain at Donington(the home of the British Grand Prix from 2010!).
 Another extraordinary weekend in the business/political world/sport that is Formula One. Max and Bernie were going full pelt to set the pace in the early stages - new rules, a peace pact, Donington, you name it - then there was Lewis who seemed to be stuck in one groove when getting to only fourth in quali, only to stun us all in the race with an absolutely matchless performance.
There are always ifs and buts about any drive in Formula One as we have debated before here(especially after Lewis's win in Monaco). How much of it was the driver, the car, tactics, tyres, weather, luck, mistakes by other teams or other drivers? In this case I believe there are very few other explanations required. Lewis was in a class of his own and I would imagine that even his most fervent detractors must see that a guy who can drive like that in those conditions has got something extra.
I wrote about his determination to remain "cool, calm and collected" in the race in today's paper. My feeling however is that Lewis's biggest weakness might well be his unbridled competitiveness and his inability not to go "go for it" when he sees a chance. His start yesterday was full of risk which could have ended in tears again. Once through however he settled down, even if he kept his pace higher right to the end than his pitwall might have wanted.
It is this fighting quality which makes him so exciting to watch(Fernando is the same) but it also accounts for the "all or nothing" feel to his results this season which are in such contrast to last year. Is the consistent Lewis of the early part of 2007 the real Lewis or is the erratic Lewis of 2008 the genuine article? Time will tell one way or another. (Click on the image below for a year-on-year comparison). But it was a great race and fantastic to see a British driver put all his talent on show for a packed home crowd.
Having said all of the above, Lewis did not win the race on his own and McLaren and he were in perfect harmony at Silverstone on Sunday, getting all their calls right. By the way, Martin Whitmarsh admitted afterwards that they were amazed and delighted when they saw that Ferrari were not changing Kimi's tyres. They could hardly believe their luck. It's weird how Ferrari seem to make these sorts or errors. What they probably need is a stocky, rather pessimistic Englishman who is always(correctly) expecting the English summer weather to get worse; Ross Brawn would fit the bill perfectly.
Lewis is, at the moment, a better race driver than qualifier. Heikki out-did him on Saturday, albeit in a car which was two laps lighter and Felipe has "done" him in quali several times this season. But in the heat of battle Lewis leaves both of them in his wake. The old karting moves, the awareness of gaps opening up and the commitment to take them. All that sort of stuff which brings us back to that dangerously competitive streak. You can't have one without the other.
Anyway what of his rivals? Well Heikki has done his reputation no good this weekend. He had a great opportunity to carve his own name in glory but he faded again in the race in the same machinery as his team-mate. He looks less self-confident in the car, less committed and weaker competitively than Lewis. There is no official ranking order at McLaren but there can be few people following Formula One who do not believe, as I do, that Heikki is now the de facto number two as much by his own efforts as by the team's decisions.
As far as Ferrari goes, well it was a race they will definitely not want to dwell on for too long or they may seriously come to doubt themselves. We have already visited Kimi's tyre strategy error but what of Felipe? I got a far amount of ribbing in the press room as we watched the Brazilian spinning like a top on his way to finishing 13th at the end of one of the worst drives in recent Formula One history. Having talked him up, the "I told you so" brigade were making the most of it. Clearly Felipe is not a wet weather driver(odd, given that it rains a lot in Sao Paulo), something we saw last year when he looked hopeless at the Nurburgring with Fernando in his mirrors. On the other hand, he wasn't too bad at all at Monaco, it has to be said. But how relevant is this going to be? In the dry(normal) conditions in which Formula One is staged, Felipe is devastatingly quick in qualifying and he can get his car to the finish pretty well so he is still a proper candidate for world champion.
BMW are fading from the battle, unless they spring a technical surprise starting at Hockers. Mark Webber must have been furious with himself, spinning it early on having been left standing at the start. He drove well afterwards but it was a case of too little too late.
That's about it apart from the fauna. I read that some of you thought they were rabbits. They looked like hares to me...
The pic is another superb shot by Darren Heath which was taken from the footbridge which is quite a long way away from the podium down the straight. Darren has a new exhibition of his Formula One work which you can check out here.
Just a "stub" for now to say what a thoroughly resounding victory that was from Lewis on a day when he was in class of his own. The boy was back to his very best once again in the rain, and he produced a result against a backdrop of the heaviest out-of-the-car pressure he has probably ever experienced. And in front of his home crowd at a packed Silverstone.
While everything went so well for Lewis, the same cannot be said for almost everyone else, especially Heikki and Ferrari who had a shocker. Felipe doesn't seem to "get" wet driving at all - he spun so many times I lost count. Then there was that decision by Ferrari not to change Kimi's tyres which, to my mind was the turning point. It was an error which had the McLaren pitwall pinching themselves...
I'll leave it to you for now...more later...
 It has been on the cards all weekend, and for quite a while in fact, and now Heikki has done it. A marvellous drive to secure his first pole on a track he knows well. Pole position by more than half a second is some achievement and sets the "Niceman" up beautifully for a crack at his first win. The Finnish driver remarked afterwards that his car has never been better balanced all year and was equally good through the fast corners and the slow.
While Heikki prospered, Lewis was less impressive. He led the rankings in Q2 but then made another mistake during his first flying lap in Q3 when he ran off at Priory onto gravel and grass. His second attempt could get him, ultimately, only to fourth and he looked and sounded pretty disappointed with himself afterwards. He seems to be very error-prone just now - maybe he was trying too hard in front of his home crowd, but he has made this sort of mistake this season when he has needed a passport too. There was a telling moment in the latter stages of Q3 when his race engineer was heard on the radio telling him: "You are fastest in the first two sectors - do not overdrive, do not overdrive."
