Great news! From next season (2009) Formula One TV coverage will move from ITV to BBC. This is fantastic news as it means that the races won’t be interrupted by those annoying ad breaks at crucial moments. The 5 year deal heralds the return of the sport to BBC 12 years since ITV started showing the races. Although no official announcements have been made regarding the cost of the deal, its rumoured to be around the £200m mark.

But what we want to know here at Lewis-Hamilton.org.uk is will the BBC be showing the races in high definition? Unlike ITV, the BBC has a high definition channel  and although no official announcement has been made we can only hope that they will. We can’t imagine a sport more suited for the glorious world of high def TV, and are eagerly anticipating seeing Lewis’s McClaren blazing round the track in full screen high definition glory!

More details here.

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

Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan:

“It doesn’t seem logical at all in terms of the amount of money, the penalty.”
“To the outside world this is a ridiculous amount of money, and we also need to know where is this money going to?”

Four-time world champion Jackie Stewart:

“It’s a very dangerous set of circumstances that’s occurring and it’s potentially threatening the financial foundations of F1.”
“I think dirty laundry should be washed behind closed doors. There’s no good boasting I’ve got more dirty laundry than you’ve got.’ What’s in it for everybody doing that?”

Australian ex-Formula One team owner Paul Stoddart:

“What does FIA stand for? It stands for Ferrari International Assistance and that’s been proven time and time again to be the case.”
“The FIA has consistently helped Ferrari all the way down the line. The only difference is that lately it’s been so blatant even a blind man can see it. And the reality is that it’s damaging the sport.”

Bernie Ecclestone:

“There’s been so much talked about this spying nonsense, it’s even taking away from what’s going on on the track.”
“I don’t like it.”

Stirling Moss:

“I’m absolutely staggered. This is terrible.”
“The whole of motor racing has been shaken. The only thing the WMSC have done right is to allow the drivers to keep points.”

Former world champion Niki Lauda:

“We have never seen a fine like this in the world of sport. It is as if McLaren have raced in 2007 for nothing.”

David Coulthard:

“I know Ron Dennis and therefore the McLaren ethos when it comes to the way they compete –- and it’s not one of ‘et’s take that rule and bend it, and turn it back on itself.”

After a day of deliberating and hearing arguments from both sides of the “spygate” scandal the World Motor Sport Council has fined McLaren-Mercedes $100 million and stripped them of all their 2007 constructors’ points. They have decided that the McLaren-Mercedes team has used secret technical documents acquired from Ferrari’s Nigel Stepney. The team must also prove there is no Ferrari “intellectual property” in their cars next year before the 2008 F1 season. A full report outlining the FIA’s reasoning behind the verdict will be published tomorrow (Friday 14th September 2007).

Thankfully Lewis Hamilton and teammate Fernando Alonso have been allowed to keep their drivers’ championship points and therefore their chances of winning the F1 2007 championship are still alive. However the cost to the team is huge and to be honest we think unfair. In a year where Lewis Hamilton has single handed doubled the TV ratings for the previously dying sport and breathed new life and new fans we fail to see why the FIA would impose such a severe penalty and tarnish the reputation of Formula 1 after such a successful year.

The last thing that McLaren-Mercedes and indeed Formula 1 needs right now is this sort of bad publicity, it could potentially have a huge impact on sponsorships, endorsements and earnings. The fine - which is the biggest in the history of F1 - represents around a quarter of the $400 million annual budget of McLaren-Mercedes and will surely result in cutbacks for the team. Unless the shortfall can be generated from new sponsors or maybe Mercedes, their engine supplier for the past 12 years.

In a statement to journalists after the decision was made public, McLaren-Mercedes boss Ron Dennis said that he “did not accept” the decision to punish his team.

“The most important thing is that we will be going motor racing this weekend, the rest of the season and every season. This means that our drivers can continue to compete for the World Championship. However having been at the hearing today I do not accept that we deserved to be penalized in this way”, Ron Dennis said in a public statement.

Ron also went on to say that once the FIA publishes its full findings he will decide wether to launch an appeal, he also added that he thought they had “grounds for appeal”.

OK this isn’t directly about Lewis Hamilton, but its almost as funny as the Lewis Hamilton vs Alonso video for Mercedes we showed here.

F1 Racing is giving you the chance to win a very special prize indeed. F1 Opus is a truly unique landmark in the history of publishing - the standard price of an unsigned copy is £3000 GBP (US$6100). The prize from F1 Racing However, is signed by Lewis Hamilton, Damon Hill and Bernie Ecclestone, which no doubt will increase the price no end. This fantastic prize will be presented to you at Autosport International at the NEC, onstage by an F1 driver or other personality.

F1 Opus is an astonishing, definitive record of the history of the sport. It is half-a-metre square, more than 800 pages long, and weighs more than 30kg. It celebrates a century and more of motor racing, and through painstaking research, original interviews and specially commissioned photography, brings the glamorous world of Formula 1 motor racing to life.

Enter the competition here.

Lewis Hamilton certainly wowed the crowds at Silverstone last weekend after gaining pole position with a lap time of 1:19.997 on his final attempt, then maintaining his current record by finishing again on the podium.

Now with a 14 point cushion at the top of the championship, big business has it’s eye on Hamilton as the next big thing in the league of global brand giants.

Hamilton’s performances have been so outstanding from his carting days, Bernie Eccleston has said that he would have found Lewis Hamilton a seat on the F1 grid this year had McLaren not signed him.

Now Hamilton has been made the face of Vodafone as its “Global brand ambassador” his earnings on and off track could be set to reach over £50Million a year second only to Tiger Woods as the highest paid sportsman in the world.

All of this success comes at a time when his team could be excluded from the rest of this year’s series after the controversial document leak that found a 780-page technical dossier belonging to Ferrari in Mclarens hands.

Chief designer Mike Coughlan was suspended from duty prior the British GP after he was suspected of possessing the document and Mclaren deny any further knowledge of the incident.  However, on July 26th there will be a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council to decide the outcome of the incident, if found guilty the potential range of sanctions towards Mclaren ranges from reprimands and fines to the suppression of results and exclusion from this year’s series).

Hamilton however can only keep doing what he does best, and has no real concern over the hearing. He has been spotted in Berlin recently taking a lap around the Mercedes Benz fashion week with German model, singer and actress Eva Padberg before taking on the Nürburgring this weekend.

Spotted with fellow F1 Driver David Coulthard and his fiancee at the Hugo Boss runway event, Hamilton has been relaxed and seen to enjoy mingling with the Hollywood A List.
“I’m looking forward to going back to the Nurburgring,” he says. “I had a great weekend there last season - the first time I’d scored a double in GP2 - and I enjoy the track.”

Welcome to Lewis-Hamilton.org.uk, this site plans to be a resource for fans of Lewis Hamilton from all over the world. We are not an official site, nor are we endorsed by either Lewis Hamilton, his team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes or Formula One. We are however, huge Lewis Hamilton and Formula One fanatics and we built this site to show our appreciation and support for Lewis and the sport of Formula One Grand Prix racing. If you have any feedback then please either leave a comment below or use our Contact page to get in touch.