There was tension in moments up to the chequered flag, watching with my father on Sunday, it was a nail biting start. What I saw was the Ferrari team expertly block Lewis from getting past; Massa carving across to protect the inside line while Kimi speeding past Hamilton’s right to block any way through, forcing Lewis to slow momentarily to avoid collision.

While its certainly not surprising - one thing I’ve not read in the papers anywhere, is Alonso’s lack of any team work whatsoever – after Kimi and Massa block Hamilton into third position, Alonso saw the opportunity to overtake Hamilton when he could have done as the Ferrari team and keep Hamilton a little safer from others overtaking so quickly.

I suppose its a little naïve to expect that level of sportsmanship from Alonso however; the constructor’s championship was already denied, and Alonso had already shown contempt for Mclaren and Lewis Hamilton – he really had no reason to help Lewis out.

Were it not for corporate espionage and equal treatment, both Lewis and Mclaren might have won that Sunday.

But it was not to be. Fighting back, Lewis attempted to go round the outside at the next corner, proved his undoing as he slid wide and dropped to eighth. Hamilton still as keen as ever slipped back into 6th position before his gearbox locked into neutral and left him coasting until he was in 18th place.

It was a salvage operation from then on, and fighting through pit stops and all odds Hamilton did not give up, ending up in 7th place with 109 points: Joint second in the driver’s championship with Alonso.

There are currently ongoing claims of fuel irregularities with the BMW Sauber team. Even after all the opposing attempts to knock Mclaren down on technicalities,
I think it would be unfair and embarrassing to Mclaren and Lewis himself to be given the championship now: Lewis is young and has many more opportunities.

While it is a little disappointing that Hamilton lost the championship, we must remember that at the start of the season, it was only the Hamilton’s dream. A dream not even conceived by race fans, until Lewis showed his brilliance and tenacity on the track and proved he was a very serious contender for the championship.

No one has done what Hamilton has in 57 years of world championship endeavour, not Fangio, not Moss, not Clark, not Senna, not Schumacher.

At 22 he will be coming back stronger next season, proving a force to contend with in 2008.

Before the weekends race at Monza, Lewis Hamilton seemed to enter into a reflective outlook, with all the controversy of the Ferrari-Mclaren debacle coming to a head this Thursday in Paris.

”.. when you really think about that, you think to yourself ‘wow I could be out of a job next weekend’. Then what happens?” Hamilton reflected.
”It was just going so well and then this big knife cuts off your blood line.”

But he is fully aware that he needs to focus on the races and leave the espionage row to his boss Ron Dennis.

Bernie Ecclestone is part of the 26 man council that will judge the outcome this Thursday and he has advised Hamilton to keep quiet about the issue and focus on his driving, he feels genuinely sorry for Lewis being dragged into this.

Its been said Ecclestone allegedly tried to get the Paris hearing called off in the Monza paddock, however he has also made clear that the rules are there for a reason and when they are broken, the drivers can always be seen to have an unfair advantage.

“I’m not comfortable with any of it, to be truthful. But, in the end, you need to do these things. Let’s just say, for an example, somebody was found running a 3.5-litre engine — it would obviously be a big advantage.

“Should we turn our heads and say ‘well, you know, that’s how it is, there’s not much you can do about it’ and walk away? Then the next time somebody would say ‘I’m going to run a 4-litre engine’ and it will go on.

“The thing is: What information was given, was it used and was it used to advantage? That’s what we have to look at.”

While Alonso has been told by Ron Dennis that he can leave the team at the end of the year. Lewis Hamilton also has been asked by Ferrarri to sign over to them next year for just under £20million.

While Lewis has wanted to drive for Mclaren for most of his life, the controversy surrounding the Mclaren team at the moment may be a good enough reason to have him thinking twice. Of course if Hamilton keeps up his winning streak in this years F1. I don’t think £20million will be anything but the first of many offers.

Nigel Mansel has been in the papers commenting that he thinks the war of words in the press will only put the sport in a bad light and could ruin Hamiltons career just as it begins. He also believes the money men behind F1 are favouring Hamilton and hence there have been some odd judgments:

He said: “I’m not sure how long Alonso was in the pits but I’m lost for words how you can just demote someone five or six places on the grid.

“I have never seen anything like this in the history of the sport – it’s such a great shame. I do have some sympathy for Alonso, no question.

“If they wanted to fine him or do something else all well and good, but what are they doing demoting him and ruining his race?”

However Mansell is a fan and he supports Hamilton wholeheartedly. He voiced his concerns only with the sport’s governing body.

He said: “They have got to be very careful.
“I’m a huge fan of Lewis but people in the street are saying to me ‘why is everyone favouring him’?

“Let’s not forget what also happened at Nurburgring when they let him stay in the car, lifted him up in the car and put him back on the track before letting him un-lap himself.

“I’m definitely backing Lewis 100 per cent by saying that all this has nothing to do with him.

“He is a great driver who has won all his races and got all his points by fair means. But people are asking: ‘are the powers that be trying to fix it for him’? I think it’s terribly sad.”

How much money is riding on the Hamilton wave of success? Its really sad if “the powers that be” can actually have this amount of influence.

What’s more likely is that while the press are as usual behaving as badly as they want to, the FIA are not likely to be swayed by public opinion and I imagine they are more likely to be annoyed with Mclaren on the whole and care a great deal less about Mclarens in fighting.