It's pretty amazing, to me, that there isn't a thread about this here.
Without a doubt this has been the most intense and exciting season for Formula 1 since Jacques Villeneuve won his World Championship a decade ago.
First, we start with the titanic struggle between the two heavyweight teams - Mclaren-Mercedes and Ferrari. The Mclaren-Mercedes team has added vehicle reliablity and two new drivers to its team - one the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso; the second the very, very young phenom, Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari replaced many time champ Michael Schumacher with the former next best thing - Kimi Raikkonen, and back up Felipe Massa (a big improvement over Rubens Barrichello).
After the first few races, it became clear these were the two teams who'd be duking it out all season, leaving all the rest behind (including Renault - who's success the last couple of years has apparently vanished).
Things haven't gone smoothly from the outset for Mclaren-Mercedes. Both drivers accused their team of supporting the other driver. Hamilton pointed out to the orders he received one race to not challenge Alonso for the lead late in a race (Monaco, I think). Alonso countered that Mclaren-Mercedes is based in Britain and Hamilton is British and therefore was favoured.
Most saw this bickering as the bickering expected when two teamates realize they are competing against each other as much as they are competing against the rest of the field - and given that Hamilton and Alonso were ranked 1-2, this feeling intensified. But no big deal.
Then things got interesting.
The spying scandal errupted. A Mclaren employee was found to have private Ferrari documents in his possession in his home (raided by the police). A longtime respected Ferrari employee was immediately fired and accused of espionage. In response, Mclaren removed the Mclaren employee from his job with them and claimed they gained no knowledge of what had transpired until the matter became public.
Ferrari, naturally, doesn't buy this line from Mclaren. Mclaren then upped the ante, claiming the Ferrari employee was providing them evidence that the Ferrari car which raced in the first races was in fact knowingly illegal - a claim which basically means that Ferrari was cheating.
Accusations are now flying back and forth and the blood between the two teams is rising. (Hard to believe that a Ferrari employee, out of the goodness of his heart, wanted to confess to cheating - but confess, not to the authorities, but instead, to the most bitter rival.)
Then came this last weekend at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton allegedly ignored a team order to let Alonso pass in the pit lanes during qualifying (who knows why?), and then Alonso, who had the fastest qualifying times until then, with Hamilton a close second, blocked Hamilton from attempting his last qualifying lap. This "guaranteed" Alonso would start from the pole position, with Hamilton behind him.
Fireworks went off.
F1 stewards got wind of this and knocked Alonso back 5 positions on the grid, giving the pole position, ironically, to Hamilton. They also penalized the Mclaren team stripping it of any points it would achieve toward the Constructors' championship(the combined points of both racers).
Hamilton won the race. Alonso was only able to finish 4th. It's apparent they now hate each other intensely.
News reports now suggest Alonso has been given the green light to leave Mclaren at the end of the season. Reports also suggest Ferrari is going to court Alonso and other reports suggest Ferrari will court Hamilton - who is exceptionally poorly paid by Mclaren.
So - Hamilton is closing in on a World Championship and is poorly paid and hated by his teamate. He is also on the outs with his team. Alonso can't stand his team or his teamate. And all of this with a spy scandal as icing!
Without a doubt this has been the most intense and exciting season for Formula 1 since Jacques Villeneuve won his World Championship a decade ago.
First, we start with the titanic struggle between the two heavyweight teams - Mclaren-Mercedes and Ferrari. The Mclaren-Mercedes team has added vehicle reliablity and two new drivers to its team - one the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso; the second the very, very young phenom, Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari replaced many time champ Michael Schumacher with the former next best thing - Kimi Raikkonen, and back up Felipe Massa (a big improvement over Rubens Barrichello).
After the first few races, it became clear these were the two teams who'd be duking it out all season, leaving all the rest behind (including Renault - who's success the last couple of years has apparently vanished).
Things haven't gone smoothly from the outset for Mclaren-Mercedes. Both drivers accused their team of supporting the other driver. Hamilton pointed out to the orders he received one race to not challenge Alonso for the lead late in a race (Monaco, I think). Alonso countered that Mclaren-Mercedes is based in Britain and Hamilton is British and therefore was favoured.
Most saw this bickering as the bickering expected when two teamates realize they are competing against each other as much as they are competing against the rest of the field - and given that Hamilton and Alonso were ranked 1-2, this feeling intensified. But no big deal.
Then things got interesting.
The spying scandal errupted. A Mclaren employee was found to have private Ferrari documents in his possession in his home (raided by the police). A longtime respected Ferrari employee was immediately fired and accused of espionage. In response, Mclaren removed the Mclaren employee from his job with them and claimed they gained no knowledge of what had transpired until the matter became public.
Ferrari, naturally, doesn't buy this line from Mclaren. Mclaren then upped the ante, claiming the Ferrari employee was providing them evidence that the Ferrari car which raced in the first races was in fact knowingly illegal - a claim which basically means that Ferrari was cheating.
Accusations are now flying back and forth and the blood between the two teams is rising. (Hard to believe that a Ferrari employee, out of the goodness of his heart, wanted to confess to cheating - but confess, not to the authorities, but instead, to the most bitter rival.)
Then came this last weekend at the Hungaroring.
Hamilton allegedly ignored a team order to let Alonso pass in the pit lanes during qualifying (who knows why?), and then Alonso, who had the fastest qualifying times until then, with Hamilton a close second, blocked Hamilton from attempting his last qualifying lap. This "guaranteed" Alonso would start from the pole position, with Hamilton behind him.
Fireworks went off.
F1 stewards got wind of this and knocked Alonso back 5 positions on the grid, giving the pole position, ironically, to Hamilton. They also penalized the Mclaren team stripping it of any points it would achieve toward the Constructors' championship(the combined points of both racers).
Hamilton won the race. Alonso was only able to finish 4th. It's apparent they now hate each other intensely.
News reports now suggest Alonso has been given the green light to leave Mclaren at the end of the season. Reports also suggest Ferrari is going to court Alonso and other reports suggest Ferrari will court Hamilton - who is exceptionally poorly paid by Mclaren.
So - Hamilton is closing in on a World Championship and is poorly paid and hated by his teamate. He is also on the outs with his team. Alonso can't stand his team or his teamate. And all of this with a spy scandal as icing!