It was a superb day for Red Bull which scored its first ever front row start thanks to an excellent late charge by Mark Webber who was on provisional pole until Heikki snatched it at the death. A "home" track for them, it will be interesting to see how they get on in the race, especially with Christian Horner assuring everyone that it was no fluke. "It's not showboating - it's a genuine result," he said.
For the Ferraris it was a strange afternoon with both cars struggling in the early sessions before Kimi got himself in the hunt with an effort which secured third on the grid, notwithstanding the fact that his car looked a handful. The formbook(which says this is generally a Ferrari track) looks like it might need updating. Were the red cars struggling with the cross-winds more? Felipe had another setback with a frozen wheelnut which stopped him in the pits in Q3 and left him in ninth place. The good news for Kimi is that all his championship rivals are behind him on the grid.
Over at BMW, Robert was unable to compete in Q3 because of what appeared to be a steering issue with his car; Nick took advantage getting himself up to 5th. This equals his best performance in quali this year at Melbourne and follows a dismal sequence when he has been unable to get heat into his tyres, the way Robert seems to be able to do. The bearded German has been working on this in recent weeks and it appears to be starting to pay off.
Weatherwise, after staying largely dry for quali - there was some wet stuff on parts of the track in Q1 - the forecast for tomorrow is still very unsettled. However, the detailed analysis suggests it might just be dry for the race with rain before and after it. Should be interesting either way.
Over the two years I have been watching Formula One I have grown wary of basing too much on Friday and Saturday practice and have come to dismiss it as nothing more than a rough guide to both qualifying and the race. However, I sat up and listened when, driving out of Silverstone on Friday night(in the mighty Skoda), I heard an interesting interview of Anthony Davidson on BBC Radio Five.
Anthony was talking about the way drivers view practice and reminded us that, between team-mates, practice times are hugely important. As he said "it is important to be on top all the time." He noted that Heikki had out-performed Lewis in both sessions on Friday(as he did again in the rain affected session today).
He said if it was him on the losing side of this equation, he would spend all night with his head in a lap-top trying to work out where to save the time necessary to beat his team-mate and then set out the next morning with nothing more on his mind than an intention to "destroy" his rival on the time-sheets.
That's how it was between him and Takuma at the erstwhile Super Aguri outfit. Of course Anthony also reminded us that this is all done in a very sporting manner and that it is quite possible to be on good terms with your team-mate socially and then go out and drive like hell to beat him on the track.
So, yes, Heikki has got the initiative over Lewis this weekend so far and, on Anthony's analysis, Lewis will be feeling pretty miffed by now and will be looking for revenge once the real action starts. It is interesting how Heikki seems to do well in the build-up but then falls victim to ill-fortune, or just fades a little, when it matters. I still believe he is due a really good result but, with the forecast this weekend, you wouldn't want to predict anything too confidently.
In today's paper we have a long look at the state of "planet Lewis" and at the surprising decision to move the British Grand Prix to Donington. Below are Heikki and Lewis's respective times this weekend so far.
Friday morning
Heikki: 2nd fastest, 1:19.587, 15 laps
Lewis: 3rd, 1:19.623, 13
Friday afternoon
Heikki: 1st, 1:19.989, 35
Lewis: 3rd, 1:20.543, 31
Saturday morning
Heikki: 3rd, 1:21.266, 14
Lewis: 5th, 1:21.668, 14
Crumbs, there is so much going on, it is difficult to know where to start(and the day-job is getting a bit lively).
In bullet points this is what has happened in chronological order at Silverstone so far
* Lewis accepts a challenge from Jenson to do a triathlon for charity and is then promptly withdrawn from it by his father and manager Anthony(very poor PR - underlines again the very obvious reality that "team Hamilton" needs its own full-time media consultant).
* DC announces his retirement at the end of this season when he is widely believed to be joining the new BBC television team as paddock-based expert in place of Mark Blundell(who has joked recently that he has brought a new sofa, all the better to watch the racing next year from home).
* Mosley writes to the teams setting out a radical overhaul of how Formula One is going to be run and gives them three months to write a new set of technical regulations.
* Bernie and Max reveal that they have called a truce as we exclusively report in today's paper. Is this a real end to hostilities or a temporary ceasefire? Why did it happen? I understand the two men met after three months of cold war. Whose idea was the meeting? One thorn in Bernie's side that remains is the Formula 2 championship. Will this be quietly forgotten?
* Practice session one. A warm dry morning sees Felipe head the time-sheets only to have a dangerous high-speed crash at Stowe when his left-front wheel skidded on oil left by Fernando's exploding engine. The Brazilian hit the tyre wall quite close to where Michael Schmacher had his big shunt in '99. There was big damage to the rear of Felipe's car but apparently none to him fortunately - a big setback for him which will leave him on the back foot for the rest of the weekend.
* The FIA announces that the British Grand Prix is safe but that it will move to Donington Park from 2010, a possibility first mooted during the French Grand Prix. This has left the press room stunned. Clearly Bernie has totally lost it with what he calls "shitty" Silverstone. My guess is that this will be a hybrid deal where Bernie will take over Donington during Formula One weekends and will plough a good deal of his own money into the place in return. There is a huge amount to do and there are some in the media centre here who do not believe the move will ever happen.
Err..that's it for now. Whatever next? Lewis signs for Ferrari???
 Just about to leave for Silverstone - I guess we should start thinking about who is going to win the British Grand Prix.
My gut feeling is that the circuit on the airfield in Northamptonshire is still a Ferrari track and, with that in mind, I would be erring on the same sort of prediction I made for Magny-Cours. That would be Kimi(with a new engine) leading Felipe to the flag with Heikki third.
