While Lewis’ celebrity status in Britain continues to grow, his popularity in Spain, is not surprisingly quite low. We know this from comments from our Spanish readers! In Spanish magazine, Grand Prix, he got just 1.8% of the votes for driver of the year while Alonso, despite his petulant ways still got 75%. Lewis’ share of the vote probably came from our ex pats in Gibraltar and the Costa del Sol!

On the track, Formula one’s final testing session of 2007 started yesterday, with Nick Heidfield coming out the fastest. Controversially, Michael Schumacher had been set to join yesterday’s test, but Kimi Raikonnen replaced him at the last moment.

Schumacher was scheduled to test with the Ferrari team on Thursday and Friday, he has already showed he had lost none of his competitive edge during two days of testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya last month, posting the fastest lap times on both days. While 38-year-old Schumacher maintains that his decision to retire is “irrevocable”, the tests at Barcelona and Jerez had many F1 pundits hoping for Schumacher’s return, including a very excited Lewis Hamilton.

“Bring it on,” Says Hamilton “I was disappointed that he left [formula one] just as I got there, having watched him for so many years. There’s no doubt Michael is a phenomenal driver and I’d love to race against him.”

With the Spygate fiasco already looming over 2008’s grand prix for Lewis, Michael Schumacher’s return would be a fantastic boost to next years F1 season especially for Lewis Hamilton, and I’m sure would have the world glued to the edge of their collective seats.

OK this one is possibly a no-brainer right now, but at lewis-hamilton.org.uk, we’ve been sure of it since his first grand prix. The only real contender may be boxer Ricky Hatton if he manages to win the WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas on Sunday morning several hours before the show.

Lewis has been the darling of the media in the past few months after his first successful F1 Championship, and well; racing F1 is just a little more glamorous and upmarket than boxing really. The only public sin Lewis will have blotted his coffee book with is moving to Switzerland, and while it may stop him getting honours one day, it probably won’t sway the BBC.

Last night’s Top Gear saw Lewis attacking their test track in the “reasonably priced car”, coming 0.3 seconds shy of the track record set by the anonymous “stig”. Hamilton’s time was recorded in wet and oily weather, handicapping a possible record attempt but still putting him above current rivals Jenson Button and Mark Webber. He was as affable and charming as ever, I’m sure Clarkson will be a fan in any case. Lewis has already agreed to come back and race the track in dry conditions.

Lewis’ face is already all over TV ads, and lots of spots on the BBC including “Children in Need”. He has also won three honours at last nights Autosport awards; after a moving tribute from the late Ayrton Senna’s sister, Hamilton was honoured as British competition driver of the year, best international racing driver and rookie of the year.

He also picked up a gold star from the British Racing Drivers’ Club after four victories and a total of 12 podium finishes in his debut F1 season. He may not have won the F1 season, but Lewis has already secured his place in history.

In the middle of the F1 season Lewis Hamilton had already been looking at houses in Switzerland, so his move there comes as no surprise, and while he declares the hassle and lack of privacy in Britain the reason why he is moving there – we all know it’s the tax breaks. Poor Stevenage council, just after they named a street after him!

Lewis still has a chance of winning the F1 season, when the appeals are over the F1 winner will be announced on November the 15th. I seriously doubt the championship will be given to him though, and I really believe it would be more embarrassing than anything else. It’s true that there have been many mysterious or plain pedantic occurrences over this season, none mores so that Mclarens reluctance to change Lewis’ tyres in the Chinese Grand Prix when they were clearly worn out – or the need for three pit stops in Brazil, when two pitstops would have certainly gave extra Lewis points.

It seems there were hands other than the hands of fate were making decisions on the outcome. No doubt there is already conspiracy theories bouncing around on the net – maybe they could explain Henman in tennis and our

Rugby defeat against South Africa too! Winning on technicalities has never been a glamorous or dignified way for a sportsman or team to win, and Hamilton will surely have even more hope and support next season.

While I’m not a fan of tax, it’s mainly because of the way the government spend it, so I view

Hamilton’s move with neutrality: It’s not a good example for a role model to be showing our kids, its not “Hip Hop” so to speak; not sticking to one’s roots. But in a day and age where everyone is out for themselves, including our government; then I really can’t blame him. At least the trains are on time over there.

Drivers final positions

Pos	Driver	Constructor(s)	Starts	Wins	Podiums	Poles	F.Laps	Points
1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	17	6	12	3	6	110
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	17	4	12	6	2	109
3	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	17	4	12	2	3	109
4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	17	3	10	6	6	94
5	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	17	0	2	0	0	61
6	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	16	0	0	0	0	39
7	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	17	0	1	0	0	30
8	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	17	0	0	0	0	21
9	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	17	0	0	0	0	20
10	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	17	0	0	0	0	14
11	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	16	0	1	0	0	13
12	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	17	0	1	0	0	10
13	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	17	0	0	0	0	8
14	Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber Toro Rosso-Ferrari	8	0	0	0	0	6
15	Jenson Button	Honda	17	0	0	0	0	6
16	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	17	0	0	0	0	5
17	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	17	0	0	0	0	4
18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	17	0	0	0	0	3
19	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	17	0	0	0	0	1
20	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	17	0	0	0	0	0
21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	10	0	0	0	0	0
22	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1	0	0	0	0	0
23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	16	0	0	0	0	0
24	Sakon Yamamoto	Spyker-Ferrari	7	0	0	0	0	0
25	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	9	0	0	0	0	0
—	Markus Winkelhock	Spyker-Ferrari	1	0	0	0	0	0

From Wikipedia

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.