On that occasion, a technical failure on Kimi's car, which has prompted the engine change, made a nonsense of that prediction. This time Kimi is due a smooth run. But I am going for Heikki again. In France this was in acknowledgement of the impact that Lewis's "carried-over" penalty from Canada would have; this time there is no penalty from the stewards but there is a penalty from the fame-game for Lewis.
Maybe he will prove to us that he can do it all; play with the rich and famous, turn up for umpteen sponsor engagements and then still win - or even get on the podium - at his home Grand Prix. I hope he can, but I doubt it...This is quite important in terms of his chances in the overall championship. He has slipped 10 points off the lead and he must at least get something on the board this weekend(for the first time in three races).
BMW seem to be concerned that they are falling off the top-three and have ear-marked Silverstone and Hockenheim as critical to their season. Robert always tells it as it is and he has warned that the team still has a lot to do. "We are currently far from the pace we need in order to challenge our front-running competitors and it's no secret that we need some good updates to get back to the level of competitiveness we showed in the early part of the season," he said earlier this week.
"The missed podium in Magny-Cours shows that we cannot rely on the others hitting trouble. Lewis's penalties probably just put one less car in front of me at the finish line. In Magny-Cours our gap to Ferrari was the highest so far and this was emphasised by the fact that some other teams have instead closed the gap to us. It's a signal that we need to take very seriously - and one we must react quickly to."
The spanner in the works for everyone is going to be the weather. The UK is under the influence of two Atlantic low pressure systems which are bringing rain and wind throughout the weekend. For Sunday, the Met Office is predicting a Low centred right over southern England. If this develops as advertised, this is could affect either qualifying or the race or both, although I have noticed, over the past few days, that even the short-term forecasting seems to be more than usually inaccurate.
Rain could help Robert and could help Lewis. It could also help Fernando who likes Silverstone. Even DC was talking about a possible win if it rains. That seems a very long shot for the Scot as he prepares for his 15th and, almost certainly, his last British Grand Prix. Predictions here...
Pics by the crap photographer from last year(IDR: I think these were taken with the Canon PowerShot S51S. Correct? It is a nice camera but is too big to carry around and the lens cap keeps falling off. Apart from that it's great.)
 The Hugo Boss sponsorship of McLaren required Lewis to go for a day's sailing on Saturday aboard the big black yacht which takes its name from the German fashion house and I was lucky enough to be invited along for the day. We sailed in the annual 50-mile round the Isle of Wight race and won our class(Open 60s) before being disqualified for a collision at the start.
In the past when DC got to do this, there never seemed to be much wind but Lewis saw this powerful boat at its best, fully-powered up and storming along the outside of the island at top speed and with the British triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie at the wheel. All in all it was a dramatic day and Lewis seemed to enjoy himself immensely. He proved to be a pretty good first-timer on the wheel(this was his first ever day on a sailing boat) and he tried a few of the other tasks on board without getting sea-sick.
I will not bore you with the parallels between top level yacht racing(particularly the America's Cup) and Formula One. Suffice it to say the two sports are very close in the sort of disciplines required. Good team work, excellent management, advanced design concepts, rigorous testing and reliability and so on and Lewis could certainly see the parallels. I think he was genuinely impressed by the technical sophistication of the boat and by the commitment of men like Alex Thomson, its skipper, who race these machines solo round the world and they don't do it for the money.
For those interested, Thomson is one of a group of Brits racing in this year's Vendee Globe non-stop solo round the world race which sets sail from France in November. No British skipper has ever won this blue riband event(Ellen MacArthur was second in 2000/01) but Thomson has the boat and the experience to do it. His main weakness has been his inability to pace himself - he has crashed out of two solo round the world races so far - but he believes he has learnt his lessons and can go the distance this time. Might be worth a bet.
We had a great day aboard his boat and it was fascinating seeing Lewis out of his natural environment. As always he got stuck in gamely and impressed those on the crew who had seen him only on television up until then. Incidentally, the general view amongst the sailors seemed to be that Lewis will be world champion one day, but maybe not this year or even next.
The sailing came in the midst of a very busy(too busy?) few days for Lewis in the build-up to Silverstone. He followed testing by going to the Nelson Mandela birthday bash in London. Then he was on the boat after no sleep at all(he had to leave London at about 4.00am). Then he made an appearance at Brooklands on Saturday afternoon. I'm not sure what he did on Sunday but on Tuesday he is in Amsterdam for the Reebok sponsorship announcement and then he will be thinking about the race track in Northamptonshire. I wonder what schedules Felipe and Kimi have had to fulfil, or wanted to fulfil in the past week.
Anyway the crap photographer had a bit of a go and emerged with some rubbish pics for your enjoyment. The picture at the start of this post is by the professionals at onEdition and shows Hugo Boss being driven by Lewis on its way through the Needles Channel. The rest are from the "CP" himself. As you can see, Hugo Boss is some boat. I had a big disaster on board when, having got some great interviews with Lewis, Alex and Ben using my digital recorder, I was having a chat with Lewis about Silverstone when a big wave swamped the back of the boat and destroyed the recorder. In 10 years as a sailing reporter that had never happened once...
  
Ooh ahh...the multi-millionaires are thinking of going on strike. Whatever next? Crumbs this is going to take some good PR spin I would have thought. It emerges in the feverish(not) atmosphere of the paddock at Magny-Cours that some of the best paid sportsmen in the world are thinking of taking industrial action - withdrawing their labour.
The reason? The huge and sudden and retrospective increases in the cost of the superlicences which have gone from £1,350 per year to £7,858 per year. At the same time the levy on drivers for every point they score in the championship has increased from £350 per point to £1,570 per point. This means that the licence and levy for Lewis and Kimi for last year was of the order of £180,000 each. (It was a lot less for Anthony Davidson and will be a lot less for Fernando this year, for example).
Now that sounds like a lot of money to you and me. But when you are earning a minimum of £15 million a year(Lewis is on a basic salary of £75 million over five years; Kimi earns at least £20 million and most likely a lot more), it is not that much, especially when the money raised is going towards safety improvements at the various circuits.
Anyway Fernando was the first to talk about it in his pre-race press briefing in the Renault motorhome. He said the drivers were all agreed they would consider some form of strike action - he wasn't sure what - at Silverstone. This could be anything from not taking part in a practice session one imagines, to something really serious like failing to turn up for the drivers' parade. It is impossible to imagine them not racing in the Grand Prix - imagine how that would go down with the paying public?
"It is a very serious matter," said Fernando. "It is a ridiculous price. We are all agreed that it is not fair that it has increased so much. It is something we need to look at. I don't know what the solution will be or what we will do but a strike at Silverstone, that it is one possibility. Why not? We have approached the FIA two or three times about this but we have not had positive answers. Nothing has been agreed with them."
At the pre-race press conference, Lewis, Felipe and Robert all endorsed Fernando's comments and backed him, even if Felipe admitted this was the first he had heard of it. Kimi, however, expressed sympathy with the militants but said he did not think strike action was the right way to go.
It conjurs up some great images doesn't it? A group of tax-exiled multi-millionaires huddled round an old oil drum keeping warm in sponsored great coats while taking time to whistle and cat-call at their colleagues who had the gall to "cross the start line" in one of the fastest and most expensive racing cars on the planet.
They could go to arbitration I suppose - that would be ACAS. But they would be up against one of the most formidable legal minds in public life - one Max Mosley. He imposed the price hikes and explained why earlier this year. "A lot of people who have otherwise been meeting the bill said 'hang on a minute, these drivers are all earning megabucks and we are spending a fortune to try and make sure they are safe.' So hence the increase," said Mosley.
Are the drivers right? Or should they take their medicine and shut up about it?
Just a quick post from Magny Cours which is looking rather nice in the sun. There is talk of thunderstorms for Sunday which might help Lewis...
Knowing how people like to debate these issues, I thought I might share a flavour of the conversation over dinner on Wednesday night at our hotel. There were five Fleet street hacks present and for well over an hour a heated exchange of views about Lewis's crash in Canada dominated our evening.
To simplify: one side of the table was arguing that what Lewis did in the pitlane was no different to what Kimi did at Monaco. They were both racing incidents in the heat of battle and no more criticism should be directed at Lewis than at Kimi(main proponent here was Garside, Daily Telegraph). Lewis had a lot on his mind, he would have been raging about losing race position to Robert and Kimi and he made a mistake. End of story.
The other side of the table would have none of this and argued that what Lewis did was almost unforgivable(main proponent, McEvoy, Mail). The point was being made that crashing into a parked car while going at 35mph when the traffic lights were flashing red(and the team had warned him about it over the radio) was a silly and unnecessary error. While both drivers made mistakes, Lewis's was more readily avoidable, the argument went. As one advocate of this view put it: "Lewis's mistake would have embarrassed his Granny".
It was also being argued that Kimi's loss of control/crash happened at 180mph on a damp track(easily done, understandable etc) and, once he lost the car, his smash into the back of Adrian was unavoidable. But on the other hand, Kimi looked to some of us, in the moments preceeding the crash, like a man who had decided he was going to get past Adrian at all costs. Did he not just over cook it, in his impatience to get on?
Also if Lewis was such a clutz, what can be said of Nico who crashed when there were three cars parked in front of him?
The argument split the table 3:2 in favour of McEvoy. It led to a wider discussion about whether Lewis is going to fulfill his considerable potential in Formula One or not. There was also mention of the conspiracy theory about China and Brazil. Did Lewis press the wrong button, did the car suffer a glitch or did something else - something really weird - happen? Was China Lewis's fault or the pitwall's fault?
On it went into the night fuelled by a few bottles of the local produce...
Well, well...I am sitting in Luton airport - yes the iconic "Luton airport", awaiting a Formula One charter flight to Clermont Ferrand and I have been reading through the debate about Fernando in the comments to the post below. Clearly Fernando is going to remain a highly controversial figure for the remainder of his Formula One career and, I suspect, he will forever be associated in some people's minds with what he did, or did not do, last year. There is no point in going through it all again - there are plenty of references in the comments about what went on. It just underlines again the unfortunate mess Fernando has made of his career out of the car. I have always found him - even if he is understandably very nervous of the British press - a warm and personable individual, but you can tell he is headstrong and thus requires good advice, especially in the heat of the moment. And that, of course, is what was lacking last year at critical times when Fernando needed to stand back, take a deep breath, and think carefully about how to proceed and the consequences of his actions. Unfortunately he did huge damage to his prospects by rushing ahead.
It is interesting, isn't it, that Fernando won the poll comfortably ahead of Lewis(4th) who beat him overall(just) last year. My explanation for this is partly that the poll was about the here and now, not what we thought last December. In the intervening time, Lewis has shown frailties and Fernando strengths which have changed perceptions. Also it is not accurate to argue that Lewis simply blew Fernando off the track last season; he did nothing of the sort. In fact they were always very close and it was often hard to say who was quickest at any one time, depending on how you measured it. The main difference between them was that Lewis was driving with the innocent abandone and untrammelled optimism of the rookie while Fernando had a reputation to protect and a growing sense of anger about how he was being treaated. No doubt this debate will run and run.