Drivers

Pos Driver AUS MAL BHR ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR EUR HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN CHN Pts 1 Lewis Hamilton 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 3 3 9 1 5 2 4 1 Ret 107 2 Fernando Alonso 2 1 5 3 1 7 2 7 2 1 4 3 1 3 Ret 2 103 3 Kimi Räikkönen 1 3 3 Ret 8 5 4 1 1 Ret 2 2 3 1 3 1 100 4 Felipe Massa 6 5 1 1 3 DSQ 3 2 5 2 13 1 Ret 2 6 3 86 5 Nick Heidfeld 4 4 4 Ret 6 2 Ret 5 6 6 3 4 4 5 14† 7 58 6 Robert Kubica Ret 18 6 4 5 Ret INJ 4 4 7 5 8 5 9 7 Ret 35 7 Heikki Kovalainen 10 8 9 7 13† 4 5 15 7 8 8 6 7 8 2 9 30 8 Giancarlo Fisichella 5 6 8 9 4 DSQ 9 6 8 10 12 9 12 Ret 5 11 21 9 Nico Rosberg 7 Ret 10 6 12 10 16† 9 12 Ret 7 7 6 6 Ret 16 15 10 David Coulthard Ret Ret Ret 5 14 Ret Ret 13 11 5 11 10 Ret Ret 4 8 14 11 Alexander Wurz Ret 9 11 Ret 7 3 10 14 13 4 14 11 13 Ret Ret 12 13 12 Mark Webber 13 10 Ret Ret Ret 9 7 12 Ret 3 9 Ret 9 7 Ret 10 10 13 Jarno Trulli 9 7 7 Ret 15 Ret 6 Ret Ret 13 10 16 11 11 13 13 7 14 Sebastian Vettel 8 16 19 18 Ret Ret 4 6 15 Jenson Button 15 12 Ret 12 11 Ret 12 8 10 Ret Ret 13 8 Ret 11† 5 6 16 Ralf Schumacher 8 15 12 Ret 16 8 Ret 10 Ret Ret 6 12 15 10 Ret Ret 5 17 Takuma Sato 12 13 Ret 8 17 6 Ret 16 14 Ret 15 18 16 15 15† 14 4 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 14 17 Ret Ret Ret Ret 17† Ret 16† Ret Ret 15 17 12 9 6 3 19 Adrian Sutil 17 Ret 15 13 Ret Ret 14 17 Ret Ret 17 21† 19 14 8 Ret 1 20 Rubens Barrichello 11 11 13 10 10 12 Ret 11 9 11 18 17 10 13 10 15 0 21 Scott Speed Ret 14 Ret Ret 9 Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret 0 22 Anthony Davidson 16 16 16† 11 18 11 11 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 14 16 Ret Ret 0 23 Sakon Yamamoto Ret 20 20 17 12 17 0 24 Christijan Albers Ret Ret 14 14 19† Ret 15 Ret 15 0 — Markus Winkelhock Ret 0

• † Driver did not finish but was classified, having completed more than 90% of race distance.

Taken from Wikipedia

In the lead up to the race in China, the media is back to speculations on Lewis’ earning potential and unlikely tail of success as a young, black F1 rookie.

Hamilton is said to have made F1 cool again, as his success has prompted a surge in ticket sales for next years grand prix. With over 10,000 fans pre-booking seats for next years Silverstone race, he has already doubled the number of sales for 2007.

Hamilton Inc is run by his father, though new to the business of being a sports agent, Anthony Hamilton has proved himself to be a quick learner. He has already assembled a small team of lawyers and accountants to help him run the business. The contract the Hamilton’s signed to McLaren was only for £350,000 a year, as any rookie driver could expect. But Anthony managed to ensure for every success Lewis would receive a hefty bonus, essentially backing his son to deliver and in full knowledge his employers would sign off, believing the successes to be unobtainable in Hamilton’s first year of F1. Anthony’s belief in his son has now shown to have paid off.

The Hamilton fairytale however, is not as unbelievable as some would make it seem.

Hamilton’s situation at present is the most unique in Formula 1 history. For the first time ever, it as been possible for a team such as McLaren, to pick the most talented youngster available at the time, and using the latest in computer technology and physical training, hone Hamilton’s skills in a way that’s been impossible up to now.

Just as technology has found its way into running, football and many other sports, it is vastly increasing sportsmen and women’s potential – and in the 2007 grand prix, modern sports science has finally come to F1.