Back to Luton. This plane is laid on because Magny Cours is a very difficult location to get to from Britain and elsewhere. There are no easy answers(fly to Paris and car; Eurostar and train and car; camper van from home via Le Mans{true petrol heads only}) and that is one of the reasons why it is being consigned to the dustbin of motor racing history after this race. We fly to Clermont Ferrand and then drive up to our hotels spread around in the countryside. Last year Garside, myself and Johnny McEvoy of the Mail stayed in a run-down Chateau owned by a Dutch family which was tucked away in a fold in the hills about 50Kms from Magny Cours. I quite liked it. It was creaky, a bit spooky and the family owned a great dog called Basil, after John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, who was trained to fetch our golf balls which we hit on the back lawn towards the trees. I think we had a 7-iron and Basil never missed a trick, bringing them right back to our feet. Of course we had to put up with Garside's lectures on what a great golfer he is but it was a nice way to spend the evenings.
This time I am in a hotel much nearer the track where the ITV crew are staying. The flight, by the way(I know some of you are interested in this sort of stuff), seems to have quite a few journos on board, a sizeable McLaren contingent, Force India people, and mechanics from Renault and Williams. Anyway the French Grand Prix is in our sights. For Lewis this looks like being a real test of character. He cannot afford to allow any frustration about what happened in Canada and the subsequent penalty to get to him and he is going to have to grind it out and hope he can score some points. As many of you have pointed out, the French track is a very difficult one to pass on(unless you are driving on PlayStation with the damage "off"), so Lewis is going to have to bide his time and hope events assist him. Somehow it feels a crucial race for Lewis as he seeks to re-establish his championship momemtum.
Magny Cours is a Ferrari track/fortress so Kimi and Felipe are likely to be very strong. Kimi is back on the warpath, hungry for points apparently, having been seriously annoyed by his misfortune in Montreal while Felipe had some brilliant moments in Canada, but will be looking for a better result this time. Then of course we have to consider Robert. Surely he cannot be world champion in this year's BMW? One would imagine, given the performance deficit he is still struggling with, he will have his work cut out this weekend. Finally Heikki is overdue a good finish and a bit of luck. France could be his moment.
For what it's worth, here is a prediction for race finish:
1. Kimi
2. Felipe
3. Heikki
4. Robert
Plane to catch...
EG writes: Anon(the real one) has done his maths and here is the result of our poll to find the top-five drivers in Formula One right now. The numbers confirm that Fernando is out on his own (he is my choice as number one) and, despite some voting along "party lines", the Spanish double world champion has won this particular race fair and square.
I have been a fairly strong critic of Fernando's conduct out of the car last season but have admired his skills behind the wheel. It is sad that such a great driver is tooling around in the wrong machinery and might yet go to even more wrong teams before he ends up at a right one, if he ever does. It is still a legitimate question as to whether Fernando will ever be world champion again. For example, if he does get back into a top car in two years time say, he may not be the driver he was last year. Only time will tell. In the meantime we are getting used to seeing him looking frustrated, like a bear with a sore head...
Anyway thanks to Anon for suggesting this thread and doing the numbers, despite being on the road this week by the sound of it. Here is his analysis.
ANON(THE REAL ONE) writes:
OK so here goes. A few notes before the winners.
First, the points system went like this: five points for first place, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 2 for 4th, and 1 for fifth.
I had to ignore a lot of posts because they only listed four people or had a tie. I apologize but it is not statistically fair to post these and I tried to give warnings to people that their votes would not be counted.
Also, remember that this vote has been taken in light of the recent Canadan GP, where Kubica took his fist win, Lewis made the howler of his career, and Fernando drove like a madman until he well, failed (sorta).
The WINNER:
1st FERNANDO ALONSO
By 102 points, the clear out winnner. Fernando enjoyed a massive turnout from both Spanish and British. It may be a result of pity for him, to see a man who could certainly win races be humbled in a Renault. But one thing is sure: with such a margin, he would win despite any nationalistic votes (if you cancel all nationalistic votes, not just those for him).
2nd KIMI RAIKKONEN
Kimi had one big disadvantage in this poll - he was neither Spanish nor British, the two main pools of people from this blog(Note from Ed: Spanish readers have slipped to third in the rankings behind Britain and the US). But he tried hard and, after having fallen back 102 points, he kept pace with Fernando. At one point however, it looked like the 3rd place man would overtake him. And about that third-placed man, what a surprise!
3rd ROBERT KUBICA
He had a hard duel with the fourth-placed guy. Anyway, scoring your debut win gets you votes! I think there was one guy who claimed he was Polish and who voted for Kubica - so really, a well deserved "podium" finish.
4th LEWIS HAMILTON
Well, if this poll was taken right after Monaco, the results would certainly have been different. At one point, Lewis was within striking range of Robert and looked ready for the overtake. It didn't come though, and Robert drifted ahead and at one point it looked like he might snatch second from Kimi.
5th FELIPE MASSA
Felipe's inconsistency, alas, made his voting income very inconsistent. A lot of people (me included) simply didn't put him in the top five. A slight reminder though - he has finished in the points as many times as Lewis and Kimi and more times than Heikki. In fact, his retirement in Australia was mechanical which would make him more consistent than Lewis, who had two non-mechanical crashes. Not trying to bash Lewis (I think he's the better driver), but I had a feeling of pity for Massa.
So here are the totals for each driver.
Alonso 569 RENAULT
Raikkonen 467 FERRARI
Kubica 419 BMW
Hamilton 356 MCLAREN
Massa 157 FERRARI
Heidfeld 44 BMW
Rosberg 40 WILLIAMS
Webber 27 RED BULL
Vettel 21 TORO ROSSO
Kovalainnen 15 MCLAREN
Button 10 HONDA
Coulthard 9 RED BULL
Sutil 8 FORCE INDIA
Trulli 6 TOYOTA
Barrichello 5 HONDA
Sato 3 SUPER AGURI
Bourdais 1 TORO ROSSO
Fisichella 1 FORCE INDIA
Glock 1 TOYOTA
As you can see, I marked the teams they were driving for. Here are the combined totals for the team-mates. This way, we can see which team has the best line-up, in our opinion.
Ferrari 624
Renault 569
BMW 463
McLaren 371
Williams 40
Red Bull 36
Toro Rosso 22
Honda 15
Force India 9
Toyota 7
Super Aguri 3
Notice there were three drivers with no votes. They were Davidson, Nakajima, and Piquet. I find this harsh on Davidson and Nakajima especially, as even Fisichella, Bourdais, and Glock got into the points.
Unfortunately I won't be back until Thursday, so I won't be able to answer your comments. But anyway, really hope you enjoyed the post and thank you again Mr. Gorman to have kindly acquiesced to my request.
Take care all of you and hope for a great Magny-Cours Grand Prix!
 Just as an adjunct to the top-five drivers thread which we will close on Tuesday morning (9.00am French time), here are the views of Bernie Ecclestone who has seen a lot of drivers come and go over the years. Along with his choices are some comments from him. On Felipe he did not say much only because we forgot to discuss him in detail. Apologies for that. (However I know he is a big fan of Felipe. When he made his initial selection he named a couple of drivers and then said "Massa, for sure"). His view of Robert is interesting and suggests, possibly, that he should be ranked above Lewis.
1. Fernando
"If he was still in a McLaren he would be showing Lewis the way home - I don't think there is any doubt about that. I never asked the guy - I'm going to ask him one day - when he signed for McLaren, whether he was told he was number one. Because if he didn't ask and he wasn't told, he would have assumed he was. Having a guy that's never been in a F1 car in the team with him, he'd expect to be number one wouldn't he? And that's what the problem was. When he found out, although he should have been number one, of course he wasn't."
2. Lewis
"The difference with Lewis is that, last year he didn't have to prove himself because he was the new kid on the block and he wasn't expected to finish a race. This year, people say he should have won the world championship last year, and therefore he's under pressure to make sure he does it this year."
3. Kimi
"I think the problem with Kimi is his desire to win is perhaps not strong enough for him to do what it takes to win. And that's not just while he is in the car. Michael's desire to win was such that he would work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to improve the car so that he could win. That's the difference."
4. Robert
"If you saw him in a McLaren or a Ferrari, I think I'd put my money on him blowing away Hamilton."
5. Felipe
"Smashing guy."
I asked Bernie to name one other driver in a lesser car who had struck him as having the quality to make it to the top.
Sebastian Vettel: "I think he's a guy that could get the job done."
We have already enjoyed choosing the best Formula One driver of all time(that was Ayrton Senna by some distance). Anon(the real one) has asked for a thread on the best Formula One drivers on the grid right now. We are a few days away from the green fields and cows of Magny Cours, so why not?
 This time, shall we try and make it, as Anon says, not your favourite drivers but your best drivers in terms of sheer ability behind the wheel. For the purposes of this poll let's forget everything else, by which I mean all out of the car issues, and just concentrate on driving and racing skill.
We want your top five of the current 20 on the grid(or 22 counting Anthony and Takuma) in ranking order.
 Among the trickiest issues, obviously, is trying to balance the ability of drivers against the "ability" of the car they are driving. For example, isn't Sebastian Vettel a much better driver than his Toro Rosso allows? Maybe. The same could be said of Mark Webber(or is he just the most unlucky man in Formula One?) Some - quite a few in fact - believe Felipe is flattered by a Ferrari. Others are adamant that Jenson is a world champion in waiting(yet more swear he is most certainly nothing of the sort). How good are Heikki or Nico as compared with Lewis? All three are new boys with a long way to go but we have to judge them on what we have see so far. Also what about Adrian? He showed in Monaco that he is as good as anyone didn't he?
 Then there are the merits of the established talents. Rubens has a big record of his own. Kimi is a favourite of the "real racer" school but are there elements missing from his contribution on the track? Nick Heidfeld gets very little publicity here but he is a seriously good driver. Should he be discounted because he is finding it harder to settle into this year's BMW than Robert? And what about Robert? or Fernando? Is Robert something else altogether or is that just hype because his car isn't as good as the Ferraris or McLarens? Has Fernando demonstrated, in a Renault, that he has feet of clay or has he shown that he is a genuine legend of the sport(Javier will no doubt put us right on this).
So there you have it, your top five...have fun. We'll keep this open for a good week and then the statisticians will no doubt get stuck in.
The French Grand Prix in 2006 was where I started as motor racing correspondent for The Times. As I begin my third year, here are a few thoughts on what has been going on.
The old regime
All along this has felt like the beginning of the end of an era. Formula One has been dominated by a small group of big players over the last 25 years, both to its benefit and its cost, and there is a sense that this period is coming to an end.
All the big players are now much nearer the end of their careers than the beginning and soon several of them will move on. Thus the landscape of the sport is going to change fairly dramatically over the next, say 3-5 years, and my guess is we will look back on this phase as a sort of fin de siecle(and a pretty dramatic one at that).
My impression, coming in "new" to the sport is that Formula One carries way too much baggage. There are too many people who have been around too long whose motives at any moment are based not on the best course of action available to them, but on a need to settle scores and so on.
Formula One has thus become far more "political" than it need be, far more dominated by a small group of highly egotistical individuals than it should be. As a journalist this, of course, produces extraordinary stories and sub-plots away from the race track, all of which makes Formula One what it is: a compelling soap opera with a bit of racing thrown in every now and again. But, standing back, there is a clear argument to be made for a new approach, for new people at the top and for the focus to shift back to the racing, the cars and the drivers.
The FIA
If this is the end of an era for the sport, one suspects and hopes it is also the end of an era for the FIA. The past two years has witnessed a disproportionate level of intervention by the FIA together with the painful(to him and everyone else who is witnessing it) death throws of the career of its president. Jean Todt is a very debatable way forward, even if he is among the best qualified(in a technical sense) for the job. As JYS has argued, the depoliticisation of the FIA is long overdue.