Today’s game consoles play F1 simulators with near photo realistic graphics, using real physics engines and the option to play them with steering wheels and foot pedals – and that’s at a consumer grade. If you are a wealthy team like Mclaren, then the computer power you can purchase alone will far eclipse today’s console market.
The ability to add realistic hydraulic force simulation into the mix as used in theme parks world wide, will only increase the reality, adding real stress and Gforce into the experience.

It’s not unreasonable to say that a F1 simulator worthy of the McLaren team would be able to create an ultra realistic experience of F1 racing, simulating weather, tyres, fuel weight and also including race data from Ayrton Senna to John Surtees.

This kind of simulator, able to run any F1 circuit in any weather condition will be available to Hamilton night and day, along with the best physical and mental training for sports today.

Hamilton is naturally a very talented driver, but he is the first among a new breed, and he will be fortunate to be remembered in history as a new era for F1 Driving.

Last Sunday saw another great victory for Lewis and an increasing chance that he will take the Drivers Championship after all. Lewis showed his amazing ability to get in his “zone” again at the Fuji Speedway, no noise, controversy or lashing rain could make any difference, even being barged off the track by Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber.

Alonso fell victim to the rain, crashing out midway through the race, and Ferrari were hampered by a bad choice of tyres – apparently missing an email that instructed all teams to run Bridgestone’s extreme wet weather tyres. A few papers have commented that it was unusual that the FIA, took it upon itself to issue an ambiguous statement (rather than leaving it to the stewards), which effectively said that Ferrari would not receive any post-race punishment for their clear transgression: Clearly there decision to use any other tyre in this case hindered their progress in the race, so while they did not heed the FIA’s advice they suffered the result, and that was punishment enough.

If Lewis does achieve his destiny this year – it will be a fantastic one albeit tainted by the squabbling and espionage surrounding the 2007 grand prix. While none of the controversy has much to do with Lewis himself – as a young recruit of Mclaren’s he does carry a lot of association with their brand. His reputation will inevitably continue to be damaged in some part every time McLaren are seen to transgress.

Lets hope McLaren can pull themselves away from the mudslinging so their and our posterboy can continue to shine in the future.

Drivers

Pos Driver AUS MAL BHR ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR EUR HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN Pts 1 Lewis Hamilton 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 3 3 9 1 5 2 4 1 107 2 Fernando Alonso 2 1 5 3 1 7 2 7 2 1 4 3 1 3 Ret 95 3 Kimi Räikkönen 1 3 3 Ret 8 5 4 1 1 Ret 2 2 3 1 3 90 4 Felipe Massa 6 5 1 1 3 DSQ 3 2 5 2 13 1 Ret 2 6 80 5 Nick Heidfeld 4 4 4 Ret 6 2 Ret 5 6 6 3 4 4 5 14† 56 6 Robert Kubica Ret 18 6 4 5 Ret INJ 4 4 7 5 8 5 9 7 35 7 Heikki Kovalainen 10 8 9 7 13† 4 5 15 7 8 8 6 7 8 2 30 8 Giancarlo Fisichella 5 6 8 9 4 DSQ 9 6 8 10 12 9 12 Ret 5 21 9 Nico Rosberg 7 Ret 10 6 12 10 16† 9 12 Ret 7 7 6 6 Ret 15 10 Alexander Wurz Ret 9 11 Ret 7 3 10 14 13 4 14 11 13 Ret Ret 13 11 David Coulthard Ret Ret Ret 5 14 Ret Ret 13 11 5 11 10 Ret Ret 4 13 12 Mark Webber 13 10 Ret Ret Ret 9 7 12 Ret 3 9 Ret 9 7 Ret 10 13 Jarno Trulli 9 7 7 Ret 15 Ret 6 Ret Ret 13 10 16 11 11 13 7 14 Ralf Schumacher 8 15 12 Ret 16 8 Ret 10 Ret Ret 6 12 15 10 Ret 5 15 Takuma Sato 12 13 Ret 8 17 6 Ret 16 14 Ret 15 18 16 15 15† 4 16 Jenson Button 15 12 Ret 12 11 Ret 12 8 10 Ret Ret 13 8 Ret 11† 2 17 Adrian Sutil 17 Ret 15 13 Ret Ret 14 17 Ret Ret 17 21† 19 14 8 1 18 Sebastian Vettel 8 16 19 18 Ret Ret 1 19 Rubens Barrichello 11 11 13 10 10 12 Ret 11 9 11 18 17 10 13 10 0 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi 14 17 Ret Ret Ret Ret 17† Ret 16† Ret Ret 15 17 12 9 0 21 Scott Speed Ret 14 Ret Ret 9 Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret 0 22 Anthony Davidson 16 16 16† 11 18 11 11 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 14 16 Ret 0 23 Christijan Albers Ret Ret 14 14 19† Ret 15 Ret 15 0 24 Sakon Yamamoto Ret 20 20 17 12 0 — Markus Winkelhock Ret 0

• † Driver did not finish but was classified, having completed more than 90% of race distance.

Drivers

Pos Driver AUS