A few fairly random highlights and lowlights(from a very short time watching Formula One for a living)
Best drive
Michael Schumacher at the Brazilian Grand Prix 2006. The great German driver went out with style with a riveting display at Interlagos. This was the best example of someone leaving at the top of their game. I can still see him getting inside Kimi at Turn 1 with three(or so) laps to go and thinking 'I am going to have to re-write this'. And thus the story that day was not about Fernando winning the world title for a second time but Michael "stealing the show" on his retirement.
Second best drive
Fernando Alonso, Hungary 2006. This was the day Jenson won but it was also the day I saw for the first time what a brilliant pilot(to use the continental expression) Fernando is. Unlike almost any other driver, Fernando seems to dominate his car with his skills and personality. You can't mistake him. Exciting, committed, brave, I have said all this before. If he was a footballer, he would be one of those players who, every time he gets the ball, you would be thinking "something's on here"...
Most memorable moment
Sad to say this was not on the track but the "meet the press" session at McLaren in Hungary after the infamous "pitlane-gate" episode last year. Etched in my memory is the vision of Fernando saying nothing, sitting on a stool and eating a pear with a ferocity never seen before in the history of fruit eating. All around him the press pack was baying for blood and McLaren was falling apart before our very eyes.
Worst memory
Turning up for my first Grand Prix at Magny Cours to find my hotel locked at 1.00am. The note on the door invited me to enter my "booking number" into the machine on the wall - the "reception automatique". I did not have a booking number. After trying in vain to find alternative accommodation, I ended up "sleeping" in the aforesaid car in a square in Moulins. This was all about travel technique; knowing which flight to catch; knowing where to fly to and knowing that it is better to travel with Kevin Garside whenever possible.
Worst hotel
Suzuka 2006. I don't know what it is called but if you can imagine sleeping in an ashtray, that would be roughly the idea. (The worst hotel of my entire career is still a place on the Iran/Iraq border which was so appalling that even a smokefest in Japan doesn't get close).
Best track
Difficult one. I like a lot of the tracks. Some you like for the racing, some for the atmosphere, some for both. Among my favourites are Suzuka(racing), Spa(monza in the hills), Monaco(you can't not love it), Interlagos(drums), Silverstone(a field of battle), Montreal(big test), Monza(tifosi in the woods). If I had to pick one it would be Spa for the circuit, Monza for the atmosphere and Silverstone for nostalgia(just shows I can't pick one).
Venue city
The best venue city is Barcelona. The worst, by a short head, Bahrain.
Well, the blog has come alive and this time it is about motor racing. Makes a change doesn't it? Imagine if Fernando had smashed into Lewis in the pitlane, or Lewis had smashed into Fernando. The place would have gone even crazier. The indignation...let's not even think about it...
Anyway, back from Canada, I wanted to make one simple point. Remember the beginning of the season? Back then there was a genuine fear that this year was going to fall flat after all the excitement and intrigue of 2007. I am not referring to Mosley who has become a wholly unwanted and entirely unnecessary distraction(he should have resigned no less than 72 days ago), I am talking about the racing.
 Who would have thought that, seven races in, we would have four different winners with Lewis, Felipe and Kimi each with two victories and now Robert and BMW with one? What a perfect set-up for the rest of the season. We have seen some great races, not least the last one, and who knows how this is going to develop as we move back to Europe for the summer season.
 Some pointers:
Felipe: if and when he becomes world champion, three-quarters of the press room will still be saying "yeah, but he's rubbish". Well I say, he is pretty good rubbish.
Kimi: some believe he has gone off the boil but his hunger is still there and he was looking more determined in Canada until his race was ended.
Lewis: making more mistakes than last year when he compiled nine consecutive podium finishes in a row. This time he has won two races, been on the podium on two other occasions but has also failed to score twice - the same total in this respect as for the whole of last season.
Robert: the best driver so far with few, if any mistakes, and excellent speed in the fifth or third fastest car(depending on how you count it). But Robert has repeatedly made clear that, all other things being equal, the BMW is still not a race winner on regular tracks.
McLaren and Ferrari: while their drivers are making mistakes so are both of these teams with strategy errors, fuelling errors, rules errors...I suspect that it will be in this area that the race for the drivers' title might be won. In other words it will go to the best driver from the team which makes the fewest mistakes from now on.
Felipe/Kimi-Lewis/Heikki: you have to say that Lewis has an advantage because Heikki is so far behind in the points. Although McLaren still say both drivers are getting the same opportunities, they are, surely, going to err in Lewis's favour when push comes to shove from now on. (Before people attack: I am not saying they should do this, I am saying they probably will do this).
A note about Lewis in Canada. I am not unhappy about his penalty. I said "some journalists" were wondering whether it was a bit harsh. I have no view. He has got what he has got and now he must deal with it. From his point of view, the big problem is going to be trying to come through the field at Magny Cours, one of the worst tracks for overtaking in Formula One.
Mosley(for it is he): some of you may be interested in my colleague Matthew Syed's latest contribution on this. We should leave Mosley alone, he argues. What do you think?
Image: Another "car" pic from Montreal. Ed Gorman/The Times. BTW, on this subject, Ron was saying on the grid what a beautiful piece of work that rear wing is. Pity Nico didn't think so too...
What a great day for BMW Sauber. A one-two in Canada for Robert and Nick. Exceptional driving from Robert who took full advantage of the hand that fate played him and drilled it home. A great driver gets his first win. He sounded matter of fact about it afterwards. He wants more and in the press tent people expect him to deliver more. The bottom line with Robert is this: he is driving the fifth fastest car but he now leads the world championship. What more impressive testament to his skills and commitment could you want.
If Robert had a day to remember, Lewis had one to forget, driving into the back of Kimi in the pitlane. Kimi was understandably angry afterwards. "If I go at 300kph and lose control and hit somebody, it is natural," he fumed in reference to his smash with Adrian at Monte Carlo. "But if there is a pitlane speed limit and two cars are stopped and you hit them, it is stupid. I saw a red light and chose to stop. Unfortunately someone else saw a red light and chose not to." To give him his due, Lewis apologised for his error and was clearly disappointed with himself.
Just one other thing in the short time available. Another great drive from Fernando, even if it ended prematurely(something we will find out more about). Watching him all over the back of Nick's BMW was compelling stuff. He had no business being there in the Renault. Another driver of rare ability and guts(as I always say).
Anyway let's hear it for a great Canadian GP. Seven races in we have three four different winners. Great stuff...
STOP PRESS: Lewis and Nico have been penalised 10 grid places for Magny Cours. Is that about right? Too harsh, some journalists were saying that at the track. What do you think?
Lewis showed his mastery of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve by putting his MP4-23 on pole with a gutsy final lap which relegated provisional pole-sitter Robert Kubica to second by the hefty margin of six-tenths.
The word all weekend is that Lewis has been loving his return to the scene of his first Grand Prix win and now he has got himself in excellent shape to repeat that feat tomorrow.
 Within McLaren, Lewis was all-conquering with Heikki, who has looked far less comfortable in the car, some way back in seventh. While Robert comprehensively outdrove Nick(8th) yet again, the big news was the disappointing performance of the Ferraris with Kimi the best of them in third(a second behind Lewis) and Felipe way down in sixth.
No doubt we will hear more about this but I noticed how much Kimi seemed to be fighting the car, compared to Lewis(who was quickest in all three sessions) going through the chicanes.
All three top drivers commented on the poor quality of the surface and the breakdown of the track at particular corners, especially the hairpin at Turn 10(Lewis also mentioned Turn 2 and the exit of Turn 7).
Kimi was particularly vocal about this saying he had a car to get pole but the surface made it impossible to get traction at Turn 10. He predicted the race is going to be a "nightmare" and said the circuit managers should get some new people in to maintain the surface(something which Robert and Lewis agreed with). Robert said you only need to be 10-20cms wide at the apex of the corners and you are onto the dirt and marbles and your lap time has gone.
Lewis said he was comfortably ahead pace-wise this weekend. At the end he had two laps to get back to the top of the timings. His first go, he said, was a "shocker" but the second was almost as good as last year's pole for him, even if he did lose time at Turn 10. The track condition there he said was even quite dangerous.
The forecast is mixed for tomorrow with talk of wind and possibly rain and thunder. There were some drops of rain on visors at the very end of quali but nothing more than that.
A special mention for Fernando who showed yet again his rare ability as a racer with an excellent qualifying performance which put him in fourth place, ahead of Nico, Felipe and Heikki. Fernando's struggling team-mate Nelson, could get only as far as 15th.
Total rubbish pic of press room TV moniters during post-quali press conference. Ed Gorman/The Times
Just a quick note after a hectic day at the track where the focus was barely on the cars once again in a sport which looks like heading for a big showdown between itself and its world governing body. The view among some is that "we ain't seen nothin' yet" in the battle between Formula One and Mosley and there are some fairly dramatic options on the table. There was an important meeting of the team principals in Montreal today chaired by Bernie - more on that in the paper.
While Wall St tumbled and the oil price shot up(together with the US jobless rate; CNN's "Situation Room" is hard to turn off), Lewis looked very impressive on the track where he won his first Grand Prix 12 months ago. We look at his progress since then and the constrasting views about him among fans around the world also in Saturday's paper.
In Friday practice the McLarens did not do much in the morning session when the track was damp and saved their tyres for the dry conditions in the afternoon when Lewis went comfortably quickest in the closing seconds from Robert(who was second in both sessions) and then Kimi.
The word at McLaren is that Lewis, whose Mum has flown over from England for the weekend, was building in confidence in the car and really enjoying himself on a circuit he seems to like. We watched him in, in his phrase, "leaning on his car" as he found his lines; seeing him and others rip through the final right-left chicane and then dice with the "wall of champions"(see pic taken on Thursday) was thrilling.
 Lewis offered an upbeat summary of his work ahead of qualifying and a race for which the forecast is looking a little uncertain with some teams predicting it will stay dry and others expecting showers on both days. "We chose not to use our allocation of wet tyres for the majority of the opening session but managed a run on dry tyres towards the end of the morning," said Lewis.
"In the afternoon, we were able to improve the car on every run - I felt very comfortable with the set-up and balance, particularly when we switched to the option tyre, which allowed me to lean on the car as the track conditions improved. We've still got some work to do ahead of qualifying and the race, but we've already got some positive running under our belts," he added.
While Heikki struggled for balance and the Renault's struggled for pace, the Ferraris were there or thereabouts and the two drivers seemed reasonably happy. Felipe's car suffered a technical "blackout" of some kind towards the end of the afternoon session which stopped his running after the Brazilian had run fastest in the morning. Brakes take a hammering at this circuit and the Scuderia worked on this area of its cars throughout the day.
Here's Kimi: "I am quite satisfied with this first day of testing. We were always quick. The car turned out to be well balanced right from the morning and I think we can aim for the top spots over the weekend. From what we have seen today, there is not much difference in the performance of the two types of Bridgestone tyre we have available to us, but the track conditions are bound to change over the next couple of days. At this track it is very important to have the brakes sorted in the race and we also worked on this."
Generally the combination of low downforce, high speeds and plenty of bumps, gave all the drivers a good test even if there were surprisingly few incidents. Among two I saw were a spin for Fernando and a bang against the wall for Timo. It's a great track this one with a unique setting...
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